Store Gulch Campground
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 12 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $10From, per site
- Sites
- 65 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Campsites are located along the Wild and Scenic Illinois River. Keep reading
Recreation
There is hiking, swimming and fishing available at the campground.
Facilities
6 campsites with picnic tables, and fire pits 2 walk-in campsites with picnic tables, and fire pits No drinking water Vault toilet No garbage disposal - Please pack it out Natural Features Store Gulch Campground is located along a dramatic stretch of the Wild and Scenic Illinois River, characterized by its stunning turquoise waters and large, sun-baked boulders. The landscape is dominated by steep canyon walls and a wide, picturesque sandy beach that serves as a popular natural gathering spot for swimming and relaxing. Like the surrounding Siskiyou Mountains, the area features unique serpentine rock formations and a diverse forest mix of Jeffrey pine, Douglas fir, and madrone trees. Just across the river from the campground, rugged ridges rise sharply, offering a prime environment for spotting local wildlife such as river otters in the deeper pools or osprey hunting above the rapids.
Nearby Attractions
Store Gulch Campground provides easy access to several unique landmarks and recreational sites along the Illinois River. Just up the road back towards Selma is the historic Store Gulch Guard Station, a rare cedar bark building constructed in 1929 by the Civilian Conservation Corps that is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Adjacent to the station is the Store Gulch Day Use Area, featuring a steep trail that leads down to a large sandy beach and deep turquoise swimming pools famous for rock jumping. A short distance further down the road, you can visit the Swinging Bridge, a long wooden suspension bridge that hangs sixty feet over the river and offers views of the rugged canyon. For hikers, the Illinois River East Trailhead is located at the very end of the road, serving as a primary gateway for exploring the remote forests and ridges of the surrounding wilderness. The road becomes unpaved and increasingly rugged after the swinging bridge turnoff, requiring careful navigation for the remainder of the drive to the trailhead.
What the agency tells you
First come, first serve camping, limited to 14 days.
No trash service available, pack out what you pack in.
Campfires are allowed in developed Forest Service installed metal fire rings when conditions allow. Learn more about current fire information: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/rogue-siskiyou/fire/info
Everything else this campground posts · 8
Fireworks are prohibited.
Camping is for tents, and only allowed in designated sites.
Quiet hours between 10pm and 6am.
Dogs must be on a leash.
There is limited cell phone coverage.
Driving can be dangerous along the Illinois River road, often narrow with blind corners, so please remain cautious.
The Illinois River can have cold water year-round, is remote and has the potential for volatile flows. Always practice safety when recreating in the river and wear a PFD.
Must pay via Scan & Pay onsite with the Recreation.gov app. App must be downloaded with cellular service prior to arriving at the campground.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 6 · 5 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “No drinking water Vault toilet”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…with picnic tables, and fire pits No drinking water Vault toilet No garbage disposal - Please pack it…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Beach
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Water access
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 15:45 UTC
recreation.gov lists 5 of the 6 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
“Additional Vehicle Fee: $5 per vehicle per day NOTE : 50% discount for Interagency Senior and Access Pass holders on a single campsite.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own fee record
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $10 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.
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 · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 15:45 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
6 sites
All 6 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. 1 of the 6 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
River Bench CampgroundSiskiyou National Forest · 0.8 mi
Sixmile CampgroundSiskiyou National Forest · 1.3 mi
Spalding Pond CampgroundSiskiyou National Forest · 4.5 miJosephine CampgroundSiskiyou National Forest · 5.1 mi
Little Falls CampgroundSiskiyou National Forest · 5.6 miSelmac Lake ParkMedford Grants Pass Field Office · 9.0 miFrom Selma, OR, off of Highway 199 is the turn for the Illinois River Road (Forest Road 4301). Take that road approximately 9 miles to the campground. You will pass the Store Gulch Day Use Area and the Store Gulch Guard Station, the next left will take you into the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Selma, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 39°F, day 72°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 33°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 Julys are colder than the July 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
Store Gulch Campground is in Oregon’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Cliff Bentz (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →