The 2023 Swim Hole Challenge: Which Is Your New Favorite?

Henry Hagg Lake

Distance from Portland: 50 minutes
Despite (invalidated) rumors of ghostly underwater cemeteries at Forest Grove’s 1,113-acre dammed lake, it’s one of Portland’s best spots for recreational water sports, with picnic areas, 13 miles of hiking trails, and two boat launches. Bring your fishing rods because this lake offers great opportunities to catch big trout when not dipping in to cool off.

Wilson River at Keenig Creek

Distance from Portland: 1 hour
As you head west from Portland toward the coast, a quick turn at Highway 6’s milepost 18 leads sweaty carloads to a relatively still, wide section of the Wilson River, near where it meets trickling Keenig Creek. Kids and the young-at-heart will enjoy rock steps fit for Q*bert and a rope hanging from the bridge, which offer a variety of heights from which to jump in and cool off, while risk-takers launch from the bridge deck itself. For pleasures less vertical, a rocky bar in the middle of the river is perfect for wading.

Lost Lake

Distance from Portland: 2 hours
Isolated (think 26 miles on winding back roads) but accessible (they’re good roads), Lost Lake sits high on Hood’s slopes, at a heat-blasting 3,100 feet. Besides the 10 degrees of mercury you’ll lose on your way up, you’ll also ditch the crowds. Shrouds of firs and pines ring the 175-foot-deep emerald waters, and offer prime fort-building terrain for the kids (and a welcome contrast to the scarred slopes of clear-cut you’ll pass on the way here). You’ll need a person-powered craft, like one of the paddleboats for rent outside the 1950s-esque General Store, to gain the best view of Hood’s perfect peak—from the middle of the lake—because no motorized craft are allowed. That means only one thing will interrupt your serenity: water-bound first-timers’ inaugural whoops of glee.

FOR THRILL SEEKERS

Punchbowl Falls

Distance from Portland: 45 minutes

A little over two miles into the iconic Eagle Creek trail, hikers find refuge by scrambling down to the oft-photographed, bowl-shaped pool, fed by a powerful, 36-foot waterfall. The scars of the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire are still blatant, though the forest’s quick rebound with underbrush and saplings is just as inspiring as the falls themselves.

Buck Lake

Distance from Portland: 2 hours
Pristine Buck Lake sits 70 miles from downtown Portland—15 of them corkscrewing forest service roads. But the crucial last half-mile is what keeps this stream-fed swimming hole relatively secluded and unspoiled: it’s traversable only by foot. Hike through gorgeous stands of old-growth fir, serenaded by a chorus of croaking frogs and willow flycatchers to the edge of the lake’s spectacular emerald waters—waters so clear you’ll be able to see every rock and log (and sometimes fish) beneath the placid surface. A rocky section to the left of where the trail meets the lake offers the best perch for the day—besides a raft in the middle of the lake, of course.

Moulton Falls

Distance from Portland: 1 hour 
The utility player of swimming holes, 387-acre Moulton Falls Regional Park has something for everyone: Instagram-worthy falls surrounded by plentiful flat rocks for playing lizard in the sun, inviting flat water upstream, two miles of trails tracing the Lewis River’s banks, and a three-story arch bridge daredevils (illegally) leap off. Even better, it’s free, though that means it can get crowded. Arrive early to stake out your bit of beach or stone and savor this MVP.

Lower Lewis River Falls

Distance from Portland: 2 hours
Photographs just don’t do this place justice. A wall of water, 200 feet across, gushes from 43 feet high into a turquoise plunge pool big enough to shelter Shamu. With a crazy (but not death-wish-crazy) vertical drop from the rim and smaller pools etched into pockets of the rock wall, this is a cliff jumper’s paradise. Hike east upriver through lush old-growth forest to discover Middle (1.5 miles) and Upper Lewis River Falls (about another mile on), stunning in their own right and ripe for swimming if the lower section is overcrowded.

FOR BIRTHDAY-SUIT ENTHUSIASTS

Collins Beach

Distance from Portland: 40 minutes
On Sauvie Island’s northeastern shores, the sandy, one-mile stretch along the Columbia River makes for a quick, refreshing dip. Find the segment of Collins Beach that is well-known for its clothing-optional policy.

Rooster Rock State Park

Distance from Portland: 30 minutes
Oregon’s other designated nude beach (see Collins Beach above) is a straight shot east of Portland down I-84. This three-mile long stretch of Rooster Rock sits just 24 miles away on the south side of the Columbia River Gorge.

Dougan Falls/Naked Falls

Distance from Portland: 55 minutes
At the end of winding Washougal River Road, you’ll find a most picturesque landing: 19-foot-tall cascades tumbling into a giant, blue-green pool and a rocky beach for lying out below the adjacent bridge. Just beyond Dougan Falls you’ll find Naked Falls with its series of pools, rock slides, and plenty of space for sunbathing, swimming and cliff jumping. This Washington river site sits on private property, so make sure you purchase a day-use permit online or at the Washougal River Mercantile en route. 

FOR TRANQUILITY LOVERS

Wahtum Lake

Distance from Portland: 2 hours
For true tranquility, you have to drive a bit. But rarely does a buttery-smooth paved road and a five-minute jaunt from the car lead to a densely forested lakeside retreat free of RVs and motorboats. Wahtum Lake is a case apart. A serpentine drive (which some years does not open till summer after the snow melts) with vistas of Mount Hood’s northeast face ends abruptly in pristine wilderness. Descend a winding staircase through hemlock, Pacific yew, and huckleberry to reach the glassy waters. Lakeside campsites are plentiful, and hiking options—including a stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail—abound. Take the four-mile round trip up Chinidere Mountain for a close-up of Hood.

North Fork of the Willamette

Distance from Portland: 2 hours and 30 minutes
This fork of the state’s 187-mile artery is too far afield for the masses looking for a speedy escape from town. Look for sweet spots 1.4, 3.5, and 11 miles east of Lane County’s Westfir Covered Bridge, with protected pools of super-clear water and big boulders for sunbathing and lounging. If things get busy—and they sometimes do, owing to the river’s proximity to Eugene—simply drive a few miles farther to find a secluded patch of your own to call home.

Boulder Lake

Distance from Portland: 2 hours
Nestled in a thicket of evergreens in a remote swath southeast of Mount Hood, Boulder Lake is uncommonly still; if someone swats a fly across the lake, or an eagle swoops overhead, you’ll hear it. The 13-acre pool sits at the base of soaring scree slopes, with a sequence of rustic campsites, some with picnic tables, tucked in the woods of its east and south shores. Travel light for a day of basking, swimming, and fishing, or pack a tent and stay the night. Twilight here is stunning.

FOR FULL-DAY ADVENTURERS

Blue Pool

Distance from Portland: 2 hours and 30 minutes
The coldest and clearest water you’ll ever experience flows up through a lava tube and into this tranquil, turquoise pool. The four-mile round-trip to take a dip is a fairly easy jaunt and is quickly accessible from other adventures along the McKenzie River where plenty of riverside campgrounds provide opportunities to stay and explore the area.

Cleawox Lake

Distance from Portland: 3 hours
Families take note: With dunes on one side and leafy forest on the other, the sandy-bottomed Cleawox Lake, inside the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, offers sun and shade for swimmers, paddlers, and fishers (the lake is stocked through spring with trout). A sandy beach and roped-off shallow zone, just an easy stumble from the parking lot, become kid central in the summer. Once the youth tucker out, catch the sunset from the Eye of the Needle sculpture on the lake’s eastern shore, or drive to the nearby South Jetty to watch it set over the Pacific.

Waldo Lake

Distance from Portland: 3 hours and 15 minutes
Don’t even bother taking your phone out of your car at Waldo Lake. For one thing, you probably won’t get service in this secluded basin, one of the world’s purest alpine lakes and the headwaters of the Middle Fork of the Willamette River. Plus, you won’t want any pings and rings interrupting the silence. Thanks to a 2010 ban, nary a whir of a gas motor will tarnish your serenity at this 9.8-square-mile jewel. (Electric motors are allowed, though, at speeds under 10 mph.) In fact, except for the occasional swoosh of a bald eagle’s wings and the harmonic song of a hermit warbler, the only sound you’ll hear is the echo of your paddle dipping into Waldo’s haunting blue waters, where the view down reaches a world-record 157 feet.

Our safety reminder: Changing conditions—river currents, wildfires, weather events, late season snow blocking roads, and more—can make swimming or wading unwise. Always obey posted signs and local warnings, and enter the water at your own risk.