Clearwater Park is home to the Middle Fork Path, which is roughly 4 miles of there and back to Dorris Ranch. The park itself is 65 acres, with the multiuse path meandering next to the river all the way to Dorris Ranch.
The path is paved, well maintained, and great for walking, jogging, biking, rollerblading and just getting some good exercise along a very beautiful and scenic part of our area.
Along with the path, another draw of the park is the disc golf course. The course is near to the parking lot and quite popular with players, so much so that there can sometimes be a line, although it tends to move quickly. The course is busiest during the evening time.
Park features
Amenities
- Paved multiuse path
- Disc golf course
- Picnic benches – midway point of the path
- Sitting benches – scattered along the river
- Play structure with swings
- Shaded areas with trees
- Poop bags
- Trash bins
- Dedicated parking lot
- Boat ramp
- Horse trailer parking
- Restrooms
- Drinking fountain
This park DOES NOT HAVE:
- Covered shade structures
- Play structure
- Dog park
- Sports areas/courts
- Group structures/gathering areas
Clearwater Park is a pretty popular park, with the main draw being the walking path. Even if you don’t take your dog, this is a very beautiful path throughout the entire year, although I will admit that I personally am partial to the fall time when all the leaves are making the outdoors just a little bit more magical. This park is completely free, so no worrying about parking or other fees.
There are bikers, joggers, walkers, rollerbladers, and skateboarders commonly on the path. The path does have quieter hours, like in the morning, but throughout the day you can pretty much guarantee that there will be other people using the path and the park. This is NOT a bad thing! Your reactive dog does NOT have to be in a bubble, and frankly should not be kept in a bubble if you’re hoping to help them get better around their triggers.
The great thing about the park is the section that is used for disc golf. It does tend to be busy in the afternoon and evening hours, but during the day it is generally quiet with little to no one using the course. The course itself is pretty massive, which means there should be ample room for you to share with players if necessary, and due to it being away from the path, it also allows you to safely moderate distances from triggers with your dog.
The patrons of this park are predictable. Disc golfers are interested in the course and are the only ones who use the fields in general. They of course follow the actual course hole by hole, and due to the size of the course it is simple enough to plan where you need to be with your dog accordingly. The rest of the park users are there for the path, which they tend to stay on. It is extremely rare in my experience to have people in the fields doing weird things or otherwise doing unexpected things.
The path itself is a great walking path, but I caution you if you do have a reactive dog. There aren’t always places to pull over and be off the path, in fact they’re kind of slim. That said this doesn’t mean you can’t use the path with a reactive dog, it’s just that your dog and yourself should have worked up to this level of difficulty with being in closer quarters to triggers.
Explore before you go! Take a look at my recent visit to this park.
Where is it?
Clearwater Park is next to the river off of Jasper Rd. Simply turn onto Clearwater lane and follow the road to the end. There you will see clearly marked signage for the park and from there it’s a matter of parking and getting settled into the park proper.
Here is the address : 2400 Clearwater Ln, Springfield, OR 97478
