What other campground has a bat trail? There are private feeling hiking trails around the large park. The campground area is a standard State Park area, mostly private sites tucked into the trees. The small number of campsites does not prepare you for the sheer volume of day use users. Fortunately the camping area is away from the high use river rafting area. It is also far from the extensive pair of disc golf courses. That's right, two competition quality disc golf courses. Not into disc golf or rafting? Then you probably won't see those folks at all.

Barview Jetty is a large campground with a little something for most everyone. Close to the tide pools in Barview, right on the beach, on the entrance to Tillamook Bay. Large clean bathrooms with several hot showers. Some campsites are tucked away into the trees next to a large dune. No highway noise, even though 101 goes right past. Most campsites are right next to each other, but in the off season you can find a quiet corner to yourself. If you get up before the crowds, you will most likely see the large elk browsing on the grassy areas.

While other cabins overlook the reservoir, the dog friendly one is perched uphill by the park entrance. There is still a view from the front porch of the reservoir, and the side window looks out on the hillside where the deer amble on down to the water from. The medium sized campground spills down the hill to the reason everyone goes there, the reservoir. The campground was nearly empty after spring break, yet had many day visitors to the boat ramp and fishing platform. The wind made fishing from the dock cold and uncomfortable, moving to the shore right beside it fixed that issue. The vault toilets in the fishing and boating areas were large and spotlessly clean.

For a small campground the deluxe yurts were huge. Much larger than the rustic yurts available in other Oregon State parks, the deluxe yurt had acres of space. The kitchen had an almost full sized fridge, a microwave, and a sink. The shower in the bathroom was not as nice as in the deluxe cabins elsewhere, but there was plenty of towel bars to dry all of your gear on. The small heater had a hard time heating all of the space. The large skylight had lovely star viewing when the clouds cleared. Since it was the middle of the week in February there was no noise from the surrounding ATV area, indeed, no ATVs around at all. The trail around tiny Lake Marie was well drained and not soggy, with several connections to the campground. Our yurt had views of the other yurts, try 19 for a view of the lake yet still dog friendly. The front porch did not offer any shelter from the rain.

Fort Stevens is arguably the busiest campground in Oregon. If you go in the middle of the week in January you pretty much have the place to yourself. The deluxe cabins are the place to be in the middle of a windstorm, with four heaters to keep you warm, and a large dry front porch to take your boots off on. Our cabin faced the trees, so it was like a private cabin in the woods near the beach. The fridge was almost full sized, and easily held our meals for the week. Bring lots of pillows and cuddly bedding and snuggle down after a long day of beach combing and storm watching.