Brookhollow RV Park

We stayed at Brookhollow RV Park in Kelso, Washington. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A convenient stop.

Dates:

Check in: 2022-08-21
Check out: 2022-08-24
3 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny
High temps ranging between 81-85°F, lows around 59-63°F
A little wind

Noise:

No road noise or train noise
No neighbor noise

Site:

#13, pull through, cement
Needed to disconnect toad; parked across road from coach
Level
Small site: about 50 feet long by about 35 feet wide
Full hookups:

50 amp power conveniently located
60 PSI water pressure; conveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10 foot hoses used)

Picnic table on cement, no fire pit
One shade tree between each site

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 36-54 Mbps down, 3-6 Mbps up, 75 ms ping
Verizon: 30-60 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
AT&T: offline (we need a new SIM card)
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Dumpsters
No pool

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Convenient Stop on I-5

We stayed here for a few nights while we had business in the area. It was quick and easy access to I-5, which was convenient. Looks to be mostly permanent residents, but the park is clean and tidy. A bit spendy for what it is, however. We camped at Brookhollow RV Park in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

RV park map

Our site:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

We needed to park our truck across the road from our site:

Truck parking

Paladin in our doorway:

Paladin in doorway

Our site from the dike opposite:

Our site

Entrance sign:

Entrance sign

Other RVs:

Other RVs

Our site

Other RVs

Next to the RV park is the Brookhollow 55+ mobile home park:

Brookhollow mobile home park

Concrete / Grandy Creek KOA Holiday Thousand Trails

We stayed at Concrete / Grandy Creek KOA Holiday in Concrete, Washington. (Campground Reviews listing.)

An interesting hybrid park; about half of it has Thousand Trails sites, about half KOA sites. We stayed in a Thousand Trails site, so free for us. No sewer, and only 30 amp, but that’s fine for less than a week.

Dates:

Check in: 2022-08-16
Check out: 2022-08-21
5 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny
High temps ranging between 77-91°F, lows around 59-63°F
No significant wind

Noise:

No road noise or train noise
A little neighbor noise (kids and dogs), especially at the weekend

Site:

#23, back in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach (on gravel)
Not very level, sloped up at the back
Smallish site: about 55 feet long by about 30 feet wide
Partial hookups:

Only 30 amp power; conveniently located
45 PSI water pressure (we boosted from our tank); fairly conveniently located
No sewer connection

Picnic table, fire pit on gravel
Several trees for privacy

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 40-65 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
Verizon: 13-28 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
AT&T: offline (we need a new SIM card)
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Pool; hot tub unavailable

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Close to North Cascades National Park

We stayed at this park with our Thousand Trails membership. It’s also a KOA, and each site is marked with a green or yellow utility box depending on which “side” you’re on. There are very few 50A full hookup sites allocated for Thousand Trails, and most of them seem to be taken by seasonals, so we were stuck with a 30A site that didn’t have a sewer connection. Most of the sites seem to be electric/water-only. It was in the 90s while we were there, but luckily, we’d recently had SoftStartRV units installed on two of our ACs, so we were able to have them running even with the 30A connection. Between the narrow roads and the large trees jutting out into the roads, it was a little difficult driving and parking our 40′ motorhome. Once we got settled, the trees were nice cover from the heat of the day. They seem to be having severe staffing issues as the camp store was closed the whole time we were there.

On top of not having a sewer connection, the one and only dump station was out of commission for our entire stay. They finally opened up a sewer site (back in) for folks to dump, but what a hassle that would be. We waited until we left and made use of the excellent facilities provided at the next rest area on I-5. We camped at Concrete / Grandy Creek KOA Holiday in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

Map

Our site:

Our site

The site was sloped up at the back, so the front was fairly high with the coach leveled. So I used the accessory step:

Step

An interesting tree on our site:

Interesting tree

The utilities — 30 amp power, 45 PSI water, and no sewer (at Thousand Trails campgrounds it’s fairly common to clip the check-out date to the power pedestal):

Utilities

To help the jacks get level, I added some plastic leveling blocks. The first time I’ve tried them with our coach. They are supposed to be rated to 40,000 pounds, but I’m not convinced:

Jacks

Somewhat crushed:

Jacks

The jack pads as we prepared to leave; sometime I’ll try again with a flat topper, to see if that helps:

Jack pads

After visiting North Cascades National Park (see a future post), I added the sticker for it to our slide:

David adding sticker

Our National Park stickers for the parks we’ve visited so far:

National Park stickers

The entrance:

Our destination

Entrance ranger station:

Our destination

Welcome:

Welcome

Cabins:

Cabins

Dog park:

Dog park

Laundry:

Laundry

Big jump pad for kiddies:

Jump pad

Playground:

Playground

Big board

Hot tub closed:

Hot tub closed

Swimming pool:

Swimming pool

Mini golf:

Mini golf

Grandy Creek:

Grandy Creek

Group campsite:

Group campsite

Maintenance barn:

Maintenance barn

The dump station was closed due to a pipe leak:

Dump station closed

Other RV sites:

Other RV sites

Travel from Eatonville to Shelton, Washington

We drove our coach 84 miles, about 2.5 hours of driving, from Eatonville, Washington to Mom’s place near Shelton, Washington.

The map route, heading northwest (exact destination omitted for privacy):

Map route

Jenn driving our coach:

Jenn driving our coach

Paladin:

Paladin

Windy road:

Windy road

We turn around our knife block to prevent it from falling over while driving… but forgot this time, oops:

Knife block fell over

I picked it up while we were driving down the road; Paladin watching me, plus the GPS on the TV:

Paladin

A water tower:

Water tower

Not a huge fan of tight roundabouts in our coach:

Roundabout

Entering I-5:

Entering I-5

Paladin on the dash; unusual when driving:

Paladin

Shelton exit:

Shelton exit

Shelton sign:

Shelton sign

Not a huge fan of this narrow bridge in Shelton, either:

Shelton bridge

Paladin on my lap:

Paladin

Not a huge fan of the narrow roads near the destination, too:

Narrow road

But happy to arrive at Mom’s place. Here’s our coach and truck in their driveway:

Coach and truck at Mom's place

Slides in:

Coach and truck at Mom's place

Slides out:

Coach and truck at Mom's place

While “moochdocking” at Mom’s place, we hooked up the coach to an electrical outlet in the house. Our coach has a 50 amp cord, so we used an adapter to convert the 15 amp house plug to a 30 amp connector, and another to our 50 amp cord:

15 amp to 50 amp connectors

Not enough power to run ACs, but it keeps the fridge going, plus lights and such.

Me in the backyard:

David in backyard

We spent a week at Mom’s place, sleeping in our coach to keep Paladin company, showering and hanging out in the house during the day. It was great to spend time with Mom and Mike. Thanks for putting up with us!

Alder Lake Park Rocky Point Campground

We stayed at Alder Lake Park Rocky Point Campground in Eatonville, Washington. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A delightful lakeside view.

Dates:

Check in: 2022-08-07
Check out: 2022-08-09
2 nights

Weather:

Sunny
High temps 90°F, lows at 58°F
No significant wind

Noise:

Next to a highway, so a bunch of road noise; no train noise
No significant neighbor noise

Site:

#423, pull through, asphalt
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
Not very level, sloped down from the driver side
Smallish site: about 60 feet long by about 25 feet wide
Partial hookups:

50 amp power conveniently located
55 PSI water pressure; conveniently located
No sewer

Picnic table, fire pit on gravel
Several trees on the driver side for privacy

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 55 Mbps down, 22 Mbps up, 55 ms ping
AT&T: 1 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 682 ms ping
Verizon: 8 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage bin

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Lovely view of the lake and close to Mt Rainier

We stayed at the Rocky Point campground in site 423 and had the best view of the lake from our site. However, getting to the site was a little gnarly with our 40′ motorhome, as the road inside the park is very winding and narrow with many overhanging trees. The site was one of the few pull-throughs in the campground and just long enough for our motorhome and tow vehicle. There wasn’t a camp host on duty, but it was pretty easy to just go to our site and get settled. A ranger came by while we were at Mt. Rainier the next day and left our check-in paperwork under our wiper. There’s easy access to the day use area next door, so it was nice to cool off on a warm afternoon. The only limiting factor to this campground is the lack of a sewer connection at each site; otherwise, we would have happily stayed for much longer than two nights. We camped at Alder Lake Park in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

Map sign

A delightful lake view from our site:

Lake view

Our site

Our site:

Our site

Only electric and water hookups:

Utilities

Not a sewer dump:

Not a sewer dump

Lake view:

Lake view

Dinner with a view:

Dinner with a view

View from our site:

View from our site

Moon:

Moon

Moon and lake

Another night:

Moon and lake

Aerial views:

Aerial view

Day use area:

Aerial view

Entrance:

Entrance

Campground full:

Campground full

The road in the campground was a bit tight for our coach:

Narrow road

Tiny trailer and tent:

Tiny trailer and tent

Gate to the day use area:

Gate to day use area

Day use area:

Day use area

Cooling feet

Lake

Mt Hood Village RV & Camping Resort

We stayed at Mt Hood RV & Camping Resort in Welches, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice Thousand Trails Encore park.

Dates:

Check in: 2022-07-25
Check out: 2022-08-07
13 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny
High temps ranging between 77-98°F, lows around 54-67°F
No significant wind

Noise:

No road noise or train noise
Not much neighbor noise (kids and dogs)

Site:

Vine Maple Hollow #78, back in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach (on gravel)
Fairly level, sloped up a little at the back
Medium site: about 60 feet long by about 30 feet wide
Full hookups:

50 amp power conveniently located
50 PSI water pressure (we boosted from our tank); fairly conveniently located
Reasonable sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10 foot hoses used)

Picnic table, fire pit on gravel
Several trees for privacy

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 53 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, 72 ms ping
AT&T: 6 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 27 ms ping
Verizon: 8 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
T-Mobile: no service
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Indoor pool
Onsite restaurant

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice campground close to Mt Hood

This park has a nice mix of sites close to all sorts of outdoor activities in the area. We were grateful to be under the tall trees during the worst of the heat even if it meant the Starlink was pretty useless. There are newer sites that have no trees, but they were baking in the sun. You really need to weigh your priorities when making your site reservation. The roads are a bit narrow in spots, and they have a few trees that need to be trimmed, but overall we had no trouble getting our 40′ motorhome around to our site. We really enjoyed the on-site restaurant. Their breakfasts are awesome. We camped at Mt Hood Village RV Resort in a Motorhome.

The RV park map; it a large park, with multiple campgrounds within it, separated into short-term and long-term RVs, plus cabins:

Map

An embedded map (that you can zoom and pan around):

Weather:

Weather

Our site:

Our site

Our bikes:

Bikes

The screen tent:

Screen tent

We moved the picnic table out of the way, since we have our own in the tent:

Screen tent

A big rock on the neighboring site:

Big rock

Utilities:

Utilities

I got out my ladder to access the roof; I attached knee pads to it to protect the edge of the roof:

Ladder

The main reason for the ladder was to remove a branch that I’d noticed was wedged up there:

Branch

I also took some pics of the roof, since this was the first time I’ve used the ladder to access it (and I’ve still never been on the roof):

Roof

We took Paladin out into the screen tent:

Paladin

David and Paladin

Paladin

Some aerial photos from my drone:

Aerial

Campground

Roof

The village has a restaurant and store:

Restaurant and store

Village store:

Village store

Dragonfly Cafe and Bakery:

Dragonfly Cafe and Bakery

Breakfast:

Breakfast

Dinner:

Dinner

Plus a game room:

Game room

And indoor pool:

Indoor pool

We were in the Vine Maple Hollow campground (a bit harsh to call the children slow):

Vine Maple Hollow

Campsites

Our neighbor had a catio:

Campsites

Another catio:

Catio

Some campgrounds were a bit more exposed:

Campsites

Monthly sites available:

Monthly sites

Campsites

More campsites:

Campsites

Tiny homes and cabins:

Tiny homes

A nice park. We’ll likely be back here again in the future.

CLAM screen tent

Another useful addition to our campsites: we purchased a 9×9 CLAM pop-up screen tent, to provide shade and/or protection from bugs.

It’s pretty compact folded up in its bag:

Bag

It pops up quickly by pulling tabs in the center of each wall:

Popping up

Popped up, with wind and sun panels attached, and tie-down ropes attached, sitting on a new outdoor mat:

Popped up

With our chairs and small table inside:

With our chairs

Chairs and table

We also got a combo light and fan that can hang from the ceiling, or sit on the table:

Light and fan

On our site:

On our site

We brought Paladin outside in his harness and leash; only the second time he’s been outside, so he was a bit unsure about it:

Paladin

Jenn and Paladin

Paladin

Eating dinner in the tent:

Dinner

Propane fire pit

Back in November last year we purchased a portable propane fire pit, which we carried around in the back of our truck for several months without using it, for various reasons — mostly because we tend to go inside in evenings (remember that we’re not on vacation, but living our life on the road), and when we do sit outside, it’s usually too warm to need a fire.

But having enjoyed the wood fire in Bend, we finally got around to using our fire pit at Stub Stewart:

Here it is, with the cover on, looking a bit dusty:

Propane fire pit

Connected to the propane cylinder:

Propane fire pit

Let there be light!

Propane fire pit

A GIF of it on high:

Propane fire pit

And a GIF of it on low, with me working on my laptop next to the fire:

Propane fire pit

Another GIF, while watching YouTube videos on another day:

GIF

LL Stub Stewart State Park, Dairy Creek West

We stayed in the Dairy Creek West campground of LL Stub Stewart State Park in Buxton, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A pleasant state park.

Dates:

Check in: 2022-07-11
Check out: 2022-07-25
14 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny
High temps ranging between 73-90°F, lows around 49-62°F
No significant wind

Noise:

No road noise or train noise
Some neighbor noise (kids and dogs), mostly quiet
Crows making a racket on the roof

Site:

#46, back in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach (on asphalt)
Fairly level, once we moved the coach away from the edge
Large site: about 64 feet long by about 45 feet wide
Full hookups:

50 amp power conveniently located
30 PSI water pressure (we boosted from our tank); conveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10 foot hoses used)

Picnic table, fire pit on gravel
Several trees for privacy

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 4 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 38 ms ping
AT&T: 8 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
Verizon: 30 Mbps down, 12 Mbps up, 23 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage compactor and recycling outside campground entrance
No pool

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Huge sites in a beautiful park

We loved our stay at this campground. Our site was beautifully tucked into the trees, and it just felt like what a campground should be. The place has an awesome vibe. It feels like a rustic campground but has full hookups. It feels like you’re a long way from anywhere, but it’s pretty convenient to Hwy 26, so you can head to Portland or the Coast for an easy day trip. The camp hosts are really on top of things; they rake and tidy things up almost as soon as the previous occupant has left. And the sites are just massive. We had room for our 40′ motorhome, tow vehicle, screen tent with table and chairs, plus the campground-provided picnic table and firepit, with room left over. I can see why this park is popular with groups. We saw several campers with multiple sites booked, who all hung out at one site in the evenings.

We stayed in the West campground, which has a lot more trees around the loop than the East one and has a few that need to be trimmed along the road because they twanged the antenna on top of our rig, but it’s a minor thing because we will stay here again when we’re in the area. We camped at L.L. Stub Stewart Memorial State Park in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

Map

An embedded map, that you can zoom and scroll around:

Our site before parking:

Our site

Our coach in our site:

Our site

From the hill behind the site (and yes, the tent is new; I’ll do a separate post about that):

Our site

A peek of the roof:

Roof

Woods behind our site:

Woods behind our site

A murder of crows; they had an annoying habit of walking on our roof, making a racket:

Murder of crows

The crows did enjoy the drip tray of our griddle:

Crow on griddle

Another recent addition was a milk crate to help carry and stabilize the propane cylinder:

Milk crate for propane cylinder

Griddle breakfast for dinner:

Griddle breakfast for dinner

More pics of our site:

Our site

Another dinner:

Dinner

Oh deer:

Deer

Levitating squirrel:

Squirrel

Butterfly:

Butterfly

Another deer:

Another deer

Aerial views of our site:

Aerial view of our site

Aerial view of other sites

Let’s explore. The welcome center:

Welcome center

The campground didn’t have any garbage bins or dumpsters, but did have a trash compactor just outside:

Trash compactor

And it being Oregon, of course there were lots of recycling bins, too:

Recycling

Self registration station for late arrivals:

Self registration station

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

More bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Tent sites:

Tent sites

Other RV sites:

Other RV sites

We will probably come back here in the future, but might like to stay on the opposite side of the road, for better shade. Site 41 could be a good choice:

Site 41

Or site 43:

Site 43

Or site 45:

Site 45

Behind site 45:

Behind site 45

A seating area by a path to the adjacent campground:

Seating area

We were in Dairy Creek Campground West; the East campground is nearby:

Dairy Creek Campground East

Both campgrounds have a couple of Park Hosts:

Park Host

Dairy Creek Campground East is a bit more open:

Dairy Creek Campground East

This campground might be better for our coach; it brushed some of the foliage in the west campground. Sites 82, 84, 86, 88, 89, 90, and 92 would all be excellent choices for afternoon shade and a decent amount of privacy:

Site 82

A very nice couple of campgrounds. We’ll likely stay here again when visiting Portland.

Video

Video: three Oregon campgrounds in six minutes

A short timelapse from our stays at three RV parks in Oregon: Fish House Inn & RV Park in Dayville, Thousand Trails Bend-Sunriver RV Campground in Bend, and Gill’s Landing RV Park in Lebanon.

Gill’s Landing RV Park

We stayed at Gill’s Landing RV Park in Lebanon, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)

This is a small city park, and quite nice.

Dates:

Check in: 2022-07-05
Check out: 2022-07-11
6 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny, some drizzle
High temps ranging between 74-82°F, lows around 52-60°F
No significant wind

Noise:

No road noise; occasional train noise
Some neighbor noise (kids and dogs)

Site:

#6, back in, cement
Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
Level
Large site: about 60 feet long by about 40 feet wide
Full hookups:

50 amp power somewhat conveniently located
25-60 PSI water pressure (pressure drops with usage, so we boosted from our tank); conveniently located
Non-threaded sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10 foot hoses used)

Picnic table, fire pit

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 14-24 Mbps down, 25 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
AT&T: 8 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 32 ms ping
Verizon: 1-17 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 45-75 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage bins
No pool
River

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Beautiful city park on the river

This is a small, lovely RV park right on the Santiam River. All the sites are back-in and pretty large, arranged around a central circle. Our site backed up against trees so it felt nice and private. There’s a nice multi-purpose path that runs along the river for biking or walking. Hardly any traffic or train noise, so it was a very pleasant, quiet stay. We camped at Gills Landing RV Park in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

Map

The sites are all back-in, so we needed to disconnect our truck from our coach on arrival:

Tow bar

Our site:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

The water pressure is inconsistent; a nice 60 PSI, but drops to 25 PSI when in use. So we filled our fresh water tank and used that to boost the pressure:

Water pressure