Portland Swimming Holes

Summer is right around the corner and if you want to make the most of it you have to grab the summer baton at full speed.  Make your lists, schedule your calendar and get in what you can.  To get you primed, below are my two favorite Swimming activities around Portland.

As someone who loves to swim in a city surrounded by nature, I find it frustrating that there is not a close-in swimming hole to cool off. My favorite closest spots are Portland’s public pools.  There are specific times of the day to lap swim, family swim and lots of special events.  Grab your Tankini,  hit a lounge chair, read, cool off and take in the chaos. If you have already experienced your neighborhood public pool, maybe venture out and check out a new pool. Our favorites are Grant, Sellwood and Wilson.

River Tubing Portland
Not necessarily for all ages, so you need to be safe, but tubing the river is a great way to spend an afternoon or even a whole day. My favorite spots are not wild, crazy, rides. They are slow, mellow floats. Once you get past the initial chill of the water, on a hot day you quickly forget your initial shock and sink right into your tube. My favorite floats are a mix of a spiritual retreat and Mardi Gras party. At times, a mellow affair, where you can fully relax, take in nature and enjoy the water-level perspective provided by your tube. Other times, people-watching your fellow tubers both on the shore and on the river banks trumps the beautiful surroundings. You can typically purchase an inner tube at a tire shop for the pure old school experience which runs about $15. But I recommend purchasing a new inner tube-shaped float, which costs $48 at Popina (consider it an investment). The advantage of new tubes is that they are designed for quick inflation and deflation and do not need to be blown up at a gas station.  My favorite rivers to tube are the Sandy River and the Clackamas River.  It is a good idea to go with two cars so you can shuttle back and forth from the put-in.

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