Customer Reviews

Moon Oregon Camping: The Complete Guide to Tent and RV Camping (Moon Outdoors)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a wonderful, easy to use book. It is divided into regions, with guide maps within each region. All sorts of camping sites are listed, from freeway accessible RV parks, to primative National Park facilities. Scenery ratings are given for each, along with available services and driving directions.
I've used AAA camping guide books for years, but found this more thorough and easier to use. I am ordering the Washington equivalent. Sadly, none of the other Western States are covered yet. Hopefully that will change soon.

My sister and I bought the second edition of this book awhile back, and we love it! We go camping a lot and never know where we'll end up, so we bring this book to make it easier not to plan ahead. The maps make it easy to visualize where the campgrounds are on our route, and the descriptions tell us more or less if the campground is one we might like. It even gives a 1-10 value for the beauty of each campground! It can be hard to tell which campgrounds are more private and which are noisier, even though there are hints (like the words "vault toilets").

I just brought my young cousins to the Redwoods, and this book saved us, once on the way there and once on the way back. Both times, we were late finding a place to camp and weren't sure which grounds had sites available. We looked up our location on the map, found a nearby campground, called the number listed and talked to the ranger, easy. (NB: The campground descriptions tell you whether or not there are showers at a given place, which is good if you've been at a primitive site in the Redwoods for three days.) The only problem was that we were in the middle of a town, and the book's directions to the park weren't specific enough. It said, from that town, follow the signs to another town. We didn't see any signs because we were on the wrong side of town, driving the wrong direction! I wish there were addresses or intersections or GPS coordinates or SOMETHING because this issue has come up a few times. Generally my old-fashioned GPS doesn't list campgrounds in its points of interest, so I can't even search that for help, although I once was able to find a campground by searching for the name of the state park it was in.

Also don't expect the prices to be the the ones listed in the book, even if you have the newest edition. The sites we've been to have cost more most times, even when the book was new and up to date. It seems impossible to keep those updated, so I just use the prices in the book as a relative guideline.

I really love this book and will probably get the newest edition, too. And hopefully I'll also get a really cool GPS with better park listings.

I have several of the MOON series camping books. They are a "must have" if you are going camping. I enjoy Tom's writing style and his ALMOST complete information on the sites. The only way he can significantly improve these books is to add GPS location information for each site. Most of us have GPS units and want to use them. I have an RV trailer and I hate it when I drive past the road to the campground at night or in the fog!!! The GPS also gives me a distance between where I am now and the next campsite location so I can plan my time of arrival. Location of trailheads or fishing spots and other scenic locations would be helpful.

This is a great reference book for camping. My husband and I used it for our extended camping trip last summer. The reason I only gave it 4 stars was that I wish the book consistantly informed the reader about how "close to civilization"(?) the camp grounds were and how busy. One campground literally shared the parking lot with a busy Visitors Center but the description in the book seemed to indicate that it was secluded. So it was often hit or miss for us, with us going to several campgrounds each leg until we found one that was secluded and quiet like we like. Some of the description did address this issue and none of the description were inaccurate literally, but this information was missing.

But that being said, with all our notes in the margins, a return trip will be much aided by this book.