Nehalem Bay State Park

Sites are flat, paved, and lots of trees around. We had a herd of deer visit. There were lots of open sites. It looked like a lot with electric and water. Cell coverage was great. This made my other half extremely happy after 3 days with nothing at the last state park. They had what looked like 3 camp host couples who maintained the grounds well. The Dumpsite was easy and when busy they have two.

I stayed at this park a few different occasions in summer 2019. The area is really great with beautiful hikes, paddling and a sweet town. But the campground was absolutely packed to the gills with RVs of all sizes.

There are lovely walking paths through the pines and a beautiful bay where I got to paddle, although it was a bit windy which gave me a good workout. Walk over the dunes to the beach for sunset. Walk, bike or drive into Manzanita for yummy restaurants and bars (MacGregors Whiskey Bar!). Don't miss the farmers market which is a town party! Explore the area and go to all the small towns nearby, lots of paddling opportunities and long beaches. Tillamook is great although I went there for beer (YAY for de Garde) and not the dairy. :) Don't miss hidden gem Wolfmoon coffee and their amazing chocolate sourdough croissants!

Now for the rant: I feel like the sites were meant for tent campers or maybe vans but 95% of the spaces were filled with enormous 5th wheels, trailers and motorhomes. Each campsite also hosted at least 4 people. It's nice to see extended families enjoying themselves but not when you are mere inches away without RV walls to protect you. Seems like lots of these RVers like leaving external lights on their rigs on all night... Anyway, it was like camping in a cramped busy parking lot even though the campground is actually quite beautiful and most sites have some bushes and trees. Although it was noisy and busy everyone did seem incredibly nice! Plus there is a lot to do in the area so it wasn't like I was hanging around my site all day.

I met a super nice lady who told me the equestrian camp was really quiet and huge. She even offered to let me come share her spot there. So if you want a bit more space, bring your horses along LOL! :) Oh and I should add that the hike/bike campsites also looked really great. They have private lockers with outlets and even bike tools.

That was a lot of ranting simply to say that I love this campground other than the crowded RV situation in the summertime. Oregon State Parks are the best, and that's why they are so packed. I'll be back in the shoulder seasons.

We tend to avoid campgrounds in favor of dry camping. But some campgrounds are too special to miss, and this one leads the pack. The entire facility is incredibly well planned. Dump station is a breeze to access. Trails provide ample area for walking, running, or biking. But the beach is the biggest appeal here. Dogs are free to be dogs, as long as they're controlled. Don't miss a stroll through quaint Manzanita. A breathtakingly scenic drive 30 minutes south to Tillamook leads to the famous Tillamook factory, where a tour followed by grilled cheese sandwiches and fresh ice cream await. We'll be back anytime we're nearby.

We camped here in mid-July in the middle of the week, just as Oregon campgrounds were starting to open up again and people were anxious to have somewhere safe to travel. Some things were closed during our stay due to the Covid19, but it wasn't a problem for us. The campground was full every night, but it wasn't overly loud and the sites were fairly spacious for a campground. The checkin process was quick and easy at the ranger station as you enter the park (the dump station is there on the way out, too).

Our site was near the trail over the dunes to the Nehalem spit (beach), which was nice for quick access to the beach, but it also kept us protected from the Oregon Coast winds. We had a solid 3 bars of T-mobile LTE service, and we don't use a booster. We had really nice partial shade at our site, and while I was a little worried about the trees next to the site being a problem, but we cleared them just fine.

The water and electric hookups were in a convenient spot, the campsite and campground are well-maintained, and whole place had a really nice vibe. It is very close to Nehalem and Manzanita, which are both super-cute costal towns, and not too far from Rockaway and Tillamook (if you need an ice cream fix). It is a bit of a walk to to the garbage and recycling bins, which was a bummer for my bum knee at the time.

Well maintained clean park with very friendly campgrounds hosts. We arrived at our reserved spot to find our site had been overrun by some very greedy tent campers. They even took the picnic table. After speaking with the Ranger we were able to relocate to another loop. Had this been the busy season this would have been a big issue.
After settling into our new spot we had an awesome time. We loved the beach access and proximity to Seaside and Tillamook.
I would not recommend this park in the busy season. It would be like camping at an apartment parking lot.

We had a great site 2 over from the path to the beach. You walk up the sandy hill to the beach, beautiful view. When you leave the beach and go back up the hill it seems harder to walk back. We had Water & Electric, there is a dump station.
You can drive to the bay side in the park great for kayaking, and clamming. There is a boat ramp there too. This body of water has a river that runs from Crater Lake national Park to the Pacific ocean.

We kayaked and got out on a low tide, digging clams got our limit of purple varnish clams. Made excellent clam chowder. We rented a small boat from Wheeler Marina along with 3 crab traps, bait , a measuring device for Dungeness crab, and gas for $89.00 and got 8 big keeper Dungeness crabs which paid for the trip. You put a trap in put a little further, drop another then the 3rd. Within 15 minutes you have at leasts 30 crabs in your trap when you pull them up. Funny we crabbed right off the state park in the bay. They will cook them there for you, we had them cook 6, we picked the meat out & froze it in portions for later. Used some for my clam chowder. Jetty Fishery also rents boats & sells seafood.

Our site was nice & big, had great neighbors who have come every year from Washington for 15 years. This was a great campground and state park. They have camping for people with horses too. There's a little town close to the park with a nice little grocery store. The other direction is the Tillamook creamery. It was so packed we didn't stop in there. We ate at the Bunkhouse didn't care for it and the service was bad.