Gladstone Nature Park — Attraction in Gladstone

This is a really cute little piece of the wild in the middle of town. This wasn't too exciting for my 12 year old, but was a nice still. I think toddlers and little kids would enjoy it more. A few important notes. DO NOT park at the church across the street. Signs indicate they will tow you. There is parking for about 3 cars at the park entrance that has the port-a-potty.

The first part of the trail is paved, then it is either packed dirt or wood chips. At the little hut at the start of the trail there is a QR code to snap with your phone that takes you to a scavenger hunt. I don't think the website has functionality to check the boxes. You can screenshot the image, then edit it with your photo editor to mark off the boxes. I might have missed a trail guide, so this could be on me or it could be an area for improvement. Trails aren't clearly marked, and we ended up at the end of the trail on a steep drop off to get to the road/ sidewalk below. No biggie, the park isn't that big. We just turned around and went...

Beautiful 11.5-acre mixed forest with Oregon White oaks, Pacific madrone, lots of licorice fern on the basalt rocks, and many other native plants and flowers to see throughout the year. Great place to walk the many woodchipped trails, go birding, and observe nature. On-leash dogs are welcome, and poop bag stations are available at each end of the one paved, accessible trail. A highlight is Pollinator/Butterfly Hill at the front of the park, which has been planted to attract and support butterflies and other pollinators. Picnic tables and accessible portapotty on site. No water. The park is regularly undergoing improvements by the Friends of Gladstone Nature Park, which has a work party the last Saturday of the month from 9-12. Volunteers...

I mean they are using the term "park" rather loosely! It's one 1/4 of a mile paved trail that sits tightly against an obnoxiously large apartment complex that casts it's shadow over the entire "park" their are separate crude side paths u can branch off and explore to see where they take u, spoiler alert they all lead u back to the parking lot & u basically realize u walked in a big circle but did it the most random way possible... Their are a bunch if wild rabbits that pop out of their sticker bush/dried up grass homes & will just look at u in complete shame & confusion.. Their is poison oak If u stray off into the bushes for whatever reason one might but that's all the possible drama u will encounter on this child...