RV park fees can be lowered by buying a campground network membership and using state park perks.
By Jesse Ingram, F485755
May 2020
I think the Pacific Northwest’s beautiful coastline still beckons us RVing migrants westward. We pack boogie boards, beach umbrellas, and coolers and we use vehicles that have all the trappings. But, still, an Oregon Trail exists today in the form of U.S. Route 101, which runs north-south along the Pacific edge of the state.
Tucker, the author’s son, shows off his newly acquired standing skills at South Jetty Beach near Florence.
And while summertime does bring in many tourists, the coast is vast enough for you to find your own piece of perfection along open swaths of public beaches and nearby lands that wait for all to enjoy for free. All 362 miles of it.
If only the same were true for campgrounds and RV parks in this area. There are many Oregon coast RV parks to choose from, but competition necessitates planning. Especially those, like us, who travel in larger RVs.
You might say my wife, Jennifer, and I had our own Oregon migration back in 2013 when we, like those same wagon-train emigrants, headed west seeking a better life. After gaining experience in the military, I became a power plant operator, and for seven years worked at power facilities in Orlando, Florida. When I was offered a higher-paying job at the historic Bonneville Dam in Oregon, we didn’t hesitate for the chance to head west to better opportunities. Our Oregon Trail was a bit less difficult, but we did have an impressive convoy.
Our first RV was a home-built travel trailer. It consisted of lots of thick plywood and heavy things you don’t really want to tow. Coupled with that was the fact that our moving truck wasn’t designed to tow anything heavy. So, I welded a temporary hitch. Shhh, don’t tell!
We were a sight to see, me with a 26-foot moving truck pulling an 18-foot travel trailer, and Jennifer driving our pickup truck and towing a 1967 hot-rod Camaro. All with the excitement of Oregon and new adventures pulling us west like gravity.
Hobnobbing with sea lions.
For the next five years, we lived in Oregon and explored it. Here are just a handful of the amazing destinations we suggest you explore for yourself on the Oregon Coast, from north to south:
Astoria. Home to the impressive Columbia River Maritime Museum, this beautiful historic town is full of craft beer; fun shops; and great food, all alongside the Columbia River.
Seaside. A popular beach town, it’s known for surfing locals who do their best to intimidate outsiders from surfing the point. There is still good surf to be had, just closer to the sandy beach. Of course, I waited until no locals were around and paddled out to this world-class spot on a quiet weekday.
Cannon Beach. A quintessential Oregon beach town with restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts, breweries, and infamous Ecola State Park nearby (Twilight movies were filmed there).
Tillamook. Stinky dairy farmsand the Tillamook Cheese Factory tour. Yum!
Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area. Within a 1,000-foot radius, or so it seems, you can park on the beach, sip a beer from Pelican Brewing Company, and choose to surf, fish, paraglide, or slide down the state preserve’s massive sandhill, called Cape Kiwanda. We’ve visited numerous times, and the soaring pile is always being windblown in one direction or another, but it never seems to get smaller. Strange.
Memorable seaside moments.
Depoe Bay. Home to the world’s smallest navigable harbor, large crashing waves, and whales galore. Otter Rock/Devil’s Punchbowl State Natural Area is Oregon’s premier surf spot for beginners. It also offers low-tide adventures inside the naturally formed Devil’s Punchbowl. From atop the Devil’s Punchbowl overlook, spouting whales can be seen for miles.
Florence. Jetties and sand dunes aplenty here. Drive off-road on the dunes and beaches, while the Florence jetty provides perfect wind protection for watersports.
The problem with camping on the Oregon coast to see all of these spots (and more) is that it can be expensive. Example: Beverly Beach State Park is one of our absolute favorite places to stay, and like most of Oregon’s state parks, it’s not cheap. Current rates are around $34 per night. But when you find that nearby private RV park rates begin around $50 per night, $34 does sound a little better.
It might seem a long stay on the Oregon Coast is going to be very costly, and while it certainly can be, it doesn’t have to
be. In the summer of 2018, we discovered what we feel is a perfect way to visit the Oregon Coast, on the cheap. We didn’t spend a single night in a Walmart parking lot (the one in Newport, Oregon, doesn’t allow overnight stays anyway) and our cost came out to $8 per night. Not bad at all!
Watching for whales.
We achieved the $8 nightly rate through a combination of club memberships and Oregon veteran’s benefits. The veteran benefits won’t apply to everyone, but some options below will surely provide you with resources to make an Oregon Coast RV trip less expensive.
Step One: Join up!
There are many ways to spend money as an RVer. Services like travel insurance, roadside assistance, and clubs that offer discounts and social opportunities have likely filled your mailbox with the many choices available. A month after purchasing our motorhome, I was so sick from the piles of mail that I simply threw them all into the recycling bin, unopened. I didn’t know where to begin until a couple of years ago, during production of the movie RV Nomads. Many of our fellow RV nomads had years of experience and had already sorted the good from the bad. And so we learned. In fact, that’s how we became FMCA members. We joined FMCA, Fulltime Families, Escapees RV Club (and specifically the XScapers), Thousand Trails, and a few Facebook RV groups.
The beauty of coastal Oregon, and the many activities it offers, prompted the Ingrams to continually seek out new experiences, such as paddleboarding.
I’m not implying clubs not listed are inferior, but these groups met our personal full-time RV travel needs the best.
As far as finding low-cost over-night camping, Thousand Trails, a membership network of campgrounds, was a noteworthy revelation. At first glance, Thousand Trails’ restrictions on the use of campgrounds and their location zone structure turned me off. I would never have spent the time to understand it if it weren’t for FMCA members Marc and Julie Bennett of www.RVlove.com. Julie took time to enlighten me one afternoon in Buena Vista, Colorado, after we finished filming some of their footage for the movie.
While Thousand Trails offers higher-level membership plans (with higher costs), they also offer a lower introductory plan known as a Zone Pass. This involves paying for the use of member campgrounds within a certain geographical zone. There are restrictions for these lower-level memberships, but the disadvantages wouldn’t affect our travel plans much. We were limited to two weeks’ stay in an RV park at a time, versus three weeks for higher-level members. Two weeks in each of their locations suited us well, and we purchased our Zone Pass during one of their many sales for $480 a year. To learn more about Thousand Trails, visit www.thousandtrails.com or call (800) 205-0606.
Cave exploring.
The biggest restriction/problem with the Zone Pass for us was the requirement that after leaving one of their RV campgrounds, we couldn’t return to any others for seven days. We needed somewhere cheap to spend a week, but such things don’t exist in this area. Or do they?
Step Two: Use Oregon State Parks’Special Access Pass For Veterans
Every military veteran RVer should know about Oregon State Parks’ Special Access Pass. To be eligible, you must be a U.S. veteran with any level of service-connected disability, or you must be an active-duty U.S. military person on official leave. (Survivors of deceased veterans, spouses, and/or other family members of veterans are NOT qualified for this pass.) Oregon State Parks offers pass holders 10 nights (at a time) of free camping per calendar month.
Sadly, it isn’t uncommon for many veterans to return home with at least a small level of disability, but typically for a disabled veteran to receive benefits, a disability of at least 30 percent or 50 percent is often required. I applaud Oregon State Parks, as they have truly stepped up to support our veteran community, regardless of a veteran’s level of disability.
The Ingrams made a Thousand Trails campground membership part of their strategy to enjoy economical Oregon camping.
The Veteran Special Access Pass is valid for one campsite and anyone accompanying that veteran such as family or friends. It gets better, as pass holders are allowed 10 nights free every 30 days. We learned this isn’t 10 days free per calendar month, but 10 days per 30-day period. I’m guessing this is to prevent someone from using the last 10 days of one month, and the first 10 days of the next month, to create 20 consecutive nights for free.
I’m honestly very humbled to receive 10 nights, which equates to $340 in savings if we visit Beverly Beach State Park. What’s also great is that the Special Access Pass is valid for four years, so you don’t have to spend time renewing it every year. To learn more about this pass, visit https://oregonstateparks.org/index.cfm?do=v.page&id=19 or phone (800) 551-6949.
Step Three: Enjoy Coastal Oregon!
By now you’re probably putting two and two together. We used Thousand Trails parks located along the beach in Oregon. And Oregon State Parks has nearly a dozen beachside locations. We were able to stay at a Thousand Trails campground for two weeks, followed by seven free days at one of the many state parks on the coast. New location, repeat. And the average total we paid per night went down and down the more we did this.
Even though we lived in that state for five years, we never get tired of the beautiful Oregon coast.
Jesse and Tucker watch a paraglider at Cape Kiwanda.
LEARN MORE
Oregon Coast Visitors Association
P.O. Box 940
Tillamook OR 97141
(888) 628-2101
(541) 574-2679