Oregon Boondockers Unite

[outofcontrol]

After seeing some of the pictures posted here, I might have a change of heart. Obviously not all RV parks are trailer trash sardines. I shouldn't be so quick to judge, and stereotyping. Some of the places I like to camp are somewhat barren, and rugged. These lush, neat, manicured campgrounds might win me some points with my "less than rugged" princess wife and daughter.

I don't know if Valmog is still listening here, but the choices they make on camping spots, decor, mood, etc. is very inspiring. The little touches like the lights on the awning, and matching red candle lanterns could be the tipping point on getting my wife to take more trips in the trailer. I spent way too much time on their Blog after seeing her posts here and it was eye-opening on what a "camping" trip could be.

Sorry if I'm writing a book.

One more thing: One of the spots Valmog posted about that really looked good was Camp Creek. But I finally found a website about it, and it looks like they're limited to RVs less than 20ft. Looks awesome, but we're a little bloated at 28'. I think my truck is over that, barely. 21' ?

-Kevin

[AirChief]

Stephanie/Kevin,

There has been some good posts on this thread and Valmog has done a great job of capturing their adventures. They seem to be very adept at hitting the state campgrounds at perfect times when it is not crowded. As I wrote earlier, we like to do boondocking in the forests here in Oregon but if you hit it right, you could find some low use campgrounds. One thing I tell people on here is that Oregon has lots of dispersed camping in the National Forests but some do not, like in Siuslaw, you must camp at a designated camp area. We have found great locations by water (I like to fish) all over the Willamette National Forest and the Ochoco Forest (Kevin I think you would like that area). I plan on hitting the BLM lands by the Crooked River and the Deshcutes Wilderness Area by the the South Fork of the Mckenzie later this year. One of the best areas I have found in terms of camping off forest roads with good maintained roads is the area off Forest Road 46 in the Breitenbush area and Hwy 20 that follows the S Santiam enroute to Santiam Pass. Tons of great camping locations for RVs and trailers. Happy Camping!

Tom

[MaryC]

Chiming in here as a PDX centered Airstream owner. Love this thread, I will be referring to it a lot I think and hopefully adding some info as we go.
Our vintage Airstream is in the shop being remodeled (big job!) and this will be our first year with it. We live in the city, so not too excited about crowded RV camps unless they are a stop along the way to another destination.

Have traveled all over Oregon all our lives truck and tent camping. Love Eastern Oregon. Can't wait to have our "house" with us and experience it that way. I plan to put a solar charging system on it.

I'd love to find a beach camp that isn't too "blacktop park experience" or uptight about our 3 medium sized (well controlled) dogs. Reading ocean view RV park rules on the coast is kind of discouraging so looking for alternatives.

[Grapes]

How do I go about joining this Oregon Airstream group? I live in Washington, but we are thinking about moving to Oregon!!!

[monah]

hi Grapes....just found this thread. I'm the President of the Oregon Unit...if you can send me your email address thru PM I'll forward you sign up info and our rally listing for 2013.

[southbeachster]

Originally Posted by monah

hi Grapes....just found this thread. I'm the President of the Oregon Unit...if you can send me your email address thru PM I'll forward you sign up info and our rally listing for 2013.

Hi Monah
I live in Newport and just getting started with our Airstream. Can you send me any info you might have about the Boondocking club of Or.
Thanks, Rich
Southbeachster@gmail.com

[monah]

Originally Posted by southbeachster

Hi Monah
I live in Newport and just getting started with our Airstream. Can you send me any info you might have about the Boondocking club of Or.
Thanks, Rich
Southbeachster@gmail.com

Hi Rich....
There are actually several members of the Oregon Airstream group camping at Sea & Sand...not too far from Newport. We don't have a boondocking club per se but several members of our club do enjoy camping off the grid. Send me a PM with your personal email address and I'll send you info on our rally plans.
Mona

[RG Coleman]

Hi 'streamers! Who's coming to Alumafandango in August? It isn't really a boondocky experience (the location looks gorgeous and swanky) but it's going to be a blast, and a great place to meet other Oregonian and northwesterly campers. Hope to see you there! Alumafandango » About

[southbeachster]

Originally Posted by monah

Hi Rich....
There are actually several members of the Oregon Airstream group camping at Sea & Sand...not too far from Newport. We don't have a boondocking club per se but several members of our club do enjoy camping off the grid. Send me a PM with your personal email address and I'll send you info on our rally plans.
Mona

Thanks so much. My personal email is southbeachster@gmail.com
Rich

[rozhadley]

We would LOVE to email you and get a list of the great boondocking places you have found....We want to BOOONDOCK in our 19' International Bambi Airstream we just purchased...
please send an email THANKS!!!!!!!!!
Dallas, Oregon
rozhadley@gmail.com

[monah]

Originally Posted by rozhadley

We would LOVE to email you and get a list of the great boondocking places you have found....We want to BOOONDOCK in our 19' International Bambi Airstream we just purchased...
please send an email THANKS!!!!!!!!!
Dallas, Oregon
rozhadley@gmail.com

Hi Roz.....
We don't have a boon docking list but it's definitely something we should put together. In the meantime, you might want to look into the Area 33 rally thread here on AF....it's a fun, small group and is totally boon docking!
Mona

[monah]

Originally Posted by southbeachster

Thanks so much. My personal email is southbeachster@gmail.com
Rich

hey Rich...sorry for the delayed response. Will get you rally info tomorrow
Mona

[zagarino]

This is just what I've been looking for. Thanks for starting this. I would be happy to create a small website to post a list of the Oregon Boondocking resources that get posted here. If anyone can compile a text/link list just in any old text format, I'll do it if there's an interest.

This is Alice, as far as I know the only stripped and polished (350 hours) 19 Safari in existence. My pride and joy.

[outofcontrol]

Zagarino,
That trailer is looking good! I'm guessing since it took 350 hours, you did it yourself? That is a huge amount of hours. I've heard of 8 hrs per foot. Did you polish this by hand? Like with no power tools?

There's boondocking spots all over Oregon. There's inherent problems with making an official website showing where the good spots are. 1. I'm not going to publish all my best spots to the WWW. Then every jackass around the country will be camping there and it won't be that special spot anymore. 2. people aren't going to contribute their best spots to a public spot.

I have been riding off-road motorcycles around Oregon for 20 years, so I have a little cheater method. It's really the best way to scout out those off the beaten path spots. I also have a large diesel 4x4 truck pulling a 4" lifted 28' trailer. So I think 95% of Airstreamers are not going to follow me to my special spots.

You can find a couple of my accessible spots listed here, even with GPS points. But those spots have unlimited amounts of space, and if every T, D, & H went out there, it wouldn't affect me at all. If you want the special, secret, hard to reach spots next to a small lake, a view, and only nature for miles around, you're going to have to buy me a six pack and sign a disclosure of secrecy.

-Kevin

[AirChief]

Beautiful looking AS Zagarino! I must agree with Kevin. I am more than willing to give information on the general area and what Forest Roads to use and I have posted them on here. There are some little hideaway gems that plenty of people already know about so hard to broadcast it to the world. The key is exploring while you are in the area and if you take your time and use the MVUM forest maps, you can find some cool places. We stayed at Lower Bridge campground on the Metolius last week and I did some exploring and found some isolated places to go next time. Also, unless you raise the AS, you can't go down a crummy road, the tank flush pipes hang way too low. Part of exploring is knowing which roads you can go down and turn around without problems. In short there are plenty of great places to camp in the National Forests away from people but being an avid flyfisherman, it is harder to find really good spots by a river or lake but there are out there. I will give everyone here a good spot since you do have to pay for it but it is isolated and on the river - Hardrock Campground on the South Fork of the McKenzie. You pay $22 a night and you have the whole place to yourself since it is designated a group campground.

[Mikec1231]

After reading this thread, Loretta and I booked the site on the South McKenzie for August 6-9. It is a group site so if anyone would like to join us for the weekend, let me know. The site only holds 10 people maximum and some friends want to join in. It is on the river and about an hour outside of Eugene off 126.

[AirChief]

Originally Posted by Mikec1231

After reading this thread, Loretta and I booked the site on the South McKenzie for August 6-9. It is a group site so if anyone would like to join us for the weekend, let me know. The site only holds 10 people maximum and some friends want to join in. It is on the river and about an hour outside of Eugene off 126.

Mike be aware that even though it is a group campsite it is not very big and was built more for multiple tents. Not sure how well a 27' will fit but maybe if you just stay on the entrance road you will be good. Good luck and ENJOY! Great spot.

[AirChief]

So here are a few pics on the Metolius. We stayed at Lower Bridge Campground and it was just us the first night and a guy camping out of his truck showed up the next night. 70 degrees and sunny but cold at night - perfect for camping. Had a big fish on but he shook the hook loose on a big jump. I found this campground to be the best of all the other campgrounds and with it being near a huge back eddy it was perfect for close fishing. Deschutes River near Mecca Flats this weekend for the big salmonfly hatch! Super excited as this is prime time to be there for fishing and weather. 80s during the day and 40s at night.

[draggootom]

What a great thread! We've been camping for several years in Oregon State campgrounds and love almost all of them. We both still work so we pick campgrounds within 2 hours of Springfield so we can leave after work on a Friday, spend the weekend and get home Sunday afternoon. You can reserve Oregon State Parks up to 9 months in advance and for summer reservations at some parks you'd better be online just after midnight 9 months earlier. However, we just got a generator and are ready to get off the grid, so this thread is a great find. To get our money's worth out of our 25' Classic we camp every other weekend from Memorial Day through mid-October, then at least once a month until the next Memorial Day. Yes, sunny weather is nicer, but the beauty of our AS is we don't care what the weather is; it's just great to get away.

Now for the silly question: is there some kind of secret wave or signal or something to greet an Airstreamer headed the other way?

[outofcontrol]

Originally Posted by draggootom

...Is there some kind of secret wave or signal or something to greet an Airstreamer headed the other way?

Hold up your tool box.

We have access to my wife's family owned vacant lot in Pacific City, OR that they've been boondocking on for 35 years. Grandpa had a 5'er.

It was a nice Memorial Day Weekend.