Fishermen's Bend Recreation Site

Loved all the trails to walk, some of which are right along the North Santiam River. The road noise from Hwy 22 was not an issue at night but you could hear it clearly during the day.

All sites appear to have electric and sewer hookups; some also have water hookups. There is a fence around the firepit/picnic table area in the sites. There were several walk up sites that remained open until 5 PM when they were then available on a first come/first served basis. There are flush toilets and showers spaced around the park as well as several water spigots available for those sites without water hookups.

The sites on the inside of the Camping Loop were fairly short, some were steep on the drive way and all of them were perpendicular to the road (not angled for easier backing). This made backing into them with a trailer a challenge as the road isn't wide (one way traffic). Our site said it would fit a 36 foot trailer but we had a difficult time getting our 28 foot trailer into the site, and leave room for the tow vehicle. As it was we couldn't use our firepit without fear of damaging the trailer.

The park received extensive weather damage this last winter and spring. It looked like they removed several large trees and have replanted but there is a lot of wood debris between sites. This did not detract from our enjoyment of the park.

We had originally only planned one night at this place to charge our batteries, dump/fill, shower and move on to Boondocking- but quickly snatched up a cancellation spot for a second night after arriving.

The spots are gigantic with nicely raked gravel in the picnic area large enough to play a solid game of bocce. The campground is gorgeous and well maintained and had walking trails and river access. The river has all these natural pools along the bank that people have created with rocks or is great to float down in tubes or a kayak.

Most of the spots are pull through a and could accommodate any size rig- our 23 footer looked tiny in the spot. It was also mostly level.

Showers were free but you have to push the button about every 30 second to keep the water going.

AT&T worked great

This is a very nice BLM campground. Most of the sites have full hookups with many of the sites on the outside of the loop being pull throughs. The campsites are spacious and private with a wood fence around each site. The sites have paved parking areas with a gravel area for the fire pit and picnic table. There is road noise at the sites closest to highway 22.

The campground is beside the North Santiam River but the sites do not have direct view of the river. There is a nice trail system for accessing the river. Firewood is sold by the camp hosts.

We had a good verizon cell phone signal.

I attached a few pictures of the campsites.

This was the first night in our new (to us) Tiffin Phaeton, October 31st. We flew to Oregon, bought the coach in Bend at Beaver Coach Sales, (btw, a great dealer) then drove over Santiam Pass. A very beautiful drive! At the top we saw Hoodoo ski area in the distance, but no snow yet. This highway was in very good shape!

If you are going north or south on I-5, Fisherman's Bend is only about a half hour or so east of the freeway and before the big elevation climb. So it could be a pretty good place to duck into if you're on an I-5 trip. Usually BLM lands are for boon-dockers, but this campground has nice sites with full hookups, picnic tables and fire pits.

When we arrived we drove down to the river loop and there was nothing large enough for our 40 ft. coach We met with the ranger and he said the C sites would fit us. He suggested site C5, so we paid and registered in. We also bought a $10 wheel-barrel of fire wood. That was a lot! At the most we only burned about quarter of it.

The ranger was wrong about the size of the site, we really had trouble getting in. There was a turn in the pull-though that tested our marriage! By the time we realized that we should back out and pick another site we were already too far in. I guess after all the jockeying we got in okay and our marriage did pass the test! DW did an amazing guiding job!

The next morning we bent a few small trees out of the way, and pulled through straight out without a problem, no jockeying. I think if you have a 30-35 ft. coach this site would be okay. We walked around and saw some straighter pull-throughs that we will go for if we come back.

After getting in we loved the campground, very private sites, lots of trees and well maintained. We have US cellular phones and had about one bar of 3G. This Halloween was the campground's last night before they closed for the winter. We were armed with some Kit Kat bars for Trick or Treaters, but, alas no non arrived.

The sites are a really nice size, and the site I had was exceptionally private. My site had electric and sewer, no water. But one of the hosts said they had plans to run water to all the sites (I think this winter?) Regardless, you don't have to arrive with a full fresh tank because they have potable water at check-in and you can fill your tank there.

All the hosts were gracious, and you can tell they really take pride in the campground. Evenings were quiet, and I like that they have a stout gate at the entrance they lock at 10:00 PM. I'll definitely stay here again.