Kingfisher Campground

Kingfisher Campground is in the Mt. Hood National Forest about 35 miles from Estacada, Oregon. While it's primitive, I mean that as a compliment. I'm not sure much has changed in the past 50 years, and that's kind of nice! Restrooms are definitely of the old-school outhouse variety but they are kept clean. There are 23 sites, most are suitable for smaller RVs, campers, trailers and pop-up tent campers like ours. Fresh water is available from spigots. At least half the spots were unclaimed during a late June 2014 weekend. We arrived without reservations on a Friday afternoon and a number of river side spots were still available.

Kids (and adults) will have a great time safely exploring the river, wading up and down in the knee deep shallows of the Collawash, especially on a hot summer day. Cap off the day with s'more's at night by the campfire, and you've got the perfect old-school low-cost family vacay, in my opinion.

The more adventurous of us might enjoy a soak in the nearby Bagby Hot Springs, 5 miles up the road. After dinner, we walked in that general direction from the campground for 3 or 4 miles for a nice stretch of the legs. Only two cars drove by! On the down side, we had no cell phone reception at all (AT&T).