Oregon Tour Planned in May of 2018

[John_S2]

My DW and I are planning on camping (27'airstream trailer) with our daughter and son in law in OR along the coast next May, 2018.

We have never been there before and would appreciate and and all suggestions and tips, etc.... Don't want to miss anything if we can avoid it.

We love being by the water and beautiful campsites.. Like to have electric but not essential.

Is the following preliminary timeling a good one? What would you suggest?

Drive North from SLO, CA
May 2 Bothe Napa State Park
May 3 Jedediah Smith Park

May 4th – 10th 7nights Oregon coast (look at possible booking on weekend nights, flexible on weekdays?

May 11-13 Portland 3 nights (weekend)

May 14th Willamette

May 15th Bend, OR

May 16th Crater Lake, OR

May 19-20 Ashland OR

TIA, for all tips and ideas, John S

May 21 sacramento, CA

May 22nd Drive to SLO, CA

[ORbiker]

Veebyes wrote:
We will also be doing the Oregon coast, but last week of April/first week of May. Been in the area before so know a little. Of course weather makes a big difference to any plans but we have Tillanmook down for a second visit, Carl Washburne SP & Ft Stevens for another look at the maritime museum.

The Maritime Museum is great. Expensive, but worth it.

There is a lot of history in Astoria. Here is a LINK to other museums in Astoria.

More Museum LINKS.

Hopefully the town Trolley is going also. It's fun and informative.

My wife and I have been to Astoria multiply times for close to 15 days total. We still have not seen everything.

[FirstTracks]

We truly enjoyed our stay at Beachside State Park. Small sites, but an amazing location!

[Veebyes]

We will also be doing the Oregon coast, but last week of April/first week of May. Been in the area before so know a little. Of course weather makes a big difference to any plans but we have Tillanmook down for a second visit, Carl Washburne SP & Ft Stevens for another look at the maritime museum.

[John_S2]

Thanks everyone for all of your great suggestions. I will be sharing them with my daughter.

[ORbiker]

dennis1 wrote:
Month of May would be too early for Crater Lake NP . Might be snow.

There could be snow even in July. This was July 2, 2017.


New Years Eve Ski Patrolling 2010 (There could be snow)


New Years Day 2011

[dennis1]

Month of May would be too early for Crater Lake NP . Might be snow.

[4runnerguy]

People are saying you don't have enough time, but as I see it, you have nearly three weeks. A bit rushed, but time to get a good feel of places. Just beeline it to the OR border.

I'm with those who suggest to reverse the trip and travel north to south along the coast for better views and ease of using the pullouts.

I don't understand the Ashland stop unless it's for friends/relatives. Whichever way you travel, it would be easier to do US 97 to/from I-5. Ashland is out of the way.

I would rather spend three days in and around Bend rather than three days in Portland. Check out some of the NFS CG's in Newberry Crater. They are on or near the lake in the bottom of an old volcano.

BTW, the Columbia River Gorge suffered a major forest fire this fall. Many trails are still closed. I understand the falls are still falling. 😉 If you head that way, just be prepared for lots of charred trees. I believe Ainsworth SP will be open again next spring, as they kept the fire from getting in the CG.

Willamette?

A number of great SP's along the OR coast. Check out Beachside SP, really close to the water. Right down the road is Tillicum Beach NFS CG.

We prefer the southern Oregon Coast as it is less congested. Places like Cannon Beach are just so close to Portland there are a lot of day-trippers there.

For the redwoods along the northern CA coast, we like to camp at Harris Beach SP in OR and drive south from there.

[D_E_Bishop]

I have been going to the Oregon coast since 1949 and still find places to see and things to do that were there before my first trip. In plain English, there is never enough time.

I'm going to make a guess that you folks are more journey oriented than destination oriented, I can understand that and it has been our mantra for forty years. That being said, a couple of highlights you might want to look into would be, near Coos Bay is a small Marine Science Center, I can't remember the name but it is second to Hatfield's and the Newport Aquarium.

Winchester Bay is a small village with a huge recreation area and great fishing, the Winchester Bay Marina and RV Resort is really nice and inexpensive. It is part of the Douglas County Park System. Follow the quads and OHVs out to the dunes, turn right leaving the campground and just follow the road to the end. Lots of short hikes and lots of dunes, this is a really big area and every bit as nice as Dune City or the Florence area dunes.

McKinny's RV Park in Waldport is FHU and nice but the big draw is if you like or want to try dungeness crab, there is a public fishing pier in town and a couple of places to rent crab traps and bait at the head of the pier. Same places will cook your crab and clean it too. No they will not crack and pick it for you.

South Beach, Beverly Beach and a dozen other state parks have great sites, a lot of them are just sites, no hook ups. Newport is just up a few miles and Old Town, Rogue Brewery, Hatfield's and the Aquarium are within 30 minutes, The Rogue Public House in old town has great hamburgers and homemade crisps(potato chips), as my then 7 or 8 year old DGS said, "Best Pub Hamburgers I've ever had".

Lincoln City has a lot of activities including, a blow your own glass fishing float studio.

We haven't camped much above Lincoln City but the Tillamook Creamery is another nice lunch stop and the ice cream is outrageously wonderful.

At the Columbia River, we happen to like Cape Disappointment and the campground there, it is in Washington and has a lot of Corps of Discovery and seafaring stuff there.

Back on the Oregon side you'll find Ft. Stevens is a 3400 acres park and has the largest park W/O the Mississippi or maybe the entire Country. Fort Clapsop, a reproduction of the CoD winter over site and The Columbia River Maritime Academy. The river road from the museum is a lousy road to drive over to Portland, curvy, narrow and lots of ups and downs and towns, I would hit the OR side of the river and then the WA side and take the WA highway back to five or 205 and into Portland.

There are books on the Oregon Coast Lighthouses and if that interests you, there is another two week trip.

What I have outlined is for this and your next two or three trips. It is almost impossible to visit the OR Coast and not want to go back. We just sort of consider it our back yard and we go there to play. So go see what you can and hopefully you'll get to come back and see more.

We've driven one MH to all 49 continental states and we are now doing it again with the Adventurer, but, now we have a bucket list of almost every state and as retirees, we can go for weeks on end and just visit specific geographic areas. N/B, S/B, it doesn't matter.

[profdant139]

I agree that this is a pretty ambitious plan for two weeks -- lots of windshield time, not much time with feet on the ground.

Instead of zooming through Oregon, have you already seen (and spent time in) the coastal redwoods? We often spend several days hiking in the Prairie Creek area -- world-class forests, very peaceful.

The redwoods are close to the southern Oregon coastal area!

[Ed_Gee]

Lynnmor wrote:
It would be better to access pullouts when driving south, but keep in mind that you will be driving into the sun.

In May the sun should be high enough to not be a problem except possibly early morning and toward sunset....

[ORbiker]

mockturtle wrote:
May is too early for Crater Lake.

Yes; it too early to rive around the lake, but it is not too late to go see Crater Lake.

Crater Lake Lodge area is open year round from the south entrance.

[mockturtle]

May is too early for Crater Lake.

[rr2254545]

Janss wrote:
People highly recommend driving the Oregon coast north to south because you would be on the ocean side and you can more easily and safely turn into the many many pullouts for views. I may ruffle a few feathers by writing this, but IMO it's not the end of the world if you drive south to north. I've done it a few times and I survived and had a great time.

X2 I have driven it both ways as well - not a issue to me - I will be driving it south to north next April - May

[eubank]

Good deal! THe international rally has changed a lot, thankfully. It used to be kind of dull, basically a venue for the big business meetings. (Boooooorrrrrring!) Now there are still the business meetings, but they've expanded to include seminars, workshops, vendors, and the like.

You'll have to check the website (wbcci.org) to see about one day passes for non-members, I think. I'll bet they're available. If not, let me know, and I'll find out through the powers-that-be.

The rough schedule looks like this:

June 20-23 General Parking
June 22 IBT Seminar & Meeting
June 23 Vintage Airstream Club Parade
Welcome Event & Volunteer Recognition
June 24 Vintage Airstream Open House
Opening Ceremonies
June 25-29 Seminars, Roundtables, Vendors, Region
Gatherings, Entertainment
June 27 Delegates Meeting
Band Concert
June 29 Installation & Closing Ceremony

🙂
Lynn

ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:

eubank wrote:
Airstream club international rally is in Salem, OR from June 20 to June 29. Going to be a lot of Airstreamers up there!
🙂
Lynn

🙂 Hi, we won't be there camping, but plan to visit, and have visitors to our house. We live 6.3 miles from the Fairgrounds.