Lithia Park is the beating heart of Ashland — 93 acres running along Ashland Creek from the main plaza up into the wooded hills, and one of the finest urban parks in the Pacific Northwest. The landscape architect John McLaren (who also designed Golden Gate Park) laid out the formal lower sections in the early twentieth century; further up the creek the park turns wild, with old-growth forest and hiking trails that continue into the Siskiyou Mountains.
The lower park has a Japanese garden, rose gardens, duck ponds, and a bandshell that hosts free summer concerts. The creek itself, cold and clear, is lined with sycamore and black cottonwood. In autumn the colours are exceptional. The upper trails reach viewpoints above the city and connect to the longer Lithia Loop trail system.
At the plaza entrance, two ornamental fountains dispense Lithia water — the sulphurous mineral water bubbling up from springs in the hills above town. Most first-time visitors take one sip and immediately regret it. Locals treat their ability to drink it with studied nonchalance.