Swimming in Portland, Oregon is an important activity in the summer.  Temperatures rise and people want to cool down, pretty simple.  As green as a place that Portland is I find it a little lame that we can not even swim in the Willamette River, which flows right through the middle of town, without worrying about health risks.  I am hopeful that with the completion of Big Pipe project that we will be able swim, float and recreate in the Willamette River in the future without worrying about e-coli.  Let’s face it we all love livability in Portland, but in my mind having a river to swim in close to downtown is the measure of a towns livability in the summer time.  When that day happens you can bet that Portland’s fun meter will rise 5 - 10 notches.  So until that magic day I have compiled a short list (in no particular order) of suggestions for places to cool off and take a dip in PDX. 

1) Sandy River - about 20 minutes from downtown Portland.  Great natural area, crowded on the weekends but great for people watching.

2) Portland Public Pools - these pools are very family oriented, but even if you don’t have kids or a family it is unbelievable fun.  Every day is like the pool party at Caddyshack.  Kids are having a ball with floats, there are plenty of lounge chairs to take in the scene and chill.  My favorites are Grant Pool, Sellwood Pool and Wilson Pool - all great outdoor pools.

3) Trillium Lake - if you really want to experience the outdoors take an hour and a half drive up to Mt. Hood and Trillium Lake.  How about going for a swim and taking in a view of Mt. Hood?

Have suggestions for your favorite please let me know and contribute!

In the meantime why not help improve the Williamette River for Swimming check out Willamette River Keeper  whose goal is to enable the Willamette to function more naturally, with cold, clean water, and provide healthy habitat for fish, wildlife and people!

Retro Swimwear Photos where taken prior to the awesome Back Fence PDXevent at Tour de Crape on June 19th.  Back Fence PDX is an incredibly fun story telling event that occurs bi-monthly.  Typically when I think of storytelling I think of bearded old men rocking on their front porch telling stories that make you say by-gosh.  This is not Back Fence PDX, this event brings together a great variety of amateur, but mostly professional story tellers/writers who take turns telling very fresh, current stories.  The hosts of this production  Frayn and Melissa have very natural chemistry together, keeping the night moving forward, with a fun and smooth grace. 

I have finally had a brief moment to post some of the Retro Swimwear pre-show shots - Popina Swim, Portland’s Bathing Suit Boutique participated in a half time Retro Swimsuit show, hopefully someone who attended can send those shots on to me - I would love to see them!

 Retro Swimwear Photos

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Chemical Free Sun Tan Lotion is featured at Popina Swim Portland’s Bathing Suit Boutique.  All of the sun screens we offer are personally tested by Popina’s Designer, Pamela Levenson who has sensitive skin that is prone to rash in the sun.  This discomfort has given Pamela the desire to seek out great chemical free tanning products that provide protection and are skin friendly.  The additional benefit of our chemical free lotions is that they are great to use for your tropical trip for snorkeling or scuba diving, our products are safe for sensitive coral ecosystems.

Our featured sun screens are all made in the USA.  Absolutely Natural, Badger Balm and Mexitan.  We have the widest selection of chemical free sun tan lotions in Portland, Oregon!

Bagby Hot Springs is the closest outdoor, forested, hot spring to Portland, approximately an hour and a half drive from the big city. This is a bathing suit optional hot spring.

I typically consider hot springs in two general categories, primitive and developed. Both have their place and time and both styles have degrees of success in their execution. In order for a hot spring pool to be formed there is typically some human intervention involved ranging from diversion of cold stream water with hot spring water contained by rocks and sand to form a pool to digging out a swimming pool sized hole, lining that hole with concrete.

Bagby is the most developed, primitive hot spring I have visited and it is executed beautifully. It is as if the professor from Gilligan’s Island wanted to install a spa for the Howell’s this is what it might look like.

The setting is quintessential West of the Cascades Oregon, located in the Mount Hood National Forest. The hike to the hot springs is a moderate mile and half through old growth forest. The hike is mostly level, once you get close to the end of the hike there is a decent uphill grade, so you will know you are getting close once you start climbing up hill.

Friends of Bagby accepts donations from visitors at a collection box at the entrance, it is unbelievable that there is not a fee to visit Bagby, please suck it up and donate what you can afford to help support Friends of Bagby who maintain the site as volunteers.

Driving Directions: From Estacada, drive south on Highway 224 for about forty miles. Watch for a sign indicating Bagby. The sign leads to Forest Service Road 63. Then watch for Forest Service Road 70. Turn onto Road 70 and go about ten miles to the parking area and trail-head. The last three miles are the hardest as the road turns to gravel and becomes very narrow. From the parking area, signs point to the 1.5 mile trail. The trail can be slippery in the spring, so wear shoes or boots with good traction. One additional word of guidance: Near the end of the trail you will come to an unmarked split in the trail. Go left over the bridge. The hot springs is directly ahead.

Summer never really feels like it has arrived until you can jump in the pool and swim. Right down the street from Popina Swim & Sport is the ultimate community pool, Grant Pool. Grant Pool is open to the public and is adjacent to Grant High School in Northeast Portland. The City of Portland offers swim lessons for children lead by pool lifeguards, many who are Grant High School students. Be sure to check the swim schedule before you go to be sure it is an appropriate time to go for what you are looking to do. Depending on the time of day there is anywhere from 1-6 lanes of lap swimming open if you are looking for a work out. The lanes can get crowded some times and I have definitely experienced some lane range, from swimmers who are either too slow or too fast for others in a shared lane, but if you time it right (a good time to go is close to the end of a lap swimming session) the lanes are less crowded, realistically best you can ever hope for is sharing a lap swimming lane with just one person. My best recommendation is to allow time to chill out in a lounge chair with a book and wait till a lane thins out a bit. It seems like an unwritten law that everyone seems to get the idea to swim at the same time you do, so let them go first!

Every day has the fun party quality of the employee pool hour from Caddyshack where kids can bring their favorite floatation device, participate in a swim lesson, go down the slide and sometimes even jump off the lifeguard chair.

Save some room for a slushy from the concession stand. The opening day for Grant Pool is June 16!

General Admission Fees
$3.25 - age 18 & up
$2.00 - age 3-17
Free - age 2 & under (with parent)

2300 NE 33rd 97212
Telephone: 503.823.3674