Signage is very poor ==> hard to find. I ended up going to the river level loop with hookups and the camp host who directed me up the hill to the non-hookup sites on the bluffs. Nice big sites. There's a trail down to the swimming hole by the old dam. Very cool!
There's a very nice tub at the parking lot, holds 1-3 folks - adjustable temp, great soak. Down the hill is a travertine mound that starts with a pretty hot one person tub (109°-ish?) on the uphill side, which feeds into progressively cooler tubs as the water flows clockwise around the mound downhill. The last two have a spectacular view of the valley, but are too cool and have creepy stuff growing in them. This place is too accessible from 395 and too well known. It's usually busy, and sometimes straight-up creepy with weirdos straight off the highway. The camping spot is handy even without the hot springs. When the hot springs road turns left, take a right and park at any of the several rough camping spots.
Way overpriced and has stupid rules. The park borders the Wabash River, but the campground itself is miles from the river. There is a public swimming pool that is an additional charge on top of the camping fee.
Another very nice, well maintained campground built around another gorgeous freshwater spring. The one has Alley Mill, a grist mill driven by the outflow of Alley Spring - now a park info center. The mill is a short walk from the campground. If you hunt around for it there is swimming access to the river (swinning in the spring outflow, that's a no no in all these parks).
Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, there were a few sites available at 3pm. I got what I hope is the least nasty. Bless my van for being tall enough to generate its own shade.
Used to be a state park, but they gave it to the Feds for some reason. [After my experience the next few days with state parks, I can see it. The layout is quite similar to Bennett Springs and Roaring River.] There's a loop with hookups and a small loop without, which for some reason was where everybody was. I was the only person in the huge expanse of the main loop. My site had pretty good shade in the morning, most didn't. Showers are a short drive down the road, but that's way better than no showers.
My friend Jeff lives and works in Reno until Memorial Day, then he commutes to Chester every weekend to run his fruit stand / pie shop / ice creamery / burrito place. It's really fun to hang out here.
A campground on the Natchez Trace Parkway, so you don't even have to exit to get there. Drive past the M Lewis obelisk and up the hill to a really nice, free federal government campground.
Driven past many times, finally stopping! Good news: It's in a lush, peaceful crevice in the mountains along a little burbling stream which opens onto a driftwood-strewn beach 1/2 mile away. Bad news: US 101, also runs through the same narrow crevice so you rarely hear the burbling stream. You hear semis rocketing past 40 yards away all night. In the summer, you can camp in the Lower Loop, 600 yds from the beach. In the winter you have to walk (or bike!) an extra mile from the Upper Loop.
Amazing location, on a bluff overlooking Grand Junction and the wide Colorado River Valley. Loop C is the tent sites, no doubt the oldest part of the campground. Parking for the sites is cramped and tricky to navigate.
An out-of-the-way state park with a good price point. The big deal here is that it is on a bluff ... in Florida. Really! My site is at the edge of a steep drop-off that falls for a few hundred feet and gives a great view ... of nothing really interesting. This feature would be unremarkable in most places, but it's the highest bluff in Florida!
The most Difficult thing about this place is getting a site! ha,ha. 4.5 winding miles from Aspen make this the budget way for the rest of us to be able to exist for a few days in Aspen.
A very handy spot, right outside St Marks Wildlife Refuge. A great place to spend more time someday.
The Curecanti National Recreation Area is a huge place comprising most of the boundary of three reservoirs and then a few miles of the downstream river. There are many campgrounds, most are large, RV-friendly affairs out in the open next to the reservoir. This one is small and on the other side of the road up a little canyon ... er ... gulch. In the cottonwoods, very quiet and pleasant.
Really quite deluxe.On the shore of Noxon Reservoir. Looks to have been renovated in the last year. All of my neighbors have boats and are here to fish the lake.
shady, the camp is quiet, but there is an extremely busy highway right across the Snake River. Kind of deluxe and kind of expensive, as state parks tend to be.
On the road Maps sent me down there were no signs that campgrounds existed, and the first one was closed, which gave me a little fright. The second, Acorn was open, so all is well. Army Corp campgrounds all seem to rely on having a person at a check-in gate. The gate wasn't manned so camping was free.
Twelve miles north of the town of Green River, on the Green River. A nice swimming beach, boat ramp, dramatic formations of the Book Cliffs in all directions.
Planning works! This is super sweet BLM campground three miles down the road from Heise Hot Springs. There is a pleasant day use area with river access. The host closes the gate at 10 pm, which is a factor if you have driven back to the hot springs in the evening.
I have used the hot springs without camping, and lately I have been camping without soaking, so I'm breaking them into two spots. This is the camping spot.When the hot springs road turns left, take a right and park at any of the several rough camping spots. The hot springs is a little less tan a mile further on.
Far from everything, in the high desert of southeast Oregon, a few miles east of Lakeview.