Alsea Falls Recreation Site

Alsea Falls is still one of my favorite spots. It's relatively close to home and the trails and falls always offer something unique and extremely beautiful, no matter what time of year you go. That said, until my last trip, I loved camping here. Again, it was a close enough drive for an overnight break. I was there a week or so ago and found that they put gravel down on all camp sites. This is fine if you have an RV but if you're like myself and tent camp, it's certainly not comfortable or practical. There are one or two sites that offer grassy areas where you can pitch a tent but if you go during the weekend or during the summer months where there's more traffic and the site gets busy, you're more than likely out of luck. So, it's still a favorite day trip. But leave your tent at home.

Very peaceful BLM campground in the woods. My site was spacious and private with great separation from the adjacent group sites and a short private path to creek. All the parking is out of level and I needed 6 inches to level out. My site was one of the most level. Only site 4 has enough sun for your solar charging. Your camp fee goes right back into the campground and they're renovating some sites which seems to involve putting corrals around them. No apparent efforts to level the parking. My 30 ft motorhome would fit in a few sites but I wouldn't bring in anything bigger without scouting it first.
There is fresh drinking water from randomly spaced water thief spigots with spring paddle valves and it seems to be of good quality. There are pit toilets which appeared to be fairly new and clean. The sites were all clean with no trash or toilet paper around. There is no dump station.
My first night was extremely peaceful and quiet with the creek more like a babbling brook comforting me to sleep. On Thursday people started coming in and taking sites for the weekend then going home, which is forbidden but it generates revenue for the BLM in an otherwise empty campground. By noon Friday the campground was full with people driving through continuously looking for a site. Every site had at least 2 cars and many with multiple tents. The group sites on either side of me were full. All campers were respectful and quiet enough. The sounds of screaming children in the creek was actually somewhat delightful.
By noon Sunday the campground was empty again.
Trails from the campground include a 2.5 mile loop trail through the forest up the side of the mountain, a half mile trail to Alsea falls which is not spectacular but nice with low flow, another mile past Alsea is Green Peak Falls which is twice as tall and nice without much water flowing. All trails are fairly easy with some steep areas. Across the road from the picnic area is Fall Creek Trailhead which I only noticed on my way out.
The only signs of wildlife were a squirrel, a couple slugs, biting horseflies, and I think I heard an owl my first night.
2 bars boosted of Verizon Wireless was unusable.