# Camping In Oregon



## rman45 (Jun 30, 2006)

We are looking for few places to weekend camp closer to Portland, OR. Any favorites or suggestions?


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## Doxie-Doglover (Apr 19, 2006)

Doug and Oregon Camper where are you??


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

I can help with dry spots....Doug will cover the full hookup sites.

What are you interested in doing?

Boating?
Fishing?
Hiking?
Rivers?
Biking?
Easy to get into....??
Hard to get into...??
Beach?
Mountains?
Lava tubes?

Anything you don't want to experience? 
Dirty sites?
Motorcycles running around?
Generators?

Requirement for site:
Water in campground
Water as site?
Pit toilets?
Showers?
Free 
BLM sites?

Whew....that is a lot of stuff. I tend to lean toward the remote sites, with nothing around, so that somewhat removes campground within 1-2 hours of Portland. We'll find you some site, just need to know what you're looking for.


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## rman45 (Jun 30, 2006)

Don't do dirty sites or motorcycles, although the boys and I would love that. Actually we enjoy just hanging around. We may fish a little, bike ride, hike. We can stay pretty happy with a baseball and some gloves, horse shoes, a football, etc. We prefer clean sites, hookups not necessary. Scenery is important. Windy conditions seem to annoy us all (does that eliminate the Gorge?) Mountains or the coast, but probably more mountain.

Good questions, hope this helps.

Randy


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

rman45 said:


> Don't do dirty sites or motorcycles, although the boys and I would love that. Actually we enjoy just hanging around. We may fish a little, bike ride, hike. We can stay pretty happy with a baseball and some gloves, horse shoes, a football, etc. We prefer clean sites, hookups not necessary. Scenery is important. Windy conditions seem to annoy us all (does that eliminate the Gorge?) Mountains or the coast, but probably more mountain.
> 
> Good questions, hope this helps.
> 
> Randy


The Gorge does tend to have some wind...you should have seen us scramble during the Spring Rally's Saturday night buffet....WOW.

Anyhoot, I think you'd do well on Mt. Hood at some of the more popular spots. Are you new to the area? I would recommend hitting Trillium Lake once this summer. It has great views and I think it will met your needs listed above.

I would also recommend just driving up to Mt. Hood; grab a spot at anyone of the 10-12 campgrounds between Sandy and Government Camp. Then get up early Saturday morning and head out and explore Mt. Hood in your truck (without the Outback). You'll find a slug of campgrounds before Government camp and around 30-40 more after Government camp. The road on the back of Mt. Hood will split about 8 miles past Government Camp...and you have to decide if you wan t to continue around Mt. Hood or head towards Bend. Either way you go, you'll have a bunch of campgrounds to choose from.

Here is a link the Mt Hood National Forest campground. This is just the tip of the iceberg, and that is why I suggested you get a site Friday night...then head out on Saturday and find a bunch more. FYI...the sites on the back of Mt. Hood are very nice (IMHO) but a lot of them are dry.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/mthood/recreation/...nds/index.shtml

I've only listed stuff close to Mt. Hood. If you want to stay a bit closer to town, there are some great campgrounds along the Clackamas River, just outside of Estacada.


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Randy,

I don't know how close you want to stay, but we have always enjoyed Silver Falls S.P. outside Salem. There are a lot of good dry camping areas up on Mt. Hood around the lakes. At the beach, our favorites are Beverly Beach and South Beach S.P.'s. We consider any of these as being within weekend range. Also, there is a new state park being built outside of Vernonia, but I believe camping there is at least a year away.

Happy Trails,
Doug


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## rman45 (Jun 30, 2006)

Thanks guys.

Very helpfull. We want to get out a few more times this summer, but to do that we ned to stay pretty close. We have been to Trillium once last year, and they were booked! SO we couldn't stay. We will do some searching and find a number of spots I'm sure. Do you ever get up into Washington to camp?


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

rman45 said:


> Thanks guys.
> 
> Very helpfull. We want to get out a few more times this summer, but to do that we ned to stay pretty close. We have been to Trillium once last year, and they were booked! SO we couldn't stay. We will do some searching and find a number of spots I'm sure. Do you ever get up into Washington to camp?


Pacific Power offers some neat campgrounds as you head out of Cougar. I'd say all of them are < 2hrs aways from Portland/Beaverton area.

http://www.pacificpower.net/Navigation/Navigation1126.html


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Randy,

We have not had a lot of good luck up in Washington. It may be that we are just spoiled by how great the Oregon S.P.'s are. Don't get me wrong, the Washington parks are not bad... Just a little dissapointing.









Happy Trails,
Doug


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## Doxie-Doglover (Apr 19, 2006)

PDX_Doug said:


> Randy,
> 
> We have not had a lot of good luck up in Washington. It may be that we are just spoiled by how great the Oregon S.P.'s are. Don't get me wrong, the Washington parks are not bad... Just a little dissapointing.
> 
> ...


but not the Washington People


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Doxie-Doglover said:


> Randy,
> 
> We have not had a lot of good luck up in Washington. It may be that we are just spoiled by how great the Oregon S.P.'s are. Don't get me wrong, the Washington parks are not bad... Just a little dissapointing.
> 
> ...


but not the Washington People








[/quote]
Never!








Next to Oregonians, they are the nicest I have ever met!

Happy Trails,
Doug


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## Doxie-Doglover (Apr 19, 2006)

PDX_Doug said:


> Randy,
> 
> We have not had a lot of good luck up in Washington. It may be that we are just spoiled by how great the Oregon S.P.'s are. Don't get me wrong, the Washington parks are not bad... Just a little dissapointing.
> 
> ...


but not the Washington People








[/quote]
Never!








Next to Oregonians, they are the nicest I have ever met!

Happy Trails,
Doug
[/quote]
which are next to the born and raised Idahonians!


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Doxie-Doglover said:


> Randy,
> 
> We have not had a lot of good luck up in Washington. It may be that we are just spoiled by how great the Oregon S.P.'s are. Don't get me wrong, the Washington parks are not bad... Just a little dissapointing.
> 
> ...


but not the Washington People








[/quote]
Never!








Next to Oregonians, they are the nicest I have ever met!

Happy Trails,
Doug
[/quote]
which are next to the born and raised Idahonians!








[/quote]
Well, I'm not sure I would go THAT far.









Happy Trails,
Doug


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## Doxie-Doglover (Apr 19, 2006)

PDX_Doug said:


> Randy,
> 
> We have not had a lot of good luck up in Washington. It may be that we are just spoiled by how great the Oregon S.P.'s are. Don't get me wrong, the Washington parks are not bad... Just a little dissapointing.
> 
> ...


but not the Washington People








[/quote]
Never!








Next to Oregonians, they are the nicest I have ever met!

Happy Trails,
Doug
[/quote]
which are next to the born and raised Idahonians!








[/quote]
Well, I'm not sure I would go THAT far.









Happy Trails,
Doug
[/quote]
It's ok Doug, I won't tell! 
What's that you say? YOU LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVEEEE THE VANDALS???


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## ARzark (Aug 9, 2005)

rman45 said:


> Thanks guys.
> 
> Very helpfull. We want to get out a few more times this summer, but to do that we ned to stay pretty close. We have been to Trillium once last year, and they were booked! SO we couldn't stay. We will do some searching and find a number of spots I'm sure. Do you ever get up into Washington to camp?


Grayland Beach SP in WA is actually very nice. New remodeled sites (power/water) on the beach (just walk over the sand dune at your site). I posted pictures in a thread, but can't find them for the life of me.

WA parks are OK, but they have realized they are missing serious revenue from the RV crowd. They are in the process of remodeling many of the parks here. Good thinking on their part


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## rman45 (Jun 30, 2006)

Has anyone visited a Harmony Lake in Washington? I ran adcross it online this morning and it looks pleasant. It is near Rifle Lake which is very scenic.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Are you going out this weekend? If not, just take off Saturday morning and drive up the Clackamas river or up to Mt. Hood. You will come home with a bunch of sites you'll want to try.


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