Best Glamping near Buxton, OR

The park just added two nature playgrounds that are pretty fantastic. One of the new playgrounds, right before the boat launch, features a trail with a mud kitchen, two a-frame tents and a big area where you can use fallen logs and branches to build shelters.

The other nature playground is right across from the old playground (still in use) and has a wooden water course with a hand pump and an elevated wooden plank course.

Camping can be a little loud since it's a popular spot and there are no pets allowed, but it's barely 30 minutes away from Portland and right on the Sandy River.

We headed to the Pacific City in search of fresh air in mid September when much of Oregon was consumed by wildfire smoke. The friendly staff at Cape Kiwanda RV Resort were very welcoming and we opted to stay in one of their cute cabins as rain was forecasted. Cabin N was comfortable and had electric heat, a TV, dorm fridge, microwave, porch swing, outdoor water, BBQ grill, picnic table and outdoor firepit.  The campground had cute wild bunnies hoping around, and amenities such as a playground, full market, and pool.  It's located a quick walk from a beautiful sandy beach, brew pub, coffee shop and other convenient options are nearby.

I stayed in the 1 of 5 tent spaces. They were a bit close to the other sites, but still large enough for a few tents if needed. There was only 1 parking lot for the tent/cabin spaces, so had to carry all my stuff about 100 feet. The bathrooms were clean and well lit at night. The bike paths through the campground/park were great and lots of people were using them all day. I walked the path around the entire park, which took me about 3 hours. Along the way got to see the Champoeg Heritage site with period piece actors, wide open spaces, and the Willamette River. There was a huge playground for the kids. There was also a large field area for dogs to roam around, just no fence. For being so close to the greater Portland area it felt like we were much further away. I would recommend this place, just make reservations early.

This campground is under very new ownership and the owners are some of the friendliest we’ve met to date. They are also in the process of renovating the property to make improvements. So as I review this it is with the anticipation of all the great changes to come.

Most of the tent sites had a decent amount of space, and the perimeter ones were a little more private too. We did see some campers set up on the roadside—not sure if they knew what they were getting at the time (I wouldn’t want to be right on the road).

There were some decently sized RV spots, but the pull through spaces looked a little crowded.

There are only two bathrooms, each having a toilet and shower in a self contained unit. Naturally, if two people are showering this means that all flush toilets are also occupied. There are two porta-potties to accommodate for this. The owners did keep the bathrooms as clean as possible—but the bathrooms could use some renovating themselves and have a musty smell. There is laundry on site. It’s not the quietest campground we’ve stayed at (not the noisiest either) and it might benefits from clearly defined quiet hours.

Two blocks away there are two gas stations with mini-markets.

Only a few minutes away are the Cougar and Beaver recreation areas in the Lewis River. It only takes 10 minutes to get to Mt St Helens Ape Cave, Trail of Two Forests and Lava Canyon area.

This is a campground on one of the roads leading to Mt. Saint Helen's. It was a decent sized campground with RV spots, tent spots, group spots, and walk-in spots. It had a huge playground area as well as a day use site with covered shelters within the park. The visitor center was a short 1 mile walk from the campground that had an under road tunnel leading under the highway. From the visitor center here was an additional path through the marsh with views of Mt. Saint Helen's, or at least I think there are views the smoke was so thick we could not see the mountain. At night the campground had a great Junior Ranger program with a very enthusiastic park ranger that kept the almost 50 people/kids entertained. She was great at engaging all the kids and teaching them about the park, highly recommend this for anyone bringing kids. For being completely full the nights we were there it was pretty quiet with only the occasional noise coming from the nearby highway.

We stayed in the group site, spot 60/61. Since we booked the group site we were required to book both of the spots at the same time. It was the smallest group site I have ever seen. There was barely room for the 3 tents we set up and originally we would have had almost 6, which would not have fit in this spot. There were 2 large tables as well as 2 fire pits, however 1 fire pit was inches away from the bushes and would not have been good for people to sit around. Luckily the other fire pit was great and we were all able to sit around it. The bathrooms and water were close by.

There were other sites that were much bigger and would be able to accommodate larger groups. I would not waste my money on the group site if you need more then 4 tents, honestly 3 was a squeeze. It's a great campground for those that are spending multiple days in Mt. Saint Helen's since it was a very short drive away.