George Rogers Park Hike

Overview

George Rogers Park fronts the Willamette River at its confluence with Oswego Creek, where a sandy beach attracts swimmers and sunbathers on warm, sunny days. The park is also the site of an old blast furnace, a remnant of Lake Oswego's iron industry. To extend a walk, cross Oswego Creek and take the paved trail alongside Old River Road into West Linn, getting views acres the Willamette to riverfront homes in Oak Grove. George Rogers was the Lake Oswego resident who donated the land for the park, the city's first communal open space. Walk from the parking area and into the Memorial Garden to view the 1866 Oregon Iron Company Furnace, the oldest industrial structure in Oregon. Then head down a zigzagging path to the rocky shore of the Willamette River. Tame geese and ducks may be waiting to be fed here. Head south along the beach and turn up Oswego Creek. Return to the stairs and go left alongside Memorial Garden’s lawn, passing some restrooms. Then go left over a pedestrian bridge above Oswego Creek and keep left along a paved trail above the river. Oregon ash, bigleaf maple, Douglas-fir, western red-cedar and cottonwoods form the canopy. Invasive ivy dominates the understory. Spurs lead up to the right to homes and streets. There are a couple of views down the Willamette. Pass a sign denoting the 1905 Tug Master’s House, a white craftsman home up on the bluff. On the left is a large structure, the remains of a log hoist built by the Crown Willamette Paper Company. Cross a footbridge and reach Old River Road. Here keep left, passing a through a small plaza with Douglas-fir cone sculptures. From the sculptures, walk along little-traveled Old River Road on a section of the Willamette River Greenway. The trail separates from the road at one point. After this, you can cross the road and head up a trail that leads into Mary’s Woods, a retirement community near Marylhurst University. Back on the road, keep heading south, noting Hog Island in the river to your left. There is no legal access to the bluffs above the r

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