Pets allowed
Allowed
Guided tours
No
Backcountry camping
No
Lodging
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.

Sandy River Delta Park, better known by locals as Thousand Acres, is the off-leash mecca of Portland. With 1,400 acres of open field, wetlands, blackberry bushes, countless trails, and two rivers where your dog can play fetch, splash around, and run free, this is a dog's paradise.

That being said, the Sandy River Delta isn't exclusively a dog park. In fact, this piece of property sandwiched between the Sandy River, Columbia River, and Interstate 84 is open to mountain biking and horseback riding. The area is also popular with birders (there is a bird blind) and waterfowl hunters, and it is even a great place to lay out a towel for a swim in the Columbia. Further, about a third of the park has been set aside to protect wildlife habitat and is completely off limits to any human or canine activity.

A part of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area now under management by the U.S. Forest Service, the park was once the site of an aluminum factory, and it was more recently used for grazing cattle. Once under jurisdiction of the Forest Service, the main task at hand has been to restore the property to its native estuary wetland ecosystem, which means removing invasive species such as Himalayan blackberry and reed canary grass, while at the same time maintaining the off-leash regulations.

Note: Dogs are required to be leashed in the parking lot and on and within 100 feet of the Confluence Trail. The park is open from dawn until dusk.

Logistics + Planning

Preferable season(s)

Winter
Spring
Summer
Fall

Congestion

High

Parking Pass

Not Required

Pros

Largest off-leash park in the Portland metro area. Open to mountain biking and horseback riding.

Cons

Not recommended if you don't like dogs.

Features

Flushing toilets
Mountain biking
Off-leash dog area
Horseback riding
Bird watching
Wildlife

Location

Nearby Lodging + Camping

Comments

04/09/2020
Just an FYI, $5/Day parking pass now required as of 1/21/2020

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/crgnsa/recarea/?recid=29976
04/14/2017
I visit here frequently. It is my dog's favorite place, and they give free dog waste bags near the parking lot. It can get quite muddy during rainy season. Parking is a challenge on the weekends and holidays.
03/07/2017
Along with a rich, dynamic ecosystem and great trail system, the Delta is also home to the Confluence Bird Blind, found at the end of the Confluence Trail. The Bird Blind is an art/landscape installation by Maya Lin, best known for designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Mall in DC. The Confluence Bird Blind is one of a series of six Confluence sites along the Columbia River System that help connect people to place.

Confluence sites are "teachable places," transformed and re-imagined to explore the confluence of history, culture and ecology in our region. Each installation references passages from the Lewis and Clark journals as a snapshot in time, augmenting it with a deeper, longer story of indigenous people and environment. For more information visit: www.confluenceproject.org
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