By:
Submission
Riverside at Detroit Campground is an excellent outdoor retreat designed for campers more interested in a remote experience. Guests are greeted with grand, mature cedars and Douglas fir trees as they drive into the campground.
The Coffin Mountain Trail Area is located nearby, with splendid trails to explore like the Coffin Lookout and Bugaboo Ridge Trails.
Natural Features:
Riverside is located along the North Fork Santiam River at an elevation of 2,400 feet. Surrounding vegetation includes hemlock, rhododendron and fern, among the towering conifers.
The campground is in the North Santiam Travel Corridor of the Willamette National Forest. The forest covers 1.6 million acres on the western slopes of the Cascade Range.
Recreation:
Anglers enjoy fishing for rainbow trout on the river. Among the many options for hiking and biking trails, the Mt. Jefferson-Pamelia Lake Trail Area is bound to please all types. Hikers looking for a challenging trail will enjoy the Minto Mountain Trail.
Facilities:
The campground is comprised of two sections. The southeast (upriver) section has more secluded sites on a bluff overlooking the river. Northwest (downriver) sites have partial shade and a more open setting.
Drinking water spigots can be found throughout the campground. Waste grey water disposal sites are provided. Firewood is available for sale on-site.
Nearby Attractions:
The Marion Forks Fish Hatchery, along Marion and Horn Creeks, is an interesting place to visit. Here, visitors can see rainbow trout, summer steelhead and spring chinook being harvested.
ACTIVITIES
Fishing
Hiking
Things I loved: 1.Tom (?) Or John(?) The camp host. He was extremely helpful and very welcoming of our hippy band of rogues from PDX.
2. That it's a small campground with a lot of trees and river.
3. CLEAN VAULT TOILETS. (not kidding. Clean. No flies. And didn't stink)
4. The new fire rings are superb and the grates move.
5. That most of the campsites have a reasonable amount of privacy. Especially in the 30's.
6. Limited but workable river acess.
7. There wasn't 855 unruly, unsupervised kids running around. We also didn't have to deal with people setting up camp at midnight.
8. Most of the campsites are a pretty good size, Although ours (31) was smaller, but had plenty of privacy.
**Be aware that river access is limited in this camp. At one end there is a fence because there's no safe way to get to it**
Things that weren't my favourite:
1. It's yards from the highway State 22. If you have a campsite on the roadside (as we did) during the day it was so loud my wife and I couldn't talk. At night it was much quieter.
2. Water spigots are kinda sparse.
Overall I will be going back and mapped out my favorite campsites. You have to reserve them way ahead of time. There's fun stuff all around you.
Picking the right spot would make all the difference, the ones next to the river are preferable compared to the campsites right next to the road which have a fair amount of vehicle noise, also the size and level ground of campsites greatly vary. Being close to the bathroom is not necessarily a good thing as vault bathrooms release a lot of odor. The river is beautiful.
We were told via the email after reserving that campfires were allowed but upon arriving found out that they were not. I would have planned meals differently if I had known.
You can't go wrong with going here.
Some spots are close to the road, others near river. It's a cute spot with lots of room
Had a nice stay here. Getting to the river is tough on the east loop. Host was friendly and available. The vault toilets were pretty clean for vault toilets. They are very dark inside even during the day. Fire rings were in great shape, sites were clean. The site we stayed in had many tripping hazards like tree roots, rocks, and stumps(bring a head lamp). The water spigots were clean and the water was very fresh and cold. Waste water and periodic dumpsters. Like other reviews, there is the noise from the highway. We didn't think it was too bad and could hear the river over it most of the time. We will definitely return and try for a different site.
