Camp Wilkerson, Fort Stevens State Park, Bob Straub State Park, and Horse Creek Horse Camp, Oregon

April is the season for either desert camping or coastal camping, and since I live in the desert, and also spent part of this year's winter in Arizona, I was ready for some greenery. Although I've camped at all of the coastal horse camps before, I had not yet ridden at either Fort Stevens or Bob Straub, so I decided to do a driving loop in order to check out both of these state parks. Neither of them have horse camps, which is too bad because I ended up liking both of them better than some of the places that do!

I started at Camp Wilkerson in the mountains outside of Rainier. I'd done a day ride there once, many years ago, but had not camped there. I arrived, finding the entire park empty, other than the camp host who was stationed at the entrance.

The Peter Iredale shipwreck at Fort Stevens.

Camp Wilkerson is a county park, with cabins to rent, as well as campgrounds, a day lodge and a trail system, all situated on 280 acres. The horse camp has 6 spots with 4 horse log corrals, each spot has it's own frost free water hydrant, that you can attach a hose to ( the water is potable, but it is a yellow/brown color, I chose not to drink it ) a manure bin, with a wheelbarrow, and quite a fancy bathroom with flush toilets and showers. It's $23.00 per night and you can't actually pay at the camp itself, so if you don't have a reservation you will have to pay at the park entrance, which isn't especially close by. (I hiked back over there, after I got my horse all set up). 

In my opinion spots #5 and #6 are the best, but they all have very large pull through's except for #4 which has a medium sized pullout. There is also a guest host camp spot, which has a really nice large corral, and although there was no host, you obviously aren't actually supposed to use it. In the middle of all of the sites is a picnic/cooking area with a huge fire ring and benches. There is also a day use area, with a loading ramp, a map of the trails, as well as some loop ride descriptions posted on the board.

Spot #5 at Camp Wilkerson.

Interesting water color, my horse liked it though.

After a very quiet, and pitch dark night, I started out on the trail system the next day. There are several loops than can be done with corresponding color coded markers, for a total of about 11.5 miles, but there are also a plethora of dirt and gravel forest roads surrounding the park. If you tried to do all the loops separately, you would sometimes be retracing your steps. I veered off the trails after awhile, and followed a lot of different roads, most of which dead ended. At one point I ended up in an open, logged area, and had views of Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams. I had cell service while I was in the higher hills, but there was none in camp.

Starting on the Liahona Trail.

Trails are marked at Camp Wilkerson.

Crossing Oak Ranch Creek at Camp Wilkerson.

Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams.

I spent another night at Wilkerson, and then I drove over to Fort Stevens State Park, in Astoria, the following day. The area where you can park horse trailers is huge, has a manure bin, and there is no fee.

Parking at Fort Stevens.

I rode the inland trails first, on the Fort Stevens Dune Trail, heading south, which is a little brushy in places, and then I crossed over Peter Iredale Rd. At this point the trail system becomes very pretty, the paths are well maintained and wider, and it's possible to do a few different loops. I followed part of the Burma Road Trail until it ended at DeLaura Beach Lane, which I then took over to the ocean. This lane floods, and I had to ride through two large "puddles" one of which was nearly up to my horse's belly.

A picnic area as you first start out on the dunes trail.

On the DeLaura Dune Trail.

Map of the inland trails at Fort Stevens.

Pretty big puddle to wade through.

Once on the lengthy beach, I continued south for awhile, but eventually turned around and rode back north towards the shipwreck of the Peter Iredale, which is this particular state parks claim to fame.

When I first got my current horse, Rina, I lived in the Hillsboro area, and it was only an hour and a half drive to get to Tillamook Spit for a day ride. I used to do that quite often, and I have also camped at the coast on many other occasions. During all of that time, when my horse was in her younger years, she was fine with the whole beach scenario, she wasn't bothered by the large crashing waves, enjoyed galloping along the sand, etc. But as she has gotten older she has taken an intense dislike to the ocean, and now she thinks it's the devil. Go figure. 

So once I hit the beach, I had an annoyed, prancy, foamy, sweaty, pony to contend with. We galloped ALOT. With a hotblooded horse this would have made matters worse, but this calmed her down and tired her out a bit, especially by the time I got to the shipwreck. This is a popular area, so there were lots of people, cars driving on the beach, kids, dogs, beach umbrellas and tents flapping in the wind, and two kites flying right next to us....none of that bothered my horse... just the ever so evil ocean!

The Peter Iredale shipwreck at Fort Stevens.

After leaving Fort Stevens I overnighted at Nehalem Bay State Park. The last time I was there was six years ago, and there are a few differences, which I have updated in the blog I wrote back in 2015. 

Nehalem Bay State Park

Some corrals are updated at Nehalem Bay State Park.

The next day started with an hours drive over to Bob Straub State Park, where unlike Fort Stevens there is a $10 day use fee to park in the lot. This park has the Nestucca River on one side and the ocean on the other, and in the middle are several different trails. There is not a huge amount of riding, but it is quite scenic. I rode along the river first, then did a short jaunt out onto the beach, (my pony was in a more tolerant mood about it this time) but since the tide was not out, we went back inland fairly quickly.

Lots of parking room at Bob Straub.

The inland trails at Bob Straub.

The Nestucca River at Bob Straub.

The beach at Bob Straub.

Haystack Rock at Bob Straub.

Riding on the inland trails at Bob Straub.

I was glad this was a slightly shorter ride since I still had to drive more than two hours to my next overnight destination, which was Horse Creek Horse Camp in the mountains above Florence. Getting to this camp from Hwy 101 might not be everyone's cup of tea, especially if you have a longer rig. It's a one lane, steep road for three miles, and only paved part of the way. 

Horse Creek is $11.00 per night, and has 11 spots in a line, with a loop road for turning around at the end. Sites #1 and #6 do not actually have any corrals, but the rest all have new pipe corrals. Numbers 7, 8, 9 and 11 only have one corral, the rest have two. #2 and #4 are the best for bigger rigs, as they have pull through's, and #10 has a pullout. There is a bathroom, but no garbage cans or a manure bin, and no water in the camp. Stock water can be accessed via a fairly long stroll along the trail system, at a spring fed water trough.

There is a day use area, with a loading ramp, as well as a couple of sets of older log corrals, and several other sites for picnicking.  

Site #2 at Horse Creek Horse Camp.

Horse water is accessible, but not close.

The spring fed water trough near Horse Creek.

There were two other campers, without horses, one of which were a couple of ladies who apparently camp there frequently, and said mine was the first horse they had ever seen there.

When I camped at Baker Beach in 2014, I rode the Cape Mountain Trails, that you can access from Horse Creek. I did not ride them again this time, but for info about these trails check out my Baker Beach blog.

GPS COORDINATES TO CAMP WILKERSON

GPS COORDINATES TO FORT STEVENS

GPS COORDINATES TO BOB STRAUB

GPS COORDINATES TO HORSE CREEK