Hendricks Park: Eugene’s Oldest City Park with Forest Trails and Gardens

Hendricks Park is Eugene’s oldest city park and one of its most loved outdoor escapes. Spanning 78 acres on the city’s southeast edge, it combines forested singletrack, winding gravel paths, and manicured gardens to create a space that’s both runnable and restorative. For trail runners and walkers, it’s the closest taste of wilderness within city limits—a place to log short laps, add hill repeats, or link into longer adventures on nearby roads and trails.

The park is best known for its rhododendron garden, which draws crowds each spring with a dazzling bloom. Just steps away, quiet wooded trails weave through Douglas fir, oak, and bigleaf maple, offering shade in summer and vibrant foliage in fall. The forested slopes provide gentle climbs and rolling terrain that make the park equally good for recovery runs, family walks, or light workouts. Runners often use Hendricks as a connector, linking into the Ridgeline Trail or nearby Fairmount neighborhood for extended mileage.

Access is simple, with parking at Fairmount and 24th Avenue and smaller lots on Skyline Boulevard. Weekends see gardeners, birders, and families exploring the grounds, but step onto the singletrack and the park feels surprisingly quiet. With its blend of botanical beauty, forest canopy, and runnable paths, Hendricks Park offers a uniquely Eugene mix of culture and trail—a reminder that natural adventure can begin right at the city’s edge.