Scott Swanson
East Linn County’s camping season kick-off over the Memorial Day weekend wasn’t a record-breaker, but “overall, I think things went pretty well,” said Brian Carroll, Linn County parks director.
Memorial Day used to be one of the three big camping weekends, along with Labor Day and Independence Day. But these days it lags behind Sportsman’s Holiday and the Oregon Jamboree, he said.
“Attendance was pretty good,” Carroll said. “We’ve had busier Memorial Days.”
But, he said, the forecast was poor.
There were a few hiccups where things didn’t go as well as staff would have liked, he said. Parks workers had to handle a pump that went down at Longbow, the kind of situation where a piece of equipment sits stored over the winter and they find out it’s not working right when it comes back out for the camping season.
This summer, Carroll expects the parks to be busy, he said. June is picking up as campers make reservations. July and August are the busiest months, and the weekends are already booked pretty solidly.
Reservations pick up after school finishes, he said, so now is a good time to make reservations.
“We’re optimistic for a good year,” Carroll said.
He noted that there have been some changes and improvements made during the off-season.
Edgewater RV Park and Marina
“It was an unexpected opportunity to purchase Edgewater earlier this year,” Carroll said. “The park and marina, both built during the past five years, became available and if someone else had been interested, the county would have stepped aside and let them take it.
“But we believe Edgewater, the only full-service RV park and marina on Foster Lake, is a valuable recreation and tourism asset to Linn County. We want to make sure it stays open.”
Depending on demand and need, he said, the department would like to expand the marina beyond the current 40 slips if there’s demand to do so. This park is more developed than the county’s other facilities, with amenities including water, electric, sewer, TV, wi-fi.
“Also, being closer to town and with the tie to the marina, there is convenience of getting to places to eat and shop and getting to your boat,” Carroll said. “You’re right out on the body of the lake. You can get up in the morning, walk over to the marina and go right out onto the lake instead of being up on one of the side arms where you have to go through a no-wake zone or weave your way through traffic.”
River Bend Campground
A third cabin has been added at River Bend, along with a staircase that provides access to the South Santiam River from the west end of the campground. Now people in the west campground loops and cabin area will have an access point to the river off the main loop trail.
Clear Lake – The duplex structure, Cabins 17 and 18, which is one of the modern structures there at the resort, has been remodeled. The cabins have new exterior siding, better insulation, sheetrock instead of paneling and bathrooms with new tile.
“It’s a general upgrade and the cabins look great,” Carroll said.
Quartzville, Green Peter – Engineering and survey work is in progress to expand Whitcomb Creek Campground and build a group camp area along Trout Creek, off Quartzville Road.
“We’re not sure we’ll be able to have it open by next year, but we do have a grant from the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department to do that planning for those campgrounds,” Carroll said.
“We are certainly concerned about the loss of dispersed camping up along Quartzville Drive. Closing the area to dispersed camping was a difficult decision for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but we are working with the Corps to develop camping facilities as soon as possible to offer an alternative. We recognize that the roadside camping is an experience we can’t necessarily replace, but we’ll do our best to make sure an alternative is available.”
Visitors to the area will also see some improvements along Quartzville Road. County Engineer Chuck Knoll has procured a $7.8 million federal grant for the county Road Department to improve Quartzville Road and Whitcomb Creek Bridge. The money from the Western Federal Lands Highway Division will pay for new paint and sealant for the Whitcomb Creek Bridge; parking area improvements at Sunnyside Campground, Green Peter Dam and Thistle Creek boat ramp; widening and stabilizing of Quartzville Road, and adding bike lanes along the road.
Willamette National Forest parks
The county started taking group reservations for Fernview and Lost Prairie campgrounds last year, in addition to Longbow Organization Campground, which has long been a group rental facility. One small hurdle for those interested in Fernview is that the well at the campground has failed, Carroll said, but people can still rent it as a dry camp. The county plans to accept reservations for Yukwah Campground for the first time in 2015.
Waterloo Campground
One of the county’s oldest campgrounds is getting an improved disc golf course as local players have donated time to upgrade the facility. They are putting in new concrete tee pads and they’re working on new signage as well.
“The Waterloo course is a challenging one, so we expect these improvements to make it more fun to play,” Carroll said.
Staff Writer Sean C. Morgan contributed to this article.