Day 49 – Colder this morning, 48 degrees and foggy, 7:30 a.m. Very wet out & overcast when we left for some more exploring – this time heading west on 199 to French Hill Road (County Route 411) and straight up a mountain on an unpaved road. Our goals for the day had been to drive to the other campgrounds & dispersed camping areas off Highway 199 & west of Panther Flat, taking a long loop drive on County Routes 405 & 427, back to the 199.
Notes for us about today’s campground explorations follow below and a little later in today’s blog:
Dry Lake dispersed camping area, we followed French Hill Road (County Route 411), and it eventually turned into Big Flat Road (County Route 405). At that point there was a sign that the road was closed 22 miles ahead due to a washed-out bridge. We’d wanted to check out a specific dispersed camping area called Dry Lake, and all of Route 405 since dispersed camping was allowed anywhere along it. Since this whole part of the drive was at least 30 miles of unpaved roads, we turned around and went back to Highway 199. For now, until we can check this out further, NO for camping.
Once back on Highway 199, we drove west, then south, on South Fork Road (County Route 427), a nice, paved road running along guess-what, the south fork of the Smith River. We stopped at Sand Camp, a dispersed camping area which was really nothing but a gravel parking lot by the road with a public restroom. There were some interesting roads near there but they were closed. (We’d been told at the ranger’s station that many of the inner roads had been closed to help combat the Port Orford Cedar Root Disease caused by a non-native pathogen. They’re trying to contain the problem by keeping people & vehicles out during the rainy season when the pathogen spreads most easily.)
Sand Camp dispersed camping area, South Fork Road (CR 427) to milepost 7.3. Right by the road was a parking area with a set of restrooms. It was a decent-sized parking lot; I assume someone could park an RV there if they wanted to and camp – there were no signs saying otherwise. NO.
We then continued on the 427 south to County Route 15 (the Gasquet-Orleans “GO” Road), taking that road to see where it led. Very nice paved drive. When we saw this road went on many more miles, we turned around & travelled back to Route 427, continuing on to Route 405 (Big Flat Road). Just beyond that junction on County Route 405, we checked out the NRA campground, Big Flat, then we went back to Route 427 and headed north to Highway 199, the way we originally came.
Big Flat NRA Campground, this campground was closed for the season, unfortunately, but we parked and walked the entire thing. It was not very big but the campsites were each quite large & most were private. Sites were reservable; we liked Site #5 – large, private, on the creek. No hook-ups & no water; no dump station. Off the main road, most likely quiet. The literature says, “it’s a quiet, semi-shaded campground bordered by Hurdygurdy Creek – the perfect place to go to get away from it all. Several nice South Fork Smith River access points are within ½ mile”. Directions: south on South Fork Road (County Road 427), stay left past the second bridge and continue on South Fork Road to milepost 14.1; turn left on CR 405 for .2 miles and left again on 15N59 (the campground entrance road). YES, YES, YES.
North Fork NRA Campground, this is the last of the five Smith River NRA campgrounds & it’s the most rural, not accessible with a low-ground-clearance vehicle. We did not make the drive in the Honda but we will next time we’re in the area. It’s open all year but not advised for trailers. Since we have an RV, not a trailer, and the campsites are large, we should check it out just in case the drive is possible with the RV. The campground is remote and is a popular place to stay for river rafters. It’s north, near the Oregon border, and it’s probably quite nice. To get there from Oregon, heading south on Highway 101, at the town of Smith River (but before crossing the River) take Rowdy Creek Road (County Route 308) east to County Route 305 north & east until you reach the campground. It is on the North Fork of the Smith River. NO for camping, for now.
Other Notes: Although dispersed camping is allowed on most of these roads, who wants to just pull off and park by the road. We don’t. We want to be off road. So even though there was free camping, not many of these roads were navigable in an RV other than a small turn-out here and there on the larger paved roads like CR 427. No thanks. Also, Madrona River Access dispersed camping area had a 7-day limit to stays (I forgot to put that in yesterday’s post).
Before getting on the 199, we stopped at Jedediah State Park to ask about their dumping policy, but the campground office was closed since it was a Sunday. We’ll need to find a place to dump when our tanks fill up. This will be a test as to how long we can go without dumping. Our record thus far has been 5 days, but we haven’t really pushed it. Finally, we then headed east to our campsite at Panther Flat. We didn’t take any pictures; the sun didn’t come out all day; it was foggy and wet out. We quickly found it was a bit too cold to sit out in the screened tent. The high today was 54 degrees & as soon as the sun went down, it got colder quickly. End of Week 7, Trip #3.