Boardman Wetlands Loop Hike

Overview

In 2020, a new 5.8 acre park opened in Jennings Lodge, between Milwaukie and Gladstone. There’s a nature play area and a small parking lot, but most of the park is a remnant wetland along Boardman Creek traversed by a looping 1,500-foot boardwalk. Only a block away from busy McLoughlin Boulevard, and surrounded by suburban residences, this unlikely spot teems with life, from mallard families to great blue herons to tinkling blackbirds and swimming nutria. With the nature play area to your left, walk down to a junction, and bear right. Plantings in the area include Oregon grape, native strawberry, evergreen huckleberry, Nootka rose, cedar, and alder. You’ll begin a boardwalk that reaches a viewing platform, with an open pond on the left and Boardman Creek extending through a marshy area to the south. Red-winged blackbirds abound here, and you should keep your eyes peeled for a great blue heron before it flaps off. Mallards are the common ducks, and in spring there will be several clutches of ducklings. A pair or two of Canada geese may have taken up station on the grassy island in the center. The rodent you might see is most likely the non-native nutria although beaver have also been reported here. The wetland is thick with rushes, and fringed with willow, spiraea, and red osier dogwood. When you reach the central junction, keep straight to loop around for a figure of eight. From a viewing area at the north end of the park, the boardwalk becomes more narrow and unrailed, with a short stretch of gravel under a weeping willow. Cross over the central junction again to reach dry land and walk up past the play area to parking.

Trail Stats

Photos

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