Many people only think of "the pumpkin patch" or other U-Pick farms on Sauvie Island, but there is…read moreSO MUCH to see and do here. * Bird & Wildlife watching. There is a refuge on the NW side of the island where visitors can see bald eagles, cranes, herons, Osprey, nutria, deer, coyotes, and other critters. * Greenways and trails (Wapato Loop, Warrior Point Trail). * Beaches along the Columbia River (swimming, fishing), including a clothing-optional beach. * Kayaking and SUP (paddleboarding) on Multnomah Channel. * The island is a popular place for cyclists. * Picnic area at Howell Territorial Park. * Dog training and boarding at Sauvie Island Kennels and Charleton Kennels. NOTE: Permit required to park anywhere on the Island (except private property & businesses). DFW Fish & Wildlife regularly patrols, checking for permits and asking people to show their angler's licenses.

I had a great time on the beach with my friends and their kid all while watching boats pass by. The…read morecurrent isn't too strong but if you're in a floaty just make sure you don't float too far down the river. Enjoy!

I recently attended an amazing retreat at Camp Cedar Ridge. Not only was the retreat itself…read morefantastic, but it was also really enhanced by being held at Cedar Ridge. Although the location is gorgeous: it's right on a beautiful river, there's tons of natural beauty and scenic views of the Coast range mountains, I was MOST impressed by the friendliness of the staff and the quality of the food, which was absolutely scrumptious at every meal and did the best job accommodating the dietary needs of EVERYONE in attendance. Absolutely will attend other retreats here in the future!

The land, the animals, the views, the staff and accomodations, along with the food was wonderful!!…read moreHighly recommend and grateful to have experienced this wonderful slice of heaven

This was a fun excursion and was a part of the One Big Ticket for the Halloweentown festival I…read morepurchased. Those that paid this kind of admission hot to go on a boat across the Columbia to this island and walk on some of the designated paths to see Bigfoot. Lots of Halloween decor on the loop we went on, sculptures or maybe props to look like sculptures and a couple opportunities with Bigfoot. As part of the ride to this island we also ate some roasted marshmallows. I felt this was a highlight to the whole experience. As for the island itself it looks like a very chill place and even more so when it doesn't have a festival on it. Nice riverside beaches and places to have picnics. On another ride the person driving the vehicle said in the summer there are free boat rides to downtown St. Helens that go back and forth.

Camped here this weekend and had such a great time. We had a group campsite (#23) that faced the…read moreriver and front row to watching the annual Sand sculpting competition, which was a fun surprise to happen upon. You have to take a boat shuttle with your camp gear to get to the island, where you can load a cart pulled by an ATV that park staff will drive to your site. You can purchase firewood bundles that staff will also deliver directly to your site. Our site was more than ample space for a large 3 room tent, a 2-room tent, and two single tents, an ez-up, and about 15 chairs around the campfire plus the 2 site picnic tables. There was some sort of scavenger hunt going on and last year, I hear a bunch of people (or the staff?) dressed up as pirates - even had a "pirate" ship and walked around the island speaking Pirate jargon. Everything was very clean, especially for as many sites (at least 75, I believe) and people that were there. I was surprised to still see some empty campsites this late in summer, but apparently this is not yet a well-known little slice of Heaven on the Columbia. There is no running water on the island, so bring water with you or just hop back on the shuttle boat - it's just a couple minute ride over to the Marina and parking and short drive into St. Helens. The camp staff were all incredible - helpful, friendly, and all-around really good-natured people. It was quiet and peaceful, just the kind of place where you go to forget life for a while. There were no crazy loud parties, and I slept better here than I have for weeks at home. The dogs chased eachother up and down the beach, we found several agates on the other, less sandy side of the island. Theyveven have a disc golf course! There's something about camping that just feels serene. I enjoyed a kid-free weekend camping but I am so excited to bring my kids back here. 5/5 Stars. 2 thumbs up. We will be back. Thank you Sand Island and staff for an awesome weekend!

Clean campground with quiet setting among the trees with babbling gales creek near by. Clean…read morerestrooms and potable water pump. Well maintained trails and foot bridges.

This review is day use only, and trail hiking…read more This is an excellent spot to jump on several trails that circle the area. Today I did an 8 mile loop that took me south for a bit then back around. My goal was to stay on the Storey Burn Loop Trail, and I mostly did. It turned into Gale Creek Trail and there were many places where I could have diverted. Watch your map or it will have you darting across highway 6 - don't do it! Although, University Falls is over there and its gorgeous. On the east side there are lots of dirt bikes and hand cannons. The west side is blissfully free of that noise. Now you know. It was super muddy today, suck you out of your boots muddy. The water is flowing with all the rain we've had, and the rain forest is lush with growth. Enjoy!

A hideout indeed! Google maps and pics do not properly show the enormity of this place. I came…read morehere a couple of months ago for disc golf, but there was way more to be discovered here then I had thought. Here's a little bit about Horning's Hideout: = Just Getting Here = Be aware that once you drive off the main road, you'll see the signs to the hideout, but it's all gravel and tall trees from there. From the main sign, the drive heads downward, winding through the forest, down the canyon. Similar to that of driving to Pittock Mansion, only unpaved and narrower turns. So please proceed with caution. Once at the bottom, it opens up to a pleasant little valley. = Parking and Fee = Past the barn, to your right is the parking area. It's an open field. Pay at the parking station, $5 per person. = Features & Activities = * For fishing, I had inquired at the office. Once you park, there is a house or an information office just above the parking station. The lady (or owner) was helpful as she explained to me the lay of the land. Again, this place was way larger than I had imagined. But back to fishing... There is a lake that gets stocked with trout. No fishing license required. Assuming due to this being private land. You do pay a catch/cleaning fee. They also have fly-fishing during the winter through spring season. More details on their website. I did notice they've got paddle boats as well. So, forget the stupid ipad, and keep the kids busy with fishing and paddle boating! * For disc golf, there are three huge courses. One, only being par 3's. Which to me was like a good hike, yet still challenging. A medium course that's par 3's and 4's through the canyon that's said to be scenic. I have yet to try it. And a championship course with par 5's; Difficult greens around trees, and a U-turn. Someday, but not any time soon! * As for the wedding venues, I can only imagine, but there are three venues to use depending on your wedding party size. Can you envision your wedding photos or even your reception being close to a pond, a lake, a creek, or even a waterfall, with trees all around? Yeah, that's this place! Oh yeah, and with peacocks too! * Camping is also allowed as well. Reservations required of course. * And as you can see with the yelp photos, they occasionally have concerts which I though was really cool. Well, that just about sums it up, not sure what else to say. It's just a secluded place worth checking out. Especially if you need to escape some city life.

An Absolutely Beautiful place for a wedding. My son and daughter in law chose the lakeside venue…read more We were blessed with a wonderful day weather wise. It had forecasted to rain but luckily it held off until the following day. It would have been a totally different event had it rained. I do wish there was a way of getting around having to walk in gravel but unless they pave it there is no getting around that. So guests were told ahead of time to be aware of that. Different chairs were rented rather than the plastic ones that are provided which was a nice thing. Extra hanging lights were rented and hung up by the brides father. It made a big difference and I think the venue should consider investing in adding them permanently.

We stayed here in August of 2018 as a last minute camping trip for 3 nights. Upon arrival we were…read morea little disappointed with how close the tent camping spots were to one another. However, after being there for a few days it wasn't actually too bad. Below I've listed the pros and cons from our stay. PROS - 1. Deep in the woods/no cell phone coverage (sprint or AT&T). The tent sites were under pretty heavy tree cover, so even though it was mid 80s while we were here, it never go much warmer than mid 70's where we were at. 2. Very few tent sites with only 11 sites on the loop. This made for a fairly quiet trip. While the sites are fairly close together, it's not near as bad as a KOA and a few are more spaced out than others. 3. Multiple trails and a creek. We had 4 kids with us (5,7,7, &10). They spent all day playing by the very shallow creek and the trails surrounding it that were directly behind the tent sites. I also ran the Liahona one day, and would recommend for someone who enjoys short trail runs or a fairly easy hike. 4. Two large open fields. There is one field about 100 yards up from the tent sites that was larger than a football field. Good for letting dogs run around or setting up a game. There was another field where they have weddings higher up near the bathroom that was even larger. We setup a huge game of capture the flag one day and then spent quite a bit of time riding bikes down the grass hill the next. The kids loved it. 5. Bathroom/Showers near Horse Camp. These were fairly updated and much nicer than the ones closer to the tent camping. CONS - 1. The main bathrooms were quite a trek from the campsite and the showers were not something I'd assume anyone actually uses. I'd guess 300 yards, mostly uphill. The next set was near the horse camp and another 150 yards or so further. That one is MUCH nicer. 2. This is a HUGE campground with a ton of room. However, all the camping loops are pretty small with the sites pretty close together. As I noted above, there are a few more spaced out or some that would be really nice if you had a couple groups out camping together on multiple sites. 3. Adirondack sites were not great. We checked these out, but would definitely never camp in them. They were all in fairly rough shape and just like the tent sites were all pretty close together. OTHER -All the roads were gravel through the whole camp. This made for some fun biking, but also made things a little dusty. -The camp host is about a half mile away. As long as you have respectful neighbors this isn't a problem, but there likely won't be anyone strongly enforcing quiet hours.

Good place to camp. Fairly close to Portland. No showers. Had that honeybucket thoughread more

Is a great place to visit and just relax. Watch the trains go by take your kayak out it's a great…read moreplace to go on walks take a bike ride.

What a magical place. Most of the main paths are paved, there are benches at regular intervals…read more Evidently there are over 40 acres to walk here. Some paths look like people have stepped off the major pathway. I'm sure if the ground was dried out a bit it would be easier to walk. I would love to come back and take another walk about.

Went on a Glamping Trip to L.L. Stub Stewart State Park (Buxton, OR). I've been trying to visit…read moremore State and National Parks, as they are generally quite nice, affordable, and of course out in nature. Sarah marinated some delicious meats and I grilled some skewers. We also made some s'mores. L.L. Stubbs is one of the cleanest and nicest state parks I've ever been to. Gorgeous views from the cabin, plenty of hiking, and a day use area that has a dog park and picnic tables if you're not camping here. It's also quite affordable. Highly recommend. Thankful for these moments.

This a fantastic campground, we go camping here very often between travels to other places that are…read morefurther away or when we just want to get away, it is super close, sites are large to have room for not just the RV but also enough for my brother in-law to stay with his tent. We have found our favorite spots (I will not disclose as OR state parks reservations are very competitive so I need to keep them secret). The sites are clean the public restrooms and showers are in great shape (as with most OR state Parks). The full hookups are well placed for trailers too. The camps hosts as always are always great in the OR state parks. It is very forested in the west loop; the east loop is more open but also very nice. Tent campers have plenty of places in both locations too. There is also a loop of cabins that are really nice (have a reservation soon to check them out). They have a horse only camp up higher which is very cool if you have horses you want to bring so you can hit the trails with your ponies. There is lots of bike trials for mountain bikers and hikers and the wonderful Banks Vernonia paved trail which is always a great ride. I believe there is also a Disc golf area too which seems to be common with OR state parks to have. The cellular service for Verizon and AT&T is strong enough to allow us to work and stream movies while here. This makes it a great place to remote work if you can. Almost every trip we see deer roaming around the sites which is just amazing. They are calm and use to humans, but please do not feed them let them live and roam in peace . You can stay here year-round, they can get snow so be prepared. If you want, you can take a quick trip to Vernonia or Banks for a meal or if you crave a coffee drink or maybe groceries.