13 miles up the Chetco River from Brookings, then 1/2 miles straight down a steep bluff to the long, wide stony gravel bed which is Miller Bar. The Chetco in front of my site is about 10 inches deep at it's deepest, but about 40' wide. The rocks are covered in bright green algae, but it's not too cold so I had a pleasant horizontal soak. Just drive along the gravel, park wherever you want, and you're home free,
I came here 15 years ago with abalone-diving City friends. I'm not even sure that's a thing any more. Anyway, the campground is still here and it's still awesome. They have spots available when no one else does, and it's the simplest check-in ever: Pay them ($5 off for cash!), they give you a receipt for your windshield and tell you to park at any picnic table/fire ring that's not occupied. The rest of the world seems to get more complicated and bureaucratic, but this is the easiest damn check-in I've ever experienced. Checkout 2pm. Ocean Cove Bar and Grille is a sweaty uphill 3/4 mile walk away. Basic bar food, but great view of the ocean and campground.
Pretty big campground as these State Beaches go. There is another smaller campground over near the beach. There is a road straight to the beach that doesn't pass the Ranger kiosk, so you can use the beach w/o paying park fees. A mere 2.5 miles north of Fort Bragg.
On the east side of the lake, making for spectacular sunsets over the water every night. Very quiet and beautiful and delightful. The big north-south highway and train tracks are pretty close and carry big noisy trucks and trains respectively.
Looked good on the internet, and probably is good if you're a fisherman with a boat and a huge-ass RV as big as a mobile home.
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.
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.
expensive, but quite nice really. great beach, little nature trail through the swamp, gazebo.
A really interesting place. The entrance and Visitors Center are five miles off the highway, then it's another five miles to the payoff, the lighthouse and actual Gulf of Mexico. The Visitors Center looks quite deluxe, but both times I have been hurrying to make sunset at the beach, and both times I forgot to return in the morning.
Always totally full and very crowded, but not tonight! It's another little cove, the outlet of the Little River. State Beach on the west side of the road, campground and parking for the trails on the east side. Up the canyon is the Fern Canyon Trail, a lovely hike with a lot of dramatic fallen redwoods and tall pines. The canyon is very steep and the soil is slippery so at some point they just have to fall. The beach is rocky, but it's a cool anyway. A self contained vehicle like mine can pay the $45/43 fee and park in the beach parking lot
Funky place on the Russian River, more lo-budget than its fancy neighbors. We got a lovely site surrounded by redwoods, 40 yards from the river.
in town, next to the harbor, but kind of isolated because the little river separates it from the day use area. Small, not very private sites, but right next to the beach
real nice find! Crab Orchard is a pretty big place, with four campgrounds. The other campgrounds have full hookups for the big boys and cost more. But E Loop is the oldest and has become the bastard stepchild in the corner. Electric only inside the loop, no hookups outside. Its bathroom is kinda gross, but hey, $5 for overnight and a shower ain't bad.
On the lake side of 89, a little harbor and campground next to the Native American-owned resort next door. The marina is closed because of the lake level. The highway to the south curves around the campground, so you are closer to the noisy trucks and fleets of motorcycles than you would at first think - not a good thing.
perfect spot to camp for the beach. On a small bluff, so you're camping off the sand in the pines, but the beach is only about 30 steps down the hill. I will come back here.
Real name is Boice Cope Campground, but that hides its coolest feature, that it's on a sweet little freshwater lake! Site T-2 also looks awesome. Turns out you can park on the grass. This place is crazy popular with kiteboarders and windsurfers, of which there are many in Oregon. Floras Lake is a pretty little jewel of a freshwater lake separated from the Pacific by just one little sand dune. Crowded though the place is, I am angled away from it all pointing at the lake so I can pretend I'm all by myself.
On lovely Williard Bay, the northeastern, freshwater(!) arm of the Great Salt Lake.
Expensive for the non-resident, but a nice campground in a spectacular location, on the Chesapeake Bay just a few miles north of where it meets the Atlantic. There is a cool little boardwalk access to the beach, where you can walk along the beach to the boat ramp/picnic area/fishing pier a little south. Really fun place.
deluxe state park. Almost close enough to walk to town, beach and tidepools and trees and grass, pretty much everything
