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Submission
From jct of OR-227 (Tiller Trailer Hwy) & OR-62 (Crater Lake Hwy): Go E 1.8 mi on OR-62.
This is a gorgeous park. We a stayed three nights mid-week in March and there were only two other campers. The park is on a point where Elk Creek flows into the Rogue River. Half or more of the campsites are on one of the rivers, so the scenery is gorgeous.
If you walk East through the RV part of the campground you walk past the small day use area and some tent sites. Those tent sites were lovely and spacious and right on the Rogue.
From the end of the tent area you can take a trail that follows the river. We don’t know how far the trail goes; we walked about 1/3 mile. On our short hike we saw a partial skeleton about the size of a medium dog we think. I don’t think it was a dog, but that seemed to be the size. I don’t know what the hunting animal was (coyote?) but it occurred to me we’d not want to leave a dog outside the campsite unattended at night. I’m a city person, so maybe I’m over cautious.
We saw an otter swimming in Elk Creek one afternoon. On the drive to Shady Cove (nearest town) there is an eagle’s nest where we saw an eagle one time.
It wasn’t far to Crater Lake so we drove there one day. Another place we discovered is the Natural Bridge where the Rogue River goes underground for a short distance as it flows through a lava tube. And between the Natural Bridge and Crater Lake was the Rogue Canyon where the Rogue flows through a narrow basalt canyon. At the natural bridge you can take a 3.5 mile hike to another bridge.
The ranger at the campground was friendly and extremely helpful. They don’t have a dump station at this park, so we asked whether there was a nearby park with one. He said he’d check and let us know the next day. And, the following day he stopped by our trailer to let us know there wasn’t a park with a dump station we could use but the Chevron in Shady Cove has one that costs a small fee.
We have a 32’ fifth wheel. The turns in the campground are sometimes tight. Roads in camp have many potholes. The trailer sites have a long pad for the trailer and a short pad adjacent for your truck to park. We felt the sites were nicely spacious. Table and fire pit provided.
It's always beautiful out here. We come here every season, and enjoy the forrest droppings we find. Leaves, pinecones, acorns, holly, mistletoe and lichen. And look at the size of this mushroom (not edible)!
The camp host Mark is amazing! We enjoyed our stay very much! Clean restrooms, nice clean camp sites! It’s a beautiful place even though it’s got some highway noise; you don’t really notice the noise. Fishing from our site was very fun and nice! We’ll definitely go there a lot!
Beautiful and serene, road noise was obnoxious but tolerable. Saw a huge group of people that showed up on the bank of the river next to us, did a baptism and went on their way. Definitely a unique experience!
Adequate campground *if* you want to be *specifically* along this stretch of the river. It’s more like camping in a park than a campground — and not all spots are created equal; you might be chasing the shade a lot and if your neighbors don’t observe quiet hours (10p-7am), it’s pretty close quarters, so you’ll be hearing them. … Some sites have 20amp (30amp for RVs) electric pedestals and water. … You’ll be hearing road noise day and night and they water the weeds here… I recommend other campgrounds.
