Top 5 Best Parks for Nature Photography Near Portland, Oregon

I moved to Portland in 2016 with essentially zero experience with photography and no idea what Portland had to offer. My brother Josh had been doing videography and photography for a long time and he wanted to start a business. He invited me to move in with him to become partners in the business and I quit my job and moved to Portland where we started Fractal Focus LLC. In order to familiarize myself with photography, I borrowed my brother’s Canon 5d Mark III with a 70-200 lens and took a walk around the Glendoveer Walking Path.

This is one of the first photos I took with a professional DSLR and I was hooked after I saw what it could do. This photo kind of sucks but it started my love for photography.

After that, I started to take the camera out more often and explored more and more of Portland and the surrounding areas. Over the following years, I ventured out to many of the city’s parks and hiking trails. I have been to most of the notable scenic areas with their waterfalls, nature hikes, historical landmarks, and wildlife. There are plenty of places to go but if you like wildlife specifically then I have a few favorite spots that I like to go to and have always found something interesting to shoot. To see my photo journals just go to the main page of this site to see more photos from my favorite places in and around Portland, Oregon.

Click on any of the photos below to see them full screen!

Follow me on Instagram @g_grins and @fractalfocus.nature

5: Marine Drive

Marine Drive runs along the Columbia River and there are lots of opportunities to pull over, take a bike ride or find a park along its path. I used to park at M. James Gleason Memorial Boat Ramp, pay the $5 parking fee (or not and see what happens) and walk east along the bike path that passes by the Portland Airport. Unfortunately, once you get past the airport you will start to run into homeless camps as of writing this article in 2022. A few years ago you could travel all along the path and it was clean and peaceful but since Covid, the city has not been cleaning up camps very much as so it is kind of trashy on some parts of the drive right now. Hopefully, they clean it up soon but there are still opportunities to walk or park along the path farther east, past the homeless camps, and look for birds and other wild creatures. I have seen bald eagles, herons, black cormorants, seagulls, and other animals and bugs and flowers and such.

4: Sandy River Delta

Sandy River Delta is a 1,500-acre natural preserve nestled up against the Columbia river northeast of Portland. It costs $5 to park or you can display a Northwest Forest Pass which is $30 for a year permit. This is usually a busy place and is also an off-leash dog park. It has miles of trails through trees and along the river. Most of the wildlife is found on the shore of the inlets, marshes, and tributaries that come from the Columbia River. The only downside I have found is that if you do not have a dog then you do not have that buffer when walking by dog walkers and unfortunately I have had a few dogs that tried to run at me, growled at me, or otherwise scared the hell out of me. Any dog owner who has a non-friendly dog should not frequent public places like this and these experiences have put me off of this otherwise extensive hiking area. I have seen bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, snakes, squirrels, smaller birds, and herons to just name a few animals that live there. I need to go back even if people have bad dogs so that I do not miss out on the opportunities that exist at this Park. Most of my experiences have been great but those few times when a dog freaked me out made it difficult to want to go back.

3: Oaks Bottom Wildlife Preserve

Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge is a 163-acre protected natural preserve located in the southern part of Portland near the Willamette river. It allows on-leash dog walking and is a great place to find lots of wildlife as that is its main purpose. Depending on the time of year you will find more or less activity which makes seeing the animals more or less accessible. I found springtime to be the best but that is the case for most wildlife, nevertheless, I have yet to be disappointed by any of my visits to this park. There has always been plenty of parking and it is free to park there. It is next to a seasonal carnival-type place that I have never visited. I would rather hike around the huge pond that is surrounded by marshes and wetlands. There are lots of birds, squirrels, ducks, birds of prey, frogs, and many other animals to find here.

2: Powell Butte Nature Park

Powell Butte Nature Park is found in East Portland just down 161st street and is only about a five-minute drive from my current address. It has trails for days through a densely wooded area that really feels like you are in a National Forest when you get into it. It has free parking but sometimes is so busy, especially during the summer, that I have turned around just because I didn’t want to deal with the parking. Most of the time it is no problem and it is somewhat regulated so it remains clean and maintained. There are bathrooms but I don’t rely on those very much because they tend to be closed most of the time and lately they have had a porta-potty available which is fine. The wildlife here can be someone hard to find depending on the season as you are not supposed to go off trail and there are wide open expanses you are not supposed to tread on. I have been going here for years and sometimes just wander off into the woods but I don’t recommend this to just anyone as it is a huge area and one can definitely get lost if one is not careful. What I love about this place is that no matter what time of the year it is I can find something to shoot. I have never seen so many different kinds of mushrooms as winter turns to spring. Spring brings all the birds and bugs and I’ve seen coyotes as well. The summer gets hot but there are still lots of red-tailed hawks, sparrows, American kestrels, and deer running around. I have seen many amazing sunsets at Powell Butte and there is a great view of Mt. Hood. Although there is a great view of Mt. Hood from almost anywhere in Portland so that gets kind of old when you’ve lived here for a while.

1: Blue Lake Regional Park

Blue Lake Regional Park is located in Fairview, Oregon right next to the Columbia River and just down from Marine Drive. The man-made lake is regularly stocked with fish which allows for a diversity of wildlife including birds, ducks, herons, owls, turtles, and many more animals. It costs $5 to park and they do not allow pets which makes this one of the best-maintained parks you’ll find in Portland. It doens’t have the largest area to explore but I have always found something interesting and fun to shoot there. There are a few little secret spots around the back side of the lake that I always check out the see some of the animals hiding from the people. Even though this is a recreational park it is usually not too busy except in the summer or during events but because it costs to get in and because it has multiple parking lots I have never had a hard time parking. Even though it is somewhat small compared to the rest of the parks on this list it is the park where I have had the most consistent luck finding interesting subjects to shoot and it is a generally peaceful place to walk around. It is clean and during peak seasons the bathrooms are open. Unfortunately, during the off seasons, the bathrooms are usually closed and you might have to use a porta-potty or find somewhere in the bushes. If you want to find squirrels, this is the place to go! There are tons of them and sometimes they walk right up to you and seem to pose. I’m actually sick of it. I also found a goose sleeping in a tree once, which was an odd site.

Blue Lake Regional Park is my favorite of all the places I have been but exploring nature in new places is always wonderful. Going to the coast or traveling to eastern Oregon has yielded amazing photographic adventures but when I need to get out for a couple of hours and don’t want to drive too far these are the places I go. Hiking around these parks with my camera in hand has offered such a peaceful reprieve from the daily grind that I barely remember what I did to unwind before I moved here. Whenever I am deciding on whether to go out to take photos at one of these places I always remind myself that I have yet to be disappointed when I decide to do it. It is always worth the effort.