Best Dispersed Camping near Cave Junction, OR

We needed a place to set up for a quick sleep on our way down to Yosemite from Washington. I navigated using Google Maps due to other reviews saying Apple made it confusing. This led us right to the pond/camp sites. The road is a little rough with potholes but it’s not terrible if you just drive slow over the holes. There is a few split offs/2-way roads along this dirt road, the last one being a tree with a smiley face and an arrow leading you where to go. Didn’t get lost at all and it was already dark when we got there. No one was there, it was peaceful, clean and quiet. There is a pit toilet/bathroom with toilet paper. No trash cans so you’ll have to pack out your trash. I recommend this spot for anyone willing to drive 10-15 minutes off the freeway for some dispersed camping.

Sand camp is essentially a dispersed camping area. There is a large gravel parking lot and a pit toilet available. There is a path down to the Smith River where you can set up tents and tent camp if you want. 

The toilet was a basic pit toilet, but it was fairly clean as far as those go. 

We parked our VW Bus in the gravel lot for the night, it was very quiet. Though its next to a road, there is very little traffic at night as this area is fairly remote. The sky was dark and clear, perfect for stargazing. The few other people camping there were quiet and friendly.

Sooooo, apparently dispersed is no longer free in some places. This campground was$10 a night. But for that$10 you get camping on the gravel bar right next to the river with semi-clean porta potties. The best reason to camp here is that you are in the“banana belt” of southern Oregon where it gets really warm. I was able to dive right into the river from my site(I was camped next to a really deep part of the river). There are lots of fire rings set up all over the gravel bar, you just have to pick who you want to camp next to. There were the usual rowdy groups as well as hige family gatherings and the line campers as well.

This camp site is amazing. 10/10. Nothing fancy like bathrooms, but a beautiful rocky terrain! Me and my girlfriend tent camped here and although the ground was rocky we managed to pitch the tent just fine. The road leading to the site is long, flat, relatively slim, and windy. A few cars were pulled off on our way to the side camping at pullouts. The site is right off the road but still felt secluded, we heard maybe 1 or 2 cars each night we stayed here. Easily accessible for most cars, my girls Nissan versa managed to climb the very slight incline with slight loss of traction out of the site and onto the road so. Overall great spot right next to the coast

Do not know if what I found was the place, but it was awesome. Creek nearby. Quiet secluded.

When we need a free place to stay over on the southern Oregon coast, Redwood bar works. It can sometimes be a party place, especially on weekends but go during the week and you might have the place all to yourselves. Be care diving out on the gravel bar, have seen some big rigs get stuck. The water in the river is amazing and as clean as you can get.

Great area with lots of room to separate you from others ! The road in is paved till you drop into the actual camp site which is rocky but easy for a suv to do. The views are amazing and the privacy is even better!

This is a lovely spot. Just a few campsites around a pond. Just overnighted here. Saw some folks camping and fishing. A bit of a challenge to find. Take speaker road to the end of pavement and then follow the dyrt map carefully. The correct location is pinned.

Found this spot on our way down to California. Not a bad spot to camp, it’s very quite and we were the only ones there.

Getting there is pretty easy, we made it a lot more difficult by going down a bunch of roads. Stick to the main road, the road to the campsite is on the right and has a tree that’s spray painted with a stick figure. It’s very steep like the other review said but isn’t too bad for a truck.

There aren’t a lot of spots here. We parked right by the lake, there was another spot in the middle of the loop, and a few others.

It looks like there’s a trail that goes around the lake. We found some ticks on the dogs immediately so we didn’t end up exploring it. Overall a nice spot, it’s right off the highway so you don’t have to worry about driving deep in the mountains.

I'll add another review since we did go back there this summer and stay there for a night. But I'd check on the effects of the Rum Fire if you're planning to go to this area. Not sure what the river area looks like now. :(

We couldn't really find a flat place to park, and so ended up parking just along the bathroom, which was rhe flattest spot here. It was a nice and peaceful stay, quiet, watching boaters and rafting companies coming and going all day. Nobody else was there at night.

The area is beautiful but there's not much to do unless you have a boat or a car. No nearby hikes within walking distance.

Still zero cell service. 14 day stay limit. Garbage bins and recycling and bathrooms on site. Free!

We live in Brookings and go up the Chetco to this river bar or to Nook or Miller Bar all summer long. No, there’s no spaces and no hookups and no cell service for miles. It’s just a gravel bar on the river where you pull your camper wherever feels good and unhitch and camp. You might have some USDA Forest Service employee drop off a pay envelope at your site but , there’s no place to leave it and they may or may not come back to get it. It sometimes gets crowded during holidays and weekends and the good places, not next to rapids and close enough to good swimming holes, become rare. So you might have to settle for something less than ideal. And, the porta potties might get full. There’s no one enforcing quiet hours or leash laws and no form of law enforcement anywhere nearby. There is a Forest Service LEO assigned to the area but in 18 years, I’ve never seen him on the bar. Despite all this, incidents involving injuries or violence or crime are exceptionally rare. It’s a great kayaking and swimming place and there’s nearby rocks for jumping off. Remember! It’s a river not a lake so kids ought to have life jackets. Please note….as the summer progresses, the water level drops, the temperature rises and the algae grows. As such, we prefer June camping.

This was an ok site. We visited middle of January and we were the only campers here. It was nice being by the river but this area recently had a fire go through it and there was a lot of down trees/erosion.

Also, the amount of trash here was rather disappointing and we were concerned our dog would step on something sharp. We tried to pick up as much as possible but there were a lot of small bits and it appeared to be from a long term camp for whoever was piling up a lot of trash over a long period of time.

Great spot by a river. Refreshing water not too cold, deep enough to float.

Starlink internet is spotty here but you should be good if you park further away from the river.

Be careful with maps! This listing has the wrong pin on the map. If you use coordinates and google maps it will get you to the right side. If you come across a road with a dead end sign, you’re on the wrong side of the river.

Saw lots of trash and toilet paper. Decent spot otherwise.

It looked like a decent place to camp with river access. I was disappointed the camp was closed due to fire. I saw a couple campers but I didn't stay.

Sand Camp had no parking lot camp, and it was getting late so we stayed in a pull out on the highway. There are a few to pick from, but make sure you're not on one with a sharp turn because that can be dangerous being in the blind spot of on coming cars. I was definitely uneasy at first and felt pretty exposed, but we didnt have any trouble. As I said, works in a pinch.

These coordinates lead us to private property, a driveway to a couple of houses. Maybe there was something a little further, but it was all blocked off. We had to turn around and camp elsewhere.