I got lucky, snagged the last site on a Tuesday in high season. Bustling little Ten Sleep Creek is 30' sideways and 14' down from my picnic table. It's very noisy, which is so great after living with the sound of semi-trailer trucks on the lonesome highway so many nights.
Been here twice, and it was a little bit weird both times. Drive for six-ish miles up the side of the mountain, then get to a quiet campground on the point of land between a creek and a smaller creek. Both times it has seemed gloomy here. Both times I have been really happy driving back down the mountain to get out of here.
mostly fisherman, got a great spot at the dead end right by the lake, a few miles from Terwilliger Hot Springs
I came here at the end of a long day looking forward to staying. But as I drove through and got a really creepy vibe. Many sites appeared to be long term homeless encampments. As I drove the loop, people stopped and stared in a predatory way. I couldn't picture stopping here and waiting the rest of the evening for someone to come over and hassle me. I got the hell out and drove another 40 miles.
steep, slippery hike down to the springs, which are a couple of hot streams falling into pools by the river
east of the highway, by farther than I thought! No hint of the ocean nearby, just the peaceful babbling creek and the mid-growth coastal redwoods. Site 12 is super-sweet as long as no one takes site 11. Those people will cut into my buzz :)
Pleasant campground a few hundred yards uphill from Lake Almanor, restaurant/bar within walking distance.
Small campground on a little strip of hillside between beautiful Odell Lake and busy Route 58, the through-fare between Eugene and the interior. There's a nice boat launch, fish-cleaning station, some pull-through sites - all the amenities for your grizzled old fisher-dude. Site 15 is a not quite level site facing right on the lake (down a 40' embankment). No sounds but the lapping of the waves and the wind in the trees ... and the semis on Route 58. It faces west. Sunset reflected off the lake and through the trees is spectacular. This would be a perfect place to launch a kayak.
5 miles outta town on a good road. Panoramic view of many miles between the trees, closed-in feel in the scrub oaks, sketchy, kinda creepy campground host.
bad: right next to a dusty, gravel road good: right next to a happily burbling brook I am here because the campground a mile away is closed for the season, so my hope is there won't be much traffic on this road tonight.
Finally stayed here, after driving by so many times! So far, I like Cave CG better, but it's quiet and big enough to find an uncrowded spot, and Hat Creek is perhaps even more awesome here!
Glad I stopped here, really nice campground at a cool place, behind a State of Oregon trout hatchery. The campground is pretty deluxe, there are heavy wooden fences lining the roadway and each campsite, I guess to clearly delimit where people should walk and where they shouldn't. So the forest ares are pretty pristine. The campground is either new or recently renovated. The hatchery has been around for a while.
Good things about this place are that it's cheap and very close to Taos. Other than that, it's dusty, noisy, cramped and bumpy roads US 64 is way too close, so it's noisy, and after dark the headlights are annoying. It gets quiet later.
on the steep hill overlooking the Columbia River. Kind of a gloomy spot, but handy in the heart of the gorge area
Quite a nice semi-dispersed camping area. One mile off US 6 on paved Sheep Creek Road. A big field on a bluff overlooking the valley. It would be nice if they had a portapotty, but they don't.
A very handy place, in the next valley over from Front Royal. It stays open later in the year than the other federal campgrounds in the area.
Nestled between too-busy US 395 and the West Walker River. Everybody is either a fishermen or folks bombing down 395. The first nice federal campground coming south from Reno. This place should be open more days of the year - closes too early in the fall, opens too late in the summer.
Nice little spot, 1/2 mile off of 70, on the North Fork of the Feather River, near where it joins the main river. It is not well marked that the campground is at this turnoff so it's easy to drive right past. Once you make the turnoff it's well signed. $25 seems like quite a high price, but the concessionaire needs to make a profit I guess. $12.50 ain't so bad!
on the Intracoastal Waterway. The campground fills early with fishermen, but there is overflow camping a little inland, hence the $3!
In the Lakes District between Graeagle and Bassett. The other campgrounds on this road are $20-24, but this one is $10. It has no water, and is pretty rough around the edges, but it's on the lake and pretty sweet. The boat launch area is in the campground. There are a few select campsites right on the lake, but they are close together and crowded with big rigs, so I elect to go down the road a bit. By rule all sites are on the away from the lake side of the road; but the lake is still very close. I did not check it out, but I think there is a trail all the way to the Gold Lake Highway, and maybe even all the way around the lake.