Between riverside beaches, good restaurants, beautiful trails and one incredible waterfall, Oregon City has more than enough to fill your cup.

Those in the Portland area looking for a quick day trip – say, something far enough to be removed but close enough to be convenient – should look no further than the historic city at the end of the Oregon Trail.

Popularly lauded as the first incorporated U.S. city west of the Rocky Mountains (though Mayor Denyse McGriff will tell you it was the first west of the Missouri River), the town sits at the intersection of the Willamette and Clackamas rivers with a small, historic downtown near the amazing Willamette Falls and a more sprawling section of town on the bluff above the Willamette River.

While there’s definitely a small-town vibe, its proximity to Portland is clear, especially in the restaurant scene. This is a place where you can find the offshoot of Gabriel Rucker’s famed Canard, and at least one cafe that stocks beans from Deadstock Coffee. That said, you’re more likely to see people populating beloved establishments like Mike’s Drive-In and Ranee’s on Main, where the food is decidedly unfussy.

I have long loved spending the day in Oregon City, taking any opportunity to go there. For years, I took my car to a mechanic in town, often lingering long after the work was done.

This spring, when the sun emerged and the flowers began to bloom, I plotted my return: a daylong exploration of old favorites and new spots around town. If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a travel reporter, it’s that there are always new things to discover.

BREAKFAST AND A WALK

The best place to start your day downtown is Black Ink Coffee, a cafe on the southern end of the historic downtown that shares space with White Rabbit Gifts. Portland coffee snobs will be at home here with beans from Deadstock, Proud Mary and Stumptown. On a sunny Thursday morning, I sipped a macchiato at a table with vague “Alice in Wonderland” markings, then slipped out into the beautiful day.

While this part of Oregon City seems designed for walking, those embarking on foot will have to contend with parking: Metered spots downtown have two-hour limits, forcing visitors to return and move their cars. There are a few four-hour and eight-hour spots, as well as one pay lot, but I usually just surrender and organize my day around the meter.

Not far from Black Ink Coffee is the famed Oregon City Municipal Elevator, a 130-foot free public elevator that takes pedestrians up to the bluff over town (a charming stairway to the top is also available). The elevator opened in 1955, replacing an old hydraulic model that forced people to cross a 35-foot catwalk over the railroad tracks. All this I learned at the top, where a cheerful worker sat at a desk offering information to curious passersby.

The city continues at the top of the elevator, with more shops and restaurants, as well as historic buildings and neighborhoods. A few blocks over, I found The Hive Social, a hip, modern restaurant that serves food all day. In a cozy booth, I sidestepped the pricey Benedicts for an order of the Just Avo Toast and over-easy eggs, with a (surprisingly tall) glass of grapefruit juice that came out to about $20 – good fuel for a morning walk.

The elevator gives access not only to the upper part of town, but also the McLoughlin Promenade, a half-mile pathway that runs along the edge of the bluff, past beautiful gardens and great views. The promenade comes alive in the spring, with blooming flowers, blue skies and lots of green space to enjoy. For now, this is also the best place outside of a boat to get a look at Willamette Falls, which since time immemorial has been a place for fishing and communal gathering.

As walkers on the promenade can see, Willamette Falls is still surrounded by several old paper mill buildings and hydroelectric powerhouses, some of which are active and some of which are actively being torn down. On the Oregon City side of the river, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde is slowly demolishing those buildings to make room for its tumwata village project. On the other side, the Willamette Falls Inter-Tribal Public Access Project is working on a vision of its own. Both projects promise new, beautiful community spaces, but are expected to take years to complete.

At the end of the McLoughlin Promenade, I crossed a pedestrian bridge over Oregon 99E and walked up to the main Willamette Falls viewpoint on the side of the highway. The view here doesn’t come close to what you’d get on the river, but it’s still a pretty good look.

Across the street, I popped into the Museum of the Oregon Territory, a small museum run by the Clackamas County Historical Society that had just opened for the day. The $8 admission gave me a self-guided tour of the exhibits, which run from Indigenous history through the industrial era into modern times. This is a nice way to dip your toes into local history; those looking for a more immersive experience can visit the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center on the other side of town, with its historic re-enactors, crafts, games and tours.

WILDFLOWERS AND RIVERSIDES

Back along the promenade, down the elevator and once again downtown, I searched for something to eat. I’ve lunched a lot in Oregon City over the years and have settled on a few favorites: the lefse wraps at Ingrid’s Scandinavian Food, the perfectly-portioned lunch menu at Pho Thi, and the creative, upscale options at Canard.

On this trip, I decided to check out the Corner 14 food carts, across the street from Oregon City Brewing on the north end of downtown. After browsing carts offering Thai, burgers, Mexican and Russian peroshki, I settled on a place called Veggie Bowl, where I devoured a box of rice, quinoa, veggies and nori, flavored with an addictive spicy sauce for a reasonable $11. Fueled up once again, I set off for an afternoon exploring the outdoor opportunities around town.

Oregon City has a number of good hiking areas, including Newell Creek Canyon Nature Park, which opened in 2021 with more than four miles of forested trails, and Canemah Bluff Nature Park, a small park with river views.

One of my favorite natural areas here is the Camassia Natural Area, a 26-acre nature preserve just across the Willamette River in West Linn. Camassia is known for its beautiful spring wildflower blooms, which on this day I couldn’t resist. A short loop trail took me through a forest blooming with trillium and Oregon grape, and into meadows where purple camas lilies and pink sea blush flowers were popping. Nestled into a local neighborhood, the preserve has limited parking, so be respectful of neighbors when finding a spot. (Alternately, you can make the one-mile walk from downtown Oregon City, which is along sidewalks most of the way.)

After the flowers, I drove a few minutes deeper into West Linn to Maddax Woods, a seven-acre park along the Willamette River. Despite what the name suggests, the highlight here is a riverside viewing platform that looks out to Goat Island (another misnomer, as the resident animals are roosting herons). A wooded trail leads a short way uphill and enters Burnside Park, a neighborhood forest that gives access to a shaded river beach. I could have spent the rest of the afternoon on the sand, where the scenery was peaceful despite the rumble of motors from a boat launch across the water. Instead, I marked it down for another time and continued on my journey.

Somehow hungry again, I stopped at the Mi Famiglia pizzeria in downtown Oregon City, where I downed half a $17 margherita pie, cooked speedily in the wood-fired oven. The day had grown warm, and I found the meal a necessary break from both the sun and from walking. Of course, that didn’t mean I was done exploring.

After visiting the banks of the Willamette River, I was interested to see what the Clackamas River parks had to offer. Back in my car, I drove to the north side of town where I found River Access Park, part of the Clackamas River Trail. Between the noise of nearby Interstate 205 and the disappointingly small river access points, this was no peaceful getaway (though the sunny, accessible picnic areas were tempting). The paved trail is better suited for cycling than walking, and my feet soon tired of the hard surface. I had hoped to spend more time by the Clackamas, but after a quick two-mile out-and-back walk, I had seen enough.

With evening descending and my to-do list complete, I searched for one final stop to put a cherry on the top of my Oregon City day trip. The day before my trip, a colleague who lives in the area gave me a great tip: Mike’s Drive-In, a local burger chain with a spot in the heart of Oregon City, offers soft serve ice cream cones for $1.49. There, I ordered a vanilla-strawberry swirl and grabbed a seat outside, chilled by both the ice cream and the cooling day.

It might have been a little early in the season for days filled with riverside beaches and ice cream cones, but I felt certain this town would soon be buzzing with activity, the community’s many wonderful destinations well enjoyed.

–Jamie Hale covers travel and the outdoors and co-hosts the Peak Northwest podcast. Reach him at 503-294-4077, jhale@oregonian.com or @HaleJamesB.

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