Gabriel Off-Leash Dog Park

I remember this from almost 20 years ago as one of the area's first off leash parks. It's changed a lot since then. First, the off leash area changes from summer to winter. Although the summer area is close to the other recreation areas, including tennis courts, community center, and parking, the winter area is way over on the other side of the park, through a hilly, wooded area and with no directional signs. Although there is a closer parking area for the winter park (around the SE area of the park, near a barn-like structure), again there are no signs and it's up a decent hill from the winter off-leash area. The winter area is also pretty much dirt and there's no water supply for the dogs. So be prepared for mud and to have water in tow if your dog needs it. Luckily lots of other awesome dog owners bring jugs of water and we were able to get some left there. It's pretty good exercise as the trails are not terribly difficult, but if you head there with a very excited dog who isn't the greatest at leash walking, be prepared with at least a decent pair of shoes in case you get yanked and pulled for a good mile until another helpful soul finally helps you circumnavigate the vast area. Ugh. Or, better yet, take the dog to a much closer, flatter park first so its somewhat worn out before you go exploring. PS: we're dog sitting our grand dog and our kids recently had a baby, so grand dog is not in practice. She's amazingly strong for her size! After a couple weeks with her it's a lot easier. Like I said, wrong choice for our initial outing with her on the visit.

They close the one with grass for the winter and force us to use the smaller one that's completely dirt. I live in Montana and we use the grass ones year round, rain or snow. I hate that all the dog parks around here are dirt. I don't want to have to wash my dog every day. Why can't we have grass? 🤔

I've been there twice, once in the playground and once in the dog park. The playground is great but has no shade or cover whatsoever, and this makes it difficult for very sun or rainy days. The dog park is amazing! Fenced and spacious so that even when there a lot of dogs it doesn't get crowded. My dog loved it!

This is such a great park. We go to the fenced-in area for our Husky. It is spacious, the grounds are kept up, and the humans are all pretty chill here in Portlandia. We enjoy our part-time residence here in SW Portland, as does our furry 5 year old.

We stay outside the fence because we have a really reactive rescue pup but the park is great and huge.