NorCal & South Oregon camp suggestions

[Wire89]

My family and I are doing a road trip to Bend, OR starting on Aug. 31 and thought I'd reach out for everyone's favorite camp spots in a few locations we don't have planned yet. Low population dispersed options preferred, and for these one night stays one of the crew will need to overnight under 5000'. thx

Weed / Shasta: one night, view of Mt. Shasta would be awesome.
Bend: one night along/near Deschutes
Grant's Pass area: one night on our way to the Redwood parks
Humbolt Redwoods: perhaps no backcountry options here but still looking for suggestions.

[rionapo]

Literally pulling into a Reno hotel after leaving the northern CA coast this morning. First the negative: northern California and Oregon except the coasts are on fire. We drove CA20 today from 101 to I-5 to I-80 in dense smoke most of the way with flames on the hills above us on 20 at one point. Evacuations all over the place and houses burnt in Redding and CA299 to Arcata closed. We meet people who left Grants Pass cuz of smoke. Temps in the 100s in the Central Valley including Shasta.

So, we've been marooned there for a few weeks now. Crowded, expensive and beautiful. No boondocking for us as the mountain locations too hot. Coast temps in the 60s. We needed dog-friendly locations so we paid and avoided Redwoods Parks. (Did do some sightseeing, though.) However Arcata Community Forest works . Arcata-Eureka sweet with a great laundromat (Evergreen?) in Arcata next to the Natural History Museum. Big Lagoon County Park north of Trinidad is no reservations and has good showers. Also not on 101. Ruby Van Deventer County Park at Crescent City not as nice but also no reservations. We stopped by Tolcan CG near Shelter Cove. Also no res with a nice bike trail. Otherwise, boring including several days at Redwood RV Park in Arcata. Los Bagels is highly recomendad there. PortOPints in Crescent City. Sea lions there. I think you can boondock at St George (?) Point.

Can’t afford it any more so we’re making a mad dash for Utah high country. Reno also engulfed in smoke. You’ll enjoy the coastal alternative.

[dhally]

I like the upper Deschutes and high lakes. Little Lava Lake is good, or Cultus. But if you want dispersed maybe below Wickiup Reservoir.
SW of Grass Pants on 199 is Jeddediah Smith Campground. It isn't remote, but it has awesome swimming in the river. There are more swimming holes in that area as well.

[daveb]

Originally Posted by dhally

SW of Grass Pants on 199 is Jeddediah Smith Campground. It isn't remote, but it has awesome swimming in the river. There are more swimming holes in that area as well.

One of the best CG's I've ever been in.

[rob_gendreau]

Originally Posted by Wire89

Weed / Shasta: one night, view of Mt. Shasta would be awesome.
Bend: one night along/near Deschutes
Grant's Pass area: one night on our way to the Redwood parks
Humbolt Redwoods: perhaps no backcountry options here but still looking for suggestions.

Hope there won't be fires; spoiled my recent visit there.

Might try Castle Crags. Kinda close to the freeway, but nice sites, showers, and good hiking trails. We also like the campground near McCloud on the McCloud River; you can hike to two different falls (sorry; can't remember name but it's a USFS site).

Bend is crowded. For campgrounds I've stayed in La Pine State Park, which is nice, but there are miles of USFS roads up there you could try as well. I have wanted to stay out at Paulina Lakes, but always full. But a nice area.

There's Rogue River State Park astride I-5 if you just need a place to overnight not far from Grant's Pass; shower, nicely laid out. We stop there when bombing up or down the superslab. Not in any sense wild though.

In Humboldt we like Albee. A bit smaller than the main campgrounds, further from highway, and nice hiking nearby.