Best Dispersed Camping near Independence, OR

This is for dispersed camping in the Siuslaw NF off Forest Road 55, off 101. Turn into 55 from 101 between Thor’s Well and Devil’s Churn. There is a FS paid campground (Cape Perpetua Campground) right off FS 55.

If you follow 55 about 10 miles in, there are lots of established boondocking spots at around 4000 elevation. Additionally there are unmapped logging roads which can also be explored for camping.

Scenery is spectacular, lots of wildlife, deer, elk, coyote, and amazing old growth forests. No amenities of any kind, no cell service.

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.

I have camped here numerous times over the years. I love the dispersed camping. The sites are open, so good for solar, but do get windy.

I have camped at the quarry a few times with my friends that have a camp trailer. I have also camped in the pull outs.

My friends have found chanterelles in the woods, and fishing (last time I was there) has been great. It is great for fly fishing and for plunk and wait fishing.

It is dispersed so only a few areas have bathrooms, and not being a regular campground some neighbors can get rather rowdy. But, overall it is a definite favorite.

About 15 minutes off the 101, with the last 3 mi being unpaved gravel road (well groomed). Campsite is isolated and quiet. Some scattered trash in the area.

So much trash thrown off the sides at each camp spot. Why would anyone do that to such a beautiful place?? I don't get it.

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. :)

My husband and I decided we wanted to camp at the coast this weekend and every other camp site and state park was full, so we stumbled upon this place! It was easy to find following the directions on this site. Like other reviews mentioned, there are cars that drive by since it is a forest road, but we didn’t notice too much of a disturbance from them. It was pretty secluded. We stayed at the intersection campsite, and it was great! There was trash from previous campers, but we cleaned it up before we left!

I probably wouldn't do this if I had a trailer or an rv, but my toyota Corolla did just fine. The marked coordinates are a little overgrown, but there's a good tent spot a couple hundred feet beforehand. Pretty chilly evening, but it was definitely secluded and peaceful

Looks like there are 2 pull off spots here. One was taken by another camper, and I was grateful to snag the second one. Stayed here for 2 nights. It is off a gravel road, but it's not that busy. Pretty view and relatively secluded. Would stay again. The 2ish mile drive up the gravel road to get here was easy enough.

GPS: 44.512881, -123.984589

The directions/coordinates are for 10min outside pacific city. It is now a private entrance/driveway with no access to go through to the dispersed coordinates! And the locals said a lot of the forest is closed off due to logging in that area. Defiantly follow the rangers review about the devils churn/thors well spot. The directions from Dyrt was about an hour or so away from his instructions ! We weren’t able to find a spot and ended up leaving the area

entirely.

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.

Stayed here on a Sunday night in June, there’s two campsites. One at the fork in the road and one slightly further down. I stayed in the first with my camper Subaru. Only had maybe 4 cars pass from 6pm to 10pm. Tiny bit of trash around but as always leave it better than you found it!

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!

Bring it in Pack it out, be kind to others and take your trash. Nobody should pick up after messy campers who can camp FREE. Only thing you get is a Fire Ring and that shows where you can camp. But always follow the guide for the area about campfires. Such as August most times there are NO Camp Fires! Be prepare for fire danger, have axe, shovel and 5-gal of water, you will be the first to stop it and report it. No phone cell service about mile marker 12 can get a little signal. If you like to ruff it this is perfect area. Lots of forest roads to explore, and great hunting area too. A little bit of luck head to the stream and find some gold. BLM.gov Quartzville Recreation Corridor for more literature. Location is along the Quartzille Rd, pass mile marker 17.2 , for the next 12 miles feel free to camp along the stream.

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.