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.

By far Bend's largest park, analogous to Portland's Forest Park, Shevlin Park encompasses a distinct natural area of 652 acres.  Lying on the west end of the Bend's Urban Growth Boundary, the park is a 4-mile long preserve of the Tumalo Creek canyon and old-growth ponderosa pine ecosystem that is extremely popular with local hikers, trail runners, and mountain bikers.

The run off for Tumalo Creek originates on the eastern slopes of Broken Top and Tumalo Mountain. It carves its way through a once heavily-glaciated valley and creates a small canyon, where after roughly 21 miles, it eventually converges with the Deschutes River just south of Tumalo State Park.

The majority of the area for the park was donated to the City of Bend in 1920, and since then it has become a Mecca for outdoor recreation enthusiasts.  When arriving via Shevlin Park Road, you can think of the park in two sections: the Aspen Hall section to the north and the Fremont Meadows section to the south.  Aspen Hall is a decently-sized event space often used for weddings or small conferences and is served by a single trail that follows the banks of the creek, the Aspen Hall Trail.  The Fremont Meadows section is best known for its 6-mile long Loop Trail that primarily follows the rim of the canyon.  Both sides of the park, however, offer equally scenic views of the canyon and provide picnic shelters and barbeque areas ideal for a family outing.

Logistics + Planning

Preferable season(s)

Winter
Spring
Summer
Fall

Congestion

High

Parking Pass

Not Required

Pros

Bend's largest park. Hiking and mountain biking trails. Conference and event center.

Cons

Very heavily used.

Features

Flushing toilets
Mountain biking
Potable water
Picnic tables
Covered picnic areas
Old-growth forest

Location

Comments

09/02/2017
This was one of the hotter and smokier days during fire season we've had and Shevlin was clear and cool. While we did encounter a couple people, there were far fewer this weekend than we've seen in the past (possibly due to the smoke). The park is big enough that you're never fighting for space.
06/29/2017
There are some wonderfully gnarled trees along the trails.
06/25/2017
Shevlin is pretty temperate throughout the Summer. During some of the smokier days due to wildfires, we were able to breathe deep and clean at Shelvin. In 100 degree weather, the water was still chilly and wonderful.
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