r/OregonCamping

About 80 miles from La Pine. Easy, straight dirt road from paved Silver Lake Road, which intersects with US Highway 97, but the turnoff for the campground is NOT well marked, not on Silver Lake Road and not at all on the dirt road, so if you can, get the GPS coordinates and mark it. Three (yes, THREE) pit toilets. No potable water. Tranquil and secluded, with 12 campsites scattered under a canopy of old-growth pines. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring, but note that fires may not be allowed when you are there.

Never saw a pay station...

First come first serve. Popular with hunters. But we had it all to ourselves Wednesday night! Cold, quiet, so beautiful. Then breakfast at Sand Creek Station Gas, Mini Mart, Cafe & RV Park on 97.

The Harlan, Oregon Community Hall board (HCHB) is looking for a new volunteer caretaker for the Big Elk Campground in Lincoln County. Kathi and Rick Borrego, the long-time caretakers, are retiring from this role. If you are interested, want more info, etc., contact bigelkcampgroundharlan@gmail.com

Here's more about the campground from the Siuslaw National Forest office.

The campground is in the Marys Peak and Alsea Corridor. It’s used by people doing the C2C trail, as well as fisher folks. I was just there while out on a two-week motorcycle camping trip and it's a GEM of a campground: many water spigots, beautiful sites, fantastic vault toilets, remote, and right on the river.

The Mid Valley Bicycle Club helps support the park, as do the Boy Scouts and probably lots of other community groups in and around Corvalis (thank you to everyone who has volunteered there - it's magical!).

• A tour operator in Oregon's Silver Falls State Park offers the only guided tree camping experience in the United States.
• Guests climb 200 to 300-foot old-growth trees and spend the night in a suspended hammock or hanging tree tent.
• The seasonal adventure runs from May through September and is open to visitors ages 7 and older with moderate fitness levels.

https://www.travelandleisure.com/tree-climbing-at-silver-falls-11990999

Anyone on this subreddit done this? How was your experience?

It's closed now, of course, but something to think about for next year.

Just launched: a new Campalyzer feature called Camp Scout.

The idea is simple: while you’re already at a campground, Scout a few individual campsites by adding a photo and completing a short, standardized set of campsite ratings.

Those Scout entries do two things:

• They become part of your own personal campsite ratings
• They help build better campsite-level information for other Campalyzer users

And now there’s a reward for helping fill in the gaps:

• 10 sites = 1 month of Campalyzer Pro access
• 20+ sites = 3 months of Campalyzer Pro access

Scout rewards can stack across future missions, so if you camp regularly, you can potentially keep Pro access going for quite a while.

You can start a Scout mission from an eligible Upcoming Trip in Campalyzer, or go here for more information:

https://campalyzer.com/landing-scout

The goal is to gradually build better information at the individual campsite level — not just “this campground is a 4.5,” but which sites have better shade, privacy, hookups, leveling, connectivity, and other useful site-specific details.

As always, feedback is welcome. Camp Scout is new, so if something feels confusing, clunky, or like it could work better, let me know.

Cheers, and happy camping!