camping area, child and .22 friendly?

Lowercase · Oct 8, 2009

first post here, mods please feel free to move thread if i am posting in the wrong forum.

as the topic mentions, i am looking for a camping area which would be friendly for one or two kids and small rifle fire? a little more detail below...

i am an ex army, air assault, ranger and have years experience in the sticks, with and without plush camping accommodations. i want to start imparting my experience and knowledge with my (now 12 year old) nephew... i have already taken him out to browns camp and had given a few lessons in firearms safety and helped him throw his first thousand or so rounds down range.

i would like to now take this mentoring to an additional level with introduction to camping and survival basics. what i am looking for is a camping area where we can safely camp and target shoot with lil marlin .22's... i am a chl carrier if that matters in a response. obviously i am looking for safe and legal places to do so

can anyone here think of somewhere that might suit our needs?
(i live in washington county, but reasonable distances are welcome)
feel free to reply in this thread or via pm if you have any questions about detail.

thanks in advance for any advice... this is a terrific forum,
lowercase

ps, also accepting nwfa forum etiquette critiques if any issues were found in this post

buick455 · Oct 8, 2009

a few years back I used to go to frog lake camp ground and then drive up the long hill above the lake it has a clear cut landing with dirt hills and stumps. the road is right from the main parking lot then left up the loooong hill. The view is great but you will probably need a truck the road is not great.

MarkSBG · Oct 8, 2009

Hey lowercase,

Welcome to NWFA and thanks for serving.

Is there any reason you couldn't camp and shoot at brown's camp? I thought that was on the up-and-up, but I could be wrong...

Sorry, can't think of any other places.

johnboy · Oct 8, 2009

Yes.....2nd the serving part............Browns Camp is getting looked at closer by law enforcement and forestry enforcement due to recreational riders there. They do not mind the shooting in the "pit", but elsewhere they are moving you on saying it is too dangerous for the riders in the area. They can do that at their discretion of what is "safe" in their assessment. With most riders concentrated in that area, I would think you could do a little scouting and find some great areas for that away from there a couple of miles either side of the highway (North side is best for low traffic). State Police game officers are helpful and appreciate being asked about these things. If you are at a dead end road with a large bank or hill you can shoot into that would be ideal. Any enforcement people will see that you are safe and let you alone. Any shooters in the forests need to obey the laws of shooting in the forests....no skylining, no live trees as backstops,no shooting from or across public roads and stay 50ft from any road to shoot (they may let you get away with from a road if you are at the end of it but no gaurantees) and no leaving your junk/waste/targets behind. Disobeying these laws will only ruin all of our shooting opportunities in the State Forest lands..and definitely get you a ticket these days......the private lands are already locked up. If I missed something....others can add .....Bottom line is safety and get away from other public activities.....

pdxjohann · Oct 9, 2009

Thanks Johnboy, well said.

sinco54 · Oct 16, 2009

If you go out Estacada up past promotory, take the 2nd steel green bridge over the river, you cant miss it. that road will take you all the way up top the mountain, theres several very good shooting areas that are very campable.. When I was in my teens and 20's thats where we used to go all the time cause browns camp was just too damned busy and now its even worse. We went up there a few weeks ago to plink a bit and it was still magnificent!