Gabriel Park — Attraction in Portland

I've reviewed this park before. It's a daily walk for me. If you haven't been here lately, the skate park has become a memorial to the two Wilson Highschool students who were killed in a car crash this summer. The park has signs up about it and is letting the memorial stay for now. Most of the graffiti art is expressing love for and remorse about the two dead teenagers.

You'll notice in the photo of the skate park that the cedar tree is dying. Many western red cedars are dying in the park, mostly in places where the other trees have been cut away, so they are dying at the edges of the forested part of the park. Western red cedars need the cool of a forest to be happy. There are enough dead cedars in the park to make it a significant fire hazard. Good enough reason to not only ban fireworks but to enforce the ban.

The fireworks situation is letting up, finally. Someone was setting off fireworks in the park every night starting after 10pm for about a month beginning in June and finishing well past 7/4. I didn't appreciate it and wish someone would catch the troublemakers and provide them with a big enough disincentive to stop it.

The last photo I've added is of an Oregon grape plant with berries on it in July. This plant is growing in the Gabriel Park Nature Patch which was created just a few years ago and is finally starting to grow in. There are lots of native plants there and many are tagged.

One final observation. There are quite a few people who walk the park without leashing their dogs. Our cat is dead so she is not getting chased by the unleashed canines anymore, but I still think leashes are underused. IF your dog is TRULY responsive to your voice and will heel consistently, I'm OK with you having them off leash. But IF your dog wanders and approaches other people or animals, you are doing it wrong. Please keep your dogs well controlled. And please DON'T leave bags of poop anywhere except for in the...

2022 5K event was disappointing! They pulled the finish line, water and bananas before all the walkers got to make it back! To go all the way to the end and when you get back to see everyone packing up and leave you behind was very upsetting. Me and my two girlfriends were so excited to cross that finish line since we had not done a 5K in years. There was no cheering when we got back and no finish line. We also really needed the water and banana they promised but they pulled that too. I am an older woman and out of shape, so it did take me longer than others. But the park sent someone to walk the route to see if there was anyone else out there and they were told that there were three more people. So, they had no reason to take down the finish line and toss the water. We finished the walk/run within the 2 hour time frame they posted, we finished way before that, almost one hour before the event ended and they knew we were still out there. The only good thing that came out of it was Martin. He works with the park and he saw us out there. He was out checking to make sure everyone got back and he walked all the way back with us. He told them that we were heading back. He was very kind. When we got back to everything being packed up, he tracked down the person that had the ribbons and was able to get us our participation ribbon. Thank you Martin!

We would love to do this walk/run again next year but please, wait for everyone one! Even older people who can't move as fast as the younger crowd! We all enjoy participating, people...

My dog and I went for the first time today. It was nice, though I took one star away because of the narrow parking 🅿️ spots by the baseball fields and kids area. There's another parking lot somewhere..... I also took that star away due to the numerous dogs off-leash in the parking lot and paths where dogs were supposed to be on leashes. The dog park is huge, had grass and is appropriately fenced in. So, the people who chose to ignore the leash law did so strictly because of privilege and likely feeling the law doesn't apply to them for reasons that are stupid and probably even they don't believe. Other than that, this park has everything; tennis and basketball courts, baseball fields, lots of tables and benches, a creek, community garden, kids area, lots of grass and trees. I've lived in Portland my entire life and only came here for the first time today. I shouldn't have waited so long. I'd recommend going because it has something...