|
  |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
We took the kids to Fort Stevens campground on the 4th of July for their very first camping trip. We stayed for only one night as it was as much an experiment as anything else. I think they're still a bit too young to camp regularly, but give them 2 years and they'll be good to go. Keeping them entertained was the difficult part. In fact, we left slightly early on the 5th for lack of anything better to do. Now for the "review" portion of this page... This is the first time I've been camping in Oregon. I've been in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, maybe Vermont (can't remember) and New York. Finding information and making reservations was amazingly easy. The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department is online and has good information about each park. Also, I was able to book my reservations online with ReserveAmerica. Very nice. The only improvement in this area would be quantity and quality of data. I couldn't figure out online if/when wood was sold at the park (for campfires) and the ReserveAmerica website gave me two different check-in/out times for Fort Stevens (correct on the site, wrong in the confirmation email). The drive to Fort Stevens was short... about 1.5 hours. Directions from MapQuest could've been clearer and there could've been more posted signs. But, I was able to figure it out without too much confusion. Check-in was easy since I had pre-registered; All they needed was my license plate. We stayed at site 2 in Loop O (aka O2), chosen randomly. Navigating the park in the car was simple. The site itself wasn't great, but compared to others, we were lucky with what we got. My major complaint is lack of privacy and the sandiness of the ground. We did see a few sites that were set back a bit and were afforded a degree of privacy, but they were not common. Space was not an issue for us, but some sites were absolutely tiny and were up against the road itself... forcing you to pitch your tent immediately next to pavement. (Hint: if you're picking blind, pick a site on the outer part of a loop, not the inner part. It's not a guarantee, but you'll up your chances of getting a good site considerably.) Now, the privacy complaint wouldn't be as big an issue if our fellow campers were reasonable. But they were not. Quiet hours began at 10pm, but people were still yelling across sites at each other, kids were screaming and the family directly across from us had an infant who was apparently sick. (Imagine the level of crying.) Not only that, but I swear every other site had a dog. Some had 2 or 3. They wouldn't shut up. Finally, every site is directly exposed to the driving paths, and every fricken' hick in Oregon has a power stroke diesel Ford that registers about 4.3 on the Richter scale. And of course, between 9:30pm and 11:00pm, there was a truck/car driving by every 5-10 minutes. In hindsight, I realize now that it may have been a special case for a lot of these issues, being the 4th of July. Fireworks upset the dogs and caused people to return in the cars late at night after fireworks shows. So, take my complaints with a grain of salt. What was good, you ask? Well, apparently, Oregonians don't like to camp without the creature comforts of home. Almost every site is outfitted with its own personal water spigot, electricity and waste dump hookup (for RVs). The water was appreciated... everything else was a bit much. (But since just about every Oregonian brings a camper to go camping, I guess the other stuff was useful too. I swear, it's like they never heard of tents. Why even bother coming?) Bathrooms were very close by, clean and easy to find. Showers were available as well. They even had a play area for kids (which helped steer our choice in site location). There was even an espresso bar (don't get me started). Would I go back to Fort Stevens? Yes, absolutely. I would try to take in the entire park and choose a small set of sites that have the qualities that I look for. And if I had more time, I'd like to take time to investigate all the surrounding attractions, like the old military fort, the ship wreckages, etc. If you absolutely must have privacy, look elsewhere, but if you're going with a large group and don't mind the eerie feeling that you're camping in the middle of a city, this place will work fine. If you'd like to see a short movie of our camping experience, you'll need WinZip and QuickTime.
|
