This was my first time to the Canemah Bluff Nature Park, one of Portland's Metro Parks and Natural Areas. I had an hour or two available for a short walk, the weather was reasonable, and, well, I'd not been here before.
It is open during the pandemic closures except for the bathrooms, or at least it was this past weekend.
The park is near Oregon City, in the old Canemah historic neighborhood.
https://www.oregonmetro.gov/parks/canem ... ature-park and https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guid ... _Loop_Hike
The camas lilies and madrone trees were blooming, for those who enjoy that sort of thing. The poison oak was vigorously sprouting. We also saw a few iris and other spring flowers, though the trilliums were well past their prime. The deciduous trees such as bigleaf maple are leafing out.
The trails have excellent signage -- it would be difficult to become lost. We covered most of the trails in the park as a result. It's all pretty short, under two miles, I'd guess. Elevation gain is minimal though a couple of stretches are slightly steep-ish. The trails were in good shape except for a few muddy areas from the previous day's rain.
I was hoping for some interpretive signs about the geology -- the scabland area near the bluff and the slide area on the Old Slide Trail, plus the general geology that can be seen and experienced here. But there was none. The field guide at the metro's website has a little bit, as do the previous mentions of this nature park on the forum. The history signs outside the park are kind of fun, too.
The trails near the bluff are open-ish meadows with some oak and madrone trees and the blooming camas lilies. There is a nice view of the Willamette. The interior of the park is more forested, with lots of bigleaf maples and douglas fir and similar trees and associated smaller plants. Some of the trees are fairly large. A couple of small ponds are seen in the woods as you walk by. We heard birds but didn't see any. We did see a cute little snake, probably a garter snake.
The privately-owned cemetery inside the park looked interesting, but the gates were locked. Oh, well -- I guess I'll have to return someday.
Although never away from traffic noise, it was a peaceful walk, a nice little interlude before I needed to return to the day's chores. It wasn't very crowded in spite of it being a Sunday with reasonable weather, and everyone was careful to allow plenty of space for passing each other.
A visit to this park could easily be combined with visits to other parks as well as being something to do for a little while if you're in the area. The trails themselves are short and easy and would be quite suitable for families. There's even a playground at the trailhead. One of the trails (the Camas Springs Trail, along the bluff with the best river views) is ADA accessible.
I'm going to remember this one for next fall and winter, when I want to stretch my legs without leaving the Portland metro area. I'm also going to keep an eye out in case some organization does guided hikes here, for the geology or ecology or flora/fauna or history/archaeology, etc. It's an interesting little park and a pleasant area for a walk.
