The 3-mile (4.8 km) bicycle path, which runs along Terwilliger Boulevard on the east edge of the park to Lake Oswego, is part of the Portland metropolitan area's system of greenway trails known as the 40-Mile Loop.

The paved 0.35-mile (0.56 km) Trillium Trail, a loop furnished with drinking fountains and interpretive signs, can accommodate wheelchairs.

[6] In 1850, Socrates Hotchkiss Tryon Sr., pioneer settler, established a donation land claim at the south end of the canyon.

The land then passed to other relatives, including Socrates Tryon, Jr., who sold the 645 acres (261 ha) in 1874 to the Oregon Iron Company.

In 1900, fire in the upper canyon left charred snags still visible along the park's Center and Big Fir trails.

[3] Logging resumed in 1912 in the north part of the canyon, where the Boone's Ferry Wood and Tie Company had a site near what became Alfred Street.

The lumber was used chiefly for railroad ties, cordwood and flagpoles, and left huge cedar stumps that remain in the park.