Best Dispersed Camping near Donald, OR

Nice small lake with a close to established campground. I was hoping for a true disbursed experience, you know boondock. There were established sites and a composting table. Nice spots, nice lake. Could pull in a 16’ trailer but until the camp site there is no other turn around spot so beware. More campers then I expected.

The Cedar Creek Rd area offers a nice variety of dispersed camping sites with some good views if you drive far enough, and fairly easy gravel roads for access. However, the signage could use improvement, making it a bit tricky to find your way around. Heard some OHV noise at night, and target shooting in the distance at sunrise. Be aware that Verizon cell service is nonexistent in the area. Not a bad place to stay, but you’re likely to run into others also looking for some nature.

Diamond Milld rd is a tight logging rd with a kinda steep danger zone cliff on this edge. If you get to spot (the coordinates on dyrt arent exact but close) you will see basically the only part of the rd with a pull aside areai prob for two vans or cars. Its a nice view but kinda creepy if alone IMO. The dispersed camping for this St Forest applies to tenters mainly being 1 mile away from a paid campground. But for just car and van camp youd have to chance it at day area or drive way in to the forest down a rd.

Tillamook Forest has so many amazing dispersed camping opportunities! We turned onto Ben Smith road and then took logging trails up the peaks. We found a perfect spot that looked like we were on the edge of a cliff but was actually still very safe for our toddler. No cell service, so we just unplugged for 3 nights and enjoyed the time together. We could see the northern lights the first night we were there, and it was absolutely incredible. We had a lot of privacy. One hunter walked by, I assume he was using the nearby trail. We heard some ATVs over the days, but it wasn't disruptive. Totally recommend it, and we'll definitely be back.

This place is dreamy, lots of different routes to camp spots, we found an isolated area with a small opened peak overlooking the forest which was amazing. You can hear the highway in the distance (quietly) and occasional aircraft but it was overall peaceful. It is quite a steep incline so be cautious, I would not recommend with snow or sleet, but we definitely want to go back to explore the other routes! There is absolutely no cell service, if you have a hot spot I would recommend it, but once you enter the forest there is poor service.

This free campground is just far enough out from the coast and the city that you'll likely be alone, even on a Saturday night. Most folks coming to this area of the forest camp in the more popular (and more expensive) Hebo Lake campground. If you don't need amenities and are just looking for a beautiful place to camp, South Lake is a better option. The road leading to the campground is easy gravel and receives a moderate amount of traffic. During my stay on a Saturday, there was a truck passing by every couple of hours. Most of these folks are hunters. If you want complete isolation, this is not a good place to camp. This is also not the best place to camp if you are afraid of Cougars (I am). There have been several recent Cougar sightings at this Lake. Thankfully I did not see any during my visit. :)

This spot requires a good climb up Mt Hebo. The road is paved but quite narrow in places. We came up in the dark and had to take it pretty slowly around the turns.

Once we got to the spot we actually thought the large pull off was it until we saw the logging road that curves downward. Follow that road down in a C shape to a large open, flat area.

This is a wicked spot. Secluded and tucked into the trees. Might be hard for some folks towing a trailer but for our truck camper it was an easy fit.

Free, quiet, and new. Show up whenever you feel like - it belongs to everyone. Just make sure you clean up after yourself!

We didn’t actually stay here because it was already taken. But I wanted to create this view just to add additional context on how to find it.

There’s a pretty decent sized gravel turnout… It’s the only big gravel turn out like this on this part of the road … you’ll see what looks like a logging road with a steep decline. It looks a little intimidating, but you go down that road and it curves around in a sea shape for about a half a mile and ends in the big open area where you can camp.

If you’re telling something, I’d recommend walking the road to check to see if anybody is down there before you go down because it’s the only place you’d be able to turn around with your trailer.

Wish we were able to actually stay in this spot. Really big open flat area for either your travel trailer or a small group with tents. Amazing view very secluded feeling. Maybe next time!

We took a ride from Hebo up road 14 or 1400 to South Lake. The trip took over 1 hour down a partly paved road with lots of pot holes then the rest of the way down a very narrow pot hole dirt road to South Lake. Along the way we passed Hebo Lake Campground that had many tent camp sites. Once we arrived at South Lake we found the lake to be somewhat small and there were a few tent sites somewhat close together. We had been told this lake was always stocked with Trout. We suggest only using a 4x4 or a high clearance vehicle to make this trip.

This was a last minute find for us on the 4th of July.  There were a few sites left for us to choose from.  The sites are not numbered but are designated by a rock ringed fire pit. We hammock camp and there are plenty of sites with trees positioned perfectly for hanging the hammocks.  The lake is small but very beautiful.  We did bring our kayaks but didn't launch them.  There is a launching area but it's pretty mucky and there are a lot of downed trees in the water.  I only saw one really great beach area to pull up to but it was already claimed by another small boat.  There are trails all over leading from the campsites to the lake and around it.  We also met other campers that had hiked a trail from Hebo lake to South Lake which was about a 7 mile hike for them.

We will go back and try out South Lake again in the other seasons.

We found this dispersed site by driving on Mt. Hebo Road about 20 minutes past Hebo Lake Campground. We noticed what looked like a logging road off to the right and followed it down for about 2 minutes. The road comes to an end and it was a perfect place to park our Cricket camper with plenty of room to turn around. 

This site sits kind of high up in the forest with super tall trees all around. We didn’t realize it at first but we were about 100 yards up from a hiking trail, The Pioneer-Indian Tr#1300. We only realized it when we saw hikers go by, some of whom didn’t even notice we were up above them. 

Going up the hike about 30 minutes will bring you to the top of Mt. Hebo with beautiful open views all the way to the coast. The hike goes all the way to South Lake. We gave up before we got there but as it was, that was a 10 mile round trip hike. Hiking the other way takes you to Hebo Lake Campground which we didn’t do. This was perfect spot to sit and relax and watch the forest and the sunset. Super peaceful and quiet. 

The only negative is that there is no way to know if someone is in this spot from the road so we had a few people drive down to check it out and then turn around. Also, there were a ton of flies both at the site and on the hike. 

To leave this site you have to drive up a pretty steep, pebbly road. We made it in our Subaru towing the Cricket but it was slightly nerve-racking and I would not try that in the snow or rain. Don’t think I would want to bring an RV down there either. 

Overall, this was such a great spot to get away from crowds and get some R&R.

We stopped here for the first time for a hike and to check out the camping situation. The hike is just under a mile long, one way. Keep right at the fork early on to go the right way. Really pretty and shaded. You cross a few foot bridges and it opens up to a fairly good sized camping area with some scattered fire rings. It was surprisingly sparse camping wise for a saturday. Great view of the water just across a dry creek bed and over the hill. Good number of people enjoying the river and a few kids swimming but it was freezing so i dont know how they did it!

Parking lot was fairly full, there might be room to park on the road but im not sure.

I wouldn’t want to camp here because of the foot traffic and how close you have to camp to other people. Might work out good for others though!

Also just a reminder to please pick up your trash and toilet paper. I saw it all over the place at the sites along 224 and its just gross.

Great views, easy drive, AWD car would have been able to make it. The road to South lake was gated off so we used this turn out, there are many along the road. A slight drive on the forest access road leads to the top of the hill. Plenty of dead standing wood for fires.