Spring is here

…and it’s time for an adventure! You can join us for the Pendleton Picnic event in our retail and outlet stores, starting today, April 27th, and continuing through May 1st. We have so many fun things going on, and we are topping it off with double Perks.

So pay us a visit and get your picnic going! You can also enter to win this fantastic gift basket online here: ENTER TO WIN.

Oxbow Regional Park

As much as we all want to visit  our National Parks for a day of fun and picnicking, sometimes it’s a long trek to visit one of America’s Treasures. But if you live in the Pacific Northwest, you’re never far from the wilderness.

So let’s stay local, and visit Oxbow Park, one of the Portland area’s regional parks. Oxbow is only 25 miles from downtown Portland. It offers 57 drive-up tent campsites and 10 RV sites, so you can spend the night.  Pack the car, and let’s go!

This getaway isn’t remote, but it’s restorative to the spirit. Oxbow Regional Park stretches along the Sandy River, near Troutdale. It gets its name for the long, lazy curve that slows the current and makes the river a favorite for summer swimming.

When it’s cooler, the river is perfect for kayaking, boating, tubing and fishing.

The river might be one of the main attractions, but the park’s thousand acres hold fifteen miles of hiking trails through old-growth forests.

map credit

Bring your bird book. Along the river, you can watch the majestic osprey (also known as the fish eagle) swoop to the river and catch its prey.

When you hit the trails, listen and watch for the songbirds that flit among the centuries-old trees.

While you hike, watch for signs of the mink, beaver, raccoon, deer, elk, black bear and cougar that populate these ancient woods. Please note: pets are not allowed in Oxbow Park for the safety of both domestic and wild animals. No matter how fierce your dachshund might be, a cougar will win. So please leave him at home and tell him about it later.

The drive-up campsites are all equipped with picnic tables and cooking grills. This is a perfect opportunity for some outdoor cuisine, especially if it involves the Catch of the Day.

The park is home to the Oxbow Salmon Festival,  one of the most popular fish festivals on the west coast. For two days, as many as 10,000 visitors come to experience spawning salmon, along with music, food, art, storytelling, and a fish maze. The fishing tribes of the Columbia Basin, including the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Yakama, and Warm Springs tribes, host cultural exhibits and activities at the Wy-Kan-Ush-Pum (“Salmon People") village. This is a chance to learn about traditional fishing methods of the original Americans.

Oxbow Park is a beautiful place to experience the sunset with friends.

And of course, we hope you’ll take us along. We have been making National park blankets for 100 years, but we’ve expanded our offering for 2016, the centennial year of the National Park Service. Every purchase from Pendleton’s National Park collection supports special projects through the National Park Foundation.

Pendleton National Park Collection: SHOP