Outdoor Project

The Washington Park Arboretum is nestled into the shoreline of Lake Washington, just south of the UW Husky Football Stadium. The Arboretum itself is a 230-acre site jointly managed by the University of Washington and the City of Seattle. The University of Washington Waterfront Activities Center provides the perfect opportunity for those that don’t own a canoe or rowboat to spend some time paddling; the general public can rent canoes and rowboats for $9 per hour on weekdays or $11 per hour on weekends.

Cathedral Park is situated beneath the historic St. Johns Bridge, Portland’s only steel suspension bridge, which reaches up to 400 feet with its towers and spans 1,207 feet across. The park includes a boat dock, boat ramp, canoe launch, restrooms, off-leash dog area, amphitheater, numerous picnic tables, and swimming and fishing areas.

Built in 1962, the Clear Lake Butte Lookout is ideally situated between Mount Hood to the north and Mount Jefferson to the south.  The lookout also peers over Clear Lake, Timothy Lake and deep into the expanse of Eastern Oregon.  If you are lucky enough to get a reservation in this heavily used winter accommodation, you’ll get some of the best views in the area. 

The Falls Creek Falls trail is a terrific adventure for anyone looking for a short, beautiful hike with a spectacular view waiting at the end. The hike in will take you along a wild section of Falls Creek that winds through some very dramatic terrain. The creek pushes fast through tight little canyons, sending currents to ricochet off of undercut walls dripping with moss, maidenhair ferns and overhanging cedar. As you follow the trail upstream, you’ll eventually leave the younger growth and find yourself wandering through some stately, moss-laden fir and cedar that frame the frantic creek.

Urban parks tend to get short shrift when compared to their wilder brethren, as if points for authenticity are somehow awarded to only the grand, far flung and unpopulated places. Forest Park as a whole, and the Maple Trail in particular, are wonderful examples of why this thinking is shortsighted. The 70 miles of trails that work around this 5,100-acre reserve are every bit as lush, vibrant and scenic as the remote places we all aim for, and they are just 10-20 minutes from downtown Portland.

The Brice Creek Trail’s main access is from the West Trailhead, and the trail is usually hiked against the creek's current toward the Champion Creek Trailhead.  The trail may be broken up into smaller sections with access points at the Cedar Creek Trailhead and Lund Campground.  The section covered in this hike runs from the West Trailhead to Lund Campground.

Indian Beach sits at the base of Tillamook Head’s southern slope in Ecola State Park, and it is an ideal place to take in the enormity of the basalt formation that displays the region's geological heritage.  If the tumultuous and vast Pacific doesn’t inspire sufficient awe, consider the prospect that some 15 million years ago the rock that forms the Tillamook Headland was a molten river of basalt flowing down the Columbia Gorge from Idaho. 

Starting at Indian Beach, the Clatsop Loop trail is just enough off the main path that it's spectacular ocean views off Tillamook Head and deep forest scenery don't get seen by the bigger coastal crowds.  Lewis and Clark documented the region as the southernmost destination in their journey along the Columbia River.  In search of whale blubber, they stood on the cliff walls gazing out into the same vast ocean.  Clark

The sturdy and humble Cape Meares Lighthouse has been sitting on its headland 200 feet above the ocean since 1890, enduring innumerable storms, technological obsolescence and the indignities of vandalism. Active until 1963, the Coast Guard actually had plans to demolish the building at one point but was dissuaded by public input. In its time, the little lighthouse beamed 21 miles out to sea, which ties the distance mark that Heceta Head Lighthouse currently holds. Since 1980 the lighthouse has been open to the public, and tours are available April through October.