Whitcomb Creek remake, to double campground’s size, ‘coming right along’

Scott Swanson

Whitcomb Creek Campground, known for tall trees and lakeside access, isn’t one of the county campgrounds that will close down following Labor Day – because it was never open.

The 39-site, 328-acre park is getting a major overhaul, converting it into more than twice the occupancy it had.

“We expect it to have in the neighborhood of 90 sites,” County Parks Director Brian Carroll said last week. “I’m really pleased with the way it looks. It’s coming right along.”

He said he anticipates having the campground ready for users by Memorial Day weekend of 2017.

Local contractor Terry Watkins has excavated the hillside sites, and base and crushed rock for the project has come from Liberty and Wodtli quarries.

The road on the north side of the park was rocked and waiting for pavement by the end of last week, and Carroll said he expected to have the south loop, which Watkins has excavated but has not yet been rocked, ready to go soon.

Carroll said he hopes to get the campground roads and slips paved by early October. He noted that all of this will be happening “in concert” with the county Road Department’s $8 million improvement project on Quartzville Road. That effort will widen Quartzville Road to include paved shoulders, install pullouts with restrooms and visitor kiosks, and create an overflow parking area at Thistle Creek boat ramp. It also includes stabilization of five slide areas and painting and other work on Whitcomb Creek bridge, some of which was accomplished last year.

Carroll said that during the winter, tent pads, picnic tables and fire rings will be installed in Whitcomb Creek Campground and there are plans to drill a well.

The Whitcomb renovation is a result of the Corps of Engineers’ shutdown of roadside camping along Quartzville Road in 2014, he said.

“When the Corps of Engineers chose to close camping along Quartzville road, we looked at alternatives. Whitcomb was one of the more viable campgrounds.”

Original plans for the campground, drawn up in the 1960s and ’70s, actually included expansion options, he said.

“Our design is a little different than what they originally thought about, but we’re working on the same area.”

The Whitcomb project is being funded entirely from an Oregon Parks and Recreation Department County Opportunity Grant, which comes from recreational vehicle licensing fees.

“Basically, the people who pay license fees for campers, they’re paying the bill,” Carroll said. “No county General Fund money is involved.”

The current phase is the largest, but future improvements could include a restroom with flush toilets “if we get sufficient water and utilities,” he said. “This gets it open.”

The reason why Parks Department staff are not sure how many sites Whitcomb will have is because some sites are so large, county staff are considering turning them into doubles, Carroll said.

“Some are pretty good size. Part of the question, if we (divide them), is whether there will be room for us to get a couple of tables in there, whether there will be room to handle two groups.”

There’s no question that the views from many sites will be expansive, he said.

“They have some slope because that whole area has slope, but if you’re camping, there’s a good chance you may be looking out over the rest of the campground.

“It’s opened the area quite a bit. I think this will be a very cool campground.”

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