Best Dispersed Camping near Portland, OR

This area of Gifford Pinchot National Forest has lots of dispersed camping spots but this area was a gem. To access it, as you are driving on NF 65 you will see a small road to the right just a bit before you see the parking for Panther Creek Falls also on the right. If you are at the parking area for Panther Creek Falls and look up you will see a huge wall of rock…the area is up there and you need to turn on the road before the parking area to access it. There are actually 3 areas where you could camp: As you drive up the small road, you will notice the first, pretty large area for camping straight ahead. It looks like a road continues up toward the right but that is actually blocked. If you go to the left you will see the road continues (and you might not think there is anything up there) and you will see one more spot straight ahead and then if you continue up toward the right (hitting some branches along the way) you will come up to a large, wide open area with tons of space for camping. We were pretty excited when we saw it!

We spent one night in that huge open area and it was beautiful - the stars were amazing. During the day we would go peek over the edge and could see people parking to go to the falls. You could hear a tiny bit of road noise from up there but it was very light. You can also hear the noise of the waterfall from up on the ridge. The only downfall about this spot is that there is no shade and it was very hot, so hot that we couldn't have a fire. The second night we spent in the spot just down a tad so that we could have some shade and a fire.

The hike down to Panther Creek Falls is literally right across the road and I think these falls may be the most beautiful falls I've seen in OR or WA. It's a short mile or so hike but really pretty scenery.

This dispersed camping is free, huge bonus in my book. While searching for our perfect spot we did come across a few large parties, making us apprehensive that we would experience our ideal peaceful experience, but we were wrong to be. There were dozens of open sites that we had our pick of. A handful of cars drove by throughout the evening and night, but not an outrageous amount. Pretty dang good for very accessible NF camping spots. There are a good deal of trailheads near by, meaning you're never too far from a pit toilet or a bulletin board with information.

We visited in early September and found the weather to be very pleasant. Our view of Mt. St Helen's was obscured by the tall trees that offered our site seclusion and privacy, but we relished the view of the active volcano while driving to and from our site.

Dispersed camping at McNeil point is a backpackers dream — you get to hike far into the clouds, far away from the people, yet this location is nearly as convenient as car camping. 

While McNeil point is a popular hike, most people visiting are day hikers, or backpackers taking a few days for circumnavigating the Timberline trail. Since we only had one day, we left Portland at 2 pm on a summer Friday, hiked in the four miles most of the way to McNeil, pitched the tent in time for dinner and sunset, then got up early and summited McNeil far before the summer crowds from town had time to make it to the trail head. 

There are quite a few dispersed, designated spots to camp. The most obvious ones are those along the Timberline trail—and they are also likely the busiest. There are also obvious sites well up near the McNeil summit. These aren't as busy, but you'll have to haul your packs up the whole way.  We chose a site that we found in a clearing that had a good view of the mountain. Note - You cannot camp in most of the meadows around the lakes. There are signs that designate this.

When we hiked up to the McNeil summit in the morning, we only took our day packs, and left our big packs in our tents. After summiting we hiked back down, cooked lunch at the campsite, and then packed out.  It's definitely a recommended trip if you have a short time, but still want to feel like you got far, far away.