Whitaker Ponds Nature Park

This park is so-​so. It is in an unappealing neighborhood of mostly trucks, storage and timber. Parking for the pond includes about six spaces worth of mud next to the road. There is a beautiful pond and some evergreens, but with the neighborhood’s lack of appeal and Portland having much better parks, it is no wrongdoing to never visit here.
A relative decided that we shall go to this park. The pond was medium and somewhat elegant. It forms the hub of the park, and the park includes fields, a bathroom and some picnic benches, but forget about a drinking fountain. The leaf assortment is beautiful and I enjoyed walking next to and under several trees. Lots of the trees are ugly and just a tall gray blob that could be found anywhere else in the world. That said, it’s an interesting way to go about nature.
This is no point of interest.

I stumbled upon this park on what turned out to be a short bike ride, because this place was so awesome! If you like wildlife, including birds, beavers amongst other things. at first it just seemed to be some picnic spot by a small wetland pond. But if you explore further into the woods you see some pretty sweet stuff. and no dogs allowed to scare away the birds and creatures that are unique to the area.

I was on a bike ride yesterday and decided to come check this place out. It’s pretty neat. I had my bike with me and just walked it in. None of the signs said anything about no bike riding-​but I just figured it’s a nature area, best to not be bike riding on the unfinished trails.
So when you walk in, to your left is the slough where a dock and stairs has been built. Personally, I would save my kayak and caning for something more outside the city limits, but I could see how it could be cool. If you pass the slough deck you cross a little bridge and start the .5 trail around the pond. There is the remnants of a house that has the cement slab and stairs still visible. There are some benches, and the loop takes you back to a baseball field (?) and then passed the 2^nd pond which I guess they don’t want you walking around even though there is a make shift trail there). Continue on the obvious path to loop back around the primary pond. There is a Eco roof where you can picnic, and another dock on the main pond. Overall, it’s pretty rad, lots of signs. You still get the feeling that this place has a ton of old tires and refrigerators hidden just outside of view-​but kudos to Portland for making it better.

Trying out a small dingy my hubby made — yeah he finally got that one finished! — so we went there to try it out. It was quiet, since we’re the only ones there, and the water was so relaxing and we took our sweet time, going up & down the slough. We saw a beaver! Didn’t know they have garden snakes, but I was brave and lucky I didn’t come face to face with one. I’ve never been on a dingy alone by myself, trying to maneuver that thing, and no one was watching & laughing at me! LOL The photos we took, you could see houses to the left of us, it was like a scene from an island somewhere in the Pacific. We planned to bring our dingy there during the blackberries season and pick our own berries, rather than pick them where there’s more pollution from traffic or people. It was THE perfect day and time of day or month to go there for the first time. Just can’t complain!!! They have a place where you can hike or picnic and a shed. I didn’t want to venture out farther, since I hate hiking by myself, while hubby tried the dingy alone. When we’re done, the smallest, cutest dragonfly stopped by to visit me, and this happened with us again, during our sail to Astoria. I like dragonflies! There were also many white flowers, just fresh & perfectly shaped, floating on the water, but I didn’t see any plants around, it was like when we were in Hawaii and you see flowers on the water. Finally further down, pass the bridge, we saw the plant where they’re coming from. For someone who hates water & swimming, that was awesome, just relaxing there & floating so close to the water. .. . if it was hot enough you just want to dive in, but there’s no swimming NOR fishing!