above: amazing views of Mt. Hood as we approached Portland
As we continued to meander through the Pacific Northwest, we landed in Boring, OR (I think they must have heard every joke in the book). Barton Park is a great little county park about 30 miles east of Portland right by the Clackamas River. That meant while we really enjoyed our campground, we did have to drive a little further to get to Portland and to the Columbia River Scenic Areas. However since they are in opposite directions, I guess being in the middle works out in the end. The park had been closed for road and site paving, and we checked in the first day they re-opened, so we had the park almost completely to ourselves for a few days!
The nearly empty Barton County Park Campground.
Continuing our servitude to Opie (he is a major reason we spend a lot of time hiking), we took him to the Sandy River Delta Park, also known as Thousand Acres Dog Park. It’s 1,400 acres of trails for dog lovers (some on-leash and some off-leash). Many of the trails lead to the Sandy River and Columbia River so the dogs can go for a nice dip in the water. Since most of it is meadow land, the sun can get scorching, so it’s a good thing we brought plenty of water and a folding dog bowl! We walked the mile and a half “boundary trail” to the river, and needless to say, Opie had a grand time wandering, sniffing, and peeing on everything. Once we hit the water, he immediately got soaked, then waited for us to toss his tennis ball in a few times. Several other visitors with dogs came by during our stay too. When Opie meets new dogs, he sniffs them for about two seconds, then he’s done. One of the dogs though was intent on stealing Opie’s tennis ball at every opportunity, driving Opie a little crazy.
Opie cooling off as usual.
Giving Opie a full day out gave us less guilt about spending the next day in Portland for a humans-only day. We decided to try the 4T (train, trolley, trail, tram) trail in Portland. It’s a great self-guided tour touching on some of Portland’s highlights.
The ‘trail’ part of the 4T loop.
We drove into Portland (traffic is a nightmare, next time it’ll have to be the train) and parked at Washington Park. That allowed us to start with the trail portion of the tour. We took the wooded trail to Council Crest Park, the highest point in the city. On a clear day, you can see Mt. St Helens, Rainier, and Adams. Unfortunately we could only barely make out St Helens and no other mountains due to some hazy skies, but the views were still magnificent. After Council Crest, the remainder of the hike is mostly downhill (whew!) to OHSU (Oregon Health & Science University). The trail was about 4 miles long through the various parks, with a fair bit of up and down.
The ‘tram’ part of the 4T loop.
At OHSU, we took the aerial tram down to the riverfront (no charge when going downhill!) with some great views of the city, mountains, and river.
The ‘trolley’ part of the 4T loop.
Right at the bottom of the tram we hopped on the trolley (streetcar) for a quick 10 minute trip to downtown. We figured this would be a great place to grab some lunch so we wandered a bit and to our delight, we found a block and half full of semi-permanent food trucks/trailers! With so many choices, we walked through to see the offerings. Mike settled on BBQ, while I got a gyro. Both turned out to be good choices and we walked away full and happy.
There must have been at least 40 food trucks here.
The last part of the tour was taking the train (MAX) from downtown back to Washington Park. The MAX Washington Park station is apparently the deepest station in North America at 260 feet below ground. They only have an elevator to take you back to the surface, I guess taking an escalator or stairs might take a really long time.
If you have the time and energy, Washington Park is full of great attractions like the International Rose Test Garden, Japanese Garden, Children’s Museum, and Oregon Zoo. By the end of our tour, we were too tired to do anything but stumble back to the car and fight the traffic to get back home so we added those to our list of things to do next time we visit.
Multnomah Falls
Two well-known waterfalls are located right in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area so we had to visit them while we were here. Both the Multnomah and Wahkeena waterfalls are located by the road so you can park the car and see the falls. However there is also a great 5 mile hike (loop #2 on the map) that passes both major falls and many smaller waterfalls along the trail (bonus points since the hike is dog-friendly). Both Multnomah and Wahkeena waterfalls are incredibly busy with tourists but once you get past those, the trail is sparsely populated. At 621 feet high, Multnomah Falls is spectacular to view. The trail starts at the base of the falls, and then heads to the top of the falls for an amazing view of the Columbia River. There are 11 switchbacks to reach the top of the falls and it is a very steep climb!
Mike and Opie taking a break during the hike.
Kathie and Opie enjoying a rare section of level path.
The Portland area was quite enjoyable (except for the traffic!) so we’ll definitely be returning in the future to check out more of the things we missed this time around. We’ve definitely come to grips with only doing a few things at each location rather than trying to cram in too much, knowing that we’ll be back many times in the future to keep exploring.
wow. ..what a great post.
We are headed to Portland the beginning of July. . .I have bookmarked several of the things you mentioned. . .thanks for sharing. . .
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Excellent news, we love reading about references from other blogs so if ours helps others out, so much the better. There is so much to do in Portland and we really enjoyed it.
Sounds like a tiring but fabulous first visit!
Thanks for continuing to share so many BEAUTIFUL photos!!! :-)
John, I’m glad you’re enjoying the photos and adventure! Pacific Northwest is quite beautiful, you were right about that.
Glad you enjoyed Portland. I’m sure you read our blog while we were in Portland and probably thought (Wow, that Dave sure complains a lot about Portland’s traffic, what a baby) LOL!!! But now you see why I’m such a baby.
Dave, I did read your blog and notice your issue with Portland traffic. :) I TOTALLY understand it now. Shouldn’t people be at work? Why are they all on the roads….ALL THE TIME! Thanks for the warning, I wish I took it much more seriously.
Opie looks happy! The campground looked really nice. I loved that area. So much fresh food, wine, cheese, etc! Your hikes looked nice. Very green. Great pic of the waterfall!
Hi Debbie! Opie is happy as long as we take him out with us…when we leave him at home, he sure knows how to look dejected! I think because Portland was a bit of a hike for us, we missed out on the wine and cheese and food opportunities that the city could offer, that just means I’ll have to try them out next year! We really have enjoyed Oregon a lot, great hiking and some amazing scenery!
Portland is one of our favorite big cities and we’ve spent a fair amount of time there over the years and we’re able to find something new and interesting to do every time we visit!
Oregon in general is just a fabulous state….Bend, Ashland, Crater Lake, Smith Rocks and all of the coastline…the list of beautiful places is endless…we may end up living in this state when we’re done fulltiming!
We really enjoyed Oregon a lot. We wanted to do the Oregon coast but it was just a bit too chilly for us. Next time we’re in Oregon, we plan to spend more time in each area and hopefully visit the coast. We heard fantastic things about Smith Rocks Park but didn’t make it there this time. So many things to do, I could totally understand wanting to live in Oregon!
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You can understand, I am sure, why this part of your adventure was of interest to Ken and I !!! We love Oregon and have lived here most of our lives … it is a stunning state, border to border … and we particularly LOVE our coastline … winters here not so much any longer … so we will head south on 101 when we leave Oregon behind in early November to begin our own FT travels … perhaps we will meet (after Alabama this year ?!?) again on the Oregon coast some time in the years to come !!!
Yes! We spent such a short time in Oregon and we loved it. We’re hoping to be back in that area and do the coast next time around. We’ll have to ask you for all the fun and great places to visit next time and hopefully we will definitely cross paths when you full-time!