Florence & Coos Bay, OR Dunes Questions

[smooth1]

I am hoping you guys can give me some advise on where to camp, and where to rent quads & atv's for a trip to the OR dunes. There seems to be a lot of options for both in that area.

The trip is my (2) boys 9 & 12, & myself in our camper in early April. My boys have ridden small quads and dirt bikes before, but we are not advanced riders and no sand experience. I can see us renting for a couple hours in the morning and possibly another round in the afternoon. We will be there for (2) nights (Friday & Saturday).

Spinreel & Dune Bug will rent 90 & 125cc quads to kids. Any others that we should look into. I can see us taking out a 4-seat UTV for some laps too.

Any hints on where to camp. Don't need hook-ups, but would use them if we had them. We would rather have some privacy and a camp fire is a must...

[Bedlam]

That KOA is down toward Coos Bay. Riley Ranch is where I stayed when down there.

https://koa.com/campgrounds/oregon-dunes/

http://www.co.coos.or.us/Departments/CoosCountyParks/RileyRanch.aspx

[Fisher_Bill]

Oregon Dunes KOA is another place to camp with access directly to the sand.

They have full hookups and it is all about the sand at this campground.

Bill

[Bedlam]

Just to remind myself that this is the truck camper section and not the sand box:

[discovery4us]

Here are a couple pics from 2014 with the then new rzrS.

[c_traveler2]

All you guys have posted some really nice photos, keep it up. :C

[Bedlam]

We might check out that area as an alternate. The last time we tried to stay in La Pine, they had facility problems and we did some parking lot boon docking before staying on the north side of Bend.

[ORbiker]

If you want to boondock, you could stay at https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/deschutes/recarea/?recid=39064 Cresent Lake Sno-park

[Bedlam]

In July we have our Florence trip followed by a stay in La Pine and then to a truck camper rally in La Grande. Sounds like we will be traveling the same routes at different times.

[smooth1]

I was able to get a full hook-up spot at Honeymoon State Park for the two nights. 'H" Loop was full for our weekend, but we don't have the toys to utilize the direct access.

I am glad the camping side of the trip is done. Now I need to call some of these shops and go over the costs, age, time slots, availability, etc., of their toys...

After our weekend, we will head east towards Sunriver, OR, and camp for Sunday night at one of the reservoirs between there & La Pine. Then skiing at Mt Bachelor for the rest of the week with a house in Sunriver.

This is year (3) of Spring Break skiing at Bachelor/Sunriver, but year (2) of splitting up the trip with a run at the OR coast. Last year we drove down the coast for (2) nights & got to Florence before we headed east to Sunriver.

[Bedlam]

The Honeyman H loop has full and partial hookup sites. That's where we stay off season when they have the gate open for dune access. Driftwood II is a place we have driven through but not stayed due to it filling up so fast during the peak season.

[Boatycall]

smooth1 wrote:
leave Thursday night around 8pm, get south of Portland, then finish the drive Friday morning.

That's what my freinds and I do. We stay the night at a big truck stop in Colberg, exit 199. There is a lot of truck stop parking there, either left or right, truck stops on both sides.

smooth1 wrote:
I will look into the campgrounds that were recommended & like the idea of camping on the water. Probably going to reserve the camping spot, but do you think these toy rental places will be booked out on an early April weekend?

That will be extremely tough this late. Campgrounds in OR open up for reservations 270 days in advance, and I can tell you from personal experience you literally have to be Johnny on the spot the day your booking time comes available.
If you're wanting to book now for Spring break, not to be a Debbie-downer, but I'm going to bet you're already out of luck.

And a correction - the ride-in-ride-out dry camping CG I was thinking of is just south of Honeyman on the Florence dunes, Driftwood. They do have full bathrooms/showers. Stayed there a couple of times.
Honeyman has water/power and a dump as you leave.

[D_E_Bishop]

Just two asides, first, if you can get a GoPro or similar camera for one of the kids or yourself. I really adds to the memories. Second, in Charleston, there is a really neat Marine Science Center.

There is a good Mexican Restaurant on 101 N/O Florence, really, kind of in town and on the West side of the Hwy. I live in Northeast LA and we're exposed to some really great places, this is Good, much better than average. I'll call the niece and ask her, they know her and just put her order in, no menu needed for her. DW looked it up it's Rosa's at 2825 Hwy 101.

For adults on week ends or early(before 6pm) is Travelers Cove in Florence. I say adults because when the live music starts, it's noisy and a lot of singles looking.

[smooth1]

Thanks everyone. This is exactly the info I was hoping to get. If it is 7 hours from Tacoma, then it is 8 for us in Bothell. My plan was to leave Thursday night around 8pm, get south of Portland, then finish the drive Friday morning. We would hit the dunes Friday afternoon to get a good feel for the riding and the toys. That should give us a good gauge for Saturday.

This will be expensive since we don't have our own rides, but I think this will be one of those spring break trips the boys will talk about for a while.

I also want to try the 4-seat UTV's too. I am more of a show up and see what happens type. I will look into the campgrounds that were recommended & like the idea of camping on the water. Probably going to reserve the camping spot, but do you think these toy rental places will be booked out on an early April weekend?

[ORbiker]

WOW
Great pics.

I had the chance to go out on the dunes with a friend with a 900 Razar. He is a GREAT driver. We had a blast. He could keep up with the bigger machines because of his skills. He let me drive it a bit. Very, very fun, but I don't have all the practice he has had.

We were in the Houser area just north of Coos Bay.