Seasonal To-dos in Eugene, Oregon: Spring 2025
The sun’s back and the days are getting longer. Time to put up the heavy coats and check out some of the amazing things to do around Eugene in the springtime!
Visit the Owen Cherry Tree
The Owen Rose Garden is a special little spot in Eugene that slowly comes to life after the long winter season (kind of like me). This 8-acre parcel of land hosts over 400 varieties of roses that are painstakingly taken care of by garden caretakers each year. As temperatures continue to rise throughout the season, more and more roses appear, spattering the garden with varying shades of yellow, white, purple, orange, pink, brown, and yes, red. These roses have been cultivated for decades, and the differences in the petals, stems, and even scents from the roses themselves make this place a true work of art. The garden’s parking lot is never without a few cars, but the pathways are wide and you can easily wander away from the crowds most days.
The roses may just be waking up in the spring, but the real reason we suggest going this season is to see the cherry tree. In April, cherry blossoms from the 49 foot tall Owen cherry tree rain down on the garden like snow. The tree was named after George Owen, a local lumberman who donated the acreage that the garden sits on today. It’s believed to have been planted in 1847, and in some circles they say the town’s founder, Eugene Skinner, did it himself. Either way, this makes this floral colossus one of the older cherry trees in the country.
Each year, this cherry tree makes its presence known in the garden when it’s 80 foot crown sheds its multitude of pedals across roses and spectators alike. It’s a spectacle for spring garden-goers; a special event tucked away into a nook in Eugene that will live in perpetuity as a tranquil space for the people who live here. Recently, I discovered that if you make your way through the local garden shops, you’ll eventually come across a propagation taken from the Owen Cherry Tree to plant in your own backyard. We recommend picking one of these up and helping to keep the lineage of this prestigious tree alive long after you and I are gone.
Crack climb at Skinner Butte Columns
If you’ve ever driven to the top of Skinner Butte, odds are you’ve seen people playing music and partying at the bottom of a vertical wall of basalt shortly on the way up. You might have even seen a few people climbing there as well. These are the Skinner Butte Columns, a local crag and/or party spot that dries out for easy climbing in the spring. The columns will help you develop your crack climbing skills fast, mostly because you don’t have a ton of choice in the matter. All jokes aside, it’s a great little outdoor climbing area right in the middle of the city, which is something that many climbers do not have the luxury of having.
A quick hike provides you with access to the tops of the columns from which you can set up top rope stations along most of the length of the wall. A personal safety anchor should be worn while accessing the bolts. Some are easy to arrive at, while others require an exposed step or two. Either way, clipping in beats falling off. There are plenty of routes to choose from for an evening of climbing, which mostly increase in difficulty the further right you along the wall. Many people like to test their trad gear at the columns as well to warm their bodies back up after the winter. To get the full Skinner Butte Columns experience, leave work thirty minutes early to secure a good spot, observe the fading climbing guide near the bottom whose ratings feel (in my opinion) incorrect, then hike to the top to soak up some sun while you set up a top rope station.
Watch the Vaux’s Swifts Put on a Show
During the spring a unique event flutters its way through Eugene: the migration of the Vaux’s swifts. As they move through the state on their semi-annual migration across the continent, thousands of Vaux’s swifts stop in Eugene for several weeks, making a home in the old Agate Hall chimney on the University of Oregon campus. Vaux’s swifts are a species of bird that spends the majority of their life in the air. Believe it or not, the swift cannot perch on things like branches or power lines, and thus rely on large, hollow spaces to gather and share warmth. And gather they do! Vaux’s swifts make their appearance in Eugene by the thousands. They fly through the air close together and create what are called murmurations: intricate, coordinated patterns of flight that make sensational shapes in the sky that are a sight to behold.
Some of these murmurations can be seen up close from late April to early May at the Agate Hall chimney, where each evening the swifts swirl together as they prepare to enter their brick vacation home. The birds become a tornado in the sky, creating three-dimensional shapes that appear and disappear in quick succession as each swift chooses the perfect time to dive into the chimney and (hopefully) find a space to roost. Their use of this chimney as a temporary shelter during their trip has been going on for decades. Just last year, the university’s environmental issues committee made the recommendation to designate it as an ecologically important roosting site for the birds, and for good reason—it’s the second biggest roost for the birds in the state.
If you do decide to check out swift’s evening routine, be sure to dress warm, bring a chair, arrive at the Agate Hall parking lot early for a good seat, and be friendly! There’s always an excited crowd waiting to see the event and you’re going to be killing some time while you wait for the show with your new neighbors. Even more importantly, make sure to bring a coat! Seeing thousands of birds come to roost is amazing—getting bird poop on your clothes isn’t as great.