Parks & Recreation - Recreation & Spectator Sports

Oregonians have their share of skyscrapers, computer chip plants, and BMW dealerships, but we also have forests, snow-topped mountains, phenomenal river gorges, a 300-mile coastline, one of the most fertile valleys in the world, a lacy network of creeks and rivers, and an extensive system of parks and wilderness areas. Though the great expanse of our state may be crisscrossed with highways, while even our trails may be crowded with exuberant hikers, there is still a wild, true outback here where a soul can find solitude, clean air to breathe, and a vision of unspoiled land, river, or seacoast. The Portland area in particular is home to or close to some of our best outdoor attractions. So Portlanders love to get out and about—to bike, hike, paddle, putt, shoot, set the hook, and slide down our slippery snowy slopes. In this chapter we’ve listed some of our favorite spots, so you can try out your outdoor or indoor recreational skills in our beautiful Portland setting. We’ve included a few organizations and commercial operations that can help you on your way.

As for spectator sports, the biggest game in Portland is the National Basketball Association’s Trailblazers, but there are lots of other seats to cheer from, including ice hockey with the Winter Hawks and soccer matches with the Portland Timbers, now a Major League Soccer team. PGE Park, a downtown stadium, is the home of the Timbers, while the Blazers play at the Rose Garden. We’ll tell you more about these later in the chapter.

Parks & Recreation - Parks

The Portland Metro area offers an amazing amount and variety of park space, from Forest Park, which, at 4,900 acres, is the largest urban forest in the nation, to Mills End Park, which, at 452 square inches, may be the smallest park in the nation. Portlanders like to weave green spaces, no matter how tiny, into their urban landscape, so that wherever you go in this city, you are never far from a park. Moreover, the parks here serve diverse functions: Many are community gardens, many are educational centers, some are attached to schools and are used for playgrounds, some are golf courses, some are left alone and preserved as wildlife habitats. And some are just old-fashioned parks with benches, swings, and duck ponds.

Whatever their nature, Portland’s parks really do offer something for everyone, and they are so much a part of Portland life that we probably take them as a given. Through our parks, countless citizens of all ages have learned to swim, dance, knit, speak Spanish, use computers, paint with oils, identify native plants, and climb mountains.

Overview

Portland Parks and Recreation manages most parks within the city boundaries; their resources are extensive, and it is easy to get information from them about their many offerings, the breadth and depth of which are astonishing. They put out a useful catalog each season that gives the details of the tennis lessons, swimming lessons, arts and dance classes, and the innumerable other programs; call (503) 823-7529 to request one, or browse online for a downloadable catalog and to register for classes: www.portlandonline.com/parks. This website also has a comprehensive and detailed list of all the parks and facilities in the system. The department also runs a compelling Outdoor Recreation Program whose offerings change seasonally but will include things like sea kayaking, sailing trips to the San Juan Islands, classes in fly-fishing, and tours with historical themes. The Outdoor Recreation Program can be reached at (503) 823-5132. For those of you who like your parks raw, the city maintains more than 7,600 acres of space devoted to wildlife, including Smith and Bybee Lakes, Powell Butte, Elk Rock Island, Marquam Nature Park, Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge, and Forest Park. In addition, a regional trail system called the 40 Mile Loop, together with the Willamette Greenway Trail, links more than 100 miles of paths throughout the area, forming a network through and around the city. Maps of this system, which was originally inspired by the Olmsted Brothers, are available from Portland Parks and Recreation on the website (www.portlandonline.com/parks). You can read more about some of these parks and programs in the Attractions, Kidstuff, and Recreation chapters.

The city of Portland is not the only organization that maintains wonderful parks in the area. Metro, our regional government, in addition to establishing growth boundaries, keeping up the zoo, and running the mass transit system, is also responsible for a number of parks and grids of open spaces. You can find out more about Metro’s parks by visiting them online at www.oregonmetro.gov. And the State of Oregon has a fine website that gives a comprehensive look at the parks in the state system: www.oregon.gov/OPRD/PARKS. But no matter who is running the parks, we love them. Here, then, are some of our favorites.