Oak Island
Sauvie Island, Outer Northwest Portland (Map 7)
Category: urban surprises
Maybe you have fond memories of visiting Grandma in the country. Maybe you really like birds. Maybe you’re looking for a safe, open place where the kids and dogs can romp. And maybe, while you’re out there, picking some berries might be fun.
If this sounds like you, check out Oak Island, which is actually a peninsula in a lake on an island in a river. The latter island would be Sauvie Island, an oasis of country living and wildlife in the Columbia River west of Portland. And Oak Island is at the intersection of those two missions: a place where crops are grown to feed wildlife.
At the peak of the fall migration, some 150,000 ducks and geese lay over at Sauvie Island, as do several thousand sandhill cranes. Some 250 species of birds come here at some point, including many bald eagles in the winter.
The trail is closed during peak migration, but no matter when you come, you’ll encounter songbirds, ducks, geese, and even some resident eagles. It’s a flat 2.5-mile loop through the countryside, winding amid grassy meadows and patches of forest. You’ll get a view of Sturgeon Lake and another of The Narrows, a strip of water that connects Sturgeon and Steelan Lakes.
You’ll even see fields planted with alfalfa, corn, millet, and other foods for cows in the summer and migratory birds in winter. The state has a map with interpretive information (see second website in “essentials”). And Sauvie Island is dotted with pick-your-own-berries places for before or after your walk.
See what I mean? Crops, lakes, meadows, trees, berries, and birds. Just a nice little stroll in the country.
Essentials
- End of NW Oak Island Road, off NW Reeder Road, Sauvie Island, Portland, OR 97231
- GPS coordinates: N45° 42.876′ W122° 49.234′
- (503) 621-3488
- sauvieisland.org/visitor-information/natural-attractions/oak-island or tinyurl.com/oakislandtrailmap
- Parking, $7/day or $22/year. Passes available at cracker Barrel Grocery, 15005 NW sauvie Island Road, Portland, OR 97231; Reeder Beach RV country store, 26048 NW Reeder Road, Portland, OR 97231; and Oregon Department of fish and Wildlife, 18330 NW Sauvie Island Road, Portland, OR 97231.
- April 15–September 30: Daily, sunrise–sunset
- Transit:
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