U.S. Forest Service · Siskiyou National Forest · OR
South Fork Camping and Day Use Area
4Heads up4 fires, nearest 24 mi
Wildfire
West Side Rd 5565 fire · 24 mi away · updated Oct 14, 2026
Wildfire
Tartar Gulch Rd fire · 32 mi away · updated Oct 16, 2026
Wildfire
Crooks Creek Rd 3440 fire · 33 mi away · updated Oct 15, 2026
Wildfire
W Fork Whiskey Creek fire · 43 mi away · updated Oct 15, 2026
Fires: NIFC/IRWIN via MTJP wildfire tracker · Oct 16, 2026
First come, first servedNo reservation, and none to be had: the sites go to whoever pulls in first.
This is how it should work.
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
130 ftElevation
91 ftWater · South Fork Chetco RiverEstuary · 11.2 mi
10.6 miNE of Brookings, OR
22%Tree cover
Bortle 2Night sky · 305th darkest of 770 in OR
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there
In the agency’s own words
This is a dispersed campsite for tents and small trailers is located at the confluence of South Fork Chetco with the main stem of the Wild and Scenic Chetco River . Enjoy summer fun in the crystal clear waters of this outstanding river. Upper South Fork Camp provides a more secluded location along the South Fork Chetco River. Lower South Fork Camp provides a larger area with access to both the South Fork and main stem Chetco River. Keep reading
Facilities
Camp where you want No picnic table No fire pits No campground host No drinking water Portable toilet No garbage disposal - Please pack it out
Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026
Facilities
- Toilets
- Portable Toilets
- “No drinking water Portable toilet”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “No drinking water Portable toilet”
Source: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
Source: Stated in the agency description
Nothing to book, just show up
One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.
recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.
BookingNo reservationsNothing to book, and no release date to wait forthe record
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 4
What you actually pay
The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
The U.S. Forest Service publishes no per-night rate for this campground that we can read, so there’s no sign price to print. That’s a gap in the record, not a free campground.
For each vehicle$10
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
What a stay costs
The agency publishes no nightly rate for this campground, so there’s no total to show.
How we know this receipt · 4
Booking fee, change fee, cancellation fee, no-show: Rules and Reservation Policies, Recreation.gov, the published fee schedule, curated by hand into lib/reservation-fee-schedule.json (9 rows, each carrying its own verbatim sentence). The publisher states these policies were last updated September 2019. · Sep 9, 2026
The two totals: Derived by CAMPANAC by adding the agency’s own published nightly rate to recreation.gov’s own published reservation fee. Both components are cited above; the addition is ours and is shown only where every component is known. · Sep 9, 2026
Who keeps the booking fee: Recreation.gov facility policy text, Dead Swede Campground (facility 234221) · Not on the national policy page. This is agency policy text recreation.gov publishes on individual campground pages; this site holds it verbatim on 45 active campgrounds (campground_rules.cancellation_description, scripts/load-facility-rules.mjs). · Sep 9, 2026
The contract: Reservation Gods: Who Stole Our Campsites and Sold Them Back to Us, More Than Just Parks, April 2025 · Apr 1, 2025
Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026
record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this
Getting there
the map and the coordinate
Where it is
Also near here
Nook Bar Camping and Day Use AreaSiskiyou National Forest · 3.1 mi
Miller Bar Camping and Day Use AreaSiskiyou National Forest · 4.0 mi
Packers CabinSiskiyou National Forest · 4.7 mi
Quail Prairie LookoutSiskiyou National Forest · 5.6 mi
Ludlum HouseSiskiyou National Forest · 10 miLudlum CampgroundSiskiyou National Forest · 11 mi
Nook Bar Camping and Day Use AreaSiskiyou National Forest · 3.1 miMiller Bar Camping and Day Use AreaSiskiyou National Forest · 4.0 miPackers CabinSiskiyou National Forest · 4.7 miQuail Prairie LookoutSiskiyou National Forest · 5.6 miLudlum HouseSiskiyou National Forest · 10 miLudlum CampgroundSiskiyou National Forest · 11 miSource: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
Tonight53°Mostly Cloudy
Saturday77°Mostly Sunny
Saturday Night49°Mostly Clear
Sunday71°Patchy Fog then Sunny1% rain
NWS forecast for Brookings, OR
Source: National Weather Service, MFR forecast office · Oct 17, 2026
Typical weather
Typical October night 48°F, day 65°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 42°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
80°30°
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 Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
Measured at: BROOKINGS 2 SE, OR (USC00351055), 12 miles away and 80 ft lower
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
Roadless
Roadless
Roadless
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Sep 28, 2026
Who answers for this land
South Fork Camping and Day Use Area is in Oregon’s 4th congressional district. Its representative, Val Hoyle (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
Right now: U.S. Forest Service publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate.
Elevation: USGS 3DEP elevation point query at this campground’s coordinate · Sep 7, 2026
Tree cover: NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC), one 30 m cell at this coordinate · Sep 9, 2026
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.