Spring campsites open Friday in the Tillamook State Forest
The Gales Creek Campground and Reehers Camp are among several Tillamook State Forest campgrounds that will open for the season Friday, May 16.
The Gales Creek Campground and Reehers Camp are among several Tillamook State Forest campgrounds that will open for the season Friday, May 16.
Dana Turner, Assistant Camp Manager at South Fork Forest Camp for the Oregon Department of Forestry said that much of the work to prepare campsites in the Tillamook State Forest for opening was performed by men incarcerated at South Fork Forest Camp.
"We have crews out there right now," Turner said in an interview conducted Wednesday, May 14 at the minimum-security work camp located near Highway 6 in the heart of the Tillamook Forest.
Turner said work crews have been laboring for the past two weeks to prepare campsites by clearing debris, landscaping, and stocking host sheds with firewood, among other tasks.
Signage, fire grates, and trails in the forest are also often the result of the work of South Fork crews.
Featuring 16 vehicle sites and 3 walk-in tent sites, the Gales Creek Campground is one of the Tillamook State Forest's most accessible campgrounds on the Washington County side of the forest and is frequently full.
The site is home to a day use area one of several trailheads for the Gales Creek Trail.
Overnight fee: $20 vehicle sites, $15 walk-in tent sites, $5 extra vehicle
Reehers Camp, located just west of Timber on Cochran Road will also open Friday. The site requires a reservation.
The camp, popular among equestrians and hikers, is at the northern end of the Gales Creek Trail. It features 10 equestrian sites with corrals and seven non-equestrian vehicle sites.
Overnight fee: $20 vehicle sites, $5 extra vehicle.
Also opening May 16 are the Jones Creek Campground, Nehalem Falls Campground & Day-use Area, Morrison Eddy Campground, and the horse camp portions of Stagecoach Horse Camp.
