Oregon Poor Man's Guide: Getting from Portland to Great Nearbly Camping/Hiking Spots, Using Tri-Met

A 5 mile, 90 minute trek to get from Tri-Met to a weekend in paradise.

This map is the first of hopefully many that I will use to find good camping and hiking destinations, which are in or near the Portland metro area, that are reasonably reachable from the nearest public transportation stop.

This map leads to Metro's Oxbow Regional Park, near the east side of Gresham.

Even if you do have a car, but are looking to cut costs and don't mind packing light, showing up at the campground without a vehicle would hopefully eliminate the $5 per vehicle fee. You never know with these bureaucratic places though, so I would suggest giving them a call to verify if that would actually work.

The camping fee is $22 per night, though. And I don't see any upcoming free camping nights, if they ever do such a thing.

Oxbow Regional Park PDF Brochure
Backpacker.com Sandy River Loop Hike

Sources: http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=150 

UPDATE:
I got some great advice from Guy over at the portlandhikers.org Trip Reports forum. He pointed out that the equestrian trailhead entrance is closer than the main entrance, plus you don't have to pay to get in through that entrance. He also said that he's sure they would charge that vehicle fee to camp, even if I hiked in. Here's the updated map to the equestrian trailhead. This shortens it by one mile, but Google only takes off 7 minutes in their estimated walk time, perhaps because there isn't a 400+ foot elevation drop at the end of this one.