Oregon Skateparks Rule!

August 30, 2003November 5, 2021 Concrete Disciples 101 Views Aaron Chapman, Albany, Aumsville, Burnside, Lincoln City, Peter Culp, Port Orford

I’m going to make it simple. Go to Oregon next summer, and you won’t be sorry!!!

Aaron Chapman at Brookings

Chris Alekzunas at Reedsport

Peter Culp upside downer at Port Orford Skatepark

Here’s the story: Aaron, Chris and I went to Oregon at the end of September to surf a little and skate a BUNCH. In the interest of brevity I’m going to make a list of the parks we skated.

Churchill, Eugene: Decent, but the coping was ruined by BMXers, built by Eric Dawkins
Bethel, Eugene: Really fun, not real deep, cool kink to vert w/ tiles, built by Airspeed.
Aumsville: Awesome, built by Dreamland
Albany: Not very good, not sure who built it.
West Linn: All pool coping, hectic layout, oververt pocket, built by Grindline
Burnside: Gnarly, Gnarly, Gnarly, built by skaters
Redmond: Okay by Dreamland standards, great by SoCal standards, built by Dreamland
Donald: Back yard pool and miniramp, best use of space and money ever, Dreamland
Newberg: Huge and Awesome, Dreamland
Lincoln City 1&2: Two parks one city with less than 30,000 people, both Dreamland
Waldport: Crazy oververt dish/clamshell type thing, scary, fast, built by Airspeed
Reedsport: Full on stunt man park. Pictures to follow, built by Airspeed
Port Orford: Cradle, built by Dreamland
Brookings: Backyard pool in the middle of a race track, with a gap of death, Dreamland

There is too much to say about all the Skateparks we skated. Each one was different and had something really cool and interesting about it. With the exception of Churchill, Albany, and Redmond, all of the other parks are more creative than anything that we have in California.

Here is a summary of my favorites and why.

Aumsville.
The park in Aumsville is amazing. It is so fast and so smooth, it almost feels like you are surfing (until you fall of course.) The lines at this park are endless, as well as the speed you can generate there. This park is as close to perfect as anyone has come.
Megabonus: it’s lit 24/7.

Burnside.
The gnarly factor at this park is off the chart. I’m pretty sure I could skate Burnside everyday for the rest of my skateboarding life and be challenged every time. That in itself is what makes Burnside so awesome. One other thing is the level of skating that goes down at Burnside is unbelievable. I felt stupid skating there.

Lincoln City 1&2.
The first legit city project that the Burnside guys did was Lincoln City 1. It was built in 1999 and is still one of the most progressive parks around. LC1 was very Burnside influenced and you can tell when you skate it by the tight trannies and endless speed. This park is also lit 24/7
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to skate the new park in Lincoln City because of the Oregon Coast piss mist. We were so bummed. LC2 is butter smooth and has a huge Cradle. It has a roof and the city is working on getting wall put up so you can skate it when it’s raining outside. When that happens, I think I’m moving to Lincoln City.

Reedsport.
Geth Noble is the guy that owns and runs Airspeed Skateparks. He is one crazy dude. We had the honor of watching him tear apart his creation, and he showed us the best line to hit the deathbox in one of the pool pockets. The funnel at Reedsport is the whackiest thing I have ever skated. Mark “Red” Scott, looped it the day before we were there. I can’t wait to see the video of that. Reedsport pushes the limits of what a skatepark can be more that anything else out there right now.

Port Orford.
I love cradles. I want a cradle so bad in SoCal it’s not even funny. This was the first cradle we got to skate, and they rule. It made me want to cry like a baby.

Brookings
If I had to pick one park where I had the most fun, Brookings would be it. The mickey mouse pool in the middle is super user friendly. I had a blast skating in there. The rest of the park is a racetrack that loops around the pool. The only park that flows better than Brookings is Aumsville. I want Brookings in my backyard.

Road trips with your friends are one of the things that make skateboarding so great. Don’t worry about your ability and/or condition, just go. Chris had never skated before the trip, dropped in the first day, and had a blast. Aaron had to skate on a damaged/stretched MCL, but still had a good go of it. I just enjoyed skating some of the best parks in the world. And if you’re lucky, you may get some quality, empty waves along the way (but you’ll have to find those yourself).

Go to Oregon on a road trip, and you’ll already be planning your next trip there before you get home.