Fort Stevens State Park Campground

It's pretty big! There's some really, really lovely trails here abundant with native plants and spilling over with huckleberries in september. At least in my loop, pretty much everyone was a senior citizen, so when it got dark it was dead freaking quiet. No partying or kids playing. I can imagine this campground attracts a lot of older people due to the whole military thing. There's a lot to see here and quite spread out so I would bring a bike. I really enjoyed a spontaneous kayak rental at the lake, seeing the shipwreck at sunset, and the elk grazing nearby which I could see from my picnic table. My only complaint is the HUGE root in my campsite, upending the pavement pad. The little mountain was probably 9" at its peak. My low clearance vehicle could not clear it, so I had to park at the front of the long driveway. I would have felt more secure and private tucked away towards the back of the driveway but it is what it is. I did manage to trip on it twice, as well. Seems like a hazard in a park that attract so many older people. I let a ranger know. I did not experience mosquitos like what was reported a few years back.

There is so much to do here and every time I've been to Ft. Stevens, we just scratch the surface.  We were down here in August as the last stop on our family vacation and we discovered a whole section of the park we didn't know was there!  This time, it was just me and my kiddo.  We came down for a rally put on by a PNW based group of the brand trailer I own.  The majority of the group was in loops O and N, though there were some of us (myself included) in other parts of the campground.  I ended up in loop M, which has full hook-ups so that was nice.  This was my first rally and it was my first big solo trip with just me and my kiddo.  The sites in loop M do seem sort of close together depending on where you are in the loop.  There are also a lot of trees, which could contribute to that feeling.  My back-in site, M04, was partially secluded with a row of shrubs between M04 and M05 and some shrubs and trees behind me.  I could see the road and the yurt village from my back window.  There is also a paved trail that goes along side the road.  If you go down into loop O, there is little trail that takes you over to the south parking area of Coffenbury Lake where you can pick up the 2 mile dirt trail around the lake.  FYI...no matter how fancy your fancy all terrain running stroller might be, it won't work on this trail.  Never fear though, there are plenty of paved bike trails that will get you throughout the park!  The only reason I am giving 4 starts instead of 5 is because I have a toddler that likes playgrounds.  The only playground is in the north campground.  It wasn't a long walk, but there were no paved trails which put us in the bike lane of the main road going into and out of the campground.  When it is busy, there are a lot of big vehicles going in and out.  It would have been nice to have a playground in the south campground or have a continuation of the paved path next to the road.  Verizon phone service is meh.  I had no issues calling or texting my husband, anything else was spotty as I had one or two bars.  While I don't go camping to scroll about on the internet, I do have a toddler that has a much earlier bedtime than me so it's nice to be able to catch up on social media or put in some earbuds and watch a movie on my phone or watch youtube.  Couldn't do any of that.

the "hike in" camp sites are located between the trash compactor and recycling cans and the parking lot of the ranger station that leaves lights on all night.. so the trees are blown out by the light and it's nearly impossible to see the stars through the trees, and the trash compactor likes to go off randomly at 5:00 a.m.. athe sites are very small and close together. the other major problem is the squirrels in the campground and the previous campers that left piles of scrap for them to snack on. the first thing I see upon arriving at our campsite is a squirrel coming out of a neighboring tent that it chewed a hole through carrying a bag of graham crackers. (yes, do not leave food in your tent..) I chase the squirrel away multiple times to have the same squirrel come back over and over again.. I'm pretty sure that the same squirrel was the one that I witnessed climbing up into other people's tents and trying to steal food the entire time.

this is also a large campground with a lot of people and their children and dogs.. screaming children and barking dogs.. and that started at sunrise.

the campground and park are beautiful and I will try again in the off season..

The state park (SP) was fairly easy to find as there are SP signs well before the park, and all the way to the park regardless of which direction you are coming in from. WAZE and our RV GPS wanted to take us down other streets, but we held the course following the signs. There are multiple ways to get to the park, but the signs lead you to the most RV friendly roads. We turned into the park entrance, where there was a huge parking lot and a sign to register. Check-in was quick and easy. Our cost was an $8 online booking fee, with both of us having the Oregon State Park Disabled Veteran Pass. This pass provides 10 days of free camping per month to disabled veterans, resident or non-resident. We proceeded right out of the parking lot and to the H loop, where we drove to site H10 with FHUs. This is an old loop with lots of trees, but the road was passable with our 40’ fifth wheel. However, site H10 has a brush on the driver’s side and low-hanging trees on the passenger side. It’s a tight back-in, and you have to hit the pad exactly to keep from scraping the driver’s side, and we brushed branches on our 13.5’ roof. After several tries and some minor scraping, we got into the site. We asked a park ranger if we could trim the branches so they wouldn’t scrape the roof, especially in the wind. The ranger gave us permission to hand trim. On select loops(there’s a sign as you exit the registration parking lot on where) they sell firewood by the camp host areas for $7 a bundle. They also sell kindling for $4 a bundle. The water pressure was okay, and we had no issues with the sewer or electric. As we were here for two weeks and football junkies, we tried to get Starlink to connect with no luck as there were too many trees. We had 2 bars on Verizon, so we were able to get some internet with our MiFi. Fort Stevens is a huge campground with a variety of site sizes and utility options. The best loop for big rigs, in our opinion, is the newer O loop(water and electric 50/30/20 AMP only) that doesn’t have as many trees or shrubs between sites. The O loop’s even-numbered sites 2-26 are big-rig friendly and open enough to provide satellite shots, especially for Starlink. In general, just our opinion, loops B, C, D, E, F, G& M, are better suited for tents and/or shorter rigs(up to 35’). Class A's and 5th wheels may have trouble with overhead branches. Loops I, J, and N have plenty of sites that will fit big rigs, but read reviews as loops I and J are heavily wooded with overhead branches and brush/shrubs separating sites like in the H loop. There are a ton of trails to walk or bike. We really enjoyed all that Fort Stevens State Park has to offer, with a side benefit being all the elk roaming around the campground and deer hanging out at our campsite.