Sewallcrest Park — Attraction in Portland

There's nothing particularly special about this park that makes it a frequent destination of mine, other than proximity.

It's mostly flat, with limit landscaping, just a handful of trees, one of which is pretty cool (the one by the culdesac).

I take my dog here often and there are usually other friendly dog's with their humans, who are often also friendly. Technically, the offleash area is a small section of the park (the area--a sloped plane with more trees than the bulk of the park which is wide open, and flat, grass--south of the baseball field, and west of the cement pathway which dissects the park) but I've never seen anyone stay confined to this boundary when the field is not in use, which is most of the time.

That said, it's worth noting that this is the field area for an Elementary School, Edwards, located on the same block. Expect kids of the appropriate ages, then, to frequent this park, during the school year especially, but summertime too, for sports teams.

Aside from the baseball field, and the young children's playground, there's also a full basketball court, with good, relatively new surfacing; a couple of picnic benches, a few benches for sitting... and that's about it, really. Oh, also there's a community garden on the same block.

By the way, in my experience, most people mispronounce the name of this park as if its 'Sea Wall'-Crest. But if you look a bit more carefully at the spelling, you'll see that it's s - e - w - a - l, thus it's most likely pronounced more like 'sue'-'ole', ie, like sewer, with '-al' instead of '-er'. That said.... personally, I still pronounce it sea-wall-crest... afterall, it...

This park is great. It’s winter and at any park you will run into slush or mud or puddles during this long season. This park is no exception, there are certain pockets of the park that get really muddy, but there are also parts of the park that don’t. The grass is thick enough and well rooted enough that even after days of rain you can still run your dog and not have them come home caked in mud (still wet and dirty though so prepare). You just need to learn the park to know where to throw the ball.

Also I love this park because for the most part people are chill about pit bulls. I have a sweet pit bull who is, like most pitties, very vocal. I’ve seen only a few people pick up their dogs and run when my girl catches a ball, shakes her head around and growls with glee. Most though, even those few on high alert, are cognizant of the fact that this is just pit bull behavior and nothing to freak out about. This is a lot more than I can say for a lot of Portland parks, even the ones with designated dog areas.

Anyway, I love Sewallcrest park. It’s super chill. Lots of dogs, lots of kids, ballgames going on, picnickers and even the houseless folks, all meshing and coexisting beautifully.

Side note: this park is not fenced in so not a good place for runners or dogs without good recall. There is a honey bucket but no permanent bathroom structure. There is a water fountain with a low spout for dogs and a medium and higher for kids and adults. There is a play structure and a mini homemade skate park in the lot. There is also a community garden...

This park is a hot mess transience everywhere along with Urban campers despite the fact there are signs posted that it is illegal to camp in the park. Not looking forward to my daughter having soccer practice here through the rest of the year but definitely going to be keeping a close eye on her and her soccer team. I literally grew up walking to that Park with only two siblings and being able to play and run around and nobody was concerned for anybody safety other than playground accidents. So sad to see this park go and such a Negative Direction. Good job Portland. Just an update on bringing my daughter for soccer practice this year. This park should just be listed as an urban camping ground just pulled up to find 4 groups of homeless people completely camped out in the field and around it making it so my daughter's soccer team couldn't start practicing until the Urban campers had been rounded up and sent...