Portland Region Is a Playground
Published Mar 24, 2008
As alpenglow bathes Mount Hood, Gene and Vicki Henschel cherish the moment after cycling to the top of Council Crest Park.
The Portland region takes having fun very seriously.
Blessed with 37,000 acres of green space, scenic rivers, towering Mount Hood as a backdrop and the Pacific coastline nearby, it is an unparalleled spot for kayaking, boating, fishing, windsurfing, hiking, cycling, golf, tennis – or simply a quiet afternoon tossing a Frisbee with the kids in a neighborhood park.
The area boasts more than 40 18-hole golf courses and scores of tennis courts. Organized sports like soccer are mainstays for young and old alike. And increasingly, non-motorized, environmentally respectful recreation is the trend.
Marc Hinz, founder and chief executive officer of Kayak Tillamook LLC, has taken kayakers from as far away as Texas, Massachusetts, Japan and Vietnam on paddling expeditions through western Oregon’s stunningly beautiful estuary systems.
These days, though, the majority of the thousands of kayakers his 3-year-old company hosts annually are area residents – people showing up with kayaks on their car roofs.
“The increased cost of gas has made traveling outside the state burdensome, so people are turning to their own communities,” Hinz says. “Our values are shifting, going green, and this is a wonderful, low-impact way to connect to nature.”
Kayaking has become so popular, in fact, that the Tillamook Estuaries Partnership is in the midst of a five-year project to create one of the most intricate maps of water trails in the United States.
Interest in other outdoor recreational opportunities also is increasing, with bicycling and mountain biking topping the list, as anyone who has traveled local roads can attest.
Busy cycle shops cater to enthusiasts, the granddaddy being the Bike Gallery, born in 1974 and now a family-owned chain of six neighborhood stores that sell, repair, accessorize and teach all things bicycle. Portland itself is dotted with bike paths, from shady trails in Forest Park to cardiac challenges such as the ascent of Powell Butte.
Positively Gorge-ous
Perhaps no place is as cherished by local outdoor lovers as the Columbia River Gorge. Eighty-five miles long and up to 4,000 feet deep, the gorge cuts through the Cascades – acclaimed as the only mountain range in the world with a major river coursing through its heart. The gorge is home to more than 800 species of wildflowers and the largest concentration of waterfalls in North America.
It makes for spectacular scenery – and world-class places to have fun and enjoy a more intimate relationship with the natural world.
“You have one of the best windsurfing places on the planet here,” says Kevin Gorman, executive director of the Friends of the Columbia Gorge, which works to protect and nurture this one-of-a-kind ecological treasure. “You can also hike, mountain bike, sail and kayak. It can be raining in Portland in the spring, but you can drive less than an hour and a half and enjoy beautiful hiking weather in the gorge.”
For those who prefer their weather cold and crisp, there’s still more good news: Year-round skiing is just an hour away at Mount Hood, where Timberline Ski Area’s new Jeff Flood Express chairlift in Still Creek Basin recently opened more than 220 new acres to skiers.
Story by Laura Hill
Photo by Jeff Adkins
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