Virginia Lake at Wapato Access Greenway

We spent a delicious lunchtime in downtown Portland with family. Since it was a beautiful (or at least dry) day, we decided to find a trail to explore before heading home. We drove about 25 minutes to a trail on Oak Island Road. This is hike #2 featured in the book I mentioned previously, Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon. On the way there, I noticed that this hike was on the book's list of "Best Hikes in Winter." Once we got there, however, we discovered that the trail we were planning on hiking is NOT open year-round. It is only available to hike April-October, therefore it's most definitely NOT a winter hike. To the book's credit, despite this error, if I had looked more closely at the page that features more specifics about the hike, I would have seen the note indicating the correct times it is open for hiking.

Once we jumped back into the car, I was determined to find something else close by so that the afternoon wouldn't be wasted. Luckily, I realized that the very first hike featured in the book was Virginia Lake, which was only a few miles away. This hike can be found just 2.5 miles past the Sauvie Island Bridge, on Sauvie Island Road. The small parking lot will be on your left, marked "Wapato Access Greenway".

This hike begins with a 0.2 mile hike, before coming to a covered picnic area. You can continue along the trail to the right, or veer left. It creates a loop around Virginia Lake, so it doesn't matter which way you go. I prefer the way we went {to the right}, because it allowed us to get most of our hike in before stopping at another picnic table along the Multnomah Channel for a snack. Just over half a mile into the hike, you'll come to a small dip in the trail and cross over the wooden bridge at the far end of the lake. As the hike continues, you'll stray a little farther from the lake, and a little closer to the Multnomah Channel. You'll find a small "exploration trail" or two along the way that will take you up to the water's edge {these special exploration trails are always exciting for kids to discover}. About a mile beyond the wooden bridge, you can detour about 100m off to the right to Hadley's Landing. This is where you'll find the other picnicking area, and likely a few fisherman fishing off the Channel's dock. Shortly thereafter you'll come to a bird blind viewing dock on the left, just before concluding your loop back at the covered picnic area.

Total Distance: 2.2 miles
Trail Type: Loop
Trail Appearance: Wide, well maintained, gravel, rutted vehicle access pathway
Trail Elevation: Relatively flat, a few small rises
Atmosphere: Birds chirping, ducks quacking, dogs barking, distant road noise
View: Lake, trees, birds, neighboring houses, industrial junkyard at Hadley's Landing
Extras: Information plaques and bird identifying markers along the trail

Difficulty: Easy
My Rating: ***
Kid Ratings: ****;***;****