Zipcar for FREE to an Oregon forest or park

We’ve talked about the health benefits of Zipcar before, and now they’re sweetening the deal in Oregon with free passes to nature areas in the state. Zipcar recently outfitted 40 Portland Oregon vehicles with federal Northwest Forest Passes and / or Oregon State Park Passes.

This is a cool deal if you already use Zipcar, and if not this is a great time to get on board with Zipcar. This is also perfect for travelers coming to the Portland area; you avoid having to rent a car for your vacation AND you’ll save money on park passes.

As with all Zipcars, these vehicles include gas, insurance and 180 miles of driving, and are parked in nearby, convenient locations. Zipcars with forest passes are located throughout Portland, and can be found with two quick steps: 1) filtering for specific vehicle type, and 2) clicking on the vehicle’s description to view special features, such as forest pass.

The Northwest Forest Passes are valid in Washington and Oregon National Forests at day-use sites where fees are collected. Oregon State Park Passes are good at hundreds of day-use park properties in the Oregon State Park system. Among the areas covered by the passes are the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Mount Hood National Forest, Silver Falls State Park and Siuslaw National Forest on the Oregon coast. All of these parks are within a scenic drive away from pdx and make for great day trips out of the city.

Other like-wise perks hopefully await other areas as well so that more than just Northwest dwellers can get out into nature but until then one national perk to watch out for is the soon to be a reality Zipcar iPhone app.