Robert Davis

We camped here again in July. Spent 5 days in spots RV1 and RV2. They were doing some log pickup close to our spot so during the day it was sort of noisy but after 3PM things got really quiet and peaceful. Trees were very plentiful and keep us cool during the 90* days. We went up the hill to tent site #13 where there was water, but you had to pump your own. The water was very clean and tasty. They had 2 buildings that had pit toilets and 1 porta-potty by the day use area by us. We walked a trail beside the day use area that went for about 1.5 miles by the creek. There were many other roads that went to other trails that were longer. All was very quiet except for the cars, trucks and Jeeps that sped down the road by our camp going to the trail to the right from 7PM until 1AM. I have no idea why they were here at all because they we not camping here and drove very fast for a gravel road.

Hard to find the entrance while going 55 MPH down the highway. We stopped and camped here on our way from Christmas Valley to home. What we found was a small but secluded camping area run by the BLM with 24 camp sites in total. We stayed at the best site possible, #11 and even thought all the Oregon fires were all around us we still found a gem in the forest. This site was large enough for our 21 foot trailer and F250 pickup with 8 feet left over. This site had it all, picnic table, fire ring, level asphalt pad and a great wonder full easy to get to creek called Salt Creek that ran the entire length of the campground. It only cost us $9.50 to say the night and not the normal $19.00 because we had a passport America pass. Once this campground has running water and flush toilets, but no more as people kept damaging the water system and pipes. thus the picture of the old flush toilet building. We will stop and stay here many more times in the future.

On April 18 our first time out in 2022 we camped in spot 76. It rained the whole 5 days we stayed here. Never the less the campground was very clean. The bathrooms were well kept, the showers were very nice and clean. Our spot was very spacious as the length was 45 feet deep on asphalt. It had a picnic table and a fire ring in a well-groomed gravel area about 30 x 30. The back of our spot was against very high trees. Our spot was on the north side of the road so when we put out our satellite unit it had lots of southern sky to find a signal from. This spot was across the road some ways away from the kids play area that was still closed due to COVID. One day we took a trip into Vernonia 11 miles away and had lunch at The Black Iron Grill. They served very good food at a reasonable price and served large portions. Vernonia also has R & S Market where we purchased some other food items we were lacking, like eggs. As this was our first time camping here, we had a very nice time. The best part was it was only 45min away from our home.

March 2021. We stayed at Nehalem Bay State Park for 4 days. Turning off of HWY 101 to the park was somewhat of a bumpy pothole road for about a half mile or so. Then very good roads in the park itself. No one at the main entrance so we drove into our loop (A) space 32 and backed in. Had just enough space for our 21’ trailer and pickup truck. We hooked up to power and water, no sewer hookup. Two dump stations were out at the main entrance.
This spot had many short trees and had a fair amount or room between us and the other campers. It also had a picnic table and a fire ring and was backed into the dunes area. It was just a short walk to the beach entrance path from our site. At the beach was very large area and had the whitest sand I have ever seen except in Hawaii.
The parks bathrooms were spotless but the showers in our area (A) were shut down because of no hot water. You had to go to loop (B) to take a shower. As far as I could see all the RV camping spots were back in’s and mixed in were tent camping areas. In other locations were Yurt’s you could rent too.
This park has many-many camping sites as well as selling ICE and Wood. My wife really loved this park as it was very beautiful. The park had a host at each loop as with most state camp grounds do. The host I talked to was Ed, a very nice, friendly and knowledgeable guy. We took our bikes for a ride on the bike friendly roads and enjoyed the ride as this park has a long loop bike trail to use.
We took a ride to Warrenton to go to Walmart one day and then took a ride the next day to Nehalem and ate fish and chips at Riverside Fish ‘n Chips. The food there was fabulous as it was rated 4.5 out of 5 with Google. The wife also shopped at Hope Chest thrift store one day in Nehalem, I think.
Over all for the $132.00 it cost us it was worth every penny to camp there.

October – Our 3rd time to Nehalem Bay State Park. The entrance to the park is still very rough and bumpy until you actually reach the park entrance. The roads inside the park are very good, smooth and wide. Our spot B-37 was very nice except the fact of the rain for 2 days that created a pool next to the asphalt our trailer was setting on by the back of the trailer. We used the bathrooms and found the stalls were very tight to close the stall door. You had to stand directly beside the toilet to shut the door. But the bathrooms and showers where very clean and well kept. For that matter the whole park was clean and well kept.

We bought take out lunch 2 times at the Riverside Fish & Chips in Nehalem. The fish and fries were cooked to perfection. The outside of the fries were crispy and the inside was very soft, plus the coating on the outside of the fries were excellent. The fish was not greasy, well cooked and juicy on the inside.

Our park entrance fee normally $30 was waved because we had a Eagle Pass as well as our 50% discount for our camp site. But be aware you need to go to the village camp store and ask for your discount after paying online for your site and they will refund your discount amount.

Moreover at Mazama Village they assign you your camp site - there is no choosing! If you booked more than two or three-night, this can be a problem. There are only a very few sites with power in section B and C. I saw large 5th wheels crammed into difficult and small site, and tiny teardrops in giant site - all assigned. It's a crap shoot! Our site was D1 where the picnic table, fire ring and Bear food locker was all on the wrong side of our trailer. So if you get any site with an odd numbered 1,3,5,7,9 and so on you will have the same issue. Only saving grace was the fact it was close to all the lake activities and the rim drive. Plus the gas station was cheaper than the outside gas price by .25 cents a gallon.NO diesel fuel only regular unleaded gas.

Our first trip to Fort Stevens in September. We camped here 5 days and was in spot J-195, not a real great spot for us because it is 90* to the road and because of the tent water drain was close at the right side of the driveway it was real difficult backing in our 21’ trailer. We found that only loops (H, I, L and M) have complete full hookups and not just water and electric like (J) loop. After looking around we found many other much better spots we could camp in. Most camp sites have the Fire Ring and picnic table in the back of the site close to the asphalt driveway where if you open your awning up it would overhang the fire ring and not be useable, like our site was. Many sites are very skinny and only have room for the asphalt driveway and maybe 10 additional feet beside the driveway. And most sites are only 35-45 feet deep.
We drove to many of the fort sites like the gun bunker and the reconstructed wooded fort itself as it was very close to our site. Warrington was also close bye for shopping at Walmart, Costco and many others. Then we stopped at the Fish Mongers in Hammond and ate cod fish and chips, good food! We also drove to the Astoria column. We haven’t been there for more than 15-20 years and found it great looking, and the view from up there was spectacular overlooking the Columbia River and Astoria.
While we were here, we saw 3 Elk’s eating tree leaves right across from our camp site. They were not spooked by anything and calmly walked and ate down the road. We also walked to the beach and saw the ship wreck and found you can drive on the beach if you have 4-wheel drive. The bathrooms were clean and the whole campground have many camping host’s per loop to keep things is good working order. A very large campground with over 300 sites.
Most of the camp sites are close together and have little or no cover between sites. Many nights from our camp we heard kids playing, adults talking, laughing and other loud noise close by.
We used our American the Beautiful Senior pass to get free access to many of the paid Federal site locations close bye and this has saved us many costly fees.

Our first time to Ainsworth state park. We found the (A) loop where we stayed very nice and sort of secluded with lots of trees even though you could slightly hear the HWY traffic and the occasional train without any horn. It was really not that noisy. The B loop is much closer to the noise and is more flat ground area. The only slight complaint we had is that the speed of the vehicles going down the hill road past our camp area was a little excessive. Most don’t understand what 5 MPH is and are doing 15-20 MPH. Much too fast for the small road and people. This Park is really not suitable for very large rigs as the roads are narrow and have several tight curves. We found the showers and bath rooms very nice and clean. As a matter of fact, the whole park was very clean by the attentive staff. The campground has a large play area that has a horse shoe area and they have an amphitheater area as well. A very nice place to say for only $26 a night for full hook ups.

This park is right off HWY101. Upon entry is a very nice view of the center of the park and a few speed bumps you have to really slow down for. Upon check in at the office 2 very nice lady’s where working where one greeted me and checked me in and gave me a bag of salt water taffy as a newcomer to the park along with papers of the park rules and TV cable channel listings and more. We had made previous reservations but the first 3 days we could not make it to the park, so the lady asked if we would like to start our weeks stay that day… “sure I said”. That was very unexpected and gracious of them!
The area we stayed in was in the tree area and park rules said you could have wood camp fires. After we backed into of space #67 that was very easy because of the road in front of our space to the left. The site was gravel and almost level but sort of small in width and length but enough for our 21’ trailer and pickup. There was a 5” high concrete fire ring and a picnic table to the right of our space but that was all the room we had and no shrubs’ or anything between sites. It also had water and cable TV hook up along with a sewer that required a screw on sewer connection that in some sites were 25 plus feet from the rear of the site. The sites next to each side of us were very close about 3 feet apart. There were two parking areas for extra rigs. One was it the upper tree area and the other was just above the ocean site area as most of the sites in this area were only large enough for the RV and the toad or pull vehicle where as in the upper tree area there were many pull thru sites large enough for both rigs. The park was very-very clean and well kept. The both bathrooms were spotless and the upper bathroom had 3 showers with plastic curtains for .50 cents for 5 minutes time with really nice hot water. The lower bathroom toward the ocean was newer and the wife said the showers there had doors for privacy and were a lot nicer inside.
The upper park area had a laundry room attached to the bathroom. To wash was $1.50 and to dry was .50 for 5 minutes time and had a large folding area. All the outside staff were very friendly and caring about their jobs.
There was a path about half way down the park on the left side that went to the beach area access which we took and walked on the beach during low tide, but during high tide there is no beach access. The lower ocean site area has 3 levels that over looked the ocean. Very nice and more costly. At the 3rd lowest ocean site area there was a set of stairs that also went down to the beach area access. Park rules say the upper ocean site area could not have any wood fires and could only use propane fires with the exception of on the beach.
The 4 rating was because of the closeness of the camp sites and the $26 nightly cost is because of camping off season.

April 2021. The entrance to Beverly Beach State Campground has many lanes to check in with. After we drove thru sections (C thru E to site F-18). We backed into our site and had enough space to park our truck. Because of many sites that are at a 90* to the skinny main road (ours included) the ability to back into most sites are very hard and not easily done. There are a few (45*) sites and some pull throughs as well. The sites were sort of close together. A few sites (B thru some C) had full hookups including CATV most did not. Most sites had electricity and water only. The park in section (A) has all tent sites and more throughout the park together with Yurt’s to rent.
On day (3) we walked from our site to under the HWY 101 bridge to find a beautiful beach area. It took us about 20 mins to walk it. Along the way we found two children’s play areas, a 100 seat Amphitheater and a Welcome Center that was all closed due to COVID restrictions.
The bathrooms were very clean and the showers in (sections C thru E) were closed. Out of the (7) free showers in site F (for campers only) (4) were open, but they were very roomy and nice as well as clean and they had1 handy capped shower too.