Milwaukie Bay Park paddle with the Oru Beach LT foldable kayak

The Oru Company recently sent us an Oru Beach LT folding kayak to test out, and this week we hit up the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon to give it a spin. This foldable kayak is designed for casual paddling and beginners, and billed as a “lightweight and stable kayak that offers easy entry and ample space for a comfortable day on the water.”

We wrote an Ultimate Oru Inlet Kayak Review, and people often ask us how the Inlet compares to the other design models for flatwater kayaking. We’ll continue to share our thoughts over the coming weeks, but for this initial paddle experience we went to Milwaukie Bay Park to launch into the river…

This website is unsponsored by Oru, but it does contain affiliate links, meaning if you purchase through my link, I’ll receive a small commission at no cost to you.

The Milwaukie Bay Park location

This 8.5 acre park is a work in progress, but it’s an easy access point to the Willamette River, offering a boat ramp, small dock, bathrooms, and easy parking. It also only takes about ten minutes to drive there from downtown Portland too, which makes it highly convenient.

Why launch from this small river park? Well, there have been recent toxic freshwater algae blooms in the Willamette River, so I wanted to paddle out of the alert zone but stay on-river. It’s easy to carry a folded kayak to the boat ramp or the strip of pebble beach to assemble a boat and launch into the water. While there is some occasional boat traffic and waves to contend with, I paddled on a cloudy afternoon day outside of prime-time river traffic, so the water was mostly calm and very few people were out paddling.

While Milwaukie Bay Park is pretty small and basic as of this posting, there are big plans to boost amenities and expand the park in the future (think an amphitheater with a stage, improved nature walk, and natural play structures!), so it’s a good park for Portlandia visitors and residents to have on their paddling radar.

The Oru Beach LT kayak weighs 25 pounds and when collapsed folds up to a suitcase-sized compact shape. It comes with a shoulder strap to support carrying, and even at 25 pounds, the Oru Beach is considered a lightweight kayak (hardshell kayaks can weigh twice this amount, for the record).

At five pounds heavier than the Inlet model, it did feel a bit heavier carrying the boat from my car to the river’s edge. But it wasn’t really the added weight that struck me initially – it’s a taller box/container when folded, so at 5’6” it felt a little more awkward carrying the folded Beach LT kayak versus the Oru Inlet.

Assembly for the Oru Beach LT kayak is quoted at taking 5-10 minutes. This was my first time completing assembly – and I’m a very experienced Oru Inlet kayaker – and it took me more like 10-15 minutes on the first go.

I will say that Oru’s website videos were very helpful, and certain steps were very intuitive, especially with my Inlet assembly and disassembly knowledge. I anticipate being much faster at putting together the Oru Beach LT on the next paddle trip.

Also? Shout out to the Oru Company’s designers for literally thinking through every piece and step of this boat design – the only piece you don’t end up using is the black shoulder strap. It’s really so clever. Everything else is part of the assembled boat and serves an important function.

Once on the water, the Beach LT handled the river with ease. It felt a bit less stable than the wider Inlet, but speedier on the water. This kayaks’s cockpit isn’t as wide, and it felt a little smoother and easier to paddle different strokes. All and all it was a solid and enjoyable first kayaking experience with the Beach.

Stay tuned for more posts and a full in-depth review on the Oru Beach (we’ll be sure to update this post with the link when it’s live). And if you’re interested in the life jacket I use, check out my thoughts on my Oru PFD.

Pro tip from a local: Parking at Milwaukie Bay Park is also an excellent launch point if you want to paddle around Hog Island, like I did last year in my Oru Inlet kayak.

READ NEXT: 3 stunning kayaking routes on the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon for your next kayak adventure.

PLUS our full, in-depth review of the Oru Beach LT folding kayak.

About Flatwater Kayak Club

Flatwater Kayak Club is a leading woman-owned online platform dedicated to supporting beginner and intermediate kayakers in the Pacific Northwest. Our company founder, a former writer for The National Geographic Channel and a current ACA member, guides our mission with her passion for kayaking, nature, and storytelling.