The Gales Creek Campground. Photo: Chas Hundley
The Oregon Department of Forestry has announced that all campgrounds in the Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests will have reopened by Memorial Day weekend, with the last few stragglers opening Thursday, May 27.
Joining campgrounds opened throughout the last few weeks are Brown’s Camp, Gales Creek Campground, Jones Creek, Nehalem Falls, and Reehers Camp (to both equestrian and non-equestrian users), all opening May 27.
Campgrounds in the Santiam State Forest remain closed, said ODF spokesperson Jason Cox in an email to this publication, due to damage from the 2020 wildfires and more recent windstorms.
Campsites and recreation areas in the Tillamook State Forest and elsewhere have faced extended closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry.
More information and locations for a variety of campgrounds, trails, trailheads, and other outdoor recreation facilities in the Tillamook State Forest can be found on the Oregon Department of Forestry’s website.
Campers can also check the agency’s list of recreation sites impacted by COVID-19-related closures before heading to a campground or recreation site.
A date for the reopening of the Tillamook Forest Center has yet to be released.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Gales Creek Journal and sister news publications the Banks Post and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
