Sandy beach
No
Cliff jumping
No
Hike-in Required
No
Sensitive Habitat
No
Please respect the outdoors by practicing Leave No Trace. Learn more about how to apply the principles of Leave No Trace on your next outdoor adventure here.

Not too far up the Clackamas River is a quintessential swimming hole ideal for the whole family.  This "picnic area" is perfect for breaking out the cooler, cold-cuts, and ice-chilled beverages and for relaxing on a hot summer day with family and friends.  The few picnic tables that this day-use area provides are shaded by a few bigleaf maples along the riverbank, providing visitors with some relief on the more intense summer days, but there are also several pools of eddied water that offer an even better cooling-off effect.

If you decide to swim, be sure to stay upstream, as the Big Eddy rapids are only 100 yards down river.

Logistics + Planning

Parking Pass

General Day Use Fee

Pros

Picnic tables and shaded areas perfect for a summer picnic.

Cons

None.

Location

Nearby Adventures

Nearby Lodging + Camping

Mt. Hood + Clackamas River Area, Oregon
Mt. Hood + Clackamas River Area, Oregon
Mt. Hood + Clackamas River Area, Oregon

Comments

08/19/2018
I visited on Sunday, 8/19/18. SO gorgeous. I am so glad we drove out to visit. Easy walk down to the river, a few picnic tables, lots of space to spread out. Though we did not arrive until later in the afternoon, still not busy at all. The yellowjackets were pesky around the picnic tables, but no issues down by the water. Perfect afternoon swimming hole.
07/29/2017
Was out there this last weekend (7/29/2017), and there are two picnic tables shaded by some trees off the the left at the end of the trail down. These sites would be idea for a group of 10 since they are basically attached at the hip. If you stay straight on the trail down from the parking area, there was a picnic table that didnt appear to get any shade at all. There are some "game" trails (most likely just light foot traffic) around the big eddy and a few spots to get down to the river for shade in the morning to early afternoon, There appear to be post for standing BBQ pits, however, the BBQs had either been permanently removed, or just removed for fire season. The vaulted toilet may be the nicest vault toilet i have ever been in for those who do not like the vault toilet idea. It was hard to tell whether or not I could use my annual NW Forest pass to park here. I spent the $5 bucks to be safe, Upon further review of the Forest Service site it does appear that the NW Forest pass would work here. The parking area is just a double wide maybe even triple wide shoulder. Limited shade for the cars. We arrived around 1130/12 in the morning there was a large family down on the banks of the slower moving portion of the eddy, and a couple people on the rocks near the exit of the eddy to the big eddy rapids. around 2 pm more and more people started to show up. There isnt really a whole lot of space to spread out, so make some friends or head to a less traveled area.
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