welcome to the Watershed: Blue Lake Regional Park
Free Trans and Queer Outdoor Gathering in Portland
Welcome to the Watershed is a free outdoor gathering series for trans, nonbinary, and queer people in Portland, Oregon. Three Saturdays over the next year, each at a different river.
What's a watershed?
It's all the land where water drains to the same place. Rain hits a roof in Northeast Portland, runs down the street, into a storm drain, into a creek, and eventually into the Columbia. Every person living in that stretch of land shares that water.
Portland sits where several watersheds meet.
The sessions
Saturday, October 17, 2026 · Blue Lake Regional Park, Fairview Columbia watershed. A natural lake fed from underground, sitting in a floodplain the river spent millennia shaping. Flat paths, covered shelter, easy first outing.
Saturday, January 23, 2027 · Graham Oaks Nature Park, Wilsonville Willamette and Tonquin watershed. Bare oaks, winter birds, and 150,000 native plants put back into what used to be a farm. Free parking, and the SMART bus goes right to the entrance.
Saturday, April 17, 2027 · Chehalem Ridge Nature Park, Gaston Tualatin watershed. Oak and madrone leafing out, views across the valley, everything loud with birds.
All sessions 11am to 3pm.
What it costs
Nothing. Food included. Binoculars, walking sticks, and a notebook that's yours to keep.
If getting there is the hard part, let us know when you RSVP. Travel stipends are available.
Accessibility
No big hike to find the crew. Covered shelters next to parking lots. Accessible parking and restrooms at every site. You can participate fully from a picnic table. Group activities with plenty of time for solo adventures.
Getting there
Two of our three sites are hard to reach without a car, so we coordinate carpools from transit centers. If you drive and bring people, we cover your gas.
Who this is for
Trans, nonbinary, genderqueer, and gender-expansive adults in the Portland metro. All are welcome. No one is turned away.