We had about 350 miles to cover for the next two days, with Fort Vancouver being closed on the first day. So we wanted to get to the fort in hopes that it would actually have the stamps outside, and then work our way outside of Portland to find a campground between there and John Day fossil beds. The drive into Portland was uneventful, and we stopped along the way to get some very reasonably priced gas at $4.39 a gallon. There was also a Bath and body Works in a shopping center nearby, so I took the dogs for a walk while Kathy got some of her retail therapy completed.
We made it to Fort Vancouver, and it’s actually a pretty open area with a bunch of bike pads and walking pass throughout. We were able to get to the visitor center, and of course it was closed, but I zoomed in and took some pictures of the stamps for evidence that we were there. We’re gonna try to hit up some friends of ours that may be going through that area to stop by and get some stamps and pick up a coin for Kathy’s collection.
We turned the truck south and east and headed out of town because Portland is worse than Seattle when it comes to trying to find a place to camp. Any good open places are already occupied by homeless or permanent van lifers. We drove the scenic route along the Columbia river passed the airport and caught interstate 84. About 20 miles out of town there is a campground called Eagle Creek Campground that was the first available, and since it was late in the evening, it was time to find a place to camp.
Eagle Creek Campground is kind of a unique spot. We found out that this was the first campground that was ever publicly developed in the national forest in the United States. It’s built several hundred feet above the Columbia river Valley and actually set up pretty nicely. There’s a bunch of warnings everywhere that the noise is loud Because the camp was developed before the freeway and the train tracks had been put in. The fact that we have a truck camper with hard sides, the noise was not that big of an issue. We did find that leveling the truck was probably the biggest challenge as we had to stack six of the stackable pads up on the back end just to get it level. It turned out there was a trail right behind the campsite that worked out perfectly for walking the dogs. There was a sign at the bottom of the hill that there was a 20 foot trailer limit coming up, because two of the turns were extremely tight. The Campos, however, had a 30 or 40 foot long 1960s version of an airstream parked, semi permanently in the spot. Overall, they had running water, some drop toilets, and there were only three campers in the campground. We had leftovers for dinner and a great night sleep.
Here are some additional photos of the day.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250914-ft-vancouver-and-eagle-creek