An older Yellowstone campgrouund, which means it's dusty, rough and crowded BUT it's in a really cool place. In this case it's a short drive or longish walk to the Norris Geyser Basin.
Nothing here except a really pretty bend in the (Salmon) river, pretty well shielded from US 93, even though it's 30 yards away. Really pleasant overnight.
Nearest gas is > 80 miles in any direction. An unexpected valley full of reedy marshes in the middle of endless high country desert. There's little warm pool and bathhouse with two showers that run always forever. The whole thing is quite unexpected!
At the mouth of the John Day River. Mostly families with big boats and big RVs. Like Army Corps campgrounds in general, it's a highly controlled place. I-84 is 1/3 mile away and it is line of sight with nothing but water between it and you, so it's pretty noisy. Quite pretty though, looking right out on the bay ... between the parallel parked big rigs and all their big toys.
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!
Two campgrounds in one! A nice little tent campground on a knoll jutting into the lake, and a section of the boat ramp parking lot. RVs can only go to the latter. Since I sleep in my vehicle I'm supposed to sleep in the boat lot with the big boys, but there's already a pickup camper setting up, and it turns out that this time of year with only 8-10 site taken, nobody cares..
How have I not known about this place?! It was nearly perfect in every way for what I like to do on the road. Common Room next to the office with satellite tv. The pool is awesome. Maybe 100' across, 2-4' deep mostly, with incredibly, life-threateningly hot water comong in from the southeast end, and cooling jets shooting out from the south, so you simply ewade in and find your spot!
Very pleasant city park with a pond, shade trees, trails.
Nice little find tucked away in an area with few other campgrounds. There's parking and hookups (for $3 more), and a sign on the bathroom door telling you rates and to slip the money under the door. It's all pretty DIY here.
lovely spot in the valley beneath the cape. Lots of little hikes, and the rocky coast.
Quite busy on Friday night. Lots of large, happy groups. Part of the crowd is for the observatory and the Friday night astronomy show!
Fifth spring in a row! Also a fishery. This may be the fishiest yet! Quite large, there is a lodge with a nice restaurant up the hill. There is wifi strong enough I could use it from my van ... but it only worked for the last 6 hours of my two days there. There was live bluegrass music in the Lodge on Friday night!
Omigosh! Google has shrunk their map of Lake Mead so that Echo Bay is like 10 miles from the lake now! The water level must be really low!
One of two large campgrounds on the north side of New Melones Lake. This side of the lake is apparently the poor relation, because they've locked the bathrooms for the season. One must drive 20 minutes back to Tuttletown for the advertised shower facility.
I had an initial bad impression because not only do I not get a shower for $24, I don't even get a flush toilet! There is water for RV hookup, but no indoor plumbing, just a clean, unisex outhouse. The lady makes the very good point that everyone is here for the hot springs, and they have showers. On the other hand I am in a nice, grassy, spot a three minute drive (or a long walk) from the Lava Hot Springs pools. So all in all, pretty good. There are some heavily used, long haul train tracks a few hundred yards away that shake the earth a couple of times in the night.
Far from everything, in the high desert of southeast Oregon, a few miles east of Lakeview.
At 9,300', so a short season. A dusty, cramped, low-amenity national park campground that's in a REALLY cool place.
right outside Ashland, dusty little hippie place near the fancy Lithia Hot Springs Resort. The pools were excellent and clean, as was the pavilion area with wifi and electrical outlets. But the rest of the place was third world and had a weird vibe.
Pleasant, quiet state park campground. In the flats at the bottom of the gorge. The gorge is an easy hike away.
On a gentle downslope between I-84 and the railroad tracks and then the mighty Columbia River, between Hood River and The Dalles. They have a ton of tent sites (80-ish?), so I easily got a nice spot at 4 PM on Fourth of July Friday - woo! Downhill I can see the river between the trees, and hear the train when it comes through, and uphill is the constant sound of the interstate - as regular and monotonous as the Pacific surf I tell myself :)
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.