A mule deer chews on plants among sagebrush on a Saturday afternoon at Alpenglow Park.

No matter where you happen to be in Bend, you are never too far from a park maintained by Bend Park and Recreation District. Seriously. Just look at how many pins are on their website’s park locator map and see for yourself. From small neighborhood green spaces to wide swaths of naturally maintained landscapes, whatever you’re in the mood for is within reach.

After this week’s celebratory feasts, if you’re feeling the need to go stretch your legs and get a breath of fresh air with the fam — or solo if familial obligations have become a bit too stressful — here are a couple of different options, Alpenglow and Hollinshead parks, to explore easily this week or whenever the mood strikes you showcasing some of the best of Bend.

Alpenglow Park

Nestled along 15th Street in between newer communities, Caldera High School and the Murphy Road roundabout, the 37-acre Alpenglow Park can be accessed from all sides on foot even over the railroad tracks via a convenient pedestrian bridge. For drivers, there are two parking areas, one accessible by Murphy the other by 15th.

It’s a beautifully realized space mixing lush, flat lawns that long for a blanket or a game of Frisbee on a summer day with natural stands of ponderosa, juniper and sage blanketing the hills and perimeter. According to the park website, less than 8% of it is lawn, the rest is kept the way it looked originally, with a mix of trails throughout.

This blend of turf and brush leads to a special mix of critters whom you may spy on any given day. While walking the park recently, I spotted signs of woodpeckers who bore holes in trees to get at the bugs inside and even spotted a small mule deer just off the side of a trail. She was clearly not impressed as she kept more of an eye on the passing pooches than me trying to snap a photo with just a short, 50mm lens.

For those pooches out on their afternoon strolls, one enjoyable destination is the fantastic off-leash dog park they have to run around in. The entire off-leash area is fenced, meaning your fur babies won’t be able to run far, and it includes a small, grassy area as well as a natural area with an agility course for the working Fidos, or in the case when I visited, the overly energetic tween whose mom timed them running the course (I don’t recommend you do that, considering it is built for dogs and not nearly fully grown humans, no matter how much I internally laughed at the scene).

Even if you don’t have a dog to walk, Alpenglow Park has convenient trails spread throughout to keep you and your family moving. Both paved and unpaved trails spaghetti through the area making it easy for folks of various levels of mobility and those pushing strollers options if they want a little more natural look to their outdoor experiences.

One particular trek, Overlook Trail, takes you to the highest point in the park, a small hill with picture-frame views of the Three Sisters and Pilot Butte. It’s along this short, paved loop that I spotted the deer and was able to fully appreciate all that Alpenglow has to offer. Looking down from above, you can see that every corner of the park has some amenity to offer, from the playground full of joyous kiddos to the small stage awaiting an audience, the seasonal sprayground and the bodacious bouldering area.

Hollinshead Park

You could almost consider this gem a simple neighborhood park due to its size and being located off of main thoroughfares, but as one of my favorite quotes goes, “Though she be but little, she is fierce.”

Sitting at just 16.5 acres off Jones Road in Midtown Bend, the park features one of the most picturesque historic buildings in town: the mighty Hollinshead Barn. Live here long enough, and you’ll probably attend a wedding here, or at least a community event of some kind. The classic prairie barn and sharecropper house remain from the original working ranch that was started here in 1937 by Dean and Lily Hollinshead. The barn has been restored and can be rented for events, and the house is open by appointment only as a museum.

While the orchard is gone and has been transformed into a large grassy area, Hollinshead is still home to giant ponderosas and a few flowering trees that are just about to drop what leaves remain for the season.

You could also call Hollinshead the “must love dogs” park as it includes an unfenced off-leash area. Designated by small posts around the grassy section north of the barn, it’s common to have an excited furry friend run across your path while walking through. Because it is unfenced, don’t be surprised to see a dog off-leash anywhere in the park, as many owners (conveniently) miss/ignore the posts.

While there may not be as many trails to trek around, there is something special about meandering around this historic place and simply enjoying the view.

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