Spring Drive RV Campground

That's right, 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical with water and sewer. This is the first Forest Service campground we have stayed in with hookups. The campground is not on a river or lake. There are no towns nearby. The main attractions are the towering trees and hiking trails.

There is access to a Forest Service road at site 5. The campground is fenced but there is a small gate that can be opened just before reaching the road from site 5. The road is a nice hike and also leads to other hiking trails.

There are only 10 campsites but they are long, wide and private. Our favorite sites were 6 and 7. Our site 3 was OK but had the sewer connection on the wrong side of the site. Sites are gravel and close to level. All sites will accommodate any size rig. The campground is very quiet with the exception of an occasional car or truck passing by on Hwy 216.

There is a small brown building at most of the campsites. In the past, these were bunkhouses used by Forest Service employees. They are now empty.

The only negative about this campground is the lack of cell signal. There is no Verizon or AT&T signal unless using a booster. Even with our booster we only had a 1x signal with Verizon and no AT&T signal. Using the booster we could send and receive text messages but could not make phone calls. To get a Verizon 4G signal, drive 3 miles east on Hwy 216 to the "Leaving Mt. Hood National Forest" sign. There is a large pull off on the south side of the road where we could make calls and use the internet.

We had a big site, your neighbors are so far away you can't see them or hear them. Nothing to do in the campground but so much to do around here. We had full hook up and with the Lifetime senior pass we got half off the original price. The water was broken they brought in trucks with water & filled up our tank along with put a fill tank location when you entered for people coming in.

This campground doesn't have many sites, its so quiet, loved it. Mt. Hood Winery was so nice, great wine. We drove to the Columbia river gorge, beautiful area, bought some local smoked salmon there, Bonneville dam, Multnomah falls, then hit the Mt. Hood Winery and a few others on the way back to camp.

Close by Frog lake, beautiful place & good for Kayaking. Small but nice, eagles, ospreys & fishing. Went to Trillaum lake beautiful but very busy. Also close by is Timothy lake about 25 miles from our campground great for Kayaking. There's several places you can put the kayak in depending on the wind you have options. There is camping there too, nice lake. Lots of trout to be caught. Close to our campsite a small road we turned off on & found a creek. My husband did some fly fishing but no catch.

If you have found this gem through Campendium and have not made a reservation, figuring you’d wing-it, be aware that BOTH Apple and Google Maps will lead you astray. Do Not turn down Keeps Mill Road, as they both instruct. We were some distance down that particularly narrow road, with no sign of the campground, looking for a spot to turnaround, frantically trying to discover where we went wrong, discovering, too, the loss of all cell reception. Fortunately, we had printed our reservations, which included directions (WHEW!):
Directions
From Sandy, travel east on Highway 26 for 48 miles to the Highway 26/I-216 junction. Turn left onto I-216 and travel east for 5 miles. Turn left on Spring Drive and continue to the campground.
The campground itself is unique. Apparently, it was once a “private” mobile home park, consisting of this handful of 12 well-secluded, HUGE campsites, which explains why each site has water, electricity and sewer.... and the remnant connections for phone and TV. Fire pits and picnic tables are spaciously adjacent. Each site is surrounded by mature evergreens, which really gives you the feeling of being alone in the woods... but with all amenities, except cell coverage.

As mentioned previously, we needed about 22’ on our sewer line hose; doable for us, as we had 2 15’ sections.

After getting our camp set up, we cruised less than 10 miles further East on I-216, to the parking lot of the abandoned Juniper Market, where we had good reception.

We walked through the empty campsite to the gate, as suggested in a previous review. We followed the road and then trails, which led to McCubbins dry camp campground, by the creek. Trail maps were available there.

This campground is small. The sites have long back in driveways. Most of the sites are fairly level. The plants are many, trees are tall. It is well shaded.
This is a campground for RV’s and self contained trailer units! There are no public restrooms!

Wow, full hookup at FS site. This place only had a few sites and was quiet. Hookups worked well but the sewer was a bit far away.

Sites were large and reasonably level. Site 8 was not my favorite one there, but was still great. Nothing else near this place, but we like it that way. A bit of a drive to some of the major MT Hood trails.

Full hookups at a Forest Service campground is unheard of. This gem is quiet, sites are private and hardly any bugs in the middle of July. I would have given this 5 stars but the sites are pretty unlevel. No cell service but we will stay again. We stayed one night on our way to camp in Eastern Oregon. 👍