Summer Guide 2015

Portland summers are hot now. It’s amazing—and sort of frightening.

Last year's was the hottest on record, and this June we're flirting daily with 90 degrees. Outdoor pools in outer Powell are full on weekdays, a week before summer has officially begun. Soon, the many unsung islands of the Willamette will fill with weekend kayakers and teenagers who've been given the keys to their mom's Bayliner, while America's first and largest collection of municipal skateparks are packing in with fresh-faced kids and skinned-knee lifers. Is it eerily beautiful fallout from climate change? Dumb luck that will be corrected next year by three consecutive months of sweaty mist?

Dear Lord, it has never been harder to work in an office all day, as the sun makes life indoors seem grimly irrelevant. Of course, you can escape to take a high dive into a chilly stream over the weekend. But in part, we've devoted this 2015 Summer Guide to the notion that you can find summer in Portland anywhere. You can pop out after work for a 3-mile hike in the woods without ever leaving the city limits, and then grab a beer afterward. Or if you'd rather sit in the park and drink sessionable grapefruit radlers all day, we offer some advice on where to do that without getting hassled by the authorities. For every single day of summer from now until Labor Day, we offer an awesome thing you can do, whether making s'mores at a colony of tiny houses or a bike ride across Portland's newest bridge before any of your friends.

It looks like it's gonna be a long, hot summer in the city. Make the most of it.

Twelve Radlers and Shandies, Ranked | Cliff Jumps and High Dives Near Portland

Do Something Awesome Every Day Until Labor Day | Best Hot Dogs in Portland

Six Urban Hikes (and Bars for After) | Drink, Smoke in the Park

Explore the Islands of the Willamette | Discover Your Favorite Skatepark

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