Fan Creek Recreation Site
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $15From, per site
- Sites
- 1110 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Want to camp? Camping season is generally May-September, with Alder Glen and Elk Bend remaining open through the weekend following General Western Oregon Coast 2nd Season for elk. During months with reduced sunlight, potable water may be turned off. Be prepared to bring your own wash and drinking water. Reserve a site at one of our four campgrounds on recreation.gov or pay when you arrive for non-reserved campsites using the Recreation.gov Mobile App . You must download before you reach the site since there is no cell reception in the drainage. A place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the electronic age. Keep reading
Fan Creek is one of the Bureau of Land Management’s middle campgrounds within the Nestucca River Recreation Area. The campground sits along the Nestucca River National Back Country Byway and newly designated Nestucca Wild and Scenic River . The Byway takes travelers on a slow, leisurely route that winds through Oregon's Coast Range. The Nestucca River is renowned for fishing opportunities and beauty.
Recreation
A small campground offering 11 campsites and a group shelter in the Oregon Coast Range.
Facilities
Each campsite contains a picnic table, fire ring, and paved parking area. Within the campground are two vault toilets and a centralized well providing potable drinking water. The campground also has an accessible trail to access a fishing/viewing platform.
Natural Features
Nestucca Wild and Scenic River Nearby Attractions The Nestucca Off-Highway Vehicle Area is located in the Nestucca Backcountry Byway, and includes Whipup Flat, Elk Flat, and Grassy Flat. Oregon ATV permits required .
Charges & Cancellations
Standard fees apply and are non-refundable. Visit https://www.recreation.gov/rules-reservation-policies for more information.
What the agency tells you
Campfires? Please see here for current campfire restrictions: Fire Closures and Restrictions (https://www.blm.gov/programs/public-safety-and-fire/fire-and-aviation/regional-info/oregon-washington/fire-restrictions). Typically, campfires are limited to the steel fire rings or BBQ grills provided within the recreation site. No building rock campfire rings.
Pack-it in, pack-it out.
Quiet hours are from 10:00 pm to 7:00 am.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Firewood collection is NOT allowed at the developed campgrounds.
Pets are allowed but must be leashed (max. 6 feet). Please dispose all pet waste in trash receptacles.
A fee of $5 for extra vehicles will be collected at the facility through the on site fee station. Cash or check made payable to BLM is accepted. Place fee in the yellow fee envelope. Keep the receipt tab to display on your vehicle dash or campsite post.
No ATVs or ORVs allowed within the recreation site.
Caution: Log trucks may be encountered throughout the year. The Byway is open year-round but may become hazardous due to snow and ice.
The site is remote, there is no cell service or electrical connections. Sites are small and may have limitations.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 11
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…area. Within the campground are two vault toilets and a centralized well providing potable drinking…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…Be prepared to bring your own wash and drinking water. Reserve a site at one of our four campgrounds on…”
- Stay limit
- 13 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek, Coast
- Fishing
- Water access
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 746th darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 4
- Cell signal · Cell signal · BLM says
- None
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 10 of the 11 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 18
What you actually pay
“A fee of $5 for extra vehicles will be collected at the facility through the on site fee station.” · the Bureau of Land Management’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $15 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
“Standard fees apply and are non-refundable. Visit https://www.recreation.gov/rules-reservation-policies for more information.” · this campground’s own terms
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 7
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
11 sites
All 11 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 10 of the 11 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Camp | 01 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | $15 |
| Camp | 02 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | $15 |
| Camp | 03 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | $15 |
| Camp | 04 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | $15 |
| Camp | 05 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | $15 |
| Camp | 06 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $15 |
| Camp | 07 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | $15 |
| Camp | 08 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $15 |
| Camp | 09 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | $15 |
| Camp | 10 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | $15 |
| Camp | 11 | type not stated | 30 ft |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Fan Creek CampgroundNw Oregon Tillamook Field Office · 0.0 mi
Dovre Recreation SiteNw Oregon Tillamook Field Office · 1.9 miDovre CampgroundNw Oregon Tillamook Field Office · 1.9 mi
Elk Bend Recreation SiteNw Oregon Tillamook Field Office · 2.3 mi
Elk Bend CampgroundNw Oregon Tillamook Field Office · 2.4 mi
Alder Glen CampgroundNw Oregon Tillamook Field Office · 4.6 miFrom Coastal Hwy 101 at Beaver: Turn right onto Blaine Road. Drive 7 miles to reach the Nestucca Byway.
From Willamina: Take Willamina Creek Road, to Coast Creek Road, to Gilbert Creek Road, to Bald Mountain Access Road , to Bible Creek Road to the Nestucca Byway.
From Carlton: Take Meadow Lake Road west 12 miles, continue onto the Nestucca Byway.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for McMinnville, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 45°F, day 62°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 34°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Fan Creek Recreation Site is in Oregon’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Suzanne Bonamici (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“…download before you reach the site since there is no cell reception in the drainage. A place to get away from the hustle and…”