Jorgenson Woods Neighborhood Park
This small forested park has a quarter mile of paved and dirt paths meandering through a cool comforting forest.
Enter at NW 3rd Ave and NW 72nd Circle, at the end of NW 70th St west from NW 3rd Ave, or at the end of NW 72nd Circle east from NW Anderson Ave.
Hockinson Meadows Community Park
Wherever you park, you can easily follow the main path through the park, through the forested area, then along side the roads to the parking for a complete loop of just under one mile.
Be warned, watch your step. There is a nice big off-leash dog park, which is great to have, but unfortunately I noticed some of the dogs leave deposits elsewhere along the trail.
A path that extends along the entrance drive, also follows 172nd Ave north to 119th St. This gives a 3/4 mile path from the parking lot to walk, jog or bike. You can also ponder a little history on this walk. On the other side of 172nd Ave is China Ditch, so named because it was dug by Chinese labor to drain the surrounding swampy lands. I walked this after a heavy rainfall, so there were several large puddles in the path to skirt around.
This is not a park with extensive trails, but it is a nice little forested area with a trail that loops up along the north line.
Frenchman’s Bar Regional Park includes just short of one and a half miles of riverfront which can be walked.
If you went to Hewlett Point in Frenchman’s Bar Regional Park at the south end of the park, and then either walk or ride along the paved path to the north end of Vancouver Lake Regional Park, you would have over a six mile round trip. Unfortunately over two miles of the trail runs along side fields without much tree cover, which can make for a hot and boring hike on hot days. This trail is much better for bike riding than it is for walking.
There are several places where you can park to start onto the trail. You can park at Frenchman’s Bar Regional Park, or at Vancouver Lake Regional Park, both of which require a $3.00 fee, but have lots of parking spaces and good facilities. Alternatively, you can park at the bend in Lower River Road at Blurock Landing (often fills up), the lot just south of where Lower River Road divides from the road for Vancouver Lake Park, or at a lot just north of there, which is the Frenchman’s Bar Hiking Trail Parking Area.
Fairgrounds Community Park has a paved loop path of about a half mile, but there is also a dirt trail that exits the park on the north side to connect with the Clark County Event Center. The trail runs alongside the fields used for parking at the Event Center, then turns back toward the south to meander south and west through the woods emerging at a field which can be crossed to reach 11th Ave to connect with the trail to Whipple Creek Regional Park. The trail through the forest (just shy of a half mile) is a nice walk on it’s own. The path across the field (just over a quarter mile) is not cleared, which might not be a problem if you are on horseback, but when walking it can take some searching, or some walking through tall grass to find your way. Late summer or early fall, the field was cut, so paths across the field are easier to find.
There is an inconspicuous dirt trail connecting through the woods at the south end of the field. From the park side, go to the western-most curve of the paved path. To the west you will find a trail entering the trees. This path meanders through the wooded area to the field, and then a trail can be followed along the edge of the field up to the northern trail that wanders back through the forest. A complete circuit of these trails is about 1 mile.
Douglas Carter Fisher Neighborhood Park
This small park is adjacent to a wetland, the last remnants of what was once a 29 acre lake. The barkdust trail around the wetland is a half mile. When I was there, shortly after rains, the short loop trail around the park was muddy, but the longer loops around the wetland were perfectly fine for walking.
Daybreak Regional Park and Boat Launch
The east side of Daybreak road includes a few short trails to visit the river. The west side has a trail along the river about 3/5ths of a mile, plus several (occasionally overgrown) trails to explore to the river.
Chelatchie Prairie Rail With Trail is an out and back 1 mile paved level path that starts at Battle Ground Lake State Park. Note that inside the entrance to Battle Ground Lake State Park Clark County provides three parking spaces marked for the Chelatchie Prairie Trail where you can park without paying the State Park fee or having a Discover Pass. Total round-trip walking distance from the parking spaces, to the end of the trail and back is approximately 2.5 miles.
The roughest part of this trail, is the stretch from the parking area to the trail itself. After rains, this section can be muddy, but you do have the option of just walking out onto the park entrance road to reach the paved trail.
The long term plan is to complete a multi-use trail along the full 33 miles of the Chelatchie Prarie Rail line. This plan is held up by the cost of constructing sections where it passes through some areas of slope that would require costly engineering to complete.
There are options to continue further, or to loop back to the park.
Captain William Clark Regional Park at Cottonwood Beach
A great place for either a dike top paved walk or a beach walk, or both.
From the parking along Index Street, you could walk west to Steamboat Landing Park, or east to Steigerwald Lake Wildlife Refuge. Note that while you can ride your bike or walk your dog on the dike trail, you cannot take either into the Wildlife Refuge.
When I was there this summer, there was a sign warning of a cougar siting in the area, but that sign has since been removed. Cougars roam a large area, so it is not surprising that one might be seen in an area and later not be found there.
This little neighborhood park includes a nice looped path for a short walk.
A good option here, is to park on NE 39th St, walk through Bosco Farm Neighborhood Park down the path to NE Petticoat Lane, then continue west on Petticoat Lane to St. Johns Blvd where you can follow the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail either northwest or southeast.
