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Metzler Park in Estacada offers amazing outdoor spaces off the beaten path

The Clackamas County park boasts picnic shelters, a playground, hiking and a brand new 18-hole disc golf course.

ESTACADA, Ore. — In this week's Let's Get Out There, we head to Clackamas County's Metzler Park. Off the beaten path, this is a great space for disc golfers to play the new course, and for families to explore and enjoy.

Metzler Park sits nestled in the Cascade foothills near Estacada. Think of it as your introverted friend who’s really well-rounded once you get to know them.

"It's a beautiful park in the sense it's a down-home park. You're not far from Estacada. You're not far from Portland," said Clackamas County park operations supervisor Mark Shaw.

You can tell Shaw loves the park, and when spring and summer arrive, it’s easy to imagine why.

Credit: Jon Goodwin, KGW

"It's a little more off the beaten path," he said. "You don't have access to the Clackamas River, but there's still great water access here. You can dip your toes in with the kids, you can cool down, you can skip rocks. It's not going to be that really busy river atmosphere. It's so much quieter laid back park experience.”

A couple months ago, a brand new 18-hole disc golf course was completed thanks to some lobbying, hundreds of volunteer hours and the park’s previous ranger.

"The prior ranger here, Victor Harshman, was here for 30 years. He tried for all of his last eight years to get a course installed… So it took some time, but we got it there," Shaw said. 

Harshman retired in December.

Credit: Jon Goodwin, KGW

For avid disc golfers, you may find it’s not as grand as the course six miles away at Milo McIver State Park, but you’ll find so far, it’s not as crowded.

"County parks, they're great local properties," Shaw said. "[When] a lot of people think 'the Northwest,' they think about Mount Rainier or North Cascades to larger scale properties, Mount Hood for the Forest Service, but you have dozens of great, smaller state and county parks that are right down the road."

With an $8 day use fee, it’s a small price to pay to get out there and maybe check out somewhere new.

Credit: Jon Goodwin, KGW

"Come out, support your parks. Everyone that comes out. Y'all keep the gates open. You keep the lights on you make it all happen," Shaw said. "We’re here for the public and the more you all come out, the better things get for everybody."

Let's Get Out there airs once a week on KGW's 4 p.m. newscast and The Good Stuff, which airs Monday-Thursday at 7 p.m. We're including viewer photos for this series. You can text your photos to 503-226-5088 or post them on the KGW Facebook page.

VIDEO PLAYLIST: Let's Get Out There

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