The clothing-optional beaches in Oregon, with what the law actually says, where to park, how far the walk is, and what a first visit is like.
Written up by hand
Someone has actually been to each of these. Where we are unsure, the spot page says so.
Sauvie Island · Portland Metro
Good for a first visitRiver
Getting there. North of Portland on Sauvie Island. A longer drive than Rooster Rock, which is east up the Gorge; this one is north.
Buy your permit before you leave. They scan a QR code on the way in, and turning up without one means being pulled aside to sort it out, which costs you a chunk of the afternoon. Summer weekdays need the ODFW Wildlife Area Parking Permit, $10 a day or $30 for a year that covers all 17 Oregon wildlife areas. Summer weekends need the separate Sauvie Island Beaches permit, and those daily ones can sell out, restocked Fridays at 4pm. The seasonal pass is sold out for 2026. Buy either at odfw.huntfishoregon.com.
Then it is a straight shot. Keep driving and watch the bulletin board at each pull-off. Every lot reaches the beach, but only one board says clothing-optional, and that is where people actually are. Pull off to the side and park there.
Rules on the ground. Long-established clothing-optional beach. Simple nudity legal.
If it is your first time. Read the bulletin boards rather than guessing. There is a clothing-required stretch too, and the sign is the only thing that tells you which is which. More regulars here than Rooster Rock, people who have been coming for years and are out all season.
Full details, map and directions →
Willamette River, Eugene · Eugene
River
Getting there. Park on the shoulder near the WeedAgain shop and the adult store, or pay for parking there. The shoulder is sometimes ticketed, though not reliably. The way in cuts through bushes toward the river and then follows the rail line; a gap on the left leads to a small footbridge, which was intact in August 2026. At the graffitied boulder, either direction reaches the beach. Note that the rail line is active track, so walking it is trespassing as well as genuinely dangerous, and it is the part of this approach to think hardest about. Older accounts describe reaching the island by fording or wading the river instead.
Rules on the ground. Signage on site reads "no clothes that way →", alongside posted no-littering and no-trespassing notices; there is private property adjacent to the approach. A detailed firsthand visit in August 2026 found the signage in place and encountered no enforcement. That is an observation rather than a legal ruling, and the island has opened and closed over the years, so verify locally before relying on it.
If it is your first time. Summer through autumn; not a winter spot, and spring is marginal. Mixed crowd of couples, dog walkers and naturists, and there is also some cruising, which is easy enough to walk away from. Nanitch is non-sexual everywhere. Litter can be heavy on busy days, cigarette ends especially.
Full details, map and directions →
Columbia Gorge, Corbett · Portland Metro
Good for a first visitRiver
Getting there. Parking is $10 a day at the booth on the way in, $12 if you are not an Oregon resident. An annual state parks permit is $60 and pays for itself in six visits. Go right after the booth and park.
From the lot, walk right past the bathrooms and keep going. About seven minutes, and it is all sand, so it takes longer than it looks. You will pass a signpost saying clothing optional. Do not undress there. Keep walking until the beach opens up.
Where the sand opens out there is a left side and a right side. Left means wading the slough across to the island, and that is the main clothing-optional beach where most people are. Right stays on this side and is the gay beach, usually flying flags.
The slough is knee-deep at worst and lower later in the summer. Easy to carry your things across, but bring shoes you do not mind soaking.
Rules on the ground. Officially recognized clothing-optional area in an Oregon State Park. Simple nudity is legal; no sexual conduct.
If it is your first time. The sign is not the beach. People walk through that stretch clothed, so wait until the sand opens up and you have crossed the water. Summer weekends are the time; Pride weekend is the best of it and the most packed.
Full details, map and directions →
What the law in Oregon actually says
Oregon's public indecency statute, ORS 163.465,
is written around sexual conduct. It reaches a person who engages in sexual intercourse or deviate
sexual intercourse in public, or who exposes their genitals with the intent of arousing the
sexual desire of themselves or another. Simple, non-sexual nudity does not meet those elements.
That is why Oregon has long-standing customary nude beaches and why the Portland World Naked Bike
Ride happens without mass arrests.
This is not a green light, and please do not read it as one.
A state statute is only the first of several rules that apply where you are standing. Counties and
cities pass their own ordinances, and the land manager, whether that is the Forest Service, the BLM, State Parks, a
county parks department or a private owner, sets its own rules on top of the law and can enforce them
regardless of what the statute says. A place can be perfectly lawful under state law and still get you
a citation from a ranger.
What we do on each spot page is tell you what is actually known about that specific place: who
manages it, whether nudity is customary or designated there, and what people who have been report.
Where we do not know, we say we do not know. We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice.
Statute: ORS 163.465. Last reviewed August 2026.
If you think anything here is out of date, tell us. We would rather be corrected than wrong.