Places and activities › Places to go › Mount Talbert Nature Park
The largest undeveloped butte in Northern Clackamas County, Mount Talbert rises as a forested green sentinel overlooking the web of development that surrounds it and the busy I-205 and Sunnyside Road interchange.
Stretching from Portland’s Rocky Butte southward to the Clackamas River, a group of extinct volcanoes and lava domes lend unique geographic character to the region’s east side, providing important wildlife habitat and panoramic vistas. Mount Talbert is the largest of these undeveloped buttes in northern Clackamas County.
The nature park includes the top of the former lava dome as well as the west facing slopes visible to the tens of thousands of people that travel I-205 every day or shop at the Clackamas Town Center. The park offers miles of new hiking trails, information about the cultural and natural resources found there and greater access to nature close to home.
Metro provided funding for improvements to the site and the nature park will be managed by the North Clackamas Parks and Recreation District.
A series of interpretive signs along the trails provide visitors information about the plants and animals that can be seen – and heard – at the nature park. Residents and visitors to Mount Talbert include deer, coyotes, raccoons, Western gray squirrel, rubber boa, pileated and hairy woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatch, Western tanager and many more.
A revitalized oak savanna and a wet prairie meadow, two increasingly rare habitats in the Northern Willamette Valley, are found at Mount Talbert. A 1/2-mile stroller-friendly gravel trail leads from the park entrance to a small native prairie that blooms with wildflowers such as camas and woolly sunshine in the spring.
Mount Talbert Nature Park offers parking, restrooms, a picnic shelter and paved trails as well as 4.2 miles of hiking trails that loop around the natural area and lead to the summit.
The park is just east of I-205 and south of Sunnyside Road. From Southeast Sunnybrook Boulevard turn south on 97th Avenue and follow until it becomes Mather Road. The park entrance is on the left off of Mather Road.
Mount Talbert Nature Park is free and open daily. The park opens half an hour before sunrise and closes half an hour after sunset. Many of the park facilities are wheelchair accessible including the parking area, restrooms, picnic shelter and paved trails. Dogs and bikes are not permitted.
A secondary entrance, at Southeast 117th Avenue and Sunnyside Road, is also open with limited parking. Trails at this location are not universally accessible.
Do not leave valuables in your car while visiting the natural area.
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