Fort Stevens State Park — Attraction in Astoria

Prepare to be immersed in a truly spectacular forest at Fort Stevens State Park! We're talking towering, majestic trees (for sake of curioisty, most are sitka spruce and western hemlock!) absolutely teeming with life. We were thrilled to see herds of elk (yes, actual elk roaming the park!!!), adorable chipmunks darting about, playful squirrels, and an incredible variety of birds. For us, the highlight was spotting Bald Eagles – our first sighting since moving to the US three years ago! The park itself is a goldmine of activities. We loved hiking and biking the awesome trails, which lead you to fascinating landmarks and breathtaking viewpoints. Exploring the historic shipwreck of the Peter Iredale, taking in the grandeur of the Columbia River, and delving into the rich history of Fort Stevens itself were all unforgettable experiences. And if water is your thing, you can rent a kayak and glide across the splendid nearby Coffenbury Lake. Honestly, words can hardly do it justice. Fort Stevens is hands down one of the best (quite possibly THE best) RV parks we've ever had the pleasure of staying in – and believe us, we've been to a LOT (just check our other reviews!). If you're looking for an incredible Oregon State Park experience, this is it!

Helpful Tips from Our Stay:

Connectivity & Campsites: We stayed in Loop I, which was absolutely incredible with its mature trees. Be aware that this can make Starlink a bit tricky. However, our T-Mobile backup worked pretty well for my work needs. The slight connectivity challenge was definitely worth it for the splendid spot we had! Trash Disposal: Just a heads-up, trash points aren't directly accessible from every single loop, so plan accordingly. Beach Driving Adventure (Goonies Style!): A definite must-do! If you have 4WD, driving on the beach is an amazing experience. Be sure to check the tide tables beforehand – you can almost imagine you're in the Fratellis' ORV making a speedy getaway down the sand (though hopefully with a bit less urgency than when they were evading the cops!). It’s pure...

Alright so this place is just as rad as I remember. I used to come down here as a kid and I remember it being amazing. YEP, IT STILL IS! I got dropped off at the ranger station with 3 hours on the clock. I quickly grabbed a map and started walking up a nice paved walking trail through a beautiful moss covered forest. I walked a little over a mile before I came to Battery Russell. Yeah this place was cool. This old military bunker is filled with many dark cement corridors leading to different rooms and moss covered staircases. It was pretty rainy out today so there were some puddles here and there to watch out for. I highly recommend bringing a couple flashlights into the bunkers to avoid tripping hazards and wet shoes. When you figure out the layout you should definitely turn the lights out and try to find your way out. Hehehe. That was fun. I continued up the trail maybe a mile and a half to Battery Pratt. With all the rain there was a small portion of the trail (100yards maybe between Russelland Pratt)that had been consumed by the nearby lake. Just take off your shoes for a min. It was maybe 12"-16" deep. You got this! 😉. Battery Pratt was even better in my opinion. While the last one had the remains of I believe they were anti aircraft cannon turret mounts, Pratt still had the freaking cannon!!! Its big and it's shiney and I wanna shoot it... bad. Pratt still had some of the old school iron doors attached which were just cool to see. This bunker was definitely more worn down than Russell but who cares, it has a freaking cannon!!! Lol. Really though there were a couple spots roped off due to erosion concerns. 😫. Its cool though, there were still many dark hallways and chambers to explore. I finished Pratt and off to the next ones that were far closer than that walk from Russell. Oh dang it!!!! That was my 2.5 hours. Bummer! So I took the last 30 min to jog back a couple miles to the rendezvous location. Oh well I guess I'm just gonna have to come back. Awe...

First of all this is a really big park. I think you could easily spend a week here and not see the whole thing. If you're camping definitely bring a bike. This is also where the park falls as little flat. Getting to the beach from camp is a good mile+. So your probably not want to grab your beach gear and walk the whole way. Currently only the South Jetty is only accessible by car, so if you only brought bikes with your RV forget about it.

Now the main attraction is the Batteries of course. These are pretty cool but you can only go in some select few. The biggest one is closed for what looks like good reason from the outside. It's crumbling and looks unsafe. If you've been to some of the other parks in the region that have huge batteries you can explore you might be disappointed. It is cool that there are still some artillery guns. There's a lot of foundations with no building so you'll have to use your imagination.

Also like I said this park is huge so the batteries and bunkers are spread apart. Ride your bike if your not visiting in a car. There's a tour were you get to ride in old military truck but hours are pretty limited. We missed it the one day we wanted to go not realizing time was short window. Museum is decent but small.

Also the ship wreck is pretty neat but nothing mind blowing. Most of the ship has rotted away so it's just some bars bones.

Campground itself is well maintained, bathrooms are clean. Our RV hookups worked great, water pressure is good but faucet leaked at the handle which I had to fix. Not all sites are full hook ups. We didn't have sewer but I saw some elsewhere in camp. They area decently spaced but most are open so you'll be in touch with your neighbors. Overall we enjoyed our visit but probably won't return any time soon. It's a been there done...