Review: Marshall Community Park (Vancouver, WA - Portland, OR region)

Marshall Community Park in Vancouver, Washington (just off I-5 and across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon) is a big park filled with tall trees.  Perfect for a summer day, right?  It's next to the Marshall Community Center and stretches across the street.  Lots of wide fields for running around.

But our friends brought us here for the playground, which was apparently constructed in 2006.   As you can see, it's a pretty big play structure, with slides, bridges, etc.  It's almost too big -- typically structures like this are split into two, one for the pre-K kids, one for the gradeschoolers, but there's no differentiation here, so there points at which we couldn't see our kids, which doesn't happen typically at most playgrounds our family explores.

In addition to the more standard stuff on the playset, one kinda component was a chain-link bridge of about 8 feet in length so that someone could practice inching their way across, either with or without the chainlink handrails to aid in their balance.  The playground also featured a very small fire-station like play area for the wee ones, those tire/pole things in the foreground, a weaksauce swing set (4 full-size, 2 toddler-size), and a set of monkey bars that mimic bridges, reaching an eventual height of about 8 feet, high enough to make even me a bit cautious as I tried my hand traversing the thing.

The set looks a little empty, and it certainly was when got there on summer Friday morning.  It did fill up, however, as the morning progressed and summer camps from the community center stopped by to run around.

There's nothing particularly special about this playground, and so it might strike you as an odd choice for the debut review here.  But I think a lot of playgrounds are in this "decent-to-good" range, and so why not start out with it?

Details

What: Marshall Community Park

Where: 1015 E. McLoughlin / Vancouver, WA 98663 (map)

Parking: On-site, free; being next to a community center, I'm sure it's on a bus line, too.

Amenities: The community center is a good place to get an ice pack if a certain child of yours stumbles and whacks the back of his head on part of the structure.  Just sayin'.  But there aren't other stores, restaurants, etc., nearby.

Bottom Line: I'm sure there are nicer parks/playgrounds in Portland proper if you're in the area.  But this is a nice, big suburban playground if you're spending some time in the Vancouver area or passing through on your way to or from Seattle.