Umpqua Lighthouse State Park

We chose this campground based on location as we head down the coast. As we plan, we look for places that are not parking lots with rows of RVs. The sites in this campground are layed out very nicely so that you don't feel like you are in your neighbor's RV with them. It seemed like it anyway, we were the only people there aside from the hosts. It was very rainy (January after all), but the place is so serene that it was still a pleasure to take the dog out for a walk. I was surprised, but I got enough cell signal there to give me enough internet to research our next stops.

We would stop here again even in the peak season.

We stayed at Umpqua Lighthouse State Park during our off-season Oregon Coast tour in January 2017. We wanted to spend time near the Oregon Dunes and this place nicely fit the bill. If you're visiting the Dunes area of the Oregon Coast, you can't go wrong with Umpqua Lighthouse State Park.

There are other Oregon State Parks near the dunes, but because Umpqua Lighthouse was closer to the Smith River where I spent several days fly-fishing for Steelhead, it won out over Honeyman and Tugman. Also, after a few days of dry camping and electric-only sites, we wanted a full hook-up site.

We were pleasantly surprised by Umpqua Lighthouse State Park. We arrived without reservations and had no problem getting a full hook-up site. In fact, during our stay, the camp hosts outnumbered the campers most of the time!

The campground is located in your typical PNW coastal forest, amongst tall cedar spruce trees—our dog tracking pine needles into the rig got old pretty quick! All the sites were fairly private and had a nice outdoor area with picnic table and small fire ring. The full hook-up sites are all 30amp vice 50amp if this matters.

Overall the campground was clean and quiet. While you can’t see the dunes or see the ocean from your campsite, you can hear the waves crashing. There is a small lake behind the campground with a nice hiking trail that circumnavigates it. The Umpqua Lighthouse is also in the park and is worth going to see. We visited both during the day and again at night—night was better! There is a museum for the lighthouse, but we didn’t go in.

Almost all of the full hook-up sites were very large with room to spare after parking our 30’ trailer and truck. Additionally, most seem to be located close to the campground entrance, while the trash and bathhouse is located down the hill in the main loop area. The electric and water sites all appeared fairly large too. The bathhouse dated but clean. The showers were hot with ample water pressure.

The town of Reedsport isn’t anything to write home about. We went to dinner in Winchester Harbor one night (Fishpatrick’s Crabby Café) and it was good, but pricey for what we got. There are a couple of grocery stores in town (Safeway and some local chain) that were adequate. A few miles outside of town (on 38 along the Umpqua River) is a wildlife viewing area with a large herd of elk--worth the trip to see them. AT&T cell coverage was strong and reliable with 3 bars of unboosted LTE.