Fort Stevens, Oregon

OregonDuck · 10-11-2018, 06:15 PM

Hi everyone! So I've always heard good things about Fort Stevens, aside it being crazy during the summer months. We're excited to take advantage of our ability to camp year round in our new 5th wheel, and were thinking of hitting it up in November.

Anyone have experience there, and if so, should we look to stay in any particular loop vs. another by chance? There are so many of them, although I believe they close many in the winter? Any thoughts/opinions greatly appreciated!

Ken / Claudia · 10-11-2018, 06:36 PM

I have stayed there several times. Visited it many more. You understand the Nov coast weather, plan for it. I(we) liked to bike to the jetty, the old fort area and watch Elk. Do not call them Moose as someone on here did. As much or more to see and visit in Astoria as the park. Best restaurant we found was the silver salmon in downtown. We camped at that park on/off several months looking for beach property. Ended up buying in Ocean Park Wa. Had 2 lots and a new home put on one over 15 years, visited it nearly every month year round and several weeks every summer. We never found a loop much better than another, but about half the park or more is closed during the winter. That limits your choice. This last August was the first time I had not taken my boat fishing at bouy 10 due to driving down there for a day at a time and fish reg. changes. I did miss not being on the water as in the past. Big difference when driving 25 minutes and being home after a day on the water to 3 hour drive each way.

Randallf · 10-11-2018, 08:05 PM

This last May i took my grandkids down to Fort Stevens. It was 1/2 closed so didn't have a lot of choices. However, we experienced a terrouble rain storm and when it was all done my 2017 sprinter 34,5 was flooded and no way for the water to drain away from our camp. The water was so high my outside rug was floating and so were the chocks .
So i suggest you look at all sites to make sure the November rain dosn't flood you in.
We were stuck in our rv for 2 days because i wasn't prepaired for this.
Make sure you have rain boots with you

rhagfo · 10-11-2018, 08:27 PM

Well Ft. Stevens is a very nice park, November likely about half the park will be closed for the season. If you have heavy rain at the coast many sites will have standing water. If you feel safe without reservations you can pick a sight that is a bit above the rest.
I will say we host on the coast, and have rubber barn boots for the really bad days (Yes, Host sights also get standing water).

roadglide · 10-11-2018, 08:29 PM

I spent 5 days there this Sept had reservation during the weekend it was filling up . I found that the tent area are big enough to support a trailer. My traveling partner was walk in and got a tent spot then made reservation for the stay. I think it would be to cool for camping in November at ft Stevens for me .

OregonDuck · 10-11-2018, 09:22 PM

Appreciate all the replies! We just camped at Detroit Lake last weekend. Huge rainstorm came through the first night there and following day; was our own version of a river runs through it.

Thankfully yes, native Oregonians and well practiced with the rain re: boots, mats, etc. Storage of said muddy/wet boots while camping on our new 5th wheel has not yet been mastered...

Great points though re: standing water and finding a higher elevation site; wouldn't have thought of that.

rhagfo · 10-11-2018, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OregonDuck

Appreciate all the replies! We just camped at Detroit Lake last weekend. Huge rainstorm came through the first night there and following day; was our own version of a river runs through it.

Thankfully yes, native Oregonians and well practiced with the rain re: boots, mats, etc. Storage of said muddy/wet boots while camping on our new 5th wheel has not yet been mastered...

Great points though re: standing water and finding a higher elevation site; wouldn't have thought of that.

We were at South Beach last Friday, we had wind Just barely a gale warning) to go along with the rain, it is Fall and Winter camping on the Coast!! we spent eight months on the coast last year, loved ever minute of it. We are only here for six months this year.

goducks · 10-12-2018, 08:27 AM

The lure of Ft Stevens is all the bike/hike paths throughout. It's also heavily wooded except for some loops which are wide open. If it's raining then it will be dreary and sorta boring unless you have sat tv, which will be tough to get in the wooded loops.

Roscoe · 10-12-2018, 09:04 AM

Fort stevens is really nice and alot to do there. I have stayed in both N loops and G loop. have reservations for Loop H next May as well. g253 is a decent site for 30-35 foot fifth wheels. just beware as it drops off the back side. both look N and G did not have full hook ups.. def worth a stay of longer that 2-3 days if you want to visit and take in the full scale of everything there. its not fun to rush through it all i have found. take bikes as there is alot of trails to ride on. have fun and enjoy how sweet the camp ground is along with town of Hammond and Astoria are. Cape lookout, bar view jetty, south beach, beverly beach etc are all awesome camp areas as well

OregonDuck · 11-12-2018, 09:48 PM

Just got back from our trip; it was amazing! So much to do there as mentioned... Kids had a blast, and we lucked out with 3 sunny days.

Rangers at the park were awesome. We had reserved a spot online, but when we checked in they suggested a diff location that they thought we might fit in better. It was a host site in loop J (the only full-hookup site in the loop); was perfect.

We didn't get a chance to check out all of the loops, but did canvas the full-hookup sites. For anyone interested now or in the future, H and I are IMHO the best, especially for a larger rig. The other two full-hookup loops M and L were much tighter. I'm assuming these are older loops? Many of the sites' paving was heavily damaged and undulated to the point I wasn't sure how you could level a rig on a few of them.

Anyhow, highly recommend the park and thanks again for the insights!

rhagfo · 11-13-2018, 05:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OregonDuck

Just got back from our trip; it was amazing! So much to do there as mentioned... Kids had a blast, and we lucked out with 3 sunny days.

Rangers at the park were awesome. We had reserved a spot online, but when we checked in they suggested a diff location that they thought we might fit in better. It was a host site in loop J (the only full-hookup site in the loop); was perfect.

We didn't get a chance to check out all of the loops, but did canvas the full-hookup sites. For anyone interested now or in the future, H and I are IMHO the best, especially for a larger rig. The other two full-hookup loops M and L were much tighter. I'm assuming these are older loops? Many of the sites' paving was heavily damaged and undulated to the point I wasn't sure how you could level a rig on a few of them.

Anyhow, highly recommend the park and thanks again for the insights!

Last weekend was a great example of why even in the winter to get a reservation. Here at South Beach we were overfull! Rangers reopened two loops that had been closed the week before and they were pretty full.

The weather was awesome for late Fall, Sunday saw the day use here very busy with surfers.

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