Campsites in Oregon

[booster]

It appears that we will be in Oregon during the fourth of July holiday time.

I have looked at the all the Forest Service, BLM, etc maps and am finding what I expected, anything that can be reserved is already reserved.

There are lots of driveup only sites in the mid to east side of the state, but very hard to get much idea of what areas are less likely to fill early and are also nice to stay in. We will have the advantage of being able to get to area by Wednesday or Thursday of the week before the holiday week, so that should help, I think, on getting a decent drive up spot. We would then stay there until the holiday week is over and other options open up.

Anybody got any recommendations of spots in the mid to east areas of Oregon? Central water and pit toilets are about all we would like to have.

[D&J Phillips]

I don't have any specific campgrounds to suggest but if you like boon docking it may help to know that in Oregon, if you see a spot you like and it isn't posted otherwise, you can camp there - this includes wide spots along rural roads. In other words, you can treat the whole state as if it were BLM land. For example, we found that one back-up was always gravel pits, not the most scenic sometimes but free and there are lots of them for road maintenance and none that we saw were posted no camping.
Be prepared for HOT.
Dave

[booster]

Does that include all public land? Rest stops, etc also? County parks?

[D&J Phillips]

As far as I know, yes. But I should maybe walk that back a bit since I don't live there.
I read a camping travel guide a couple of years ago that described camping pretty much anywhere you want in Oregon but I don't know where that went off the top of my head. I know there are restrictions in most of the towns/cities on the coast but outside city limits seems to be ok. Central and eastern Oregon are very rural and there is a lot of BLM type land and we just camped where we wanted and never had an issue - maybe we just got lucky.
Dave

[GeorgeRa]

Timothy Lake, Waldo Lake, a lot of campgrounds near the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway, Paulina Lake and don’t miss Dee Wright Observatory if road already opened.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/mtho...a/?recid=53392
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/will...ea/?recid=4528
https://www.tripcheck.com/Pages/Scen...-Cascade-Lakes
https://www.recreation.gov/camping/p...O&parkId=72097
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/will...ea/?recid=4403

If heading towards the Pacific Coast the Tillicum Campground, first come first serve is gorgeous. We heading there this weekend.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/sius...42443&actid=31

All State Parks with campgrounds are top notch.
https://oregonstateparks.org/

And don’t forget the Crater Lake National Park.
https://www.nps.gov/crla/index.htm

[BillsPaseo]

Here are two state park campgrounds I can recommend.

1. Valley of the Rogue State Park - https://oregonstateparks.org/index.c...Page&parkId=76

Stayed here back in February on our way home from Death Valley National Park. Very nice park, close to the freeway, so convenient for a single overnight when traveling through on I-5 near Grants Pass. Reservations are accepted, but we got in just fine without one (possibly because of the time of year).

2. Hilgard Junction State Park - https://oregonstateparks.org/index.c...Page&parkId=13

Stayed here just last weekend on our way home from Moab, UT. Another very nice park that is close to the freeway, just off I-84 near La Grande. First come, first served, and is a pretty small park, so I'm not sure how much it would fill up on a holiday weekend, but it was less than 1/4 full last weekend.

[D&J Phillips]

I finally found the article I read a few years ago
Boondocking Along the Middle Oregon Coast - RV Lifestyle

In the articles it says "Oregon also has a liberal boondocking policy – you can stay for 12 hours at any spot not otherwise posted, as long as it's outside a state park."
Dave

[Fiona2011]

Hi, Frog Lake, a small campground on Mount Hood, near Timberline Lodge and Timothy Lake still has a few spots left for the midweek part, including 7/4. There are vault toilets, no hookups, but the water is from pumps, so you would want to bring some method of transferring for your water tank, or fill up ahead of time. It is reservable through recreation.gov. They also have some first come, first serve sites, which you could probably switch to if they were available when you arrive and are better than the reservable ones that are left.