Best Cabin Camping near Gervais, 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.

Smith Creek Village is such a great place for easy lodging in nature. My family stayed in one of the tiny cabins. The cabin was very clean and well kept. The cabin was nearby a few other similar cabins, but everything felt very private. There was nice walking paths and a large grass area supplied with lawn games.

We decided to take the easy route this particular trip and ate all our meals at the Big Leaf Coffeehouse. The food there is fantastic and the building has a cozy lodge vibe.

Another thing that I loved about Smith Creek Village is that although the Silver Falls state park is always busy, Smith Creek Village is not. It feels like a hidden gem inside the state park. We definitely plan on coming back.

Not my normal camping scene, but decided to for an early summer ski session with the kids, we didn't want to completely rough it, but also didn't want to pay hotel prices. So, one of the standard cabins here was the perfect compromise. Roof over our heads, actual beds, room for three of us to be able to gear up for the day. But still had a fire pit outside, and picnic table for outdoor cooking. (Also the standard cabins don't have bathrooms, so you still need to go to the shared restrooms.)

The property overall was really nice, lots of amenities. We also took a walk through the RV/Tent camp sites. Its very similar to a KOA style of resort. We enjoyed it for what it was.

This campground is one I wanted to visit for the chance to check out the hiking trail nearby that has tons of waterfalls along it (Ten Falls Trail). I wasn't sure I would be able to hike very far and I was right. I hiked down into the canyon to walk behind South Falls. It was spectacular! I’m glad I hiked that particular trial since I only had enough energy for that one. It was quite steep down into the canyon and wet in most areas. Watch your step! The full trail is 8.2 miles. They had a nice place to buy snacks and meals, a gift shop, and had nice printed trail information posted at the trailhead. The campground itself isn’t huge and was fully booked, but it is decently laid out (sites have nice space between them). Most sites are shaded. They sell firewood, have a pavilion with picnic tables, a playground for the kids, and have a few small cabins you can rent by the night. The campground is kind of close to a somewhat busy road, but the noise wasn’t too bad. The bathhouse was clean and approximately 100 yards from my campsite down a footpath. The only thing I was disappointed to see was that two of the 4 showers were out of order. I had fantastic cell service here (AT&T) and was able to text, call, and go online on my phone (which is nice since I work online). Given the fact that I was unable to physically do more hiking this trip, I would definitely come back to this campground to try another section of the trail to see more waterfalls since the trailhead is only 1.5 miles from the campground.

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.

The park is beautiful, I made sure to see all the falls (except of Winter Falls which wasn't running), and the hike was great. The park is pretty big so you do have to drive from your campsite to the trailhead, not quite hike-in.

We stayed in one of the cabins, which was quaint and nicely separated from the rest of the sites. The cabin has two small rooms, with a dining area and a sleeping area. There's no fancy appliances but we brought an electric cooler to keep our food cold, and the bathroom and parking was a short walk away. The site was outfitted with a fire pit with grill and picnic table.

On the first night we were awoken to rustling through our stuff in the other room and when I checked it out a mouse booked it out of there. Not a big deal but my fiance and I found it a little hard to sleep after that. Be sure to keep any food in your car rather than the cabin. Another night an army of raccoons made its way through our campsite, despite all our food being put away. On our way out we told the ranger about the mouse in the cabin and they didn't seem phased by it, I don't expect they did much to fix the hole (which we spotted the next day and tried to cover). Would have preferred just to stay in a tent and save a bit if the cabin is so obviously penetrable.