Parks range dramatically from size, to attractions, to natural features like hills, trees, and more. However, what they generally share in common is being a great place to go to get outside, find community, and, if you’re lucky, have some fun. As spring begins to blossom in Portland, use these descriptions and our experiences to choose the park best suited for you and your adventures.
Our story begins in the Franklin Post pitching room, where, with spring weather supposedly approaching and the two of us starting to go a bit stir-crazy in the classroom, we proposed a light-hearted review of some local parks — coincidentally bringing us just past our favorite phở place. What follows is not every Southeast Portland park by a long shot, but have fun exploring the fields and playgrounds that we did investigate.
Fiona’s First Time at Bloomington Park
Our first stop after phở — shoutout Annam VL, read all about it here — was to Bloomington Park, located on SE Steele Street and SE 100th Avenue. This park is where Krys grew up and failed to learn how to ride a bike. 12.87 acres in size, Bloomington sports a lot of open space, which on rainy days — such as the one we visited — will be very muddy. However, by remembering to check the weather forecast in advance, you should be able to avoid our fate and enjoy the large, open space as a lovely backdrop for picnicking, dog-walking, and more.
Bloomington also offers a baseball field, softball field, soccer field, and basketball court. There is also a playground with your standard slides, swings, and monkey bars, along with a very exciting tire swing. Krys claims to have been traumatized as a child on the swing set, but I thought it was pretty nice.
We met a couple of people in Bloomington, most with kids or dogs in tow, as it wasn’t actively raining at that moment. 11-year-old Night, who was playing catch with his father Denis, told us his favorite Portland park is Bloomington. Denis agreed, adding that he enjoys Lents Park and Mt. Tabor as well.
After talking to some more people, trying out the play structure, and using a porta-potty for ourselves, we made our way back to the car.
Krys Rediscovers Lents Park
We jumped back in my car for the short drive from Bloomington to Lents and parked in the parking lot of a sketchy looking massage therapy place adjacent to Lents. Keep in mind when visiting Lents that it sits on a busy street so expect little parking.
Located approximately 0.9 miles away from Bloomington, on SE 92nd Avenue and Holgate Boulevard, Lents Park was also a part of my childhood; however, I spent far less time at Lents due to it being farther from my house. While some people may consider 22 minutes walking distance, you have to understand that I wasn’t a walking kid, and I’m still not a walking person. Going back to Lents Park for what must have been my first time in 10 years, I noticed that Lents was much more expansive and luxurious than I remembered, with its 38.07 acres. Lents Park is also the home of the Portland Pickles, Portland’s baseball team, which offers unique opportunities to cheer on a local team. If you pass by Lents throughout the spring and summer, you can often see the Pickles playing games with many families and friends watching.
Upon returning to Lents, I vividly recalled that this park was the one where my fear of dogs began. At some point, I was there with my older sister, and a woman was walking her small brown puppy which started chasing after me. Even though I may associate Lents with that trauma, the park is very enjoyable.
The playground area has a lot of silver play structures on a colorful squishy surface. We had met Juliana and Tony at Bloomington, and they were with their 4-year-old son, Finn, who loves Lents, especially the rock climbing play tower. “He was up on top when he was two,” Juliana shares. Lents also offers a baseball field, soccer field, softball field, basketball court, and tennis court. Lents also has a very cute community garden, which has rhubarb, lettuce, kale, artichokes, and more.
Simone and Steven, a couple we met at Bloomington with two adorable dogs — yes, I can still appreciate cute dogs even if I’m scared — shared that “[they] definitely come [to Bloomington] the most but Lents is [their] favorite [park].” When asked what makes a park a park, the two answered, “Having something for everybody: a sports field, a playground, a place where you can have a picnic, and a bathroom.” Despite their final standard for ranking parks, on our journey, most of the park bathrooms seemed to be closed, something you might want to keep in mind if you visit Lents or other Southeast Portland parks.
Fiona Visits Her Neighborhood Kern Park
After Krys made a wrong turn, we finally made it to my neighborhood park! Located on SE 67th Avenue and Center Street and 1.62 acres in size, Kern Park has a playground with a fairly standard, small play structure; a swing set; a set of seesaws; and one of those tall metal slides. I personally am a big see-saw lover, and I forced Krys to try one out with me, despite her protests and claims of new trauma. There’s also a basketball court that I can attest to the semi-regular and quite informal use of, as well as a baseball field that gets much more regular and marginally more structured use year-round as an informal but widely accepted dog park, and seasonally with youth baseball games. It also has some lovely plum trees that were blooming when Krys and I visited — one of which we attempted and very much failed to climb.
Ruby, a local 14-year-old, was sitting on one of the swings when we approached. She says that she likes this park because she will often coincidentally run into friends there, and the park offers a place to hang out. As we were leaving, we did in fact see a similarly aged girl join her.
At the park was also a father, Nick, with his young daughter. He uses Kern because it’s convenient to his house and has entertainment for his kid, which he finds to be the most important aspect of a park. His favorite park in Portland, however, is the more recently opened Errol Heights Park. Unfortunately, we couldn’t fit that park in the docket for this adventure, but while navigating the way to our next stop I did get to teach Krys the wonder of numbered roads — they go in order!
Krys at Creston Park
Next, we made the journey to Creston Park, located on SE 44th Avenue and Powell Boulevard, and 14.38 acres in size. Fiona and I recalled the picnic that we had shared the summer before — a bonding day for the Franklin Post — which was my first time at Creston!
Creston is the only park in this article with a pool, which I don’t know much about because I can’t swim. For those who can swim, Creston Outdoor Pool is one out of seven of Portland Parks and Recreation’s outdoor pools. Being an outdoor pool, it’s closed for the season but will open up for summer. The pool offers a waterslide, lap lanes, and a kiddie area, as well as swimming lessons.
As we ventured on, we stumbled upon their bathroom with a sign that said that it was closed for the season. We kept going and made our way over to Creston’s playground, where we found a very interesting climb structure made out of rope, which had a basket-like area to sit in if you made it all the way to the top. I attempted to climb it, but I gave up halfway because I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to make it back down. Fiona made fun of me and then attempted to climb it as well — to which she made it higher than me but ended up also giving up.
Portia Hall Rockne — Franklin’s AP Government, Introduction to Law, and Asian American Studies teacher — shares that her 5-year-old twins Skylar and Annika’s favorite park is Creston. She adds that “it was remodeled a few years ago and has a good sliding hill, climbing structure, and a bunch of different things you can do.” Hall continues, stating, “I love the pool, and [my family] use[s] it all the time when it is open.” Hall concludes, “With little kids you really get to know all of the parks, I didn’t know about a lot of them until I had kids.”
Fiona Explores Clinton Park
Located on SE 55th Avenue and Woodward Street, this Franklin Post article wouldn’t be complete without Clinton Park, directly next to Franklin and therefore intimately familiar to most of our reader base. Nevertheless, I will describe it.
12.14 acres in size, Clinton features a play structure area with some toddler-geared slides, a swing set, and a merry-go-round. Along with this, the park has a large open area, including a hill — perfect for sledding on when it snows — and a large field at the bottom which connects to Atkinson Elementary School. There is also a tennis court at the top of the hill where the Franklin tennis teams practice and many students eat their lunch. In the past, Associated Student Body (ASB) Olympics have also held some of their games at Clinton.
We didn’t spend too much time there since there wasn’t anybody out, and I tripped and got my pants wet. With my pants muddy and cold and only about half an hour left until my call time at the Franklin Theater, Krys dropped me off at my house and we called it a day, planning on reconvening soon to hit Mt. Tabor, the last on our list.
Krys Goes to Mt. Tabor Park
Last but not least, I went to Mt. Tabor Park, located on SE 60th Avenue and Salmon Street. Not we, I. Fiona left me to go on an early spring break vacation, which I was very jealous about, but, back to the park.
I got into my car to leave for my solo endeavor. When I started driving, I noticed something in the corner of my eye — my friend waving at me! I rolled down my window and asked her where she was going, to which she sadly told me that she was actually heading back to school for her band rehearsal in a few hours. At that moment, I decided to kidnap her because why should she wait at school for two hours?
And so, we were off to an endeavor to Mt. Tabor Park, which has quite a reputation at Franklin of being “the best park.” This reputation is why Fiona and I decided that it must be a part of this article, even if she couldn’t come along.
My friend and I weren’t sure about where to go, seeing only an assortment of trees and hills. For me, a park must have a playground, no exceptions. When we didn’t find one I was initially disappointed, but, when we left, I found out that Mt. Tabor does indeed have a playground located in the lower part of the park, near SE 72nd Ave. and SE Lincoln. Sorry for not doing you justice, Mt. Tabor!
As my friend and I walked up the hills, following the paths, I realized that Mt. Tabor was a walking, running, hiking, biking, and, basically, any kind of exercise park. Not my favorite, but there were lots of interesting buildings — none of which we could enter as they all had signs that said things like “Alarmed Area” and “Do Not Enter” — which I was disappointed about.
Mt. Tabor also has several large reservoirs, and I saw some ducks swimming around in one. Mt. Tabor was very fun to explore, and it was definitely the biggest park on our list by a lot, with a whopping 176.04 acres. When we made our way back down, we saw two dogs screaming at each other, and my fear of dogs was once again reinforced by one of Portland’s many parks.
Even though when Fiona and I went on our endeavor, it was not sunny and bright yet, it will be soon! So put that phone down, get outside, and go to your local parks to appreciate what’s around you! You can discover so much, including a new friend, cute dogs, or your new favorite play structure. You might even have your unlicensed friend teach you how to become a better driver.
