Little Crater Lake

Little Crater Lake

Date Visited: July 2013

Location: Mt. Hood Area

Type of Campground:  Forest Service

Reservations: Yes can be reserved online

Description:  This was a pretty forested campground.  It is a small loop of 16 campsites but they are fairly spread out with a few outhouses.  The lake is a tiny beautiful deep blue lake more for enjoying with the eyes then swimming since it is really tiny and soooo cold.  The PCT is a close hike from the campground and so there is lots of exploring to be done by foot.  Timothy Lake is nearby and can be hiked to or driven to. This lake is definitely for swimming and boating with gorgeous views of Mt. Hood.  There is camping there as well and I will have a post about one of the campgrounds that we stayed the next summer. One downside of this campground that I can remember is that there is only one water pump and it is a bit of a walk- so bring large containers to fill up with water.  There was some serious partying going on one of the nights there too - I don't know if that is the norm or if we just hit it on a bad night.

Pros:   Beautiful campground near Mt. Hood, lots of hiking and swimming nearby

Cons: Walk to water, Little Crater Lake is not for swimming (though of course Timothy Lake is nearby)

Hikes Nearby: PCT which heads North to Mt. Hood and South to Timothy Lake.

Red Bridge Wayside

Red Bridge

Date Visited: August 2013

Location: Eastern Oregon near La Grande, OR- 8 miles west of I84

Type of Campground:  State Park

Reservations: First Come Serve

Description:  This is a quiet beautiful out of the way campground.  There is easy access to the Grande Ronde River which runs all along the tent area and the day use area.  In the middle of August it was low enough for the kids to explore and play in it with no danger.  At Red Bridge there is a day use area, some RV sites and then a large grassy area for folks with tents.  We were there for a Saturday- Tuesday and two of the nights we were the only group in the tent area.  There are flush toilets a small walk from the tent area.  The day use area was almost always deserted and it left much to be explored!  We saw snakes, elk, a hunting bird of prey- a wonderful spot to be out in nature.  Across the highway from the campground there was a hike up through some beautiful Eastern Oregon forests to a gorgeous view.  A mile or so down the road there was another nice hike along the Grande Ronde.  La Grande is also close enough for an ice cream adventure.  The only bummer I can remember is the yellow jackets were very persistent.  If I were to go there again I would purchase a couple yellow jacket traps to keep them away. 

Pros:  Quiet, Gorgeous Eastern Oregon Forest, Access to the Grande Ronde, 

Cons: Some of the RV sites are right near the road, yellow jackets  

Hikes Nearby: I am not sure of the names but there was a hike directly across the street from the campground and then another a mile East of Red Bridge on 244.

Hart-tish Campground

Hart-tish Park Campground

Date Visited: July 5-7, 2013

Location: On Applegate Lake near Jacksonville, OR

Type of Campground:  Forest Service

Reservations: All sites reservable (I think)

Description: We planned to head down to see the Michael Franti Kids Concert at the Britt this summer and wanted to camp as well.  There were not a lot of campgrounds that you could make reservations near there so we picked this one and hoped for the best.  When you get to the campground it is a bit confusing because there is a large day use area attached to the campground but follow the signs and you will come to the Hart-ish store in a trailer.  You check-in there and then you pack your gear into these walk-in sites in wheelbarrows which are provided.  Once you get up to the sites-they are gorgeous! The sites are located on a little peninsula overlooking the lake and near the day use area which has a large grassy area and rocky beach.  There were only 9 sites and they are pretty large.  Many of them you can easily fit 2 or 3 tents.  Sites 3,4,6 and 7 are all on the lakeside which are up high and not the best choice for small kids.  Sites 1, 2, and 5 were wonderful -near the lake but not scary.  There were two more sites that I think were not reserveable but were also nice- near the grassy area of the day area.  The RV sites were reserverable and horrible-just parking spaces basically.  The bathrooms and water are both a bit of a hike so keep that in mind.  The beach was rocky, the water was a very comfortable temperature, there were motorboats but they could only go 10 mph and we saw actually very few.  We saw some kayaks and canoes and paddle boards.  The day use area did get pretty busy on the weekend but in the morning and evening it was very quiet.  EDIT:  I also was by this lake September 2015- the reservoir was very very very low so it may be important to check lake levels before planning on camping there.

Pros: Near the Brit Festival, Goregous lake setting, beautiful campsites,

Cons: Some motorboats, pretty decent walk to water and bathroom facilities, day-use area can get pretty busy, poison oak, low lake levels some year.

Hikes Nearby: We didn't get a chance to hike much but there were several hikes around parts of the lake and one up to some famous bigfoot trap which looked interesting.  This lake is also near Squaw Lakes which has a gorgeous walk-in campground.  I will review this at a later date.

Ainsworth State Park

Ainsworth State Park

Date Visited: Beginning of August 2012

Location: Columbia River Gorge between Hood River and Portland

Type of Campground:  State Park

Reservations: All sites are first come first serve

Description: We were planning a trip to the Columbia River Gorge to see the waterfalls and started looking into camping.  We found a limited selection of campground including Ainsworth, another state park right on I84, some county parks near Hood River, and some campgrounds in Washington.  We chose Ainsworth becasue it was so conveniently located near so many of the waterfalls.  The campground has mostly RV sites but off to one side there is 6 walk-in sites and they were pretty awesome.  The sites are spread out and set right in the forest: really beautiful.  Of course you do have to carry your gear in but there is a nice big trail that goes to each campsite.  Some of the sites were huge and could fit multiple tents.  It is a bit of a walk to the bathroom which are nice and have showers.  The rest of the campground we didn't really check out much but they were mostly for RVS.  They had some other random things like swings, tether ball, amphitheater, horseshoes, big grassy area, and trail starting right from the campground.  We camped here Wed through Fri and the six sites did fill up only one of those nights.  This is definitely not a remote campground so you can hear I84 in the distance and there is a train that runs by there fairly often. 

Pros:  Beautiful forested walk in sites, near many of the gorge waterfalls, nice facilities

Cons: Rest of the campground are RV sites, near I-84 and train tracks.

Hikes Nearby:  Multnomah Falls, Latourell Falls, Horsetail Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, Wahclella Falls  

Cape Perpetua Campground

Cape Perpetua

Cape Perpetua Campgound

Date Visited: Mid July 2012

Location: Along the Coast just south of Yachats

Type of Campground:  Forest Service

Reservations: Some sites can be reserved and some are first come first serve

Giant Spruce

Description: We chose this campground because we had not made any reservations ( which by the way I wouldn't probably do again-so stressful with 2 small kids).  We got there early Friday afternoon and had already checked out Tilicum, Rock Creek, and Washburne; nearby campgrounds and they were all full.  Cape Perpetua had a few empty sites but did fill up by the evening.  This campground is along a creek, in a beautiful forest.  None of the sites had hook-ups.  The sites ran along one side of the road so you had neighbors next to you but not across from you.  The bathrooms were extremely nice flush toilets. The sites were variable-some were very nice and big others were tiny probably for RVs and then some were rather slanted.  I didn't write down the numbers but I think 14 and 15 near the creek looked really nice.  There is also a large group campsite with a covered area and large field for tents. Several trails head out straight out from the campground which is awesome when you have a 1 year old who wakes up at the crack of dawn and you need to get out!  I will list some of the hikes below- you also can hike to to the beach, tidepools, and visitor center in the day use area. There were a few mosquitoes and of course we had the obligatory Oregon coastal rain the last morning but overall I really liked this campground-our site was not ideal-a little on the slanted side but the access to so much without having to get back into the car is awesome!

Pros: Lots of tent folks, campsites were only on one side of the road, hiking right from the campground (including to the beach, tidepools, and giant spruce), really nice bathrooms

Cons: Sites were small (most would be hard to fit more than one tent), some sites really really small, some sites were a bit slanty

Hikes Nearby:Giant Spruce, Tidepools (not ideal for really small kids), Beach, Spouting Horn,  the top of Cape Perpetua, Cummins Creek Wilderness and more.  Here is a map of the area. 

Tahkenitch Campground

Tahkenitch Campround

Date Visited: June 30,2012

Location:  Beach south of Florence

Type of Campground:  Forest Service

Reservations:  Before July:  Some sites can be reserved and the rest are first come first serve
Starting in July:  All sites are reservable (for the summer I assume)

Description:  We picked this campground near Florence because it was more of a tent camping campground with no hook-ups.  None of us had been here before so we randomly reserved some sites-paid the reservation fees and headed south.  When we arrived we found an almost empty campground- our reserved sites  were seriously crappy-tiny and bumpy.  We looked around and found some better sites and asked the camp host if we could switch.  Basically they had no idea what was going on but we took charge and moved anyways.  A few other bummers about this campground- a lot of the sites were tiny, the water was very rusty tasty, and brown so we had to fill our water in the bathroom, and then there were the mosquitoes.  We hadn't really considered the number of lakes in the area but the mosquitoes were everywhere making it difficult to do much hiking in the dunes or play outside.  Also camping at the beach in Oregon we found ourselves enjoying 18 hours straight of rain. Thank goodness for our fancy new rain shelter.  Some good things about this campground were the lack of RV campers and a trail head down through the dunes to beach starts right from the edge of the campground.  It is a beautiful but long trail-so it is a hike not a beach access.  I didn't write down any site numbers for reservation purposes since my brilliant blog idea came later.

Pros:  Trail access at campground, nice bathrooms, not crowded (but it was rainy and mosquitoey-so maybe people were just smarter than us:)

Cons: Mosquitoes, rusty water, weird hosts, some pretty bad tent sites

Activities/Hikes Nearby: Tahkenitch-Three Mile Trailhead,  Discovery Center in Reedsport