Grade:
| Padme’s Paws | (Out of 4) |   |
| My Grade | (A to F) | C / C- |
Trail Stats
- Trail: Boundary, Meadows, and Old Mill Loop Trail
- Location: Sandy River Delta Park
- Distance: 4 miles (AllTrails.com) / 4.98 miles (side quests)
- Difficulty: Easy
- ADA accessible: No
Directions
Parking – Easy
Parking at Thousand Acres in Sandy River Delta Park is very straightforward. You can easily get there using GPS or by taking Exit 18 off I-84 East. At the end of the off-ramp, there’s a stop sign at the dead-end.
If you turn right, the park is just down the road. Be aware that the parking lot isn’t large enough for a busy day. If you turn left, you’ll find overflow parking. Across the road from overflow parking, there’s a path along the river that also leads to the park.
The path isn’t on the road, but it’s close enough that it might spook your pup. It’s also narrow, with a slope on the opposite side, so there isn’t a lot of room to maneuver if your dog is reactive.
The main parking lot has spaces for passenger vehicles and a few spots reserved for horse trailers. I’ve seen signs of horses but not the trailers themselves. People often squeeze their passenger cars into every inch of those trailer spots, and I’m sure someone’s gotten blocked in at some point. Be aware!
I tend to arrive early to ensure I get a parking spot and avoid the crowds. I’d rather walk a little extra than risk getting blocked in.
In the parking lot, there’s also a building with two single-occupancy bathroom stalls. It’s the only bathroom facility on any of the trails, so plan ahead or bring your Shewee! In my experience, the bathrooms are clean and well-maintained, though I’m not always there.
Close to the bathrooms is the payment kiosk, where it costs $5 per car to park. You can also pay in advance on recreation.gov or with one of several passes:
My advice? Get a pass. It easily pays for itself if you hike often, and then you just display it and forget it!
Not gonna lie—I’m counting down the days until I can buy the senior lifetime America the Beautiful pass for $80.
The America the Beautiful pass varies in cost depending on age, military service, or volunteer status, so check it out!
Why It’s Good for Padme
Padme and I do a different trail at this park very often. She, her best friend (Lewis), and her best friend’s mom and I often meet up on the weekend to do a quick walk to the river. They have a good time chasing each other around on the trail, getting the zoomies in the sand on the beach, and generally smelling all the pee-mail.
In general, though, Padme loves the different landscapes at this park: there are big fields, dense brush, wooded areas, ponds, and a river. She’s a big dog who loves lots of space to run, jump, swim, and dig. She can do all of those things in this park, and I don’t have to worry too much about big cats or bears. Unfortunately, since a lot of people have bias against big dogs, I still have to worry about other dogs’ parents.
Why It’s Good for Me
Padme does great in all sorts of conditions but slip sliding away only interests me as lyrics in a song. It is an excellent walk in mid-October though. I have to give this walk an C or even a C-, because I won’t do it when it’s rainy: too muddy.
Padme and I did this same loop either late last year or earlier this year, but I had forgotten when I chose to do it for my Saturday hike. When we did walk it before, it was very, very muddy, which I disliked.
Padme does great in all sorts of conditions but slip sliding away only interests me as lyrics in a song. It is an excellent walk in mid-October though. I have to give this walk an C or even a C-, because I won’t do it when it’s rainy: too muddy.
Padme and I did this same loop either late last year or earlier this year, but I had forgotten when I chose to do it for my Saturday hike. When we did walk it before, it was very, very muddy, which I disliked.
As I said before, I love this park because dogs can be off leash and there are lots of trails of various lengths to use; Padme can run and play as much as she wants, and I don’t have to worry about much in terms of other dogs and her reactivity.
She’s not a perfect off-leash greeter of dogs in the wild; she likes to herd them, which looks like stalking and then bounding up to them. She gets on the ground with her chin low in a way that reminds me of her brother, Leo the cat. When Leo does it, everyone thinks it’s cute. When a 90 lbs dog does, people get nervous.
I like to make sure that Padme and I run into fewer people because of this, so we tend to go out earlier in the day to hike. This morning the fog was still low enough to kiss the tops of the hills on the other side of the highway. The light and the crispness in the air made it feel like Thanksgiving.
I might be weird, but sometimes when the light is just right and the leaves are a certain color, it just reminds me of specific days from my childhood. This day made me think of Thanksgiving.
The yellow leaves of the birch or poplar trees were beautiful, and it was nice to just take my time while Padme ran back and forth up and down the trail, dropping off trail to chase a squirrel or bird when she wanted. Everything together was just peaceful and made it easy to not think so much.
Having quiet time is a big reason that I like hiking. I have enough noise in my world in general, both inside and outside my head, but the noise that is everywhere on a good remote hike is a waterfall or fast river or even the wind. These are noises that make me relax.
Unfortunately, this park is very close to the highway, so you cannot escape the car noise. This trip had a nice surprise for me though: as I was walking through a stand of trees that were bending over me like a medieval arch, I heard a train whistle in the distance. I guess some technological advances don’t bother me quite as much as others when I’m trying to enjoy the peace and quiet of nature.
Also, this park is great for gaining mileage. It’s flat and there are plenty of trails of various lengths. Just like with Padme, I want to have more obstacles: steep hills, fallen trees to get over or under.
After my top surgery and with my weight loss, I feel more and more like I am in the body I was supposed to be in. Being able to test my limits with obstacles helps me psychologically fill in the space that almost 4 decades of the wrong hormones took from me.
This park just doesn’t push me or help me feel like myself.
I have to give this walk an C or even a C-, because I won’t do it when it’s rainy: too muddy.