Beaver Campground
Site 18
8.16.19 - 8.18.19
No cell service, no internet

Beaver Campground is about 1.5 hours from our house and a really pleasant drive down Highway 14 which is one of our favorite scenic drives along the gorge towards Stevenson. The campground itself was just so-so. The trees are all deciduous with very few evergreens so I would assume its really beautiful in the fall. Its mostly all [Maple](https://oregonstate.edu/trees/broadleaf_genera/maple.htm and Sycamore trees which had such a different feel than what we’re used to in the evergreen forests. Its not really my preference, I was less charmed than usual.

The campsite was also just ok. It was fairly spacious but there wasn’t that much privacy. The dividing brush wasn’t very dense and you could hear everyone at every other campsite. There are a couple sites off a small cul de sac that seemed a little more private and secluded, we think site 16 is probably the best though it seems unlikely we would book this campground again.

The only attached trail is a short river side walk, its dry and not that interesting and ends at the forest road. This stretch of the [Wind River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_River_(Washington) was very clear but incredibly shallow. There were some kids swimming but only got about knee deep.

The campground is (hosted by HooDoo Management and they provided a really great display table full of maps and brochures of nearby recreation, hiking, and fishing spots. It looks like there’s a ton of great trails to explore a short drive from the campsite but we didn’t venture out. They also have a lot of games, recreation activities, and a horse shoe pit for family entertainment onsite. But we just played a whole day’s worth of Monopoly Deal with our good friend who joined us for this trip. We had a blast on our own, but I don’t credit this to the campground.

Pros:

• Close to home
• Bathrooms were very spacious, clean, odorless, and had hand sanitizer!
• Possible Stevenson windsurfing pairing trip
• Mark has perfected his tautline hitch!

Cons:

• The extra vehicle parking was $10 and firewood onsite sold for $7, both of which are quite expensive
• No good sites, no bad sites - I guess this is a wash
• Not ideal scenery, very dry, likely no mushrooms