Rood Bridge Park — Attraction in Hillsboro

Nice, big park. Lots of shade, paths, natural area, playground, tennis courts, picnic shelter, benches and restrooms, and a concrete ramp and floating dock providing easy river access.

There is a pretty good Tualatin River Water Trail map along with access points and safety information at the top of the ramp.

The river access is really nice, though you can only go to the south as there is a very low dam prohibiting access a couple minutes north of the access ramp.

The River at Rood Bridge Park is about half as wide a it is in the city of Tualatin (where there are four conveniently located river access facilities).

In the river there are quite a few tree trunks and branches you need to avoid. It’s fun because you need to pay attention as many branches are submerged.

Something you don’t see everyday is a Clean Water Services (Washington County’s sewerage agency) outlet pipe in the river a few minutes paddle south of the boat ramp where cleaned wastewater is released into the river.

At that point the treated effluent water bubbles up causing about a 10’ diameter frothy area and the current from the pipe and foam cross the width of the river and floats downstream a bit. A nearby sign says the foam is harmless and it provides an interesting educational opportunity for how Clean Water Services helps sustain water quality and ecology of the watershed.

Through this pipe and others, along with releases from Scoggins and Barney reservoirs, Clean Water Services helps maintain sustainable base flows, cools water temperatures, and enhances water quality for fish and wildlife in the Tualatin River.

You can read a lot more about this online and most of the above two paragraphs were cribbed from the...

The bathrooms here are single use and, as such, open to any gender, family, etc. There is plenty of parking. This park sits across the street from an affluent neighborhood, so everything must remain green of course...despite year after year of drought. The walk path is only well shaded for the first third or so when starting off on the south-west end of the park, heading east. There is a small creek running through the park, as well as Tualatin River running the south side of the park. There are birds here...even on hot days. I was happy to hear them. The traffic noise is almost non-existant. As you approach the east side of the park, you hear increasing road noise. There are large open spaces on the north-west third, as well as picnic tables and covered shelters. This park was a nice reprieve from the mid-eighty temps on the day we visited. The paths are all paved. There are some dirt off-shoots to the Tualatin River waste water return spot. You will smell it before you see it if you have any olfactory capability. The stench is the worst, however, when you pass the large concrete cylinder at one of the first junctures when walking down the south side of the trail, heading east. If you can ignore the stinky points on the trail, this is a better than average park for city life. Ideally, wastewater would not be run through it, though this seems to be common around SW Washington and the...

This is a great family park with long loops of a variety of terrains, bark gravel, and paved, a wonderful playground with an area for younger children and older children, a large covered eating and sitting area with a fireplace, several large fields for ball games and picnics, a small shaded area with a duck/frog pond that includes several benches and a covered area around it, a small lake that has beautiful lotus flowers and Lily pads once a year and trails with views all around it. Some trails are more secluded than others so you can really escape or visit the more frequented trails to feel immersed. There are tennis courts, multiple bathrooms, a rhododendron garden, a very shallow man made river filmed with river rocks runs the property so you hear the beautiful flow of water rushing all around. There is also a boat dock to laugh to the river if you'd prefer to kayak or go fishing. And lastly this park is frequented by one of my favorite local painted rock hiding groups so there are always little treasures for the kids to find! I see many families taking family photos here. I took my pregnancy photos here. It's a...