Camp grounds Northern Oregon coast?

[HeftySmurf]

Greetings,
Heading down to the Oregon coast for a 4 day weekend towards the Cannon Beach area. Never been there before so I was hoping people could share some good camp spots and/or camp grounds in the area.
Cheers,
Mike
_________________
-Lorenzo
90 GL w/ Bostig

[Jedi]

Skip All that and head down to the JED Smith state park. Great stuff.
_________________
1961 Westfalia SO23 Mango Green/Seagull grey
1961 Westfalia SO34 T/BW
1961 Westfalia SO34 SWR
1964 Westfalia SO33 pearl white
1965 Westfalia SO42 Velvet green
1986 Syncro Wolfram grey with black int GL
1986 Syncro Doka
1987 Syncro Sevana beige Adventurewagen
1987 syncro Sevana beige GL
1973 Pumpkin orange Thing
2 1963 Rag top bug's
1965 Manx
1970 Single cab
1971 combi
1990 Vanagon GL
2007 Audi A4 3.2L quattro

[Captain Pike]

[HeftySmurf]

[climberjohn]

a LOT further, in California!
_________________
'86 Westy, 2.5 Subaru power
Know your limits. Exceed them often.

[climberjohn]

okay, I will give this a shot.

(Keep in mind that I have a preference for beaches that are smaller coves, and have a greater variety of driftwood, rocks, tidepools, etc. as opposed to be miles long stretch of sand type beaches.)

note that Oregon state parks passes are good for any park for the day you buy it, so you can visit several parks in the same day for one price. If you're only here for 4 days, it probably does not make sense to buy a $30 annual pass.

more or less from north to south:
Cape Disappointment, at the mouth of the Columbia River on the Washington side, is a really nice state park. The beaches there are excellent. There is a very cool tiny pocket beach that you can reach if you walk to the museum up high on the cliff and look for a small access trail down to the right. Nice camping.

Once you get to Oregon, a stroll through downtown Astoria is worthwhile. Amazing history there and a couple of decent brewpubs. I think that the fishing boats are still bringing in fresh albacore, so look for that in the seafood markets. An albacore loin soaked in teriyaki marinade for a few hours and cooked in some tinfoil over a campfire is hard to beat.

Check out the McMenamin's sand trap pub in the little town of Gearhart just south of Astoria. It's a bit off of 101 and easy to miss, but worth the detour. Very cool architecture, historic photos, and believe it or not, the oldest golf course in the Western United States! Pretty cool even if you have zero interest in golf.

Camping options . . .
Overall, on the north Oregon coast there are not a lot of campsites outside of Oregon state parks. You can go further inland and find some riverside locations on Oregon state forest land, but these are generally pretty far away from the coast.

My personal thoughts on some state park campgrounds:

Fort Stevens: largest campground in Oregon, very industrial, and far away from the actual coast. Not really recommended.

Oswald West: a walk-in campground just off of Highway 101. Leads to a very nice beach, well worth a day trip even if you are not staying there overnight.

Nehalem bay: decent campground, next to a very cool little town of Manzanita. If you want to buy fresh crab right off the dock, head south a few miles to one of the crab shacks on the east edge of the Bay.

Cape Lookout: one of the nicest state parks on the coast. A walk out to the end of the Cape is a classic coastal hike. Cape Meares lighthouse, just north of that, is nice too. My very favorite beach in all of Oregon is just south of the Cape Meares lighthouse. Very secluded, very few people, lots of wood, tidepools, rocks . . . it's just great.

Cannon Beach is a little overrated and somewhat of a tourist trap, but you might enjoy strolling around there for an hour so. A very nice beach just north of town is in Ecola state Park, called Indian beach.

Just south of Cannon Beach is a wonderful little pocket beach called Hug Point. be sure and hit this at low tide, and don't miss the sea caves.

And, if you want a really memorable experience, take a tandem paraglide with these guys:
http://www.discoverparagliding.com/

I have not done this, but heard good things about the company and absolutely want to do it. 3,000 feet up, towed launch start from a beach, guaranteed fun rather than waiting on a ridge top for the right wind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That should get you started. If you care to post some photos and a trip report here when you get back, that would be great!

Happy trails,
CJ
_________________
'86 Westy, 2.5 Subaru power
Know your limits. Exceed them often.

[shepherdsond]

URL for State park campgrounds on the North Oregon coast:

http://www.oregonstateparks.org/searchpark.php?region=north_coast[/url]

[HeftySmurf]

ClimberJohn,
Thanks allot that's exactly what I was looking for!
_________________
-Lorenzo
90 GL w/ Bostig

[PDXWesty]

A couple of updates:

The campground at Oswald West is perminantly closed, but it is the best beach around to go for the day.

Manzanita is great, but Nahalem Bay State Park is almost impossible to get in during the summer. Get there early to find an open spot if there is one. If the park is full, they will let you park in the first lot overnight for stealth camping. They do not let you know though unless you pull in after 10:00pm at night so don't ask. If you ask during in the day, they will say no and turn you away. I think they feel sorry for late night travelers who need a place to sleep. We usually go to the Sand Dune pub in Manzanita for drinks, then pull into the state park late night just to sleep.

There is a gravel road on the east side of Hwy 101 at Neahkahnie Mountain that leads to a trail head. Look for the hiking sign. You can usually stealth camp up this road too.

I've parked at Ecola park and slept on the beach, but the rangers discourage this. It's fun if you can get away with it.

Have fun!
_________________
89 Westy 2.1 Auto

[connorsvw2]

We camped along the Orgeon coast last summer for 3 weeks, from St Stevens down to Jed Smith Park in CA.

The state parks are really very nice in Oregon. You really can't go wrong at any of the ones along Hwy 101. My least favorite was Ft Stevens-too crowded, loud, although the fort itself is interesting and is relatively close to the Lewis and Clark fort re-creation.

Best tip I can give you is get moving early and get to next campground early if you don't have reservations. The RVs seem to roll in about noon-1 pm, so if you can beat them you are probably good to go. Set up, pay for your spot and then leave to explore the local vicinity and not the other way around.

Definitely hit the Rogue Brewery in Newport, and see the aquarium there as well
_________________
'85 Westy Wolfsburg camper/2002 2.5 Subaru since 2003.
'85 GTI 1.8L 1-owner 8v-gave up on 9A 2.0L 16v transplant. Keeping her stock!
'99 Passat 1.8T Variant-AKA "The Money Pit". Still limping along...
'09 Subaru Outback XT 5-speed, 245 hp rocket (wife's car)

[Love My Westy]

Don't forget the bakery in Garabaldi and the clam chowder at Mo's in Newport. I'll be making the same trip at the end of Sept. I'll be taking my road bike to ride some of the nicer spots, like the 3 cape scenic loop out of Tillamook. I only hope the weather is still good when I get there.

[climberjohn]

couple more tips:

Skip Seaside. Cheesy tourist trap.

Stock up on food shopping in Astoria. Safeway is on the west end of town on Hwy 30. Fred Meyers is on the south end of town on Hwy 101.
Seaside has a big grocery store, but that;'s about it until Tillamook.

I just found this web page. It looks great, listing just about every campsite on the north coast, with a lot of non state park places too:

http://www.beachconnection.net/oregon_coast/62107oregon_coast_camping.php
_________________
'86 Westy, 2.5 Subaru power
Know your limits. Exceed them often.

[Homercules]

Great info!

I'm heading there for next week so I'm booking ahead at your recommended spots!

Maybe I'll see you HeftySmurf
_________________
89 Syncro

[BCWesty]

I was down that area about month and half ago. Stayed at the Sea Ranch campground in Cannon Beach. The sites aren't private, but bathrooms are nice. It's about a 5-10 minute walk into town. Ecola state park was really nice, surfed at Indian beach. The cheese factory in Tillamook was cool. Great ice cream and cheese. Old Newport was fun to walk around. Stayed at a RV park close to town. Can't remember the name, but it wasn't that nice. We enjoyed the seal lion caves near Florence. I had been there as a kid, so it was cool to see again.

[alnvilma]

I live here and tried them all.
It will be crowded and you'll need luck to find a spot this time of year; arrive early on a weekday if you can.
-Nahalem campground 17 miles from Wheeler is nice, and small/quiet.
-If you are just out of luck, Nehalem State park has overflow parking that will allow sleeping in your van and the State wayside parking at Nedonna/Manhattan beach also allows overnighters.
-Barview campground might have a spot. Nice beach and you can walk the jetty.
-Oswald West is sure worth the short stop and walk to the beach!
-It will be hot inland and that makes it cool and foggy and crowded at the coast.
Good hunting!

[climberjohn]

Hee hee, the grass is always greener.

My family and I are headed to Vancouver Island manana for a long awaited explore of what looks to be a beautiful place. And what Westy owner does not want to see Banff and Jasper?

and here we have Vancouver Islanders and Alberta folks coming down to my backyard.

The wanderlust affects us all. To everyone on the road this summer, have a great trip, take lots of photos, and consider posting a trip report here when you get back.

-CJ
_________________
'86 Westy, 2.5 Subaru power
Know your limits. Exceed them often.

[dlb]

my wife and i did the oregon coast in '09 and loved it. long beach, just on the WA side of the WA/OR border, and camping on the dunes near dune city (further south) were the highlights for us.

long beach is probably considered a cheesy tourist trap by many but we found it to be a real slice of americana, like a relic of the great american road trip. it's such a family-oriented place: go karts, pony rides on the beach, arcades and confectionary stores open till 11 pm, the boardwalk on the beach...we rode our bikes in to town at night and it was beautiful. we're stopping by again on our way back from burning man in a few weeks.

the dunes are in the southern half of OR but well worth it. we camped at the eel creek campground near reedsport, right at the base of the dunes. hiked across them to the ocean. felt like i was in the david lynch flick. so awesome.

[BUSLUVR42]

[Howesight]

We've been all over BC and Alberta and love these provinces and the deep wilderness adventures, (we are avid rock-climbers and crappy surfers), but my wife and I have a special place in our hearts for the Oregon and southern Washington coasts

Cannon Beach is not intended to appeal to campers, but we have always been able to find places not too far away to camp and I get huge points with my wife for going to all the art galleries in Cannon Beach where we get great meals and great wines. By the way, those points are exchangeable one-for-one for Westy Upgrade Dollars.

Loved Manzanita, Tillamook (don't miss the Aircraft Museum), Newport, etc, etc.

We are spoiled here in Vancouver with great restaurants. Many places we go in the US have unimpressive restaurants, but I have to say that Oregonians know their food and wine!!
_________________
'86 Syncro Westy SVX

[dlb]

just got back from our trip to burning man (the '82 westfalia handled the trip very well) and wanted to add that we stumbled across the 38/138 highways in oregon on and near the umpqua river. BEAUTIFUL area with a few fascinating ghost towns (more or less) along the way. it will be one of our destinations on an upcoming trip.