Umpqua Lighthouse State Park

We stayed at Umpqua Lighthouse State Park during our off-season Oregon Coast tour in January 2017. We wanted to spend time near the Oregon Dunes and this place nicely fit the bill. If you're visiting the Dunes area of the Oregon Coast, you can't go wrong with Umpqua Lighthouse State Park.

There are other Oregon State Parks near the dunes, but because Umpqua Lighthouse was closer to the Smith River where I spent several days fly-fishing for Steelhead, it won out over Honeyman and Tugman. Also, after a few days of dry camping and electric-only sites, we wanted a full hook-up site.

We were pleasantly surprised by Umpqua Lighthouse State Park. We arrived without reservations and had no problem getting a full hook-up site. In fact, during our stay, the camp hosts outnumbered the campers most of the time!

The campground is located in your typical PNW coastal forest, amongst tall cedar spruce trees—our dog tracking pine needles into the rig got old pretty quick! All the sites were fairly private and had a nice outdoor area with picnic table and small fire ring. The full hook-up sites are all 30amp vice 50amp if this matters.

Overall the campground was clean and quiet. While you can’t see the dunes or see the ocean from your campsite, you can hear the waves crashing. There is a small lake behind the campground with a nice hiking trail that circumnavigates it. The Umpqua Lighthouse is also in the park and is worth going to see. We visited both during the day and again at night—night was better! There is a museum for the lighthouse, but we didn’t go in.

Almost all of the full hook-up sites were very large with room to spare after parking our 30’ trailer and truck. Additionally, most seem to be located close to the campground entrance, while the trash and bathhouse is located down the hill in the main loop area. The electric and water sites all appeared fairly large too. The bathhouse dated but clean. The showers were hot with ample water pressure.

The town of Reedsport isn’t anything to write home about. We went to dinner in Winchester Harbor one night (Fishpatrick’s Crabby Café) and it was good, but pricey for what we got. There are a couple of grocery stores in town (Safeway and some local chain) that were adequate. A few miles outside of town (on 38 along the Umpqua River) is a wildlife viewing area with a large herd of elk--worth the trip to see them. AT&T cell coverage was strong and reliable with 3 bars of unboosted LTE.

We chose this campground based on location as we head down the coast. As we plan, we look for places that are not parking lots with rows of RVs. The sites in this campground are layed out very nicely so that you don't feel like you are in your neighbor's RV with them. It seemed like it anyway, we were the only people there aside from the hosts. It was very rainy (January after all), but the place is so serene that it was still a pleasure to take the dog out for a walk. I was surprised, but I got enough cell signal there to give me enough internet to research our next stops.

We would stop here again even in the peak season.

I love this campground! Such friendly hosts and campers, it's quiet with lots of trees and grass. Spacious sites. The bathrooms are being remodeled so they set up temporary bathroom/showers and the hot water feels great after days on the road. Mid June and there's still lots of sites open, including some yurts, tent sites and hook up sites. Highly recommend this area!

We came at a very non-busy part of the year. Pretty empty. Nice place to stay if you’re traveling along the coast in an RV. The yurts are $43 for basic and $82 for deluxe per night. Hosts were very friendly.

I was just so lucky to get a great spot. It was located on the lake side of the park. Only drawback was it was next door to a cabin that had travelers come and go, but I would still try for that same spot again. 1 mile trail around the lake was beautiful with old growth trees and plants. I was there in winter but being Oregon, I just had to wait a bit and the sun would come out again. Some of the spots were a bit open, but I am sure will be much more private in the spring.

This is a nice campground with small campsites. If you have a large camper it might be a tight fit. We had full hookups.

Campground hosts are nice. Dump station is 5 miles away at William Tugman, though eight sites are FHU. I'm guessing Tugman has recycling as well as there are only dumpsters and dog stations at this location. Three bars LTE with WeBoost. There is a nice little lake to walk the dog around and a small beach where children were swimming. The water was warm. Our dog was stung by a hornet while walking around the lake. There is one shower house and it's one of the best I've seen! However, if you're camping in sites 1-11 you'll have to walk (or drive) down a steep hill to get to these awesome showers. Paths to the lake from the campground are also pretty steep, but I believe there is a day use area to park in for easier access. Our site (09) is right next to a moderately trafficked trail.

The sites were an okay size. Some of the pads were pretty long for a state park and the ones we saw were paved. We love a full hook up spot at a public campground! However, there was less privacy between sites than we expected.

The one mile trail around the lake is very nice. The lake is great for kayaking or swimming. There is a beach - one of the few dog friendly ones in the area - a five minute drive away. If you are into ATVing, this is a popular area but we found the engine noises a little annoying.

Grocery stores and gas stations not too far away.

AT&T: 13 mbps down
Verizon: <1 in sites 1-11, but 3 mbps down in the day use area and in sites 21-54

I guess as local Oregonians we’re pretty spoiled when it comes to camping. We’re used to privacy, immersion in nature, and even (sometimes) a bit of a view. This park is beautiful and quite neat/tidy, but the spaces were very small and had very little foliage and not much of a view. As I write this I’m sitting in my camp chair staring at the Jeep parked next to us and a fern.
We stayed at a full hook-up site (#8) in the upper campground. It was quiet and we were the only family with kids here. Overall, this campground just wasn’t a lot of fun for my kids (7 & 3). They love to explore, find bugs, play in nature, and scooter around. We’re not hellions, but we do like to have a bit of fun. As mentioned, on the road there’s a MAJOR hill down to the other areas of the park and quite a flow of drivers here, so (for safety) my kids really had to stay in our tiny site and couldn’t scooter/bike. The lake (about a 5-8min walk down a very steep path) is lovely. And the lower campground restroom facilities were very nice. There just wasn’t a spirit of enjoying nature and camping here. At night we were the only site with a campfire and roasting marshmallows, and this campground was full!
I think this is a great spot if you’re older and just want to sit in your RV watching tv (which is totally fine, just not for us). We’re heading back to the McKenzie river!

Sites are on the shorter side and a little close together. We stayed in late February and there were only a few people in the lower loop so privacy was not an issue. Walking trail and super clean restrooms. A pleasant surprise along our journey.