We’ve been at South Jetty Thousand Trails here at Florence, OR the past couple of weeks and our impression of the campground is mostly positive. There are plenty of campsites for bigger rigs, mostly water/electric. The campground has a nice pool plus a couple of hot tubs and a pickleball and basketball court.

One area is all 50 amp electric, but there’s a $5 surcharge for using those sites. I had the feeling that, with no need for air conditioning that there are actually too many 50 amp sites, or maybe said better, charging extra for the sites is rather unreasonable. People don’t need 50 amps, don’t want to pay the extra money so they crowd into the other areas leaving the more expensive sites empty. At no time during our two weeks here were the sites in the surcharge section anything close to full and often those in use were being used by people with older 30 amp only rigs who were simply trying to find a suitable place to park.

Getting full hookups is a bit of a challenge. One primary full hookup loop has recently been logged out, leaving the area looking stripped with lots of stumps. As I understand it the plan is to let the undergrowth fill in, cover the stumps, and create separation between the sites. For now, I think it looks a bit like a war zone, but I have the idea that things will look a lot better in a year or two. Apparently, the rest of the campground is going to get the same treatment – at least that’s what I heard. One thing about it: a lot more people can get satellite after the “war.”

The lack of full hookups is alleviated a bit by the placement of many gray water disposal sites scattered throughout the campground. A lot of people use five gallon containers to carry waste water to the sites, thus extending their holding tank capacity. Also, there’s a honey wagon service available for a price.

A big draw here is the proximity of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. Access is a couple of minutes from the campground. People bring their dune buggies and spend their time out on the dunes and on the beach on the other side of the dunes. One thing that surprised us was the lack of easy beach access. The ocean is probably 3 miles away but to get to it one has to drive to the dunes recreation area, pay to park, and then hike up over the dunes to the beach -or- drive 5 miles to the end of the road, park in a rough parking area at no charge, and then hike over the dunes or walk along the river on the jetty to the beach. Either way it’s a bit of a commitment.

We aren’t complaining too loudly because a drive north on 101 of 15 miles or so takes one along some of the most dramatic shoreline to be found anywhere. I think that drive alone makes it worth coming here. Also, I’ve really enjoyed the cool coastal weather. Temps have seldom gotten warmer than 70 and nighttime temps have been in the 50′s. Once we move a bit farther south and inland we’re going to experience a much more summer-like climate.

All in all, we like this place and will likely return – if nothing else to repeat the drive north along the ocean and to see how the campground tree thinning project works out.