Outings! – Bush’s Pasture Park

It’s hard to talk about this park without talking about a bit of local history. As the name suggests, this park was once the home of Asahel Bush (who may or may not be a character in my next book) and his family. The house was built in 1882, and includes a gorgeous rose garden and the oldest conservatory west of the Mississippi. It’s a museum and art gallery now, and the park hosts the Salem Art Fair each spring.

There are several possible starting points for these trails. There’s the Mission Street parking lot, which many would consider the main lot at the font of the park. There you are greeted by the Boxcar Derby track and the Willamette University sports stadium. You can also hop on the trail and head either east or west to start outer loop. 

You can also park “behind” the park, either at the base of the hill or at the top of the hill. Each of those lots have separate entrances, and they do not connect with one another. They both back up onto the neighborhood, so they tend to be quieter. 

Madhu and I always meet in the back lot at the top of the hill. You park looking into a swathe of old oak trees and picnic tables, the trail passing right in front of the vehicles. Typically we head west to start the outer loop trail, which skirts the trees and passes an open field before crossing the driveway to the Bush House and entering the rose garden. In the increasingly cold season, there isn’t much to the garden but barren bushes and fallen leaves, but in the summer the roses are full, bright, and fragrant. 

Following this route leads you east past the meandering paved walk up to the front of the Bush House, past the Boxcar Derby track and the sports facilities, until you wind back into a dense copse of alder trees. There’s another parking lot tucked back in here, but I’ve literally never used it. As you follow the trail through the woods, it turns south to run parallel along Pringle Creek. There are a couple little offshoots that take you down to the water, but in the cold months it can be pretty muddy, and the water too frigid to be very appealing.

Then there are trails that lead to the Bush House, as well as to some newly installed playground equipment and another garden walk. There’s a lot of plants in this park, ya’ll. And, usually I’m not a big garden person, but if you can catch those wisteria at their peak? Absolutely stunning.