Lewis River campsites

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acoulombe
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Lewis River campsites

Post by acoulombe » August 16th, 2022, 3:54 pm

My wife, daughter and I are planning a hike up the Lewis River. We plan to start at the Curly Creek Falls trailhead. Our plan is to find a campsite between Bolt Shelter and Crab Creek trailhead before seeing the masses of hikers, then on day two, do a day hike up to Lower, Middle and Upper Falls.

Does anyone know if there are established campsites between Bolt and Crab Creek other than the Speed Trail Campsite?

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drm
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Re: Lewis River campsites

Post by drm » August 17th, 2022, 7:03 am

I am not actually sure where the Crab Ck trailhead is, but there are campsites roughly every half mile after the Bolt shelter until about 5 miles in. And going up river from the campsite near the Speed Trail junction, there are a couple of river beach campsites a few hundred yards apart about a half mile further up (which is about 5 miles from the 9031 trailhead). These are sandy sites next to the river unlike the forested sites before. Quite nice, though still 5 miles from Lower Falls. But after them there really isn't anything unless you camp at the viewpoint - which is a nice spot, but the nearest water is a half mile away.

leiavoia
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Re: Lewis River campsites

Post by leiavoia » August 17th, 2022, 7:47 am

Luckily I logged all the campsites I found last year in that stretch.

There are 3 spots on the river bend 1/2 mile immediately before the shelter.

There is a spot about half way between the shelter and Speed Camp. (“Bar Camp”)

Past Speed Camp, there are several riverside areas that are less developed but still campable that you can find before the next river bend. (“Flat Camp” which you need to climb down a rope to the riverside clearing, “Camp Triangle” which is a trailside hovel that you could hang some hammocks, and “Camp Bad Happened” immediately after.)

Beyond that the canyon gets narrow and there is not much space to camp for some time. That is as far as I have gone in that direction.

acoulombe
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Re: Lewis River campsites

Post by acoulombe » August 17th, 2022, 8:05 am

drm and leiavoia...thank you so much. Appreciate the intel. The parking permit requirement makes it a little tough to see the falls with a backpacking trip (I guess that is the point...limit the number of hikers and vehicle travel to the area).

Hiking from Curly Creek TH to Upper Falls and back would be 27 miles or so. Even if we camp midway and then day hike the falls area, that is still a few too many miles for my 12yo daughter (even though she did do 22 miles, 4200~ elevation gain and some bushwhacking last weekend, she requested a little easier excursion this time around :).

One option is to take the Speed Trail and ford the river, but that might be a little sketch with my 12yo as well.

Finally, I could set off from Crab Creek TH (aka Lewis River TH), which would cut the mileage down and eliminate the ford, but I am confused by the parking pass regulations. Recreation.gov doesn't say anything about overnight parking. Would I need to purchase three parking passes (one for each day) to do a two-nighter?

I'm considering dropping my wife and daughter off at the Crab Creek TH, driving back to the Speed TH to park and then biking the 4 or so miles back on the road. Sheesh...

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drm
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Re: Lewis River campsites

Post by drm » August 17th, 2022, 9:34 am

All falls are nice, but I would recommend that you just do Lower Falls in this case, if that distance is workable for you. I assume you are going on a weekend when parking permits are tough. I do think you need one for every day you are out, though I never asked.

The main reason for the permit is that lots of people were parking illegally along the narrow road, away from parking areas. Once they decided to enforce that, having people come to find no parking would be a big problem, so the permits was the response.

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bobcat
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Re: Lewis River campsites

Post by bobcat » August 17th, 2022, 10:32 am

I've done Curly Creek Falls to Crab Creek Trailhead as a day hike and bike (stashed the bike at Crab Creek). The ride back was not difficult even though it's mostly uphill from Crab Creek to the Speed Trailhead.

There ought to be a campsite at Cussed Hollow Creek (one would think), but I honestly don't remember any. There are definitely campsites just across the road from the Crab Creek Trailhead off the trail and on the river. These were very popular as they were just a short walk in from the road (and were free!). With the new permits, I don't know if they are getting used a lot by walk-in campers or what new restrictions there may be.

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drm
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Re: Lewis River campsites

Post by drm » August 17th, 2022, 12:47 pm

Oh, Crab Creek TH is just the 90 Road trailhead. Yes, there are about 4 camps within the first quarter mile or so heading towards the falls. I have camped at the last small one, I call it shelf camp, a couple times.

I always wonder why there are no established camps at Cussed Hollow or the other decent creeks going downriver from there. Cussed Hollow is a narrow canyon, but those others aren't. For some reason, the camps in that 9 mile stretch between 9031 and Crab Ck are all in the lower half.

acoulombe
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Re: Lewis River campsites

Post by acoulombe » August 18th, 2022, 7:40 am

I called the Mt. Adams Ranger District to find out what exactly I'd need to do with the parking passes and the ranger said that camping is not allowed at all within a half mile of the Lewis River Recreational area.

For the life of me, I can't find that info on the Forest Service website. This is interesting since I have found several recent reports of people camping all along that area, and not just at the established Lower Falls campground.

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drm
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Re: Lewis River campsites

Post by drm » August 18th, 2022, 3:00 pm

acoulombe wrote:
August 18th, 2022, 7:40 am
I called the Mt. Adams Ranger District to find out what exactly I'd need to do with the parking passes and the ranger said that camping is not allowed at all within a half mile of the Lewis River Recreational area.

For the life of me, I can't find that info on the Forest Service website. This is interesting since I have found several recent reports of people camping all along that area, and not just at the established Lower Falls campground.
Because that is absolutely wrong. I just called and they said no such thing. At one point, she seemed to think maybe I was asking if I could camp in my car, but that is not what you say you were told. I don't know what the confusion was, but I have camped in there many times since the parking area was established, though I never ran into a ranger. You do need a day parking permit for each day your car is parked in the area. They are short-staffed at the office and maybe they had somebody on the phone who got confused somehow.

BTW, there are also a few good campsites up in the vicinity of Upper Falls, and it might be easier to get a permit on that end.

acoulombe
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Re: Lewis River campsites

Post by acoulombe » August 18th, 2022, 3:29 pm

Yeah, pretty frustrating. The first ranger I spoke with said she was new and didn't have much info. She was pretty confused and said that I wouldn't need a parking pass if I camped at the campground. I explained that I would be backpacking and that I'd like to just find an established campsite along the trail and she passed me to another ranger who "knew more". This ranger is the one who told me that there was no camping whatsoever along the trail within the Lewis River Recreational area. When I mentioned that this was not explained anywhere on the Forest Service website, she said "it's in there somewhere."

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