roadtripper685843

We camped here in early October, arriving on Saturday afternoon. The campground was about half full, so we had no problem finding an awesome site in the upper reaches of the campground, as advised by a previous reviewer. We had just left the sweltering heat of Lake Mohave, and the weather was perfect while we were there.

We headed over to the visitor center for info, only to find it closed indefinitely for renovation. A sign told us to call the main visitor center at the Kelso Depot.... pretty difficult without cell service. At any rate, we found the Rings trailhead, and started out. We picked the wrong direction and headed down the rings! It was challenging for us seniors, but we were OK.

Later during our stay we headed over to Mitchell Caverns at the Providence Mountains SRA. We got incredibly lucky, and were able to join a tour as some people we're no shows. It's open now, after having been closed due to budget cuts for several years. The tour was awesome; hard to believe there was water trickling down, at that altitude, in the desert.

We were treated to an amazing sunset on our last evening...

Our rate reflects the senior access pass.

We were here 9/29-10/2, and truly enjoyed our peaceful visit. The park was immaculate, and we had our choice of sites. They are pretty much in the middle of a green open field...which we found as a welcome relief, as it was extremely dry in Oregon and fires were raging back home. It also meant we had great solar. The vault toilets were the cleanest we've ever seen, and smelled of bleach every morning.

The park has several displays detailing the history of the company town and lumber mill of Bates, that used to be here. The wood was brought here via the narrow gauge Sumpter Valley Railroad. Families that grew up here still get together for reunions.

We also enjoyed the network of trails on site. We took a day trip from Bates to hike the trail to Strawberry Lake (south of Prairie City), as the road to the trailhead was not recommended for trailers.

We stayed here 9/7/20 enroute to Wallowa Lake. We had driven through last year and were impressed. The sites are widely spaced, and generally quite long and level. There are 2 very clean vault toilets, even after Labor Day weekend. We paid half the normal $5 fee with our senior pass. The camp is well maintained, they just don't mow the grass like the do at the state park.

Across the highway is the Grande Ronde River. The river access is all torn up, as part of a multi year project to naturalize the river, to try to get Salmon to return. Plans are to redo the nature trail that had been there.
People used to put in tubes up at Red Bridge and float down here. But boulders have been placed in the river and it is no longer advised.

The price of $9 reflects the federal senior pass discount.

I had reserved our site on recreation.gov several months in advance and it was a good thing that I did. I had no idea what a perfect gem this lake is. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon, and the beach was overrun by happy kids and their families. The day use lot was packed.
The water was crystal clear, the lake is spring fed, and had lots of water compared to the Deschutes River across the road which was incredibly low, as water had been released from the Wickiup Dam fir irrigation. No motors are allowed on the lake, and the Twin Lakes Resort which is just on the other side of the boat ramp rents rowboats, kayaks, stand up paddleboards and peddle boats. (If you forgot your own) People on the beach were playing with all sorts of floaties. Once the weekend was over, the crowd died down.

The campground itself is small, and the reservable lakefront sites are hugely rutted and unlevel. The 3 best level, lakefront sites are all FCFS...that said, people arrived on Sunday, with the intention to hop over to those sites. We were in site 7, where we were able to get some solar with our long, thick extension cord and solar suitcase. Sites were huge and often had multiple rigs/families camping in them. That said, everyone was quiet and well behaved at night.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that the campground had numerous piped water spigots, and one flush toilet. There was a convenient water spigot at the exit from the boat ramp, and our water bandit fit on it just fine. There is a forest service dump station/potable water fill 1/2 mile south, it is $10 to dump (credit cards only), but the potable water was free.

We also enjoyed a great meal at the lodge, and got the granddaughter ice cream every night.
The campground host was very diligent, checked the restroom several times a day, and also cleaned sites and picked up trash.

On the negative side, the paved campground road had potholes, with chipmunk holes in the bottom of them. DO NOT walk the dog at night, without watching where you step. Chipmunks (ground squirrels?) were running rampant. Don't leave any food out on your picnic table. You may not like the crowd, if you don't, check out the very peaceful North Twin Lake.

We'll go back next year...

We got here on a Thursday in late September 2020, hoping to score a site. We lad lots to choose from, and picked B1.…in part because the water and electric sites were $20/night ($10 for us seniors), got more sun 🌞, and got a better cell signal with Verizon (no booster).

We were astonished to find a USFS campground, with water and electric, not to mention clean flush toilets.

The lake was way down, probably is that way every fall...helps keep the crowds down. We did enjoy hiking the trail that surrounds the lake.

It was a good base camp to explore the area; the Sumpter Valley Railroad, the Sumpter Valley Dredge state park, and the isolated village of Granite.

This is one of series of small campgrounds up the Clackamas river system in the Mt. Hood National Forest. This one, with 16 sites is one of the few to take RVs. It is definitely our favorite. We visited last summer, in June 2019, and were there over the weekend. We reserved in advance to get one of the 3. RV sites...(it is on Recreation.gov, with an $8 reservation fee). It was full all weekend, but the other campers were quiet and well behaved. A campground host was on site.

Sites 1-4 are tent only, on the river; you park your car and walk in. We were in site #14, also riverfront, although the river was down a rocky embankment from our site. With the federal Golden Age Passport we paid half of the $20/night fee. We had a nice view of the river.

One of the reasons this place is so popular is that next to site #15 is the terminus of the "Riverside National Recreation Trail". The other end is at the Rainbow Campground, with the official trailhead just off the road between Riverside and Rainbow Campgrounds.It is 5 miles one way between the two campgrounds. The trail is very scenic, and just a short distance from the Riverside Campground is a very nice beach. People were playing in the water there. Another feature is its proximity (14 miles by car) to the Bagby Hot Springs.

Amenities included water from a hand pump, vault toilets, fire rings, picnic tables, trash collection, and a host. Don't count on your solar working...it's heavily wooded.

We would have given it 5 stars, except during our visit, a logging company was removing timber via helicopter directly over us continually. It was quite annoying.

We stayed here in mid September, and arrived on a Wednesday, to find the campground totally empty; so we had our choice of sites. We chose the last one, #15, a pull through, mostly as it had a clear view of the river from the picnic table. We also hung our hammock between 2 trees and had a water view. This site was large enough for 2 rigs. Only downside was it was lumpy...the other sites were much more level.
The 2 vault toilets were immaculate, and had been cleaned earlier in the day.

The camp was conveniently located near paved road 3960, which we took to reach the trailhead for the "Blue Hole" hike, located at the Indian Crossing horse camp. Nice easy hike upstream along the river. Other hikers were outfitted for the elk bowhunting season. Possible boondocking sites were located off the road to the trailhead too.

No cell service, but we were able to pick up an Idaho AM talk radio station.

With our senior card, we paid half the normal rate of $8. We would definitely stay here again... it was my husband's favorite campground.

We stayed 4 nights toward the end of April. Weather is highly unpredictable...went from sunshine to thunderstorms to snow in one day.

We reserved our trailer site online through the Idaho S.P. website as there are very few RV sites. We were charged $14/night, plus a reservation fee. I asked why I didn't get the senior price at the visitor center. She asked to see my card, and I got a $28 refund!! Never hurts to ask!

We lucked into one of the best sites too..

Only a few things to add that haven't been mentioned....
First:How did we pay $4 night? That reflects half of our $8 reservation fee for our 2 night fee. We got our site for free as my husband has the Oregon State Park disabled veteran pass. He is disabled from his stint in Vietnam. Why I am telling you this, is unlike other states, you do not have to be an Oregon resident to get this pass! In fact, our son and DIL moved to Oregon, and we got the pass by mail while we still lived in the Midwest. There were a few hoops to jump through but once you get it, it is good for 2 years.....and gets you 10 nights of free camping per month...including FHU sites if available. Renewal is easy, something like returning the postcard they send you.

Second: We stayed here the first 2 nights they opened. And there are a few changes...Restrooms we're open, and cleaned, but they haven't reopened the showers. Yurts and cabins are also unavailable. Campsites are only available by reservation/ no FCFS camping. Unless you previously made a reservation, like we had, there is only a 2 week ahead reservation window, instead of the normal 9 months. So keep this in mind if you want to camp here.

Oregon has a low rate of covid19, due to our early lockdown; but as things are in phase 1, it's getting worse. I suspect that is why there is only a 2 week window, so they can close things down again.

We were here in late May, and we're very impressed. Camping is quite basic; there are 4 camping area, each with a clean vault toilet, and trash barrels. No homeless people.
The last reviewer must have been here in the fall during duck hunting season.

To camp here, you must have a parking permit, which are obtained online at MyODW.com. I think it's $10/ day, $30 annually. Print it out and put on your dashboard. Our stay was free as hubby is an Oregon resident and a disabled veteran, and the pass came with his free fishing licence.Camping is limited to 14 days in a 30 period. An employee did empty trash during our stay and checked our permit.

The coordinates on campendium are not how you enter by the office, use Google maps. Website has a downloadable map which we found helpful.

We stayed at the River Ranch cg, which has the old barn.

Most people, at least when we were here, come to birdwatch. And we may take that up too. Saw lots of birds, American Avocet, Coots, Barn Owl and juvenile, barn swallows, Spotted Redshank, Sandhill Crane among others. It's best to get off the gravel roads and walk on the roads they use to control the water levels.