Vancouver Things to Do

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Frenchman's Bar Park has a narrow, steeply sloping beach along the Columbia River. There are a number of picnic tables, and a fair part of the park property is set aside as wildlife area. There is a segment of the park dedicated to beach volley ball. Some of the rest rooms close in the off-peak season.

There frequently freighters at anchor in the Columbia River at the park, which may or may not add to the scenery available at which to look.

Dirt and paved trails go north and south from here, and the Frenchman's Bar Trail connects this park with Vancouver Lake Park.

From here it is possible to see parts of the Shillapoo Wildlife Refuge, and it is possible to see large flocks of geese during the winter.

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Formerly "Vancouver Lake Trail" or multi-use trail.

Heading south from the main parking area at Vancouver Lake Park, there is a paved trail for biking and walking. Soon after crossing highway 501, this trail separates into a bark dust track (best for joggers and horses) and a paved trail (best for bikes). The trail is separated from the road by a wide margin in a number of places, and thus not terribly unpleasant in terms of traffic blasting past at high speed. (Though, I woiuld still be careful to use horses that don't spook easily around traffic!)

Horse riders be aware: Even though there is a horse trail section, the trail is only 2.5 miles long! You can't go any further north into the wildlife refuge after you get to Frenchman's Bar park.

The trail runs beside highway 501 for about 2.5 miles, and helps form a link between Vancouver Lake Park and Frenchman's Bar and the Shillapoo Wildlife Area. Caterpillar Island Park is in that direction too, but you need a boat to get there from the trail!

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On the maps this frequently appears as a "wildlife refuge" but that is not its official name. Insead, its official name from the state of Washington is a "wildlife area". It is located to the north and west of Vancouver Lake Park and joined to that park by several routes.

The area is attractive to ducks, geese and great blue heron. The smaller birds and animals attract several different types of predator birds, and eagle sightings are not unknown. Deer are reasonably common as well.

Due to the large area it is possible to see for a long distance, and you will therefore want to bring binoculars and a telephoto lens.

Hunting is allowed here, so be careful and don't get shot if you are visiting the area.

Aside of the access from Vancouver Lake Park, there is also access from the dead end road that continues past the park, plus a number of parts of Lower River Road (highway 501).

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This paved concrete trail runs along part of Vancouver's shore line with the Columbia River. Along this trail there are several restaurants, a new condominium complex, and some nice (not spectacular, but nice) views of the Columbia River and Oregon on the other side of the river.

The city of Vancouver claims the trail is 4 miles long, but it seems a lot shorter to me.

A new link called the Vancouver Land Bridge is now in service, which connects the western area of this trail along the river to Old Apple Tree Park and then crosses over highway 14 to Fort Vancouver. This link creates a vast walkable area free of conflict with any extremely high traffic roads.

There are several beaches along the trail, but they are small and probably of not much interest to those who are serious about beaches. However, despite their small size, this type of riverfront beach is what is available in the area. Thus, this is where people come.

Signs along the trail provide some local information and history.

During a really nice day, the parking lot for the park will be very crowded. Continue east on SE Columbia Way where there is parallel parking along the street near the condominium.

If you need an address to start at, try 100 Columbia St, Vancouver, WA 98660

Check out Fort Vancouver and the Officers row, learn about the Hudson Bay fur trading operation and how the northwest was settled. Get some heritage seeds to plant in your garden, they are free.

Watch live demonstrations throught the day, at the blacksmith shop and carpenter shop.
Go on an Archeological tour.

Walk or drive down officers row see the historics homes.
See the Pearson Air Museum.

Daily Hours for all Buildings
October 1 to February 28: 10:00am to 4:00pm daily
March 1 to September 30: 9:00am to 5:00pm daily
Closed on November 28, December 24-25, and December 31, 2002

From I-5, take the Mill Plain exit and head east. Turn south onto Fort Vancouver Way. At the traffic circle, go east on Evergreen Boulevard and follow signs to the Fort Vancouver Visitor Center. The reconstructed fort site is south of the visitor center - follow the parkroad which connects the visitor center parking lot to the fort parking lot.

From I-205, go west on Highway 14 about six miles, then take I-5 north. From I-5, take the Mill Plain exit and head east. Turn south onto Fort Vancouver Way. At the traffic circle, go east on Evergreen Boulevard and follow signs to the Fort Vancouver Visitor Center. The reconstructed fort site is south of the visitor center - follow the park road which connects the visitor center parking lot to the fort parking lot.

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When people talk about Fort Vancouver, most of the time they have in mind the wooden replica that, as much as possible, replicates the old Hudson's Bay Company outpost. However, when it was officially decided that what is now the State of Washington would be part of the USA rather than British territory, Fort Vancouver became part of a US military center. A considerable part of the land around the fort structure is a historic military facility on its own.

Vancouver Barracks dates from 1849
Officers Row is somewhat north of the fort structure, and has a number of early Vancouver homes that were used by officers in the Army
Pearson Air Park is one of the oldest operating air fields in the country, and is to the east of the fort structure. Depending on when you want to measure the start date, this air field has made aviation history from 1905. Today, that same historic airfield is the Pearson Air Museum, which is an attraction in its own right.

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Located on the ground of the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site (and therefore incorporated into their web site), the Pearson Air Museum was once part of the military facility that came after the Hudson's Bay Company. Once part of the Army Air Corps, it is considered to be the oldest continuously operating airfield in the USA. The structure is also considered to be the oldest wooden hanger building still used to house aircraft.

You can visit and get close to pretty much all of the aircraft here, including such creatures as the 1913 Voisin III (thought to be one of only three remaining). There are also artifacts from the Russian Trans-Polar Flight, plus a number of other displays.

Displays are occasinally moved about and exchanged, and visiting exhibitions are also featured from time to time. Thus, see the museum's web site for a current list of what is on display.

Currently, the museum is open 10am to 5pm Wednesday through Saturday.

Fly-in visitors may also be accomodated, along with those that arrive by more conventional means.

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Vancouver Lake is a huge lake to the west of Vancouver. The park runs along the western edge of the lake, and has a number of recreational opportunities including a little bit of hiking (trails lead from here to the national wildlife refuge and to other parks), picnic tables, wading in the lake, and some very large empty fields that could be used for all manner of things.

There are two really nice playgrounds as well.

One of the nice things about the park is that about 4 miles beyond the park, the highway comes to a sudden end, with no particular destinations between the park and the end of the road. This means that the park has no loud highways nearby, and except for people having fun it is a nice place to relax.

Birds frequent the park and surrounding wildlife refuge, and a number of nests are visible once the leaves fall off the trees.

A trail (hiking, bike and horseback) leads from here northward to the edge of the wildlife refuge and south and west to other parks.

On a clear day it is possible to see Mt. St. Helens and other interesting nearby features.

There is a toll booth at the entrance to the park, and it is necessary to pay to enter during busy times of the year.