Clackamas County

The county in brief

A traveler's read on Clackamas County

Oregon City's Abernethy Green is where the Oregon Trail ended — the 2,170-mile overland migration route that delivered roughly 400,000 settlers to the Pacific Northwest between 1843 and 1869 terminated at this exact bend in the Willamette River, and the city was the first incorporated municipality in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains (1844 territorial-government incorporation, predating California statehood by six years per the Oregon Historical Society). The End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center on Washington Street is the only NPS-affiliated historic site that interprets the entire trail terminus narrative. Clackamas County covers 1,879 sq mi from the Willamette River east to the Mt. Hood NF summit ridge, wrapping the southern Portland metro (Lake Oswego, Milwaukie, West Linn, Wilsonville), the western Mt. Hood National Forest including Timothy Lake and Olallie Lake, and the Clackamas River — designated Wild and Scenic from the Big Bottom downstream — that runs the canonical Pacific Northwest whitewater-and-fly-fishing corridor.

Timothy Lake on the Clackamas Ranger District holds 4 USFS RV-friendly campgrounds (Hoodview, Pine Point, Gone Creek, Oak Fork) accepting rigs to 35 ft with no hookups; reservations open 6 months ahead on recreation.gov and all four loops fill within 24 hours of release for July-August weekends. Silver Falls State Park (Oregon's largest state park at 9,000 acres, with 10 named waterfalls along the 7.2-mile Trail of Ten Falls including the 178-ft South Falls) accepts rigs to 60 ft with electric hookups, 47 sites on a reservation-only basis through the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department portal. Mt. Hood NF Lost Lake area on the eastern county edge holds the most-photographed reflection view of Mt. Hood (the peak's 11,249-ft summit mirrored in glacial Lost Lake at sunrise) and a 121-site campground accepting rigs to 50 ft. Wildfire-season air-quality should be checked against the OR DEQ AQI dashboard August-October — Mt. Hood NF closures for fire happen with 48-hour notice in heavy years.