jeffsturm

Driving westward on I-84 in early December, we needed a place to spend the night between Boise and Portland--Emigrant Springs State Park fit the bill as they keep a small handful of sites open into the winter. As we climbed higher into Oregon’s Blue Mountains, we found ourselves leaving the high desert scrub and entering a winter wonderland. By the time we arrived at Emigrant Springs State Park, we were in full-on Frosty mode. While I-84 was clear of snow and ice, as soon as we exited we found ourselves navigating a rutted, crusty mix of snow and frozen slush. We pulled into the park and noted that the water was secured to our site because of the freezing temperatures. We looked for the water faucet at the bathhouse, but didn't find it. Luckily, we had enough water in our tank to get us through the night if we showered in the bathhouse. (Later on, I found the water faucet inside a box next to the drinking fountain--deceptively labeled "Water"!). Regardless, we spent a glorious (if a bit loud due to the proximity to I-84) evening camped in a virtually empty state park, nestled amongst beautiful snow covered cedars trees. It was beautiful. The noise from the interstate wasn't an issue with the windows tightly shut and the furnace keeping us toasty. The bathhouse was clean and warm. The separate shower rooms were all clean and warm. The shower water was HOT, HOT, HOT. The stars were fantastic.

I'm not sure I would want to actually camp here in the summer because of the ever present noise from the interstate, but it was great for an overnighter.

When planning our exploration of Ithaca, we decided to stay at Robert H. Treman State Park on the advice of a family member who lives in the area. The park is only 15-minutes to downtown Ithaca and, more importantly, less than 7-minutes to Ithaca Brewing Company. [Make sure you check out IBC. There make some great beer and the food is fantastic for a brewery]

The park is divided into two areas—the upper falls and the lower falls. The Campground is located in the lower falls area and it’s an easy 5-min drive (or 4’ish-mile hike) to the upper falls. We highly recommend visiting the upper falls for the beautiful gorge views. There are several trails through the gorge that offer fantastic views of the numerous waterfalls.

As seems to be the standard for NY State Parks, the majority of the campground lacks hook-ups, but there was a small loop in the woods with electric (not sure about water). About two thirds of the no hook-up sites are located in an area of full-sun with only a few trees. We opted for one of these sites and with plenty of sunshine during our stay, our solar had no problem charging our batteries back to 100% by noon.

While there wasn’t a potable water spigot at the dump station, water spigots are conveniently located throughout the campground and are your only option for filling your tanks before or after your stay (this also seems to be the norm for NY State Parks, at least it was for the four we stayed at in 2016).

Bathrooms were well situated for the no hook-up sites and were clean but a little dated. The park staff was super-friendly and they sold firewood at the ranger station.

There were two wonderful playgrounds at the lower falls area—one in the campground by the electric loop and one in the day-use area. Both are very easy walks, regardless of where you’re staying in the campground.

There is a fair amount of road noise from highways 13 and 34 that was noticeable in the morning and at night, but it was nothing too overwhelming.

Speaking of noise, the only negative we experienced at this park was the influx of loud neighbors on our last night. We stayed in late September, arriving mid-week and leaving on Friday. The park was basically empty until Thursday afternoon when multiple run-down, generator-dependent, motor homes and travel trailers arrived in a group. We’re not sure what the deal was these folks, but they were all loud and obnoxious (lots of yelling and cursing). They ran their generators well past the advertised generator hours with absolutely no regard for their neighbors. What made this all the more frustrating was the fact that you could tell they were using the generators to watch TV…probably a Jeff Foxworthy or Larry the Cable Guy marathon on VHS. While it was not the park’s fault, the rangers did show up at 9pm at the end of generator hours and talk to them, but didn’t do anything to stop them—at midnight the generators were still running and I’m sure Jeff Foxworthy was still identifying stereotypical Redneck behavior. 7am the next morning, they were back at it…

Only reason it isn't five stars was the Ranger's seemingly inconsistent enforcement of the rules and the road noise.

Stayed at Pine Near in early November during a fall Steelhead Fly Fishing trip to the Methow River, so I didn't spend a lot of time in the park during the day. I wanted full hook-ups because temps were going to drop below freezing and Pine Near hit the spot!

Owners are very friendly and walked around the park with me while I picked the spot I wanted (a lot of empty spaces in November!). After 10-mins of discussion, she helped me back in to the spot I decided on and swung by again later on to see if I needed anything.

Great location in "downtown" Winthrop. It's off the main street, but an easy 5-min walk to the main street. Several good options for food and beverages in town and the local brewery made that walkable distance a key attribute!

Very clean restrooms and laundry facilities. Strong WiFi and AT&T (even inside my Airstream without a booster for either).

The Methow Valley is one of my favorite places in world and Pine Near is a excellent base camp for exploring.

A large state historical area, Champoeg State Park has a wonderful campground that is situated along the Willamette River and is at the front door of Oregon’s Willamette Valley winery area.

The paved sites in the B-Loop where we stayed all appeared large and many had FULL hook-ups. The bathhouse and showers were clean and modern. It was a short walk (3-min) through the woods to the natural playground area that was WAY COOL! Our son loved it.

Our site was more expensive than most because it was full hook-up (with 50amp service). The dump station and trash areas were very clean and convenient.

The park itself is criss-crossed by numerous biking trails that lead the visitor center of historic sites. Each day of our stay, I took the dog on a long walks around the park and enjoyed the ability to run on these nice paved trails along the river.

We didn't check-out the visitor center, but I did wander through the historic area that dates back to the 1820s.

We spent six days at the Greenbelt National Park Campground and wouldn’t do it again. Read the other reviews and thought that it couldn’t be that bad? Besides, we would be in the city the majority of our time and would only be sleeping here…

While we didn’t experience ticks (April stay), we can attest to the poor upkeep. This park could be so great, but it’s just withering on the vine due to lack of care. It isn’t because of a manpower shortage either. Plenty of employees milling about, but none seemed to be doing anything in the campground…

First, the positives:
PRICE- Great price.

EASY COMMUTE TO DC - The Greenbelt and College Park Metro Stations (Blue and Yellow lines) are super close. The College Park Metro Station had an easy access, open parking lot that worked for our truck. The commute to/from DC was simple and cheap.

POLICE PRESENCE - We felt very secure at this campground. This is a city campground and you can tell that they have a periodic homeless problem. Given this, the National Park Police were present several times throughout the day and night. When they weren’t driving through, the Camp Host was making his rounds.

AWESOME CAMP HOST – I realize that this all depends on the person and that they rotate through a lot, but the Camp Host was the only redeeming quality that we could discern at Greenbelt Campground. He was always patrolling the park, super helpful, and just plain nice.

Now the Negatives:
DIRTY - Greenbelt Campground was not just the dirtiest National Park Campground, but the DIRTIEST CAMPGROUND (public or private) that we’ve stay in. Trash was scattered throughout and the bathhouses were abysmal. We stayed for six days and bathhouses were cleaned twice. Trash was frequently overflowing.

POORLY MAINTAINED – We routinely saw the park employees driving around the campground, but I never saw them do anything—from the appearance of things, I don’t think they ever do anything other than drive around?!?! Bathrooms were falling apart—moldy tiles that had fallen off the walls were piled in a corner of the shower. The sites are paved, but the asphalt is in sure poor condition (cracked, broken-up, and frost-heaved), that it hindered effective leveling of the trailer and walking around was treacherous. The Fire Rings are ineffective, at best…basically, a concrete slab. There were numerous deep muddy ruts throughout the campground that demonstrate that very few people care about this place.

SMALL, TIGHT CAMPSITES – Recreation.gov said our 30-ft trailer would fit in our site. Upon arrival inspection, you would have trouble getting a 20-ft trailer in that spot! Luckily, the Camp Host was fantastic and worked with us to move to a new site that would accommodate our trailer and tow vehicle. Not a lot of trees and the sites were right on top of each other. Our fire ring was essentially right outside our neighbor’s door?!?!

NOISY - City Campground and you hear a lot of traffic noise. Also, a lot of helicopters flying around...

It should be noted that it rained twice during our stay, so the campground was a muddy, dirty mess throughout. I didn’t upload any pictures because I didn’t take any…it was such a sh!t hole that I didn’t want to take any!

What a gem nestled in the foothills surrounding Mount Hood! Lost Lake is a beautiful mountain lake located high on the flanks of Mt. Hood--the view of Mt Hood from the lake and the day-use area is beautiful! We couldn’t have been happier!

Lost Lake is a concessionaire-operated National Forest Campground and Resort, so it is expensive for a NF campground. We only paid $16 per night because of our Federal Access Pass, but the usual rate for a self-contained RV was $32 per night in 2017. The campground is located adjacent to the lake and resort area. The resort consists of a well-stocked general store, a canoe and kayak rental business, and few cabins and yurts. The resort also advertised pay showers, but due to a recent fire they were closed.

The campground is primitive with simple vault toilets, but overall it is well laid out with paved roads and many large, paved campsites, with multiple water spigots located conveniently throughout. This is definitely the nicest National Forest Campground we’ve stayed at.

Our campsite was nestled among the huge cedar trees on the side of a hill. It was extremely large and gave us a lot of room to spread out. The sites in our area were well spaced and provided ample privacy. Besides the large paved parking area, our pull-through site consisted of two separate tent pads, a picnic table area, and a fire pit area tucked up in the trees. We had plenty of room left over for our hammock, bikes, etc. We stayed in Site D-18 and even with the many trees, we had ample strong suns for about 3-hours, with an hour or two of filtered on either end of the peak, and our solar had no problem recharging our batteries.

The day-use area was very busy during the weekend we visited. There are several walk-in, day-use areas around the lake for access to the water. We put our SUP in at the boat launch (no motors allowed) and spent a day paddling around and swimming. There is also an easy and lovely 3’ish mile long hiking trail around the lake.

The dump station is a little tight and can be tricky if you have a large rig. We easily negotiated it with our 30-ft trailer after watching the huge rig in front of us have trouble. With some care, you should be fine.

Prepare to be absolutely disconnected out here. Our best estimate is that the nearest cell signal is a 30-minute drive away, close to Hood River. There is no WiFi available either.

[***Navigation Warning***]
We approached Lost Lake from I-5 south of Portland. Both GoogleMaps and our truck’s GPS routed us to the campground via U.S. 26 to Mt Hood Village, before turning north on Lolo Pass Road.

Lolo Pass Road started out as a paved and fairly well-maintained county road, which eventually turns into a National Forest Road. However, at the 10-1/2 mile point (from the junction with U.S. 26), maintenance on Lolo Pass Road stops and it becomes gravel with several severe washouts. We made it ¼-mile down the unmaintained section before deep washouts forced us to back out--turning around was impossible.

After backing up a quarter mile to the pavement, we found an intersection with a gravel National Forest Road (either, NF-18 or NF-1810--GoogleMaps says NF-1810, but signs said it was NF-18). Here are the coordinates of the intersection for reference: 45°25'38.4"N 121°47'47.2"W. As we stood pondering our dilemma and trying to decide if we should backtrack to U.S. 26 and drive around Mt Hood, a car stopped with friendly Canadian couple. They told us they also tried to take the Lolo Pass Road to Lost Lake, but turned around like we did. Evidently a local told them to take NF-18 (or NF-1810 on Googlemaps) instead. There were no posted signs that stated that this road was the new route to Lost Lake. Trusting the honesty of our Canadian friends, we headed down NF-18.

From the intersection, NF-18/1810 is gravel road that snakes through the National Forest for about 10-miles before becoming paved and rejoining Lolo Pass Road, just prior to the intersection with Lost Lake Road. During the summer of 2017, it didn’t appear that GoogleMaps was up-to-date with this change and this route doesn’t look obvious or even feasible, but it was fine. From the above intersection where we turned around, it took us exactly 45-minutes to get to Lost Lake.