Carver Park — Attraction in Happy Valley

This park has seemed nice enough over the years. My only experience with this park has been as a landing point for the popular Barton to Carver float along the Clackamas River. That is the only thing I've ever seen people use this park for and honestly I don't know if there is even any more to this park than a landing point, bathrooms and a parking lot. The shuttle that used to run from Carver back up to Barton no longer operates, so make sure you have a ride pre-arranged or come with two cars and park one at each park. The reason I'm giving this park only 2 stars is that I witnessed something disturbing by the park staff a week ago. I landed with my son at the end of a float, running late around 8:30pm. As, we waited for a ride and were deflating our raft, the staff ushered us to wait outside the gate, as it was closing at 9pm. No big deal. But on our way out, we observed a group of young adults/teenagers talking about how they had locked their keys in their car. The park staff were having none of it. At exactly 9pm, two tow trucks swooped in and the park staff locked the gates. However, the car owners had a group of maybe 6 people that stood in the way to block their car from the tow truck. Several minutes later, a car showed up with spare keys. The park staff would not let the car that showed up with spare keys through. Eventually the people with the stranded car got the keys and started it up. As they went toward the gate, the staff kept it closed and locked and one of the tow trucks backed up behind the car, blocking it in. Minutes later nine cop cars showed up. At one point, one of the cops who just pulled in asked if I was involved in "the fight." I said "no" and he left me alone. But obviously, based on that question, the park staff called the cops saying the car owners were fighting or attacking them. My son and I observed this whole thing from beyond the gate and there was no attack or fight of any kind. It was actually appalling at how determined the staff were to tow cars that are there one second past closing. There is obviously something shady going on between park staff and the tow company, when the tow trucks swoop in exactly at 9pm and the park staff prevent people from driving off and seemingly make false police reports. So be warned: do not park your car in here if you might cut it close to making it out before closing. The float takes around 4 hours. Give yourself 5 hours buffer at least before Carver closes. So glad I...

Went floating here 6/30/2016. I've done this float many times in the past. We didn't reach the bottom until around 930pm. Cops and tow truck (the worst towing company ever Clackamas River Towing) were already there. He was just hooking up the car as I said "It's okay we are here. So sorry." "It's already hooked." The man from the worst tow company ever told me. "It's $150 cash to get it off." Number one I just came back from a float trip. Do you think I carry $150 cash while on the river?? I tried to plead with the sheriff but he was of no use. He was too busy writing up a citation banning my friend from all Clackamas county parks. " Can I please at least get a ride to Barton Park to pick up my car?" I asked the sheriff. " No. You should call an Uber or something, and if you're not there by 10pm your car will be towed as well." Wow thanks for nothing officer! its already 945. As I stood there thinking about what to do next the more I realized this whole situation is a total scam! Already had the car hooked as soon as we got there, tow assistance by the worst tow company ever, $150 cash. Seems like the county wants to make money by preying on hard working middle class Americans. To future people looking to enjoy the river make sure you float trip is over by 8pm to be safe so you don't endure the same fate as my...

We arrived after driving 2.5 hours to float the river that we had never been to because we all were from out of state. Once we arrived we were greeted by the sheriff who informed us that we should not tie our floats together to avoid a ticket. Once we finished getting everything ready to float the sheriff cut us off and asked us to list all the park rules. Once we failed this test he told us that we could not have any alcohol in the cooler we brought. We informed him that we had no idea and we would gladly leave the alcohol and that we were there just to float. He then informed us that we were banned from all county parks for the entire day and if he saw us again we would be arrested for trespassing. I understand that this may be some type of general rule that is enforced but we honestly had no idea and that Sheriff ruined our day that some of us...