Our visit to Oregon was spent visiting with family and exploring the state’s only national park. The weather held out long enough for us to enjoy our stay and install solar panels before moving on to our next destination. Read more below!
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Beverly Beach State Park, Newport, Oregon
Our first stop in Oregon was at Beverly Beach State Park, right off Highway 101 along the coast. I’ll admit this wasn’t our first choice since we were only looking for a place to stay for the night and would have liked to stay at Fort Stevenson instead. We had visited this area a couple years before and looked forward to exploring further. However, even this late in the season (mid-September) the parks were full. I called ahead to Beverly Beach State Park and was able to secure a site for the night that had a cancelled reservation.
We were not disappointed with the park at all. Although it was quite full, with over 200 sites, we were happy to have electric and water hookups and a dump station to use on the way in and out after spending a few weeks dry camping. The park has plenty of trees and trails that lead down to the river and the ocean is right across the highway from the park. It is secluded enough that we didn’t hear the traffic from the 101 and were grateful for that after a long day of driving.
The site we were in was a bit of a tight fit for out 32′ fifth wheel but we made it work. We had to level the trailer and take it off the truck so we could get the truck into the site and off the road. A lot of work for a single night, but checkout wasn’t until 1:00 the following day so we were able to run into the nearest town (Newport) for some supplies before moving on.
How to get there
The park is located 5 miles north of Newport, Oregon on the east side of Highway 101.
Amenities
There are 53 full hook-up sites (27 with cable TV), 76 water/electric sites, and 128 tent sites, and there is a dump station to use right across from the visitor center. Flush toilets and trash receptacles are located in each of the 8 loops and showers are available in 4 of the loops. Camp hosts available throughout the park for any questions you may have and the visitor center is staffed with friendly volunteers who would love to visit with you. The visitor center is where you will find information about the area, booklets for the kids to participate in their junior ranger program, and fresh coffee (which was great for the morning while the rain was pouring down!).
What to do
Hiking the nature trails, fishing, whale watching, crabbing, clamming, and beach access are the most popular attractions here. The city of Newport has all the shopping centers you need and offers several restaurant options. We were only in the area to park for a night and stock up on a few necessities so we didn’t have a chance to explore the area as fully as we would have liked.
Badlands Rock BLM Dispersed
Our second stop in Oregon, and where we were parked for the longest duration on this trip, was at the Badlands Rock dispersed camping area southeast of Bend, Oregon in the Oregon Badlands Wilderness Area. This a completely dry camping area with the closest amenities in the city of Millican. Since we were visiting family in Bend we did all of our shopping there.
We parked in a small dip in the landscape that mostly sheltered us from prying eyes. Most of our stay there the weather was quite perfect, but the last several days the wind and rain picked up and our trailer became covered in rock dust inside and out. Other than it being dusty we enjoyed having a free place to park for a couple weeks.
During our second week parked here we had a solar panel kit shipped to our relative’s home. We installed it the morning before we left (it took us about 5 hours start to finish) and so far it has been a great addition to our power supply. Here’s what our solar system looks like now.
How to get there
From Bend, travel south on Highway 22 about 16 miles. Shortly after you see the sign that mentions the passing lane in a half mile you will notice the entrance for the Badlands Rock trailhead on your left. Turn left then turn right into the parking area. There will be several piles of highway rock and other materials used for road construction in a large lot. We notice a handful of RVers park in this lot for a night and at least one semi-truck driver also use the lot to park in over night. If you drive along the northern edge (furthest from the highway) of the lot you will come to a treed and grassy area. There is a gravel two-track road that winds through the BLM land and spurs into several areas where others have camped before.
Amenities
This is a dry camping only area. We were able to get water to fill our tank from family and did not need to empty our holding tanks, although there were several dump stations in Bend that we could have stopped at (we didn’t scope any of them out though). We took one trip to the Bend landfill to dispose of our trash, which cost us $12 for a few garbage bags (I believe there was a $10 minimum charge). *Note: Oregon has a ten cent ($0.10) per bottle tax, which will be refunded if you return the bottles to an approved recycling center. We used the one in Bend to earn a couple dollars back.
What to do
There are countless opportunities for outdoor recreation in and around the Bend area. The hubby took advantage of an opportunity to enjoy the wilderness on a quad, and the whole family got to enjoy the views and water at a lake near Sisters, OR and explore Boyd Cave, one of several caves available for caving in the Bend area. Our favorite part of the trip, though, was the day spent 2 hours south of Bend at Crater Lake National Park.
The sun shined for most of our day there, although it was a bit cool, and we hit rain as we left the park in the late afternoon. We happened to be there when a group of aspiring college students were learning about being a park ranger, so the kids got to participate in a demonstration of how Crater Lake was formed and earned their first national park patch. They also complete their junior ranger booklets to earn their national park badges. All in all it was a good trip and we got some gorgeous pictures around the rim of the crater.
We truly enjoyed our time in Oregon and plan on taking a yearly trip to the west coast and the Bend area. Have you been to Oregon, or do you live there? What do you think? Please leave us a comment or send us an email. We’d love to hear from you!
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