Washington Park Archery Range — Attraction in Portland

It's FREE!!

Be prepared for mud and beware the lake in the back. There isn't anywhere to put your arrows or your bow so if you don't have a special set up you should probably bring a lawn chair or something to put things down on. The backstops are placed at a range of distances which is good, but they can't really be moved so if you get there when a ton of people are there you'll probably get stuck at one that's a million miles away you can barely see. They are also super dense so you might want an arrow puller, and they're unmarked so you'll need to bring your own target and something to sick it on with.

Most of that is pretty typical for an outdoor range, so for being FREE and outside it's pretty good.

Go farther than Waze takes you, it's past the zoo and a little farther down the road than I expected.

About 15 parking spots right...

Its a great place to go an practice archery. Parking is limited to about 12 spots and as tou can see from the picure there are only about 9 spots for shooting 2 (10 yards), 1 (15 yards), and then others that go further but I have not used them. I usually go on Sunday mornings and there is gentleman that teaches free basic classes. However, you must reserve a spot for that on meetup group. If you look up archery on the mmet up app he is the only one that comes up. There is also a porta potty there.

It can get muddy and slushy during rainy days. Otherwise it is awesome. I have been told that it is easy to get spots the rest of the week or even Sunday after 12 after the group is gone.

I recently took the free lessons and I am hooked. Surprisingly it is...

Overall experience is really pleasant. Just show up and shoot - nothing crazy. If you're getting into archery, there's usually loads of people willing to help out. Basic shooting protocol is very easy to pick up after watching for a while. That being said, I have lost about four arrows at this range. Somehow arrows just do a really good job of burying themselves into the grass, but it can't really be helped. The density of the bales can vary heavily - some could be packed thoroughly with straw while others may drop arrows from being too loose. This is definitely a nice place to go shooting, and I find myself staying there for hours. Would recommend this place to archers...