Valley of the Rogue State Park — Attraction in Grants Pass

Once we arrived at this park, we pulled into the yurt loop and there was a truck parked on the side of the road and a guy was laying on the ground beside the truck face up looking like he was ODing on something, while a lady was running around screaming profanity at everyone and everything, obviously high on something. We drove in to talk to the park host, the host was gone off duty.

So We left to avoid the situation. We went to the front check in booth to try and find park personnel, no one was in there. We drove on looking for a park worker, no luck. We called the 1-800 number on the front sign, they had a long wait time so I waited on hold.

We decided to drive back into the park and continue past the yurt look to try and find someone.

We found a park worker and flagged her down. My wife was talking to get about trying to get our yurt code, which never came in the confirmation email like it should.

About then the park ranger pulled up to see if he could help so I got out to talk to him outside the vehicle because I didn’t want the kids to overhear me reporting what was going on to the ranger.

I informed him of the situation with the couple and pointed out the truck which was parked.

The range helper said she would go and get the code and help us get the key to our yurt and meet us at our yurt.

We drove back to the yurt loop and my wife badly has to use the bathroom so she went up to the bathroom, only to be confronted by that lady who was bashing her head against the bathroom stall doors and looked at my wife and started screaming at her. My wife left and was extremely scared and came out getting my attention because she didn’t know if that lady was going to attack her or not. The told her what happened so we gathered the kids up over by our van because we didn’t know what this lady would do.

About that time a police officer pulled in because someone called the police. I briefly informed him of the situation and I then identified the lady as she walked out of the bathroom. He drove down to confront her and she took off running down to the yurt beside ours.

Now we rushed the kids inside the yurt to keep them away from danger. The lady began to scream profanities to the police officer and continued screaming and yelling the entire time.

Our kids are now scared to death in the yurt. You would think the officer would arrest her for running from him, public intoxication, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, or anything. No what they did was just stand there and watch her as my kids are scared to death listening to her profanity.

She kept getting up and walking and started working he way towards our yurt. After this continued for quite some time it was apparent that the police were not going to do anything about it but just stand there and observe her.

At this point I went up and told one of the officer that my kids are scared hiding in the yurt, and I informed the office that if the lady continues moving towards our yurt that there will be a problem and I will have to take action to defend my family.

To further avoid the situation I quickly moved the kids to the van so get then away from the situation. So we drove done to the day use area to let the kids run around and play.

While we were there that truck was sitting there. Apparently the guy took off and was hiding from the police in the park somewhere.

We decided to then leave and go to Medford to have dinner. We assumed that everything would be handled After we got back.

Once we arrived at our yurt at 8pm we noticed that same truck was parked at the yurt right across from us with the door wide open. I didn’t know where this guy was. So I went and cleared the bathrooms so that my wife could use them.

Apparently being high out of his mind, hiding from the cops, and being a disturbance and involved in domestic issue, and having scared renters isn’t enough for the park ranger to ask him to leave the park. Instead he’s now in the yurt...

The front gate wasn’t staffed the entire time we were there. Understaffed and/or COVID, I suppose. We had reserved online so we just went to our sites. A ranger arrived about an hour later to check us in. We asked if she would trim a tree that was rubbing against our motorhome, and she said “maybe if we have time”. They never did trim it so after a couple of days we did it ourselves! This was our first time here, and it was not a good impression. There is no screening of who’s coming in or what they are driving. We saw many people sleeping in their cars with piles of junk and trash laying around. Several times there were three or more cars in one site. There were a lot of very old campers and lots of tents. Another RVer we talked to said it had really gone downhill since the last time they were here. The rangers did kick someone out who was being a scary nuisance to us and others. In 8 years of travel, this is one of the few parks where we have felt unsafe. The sites and roads are paved which is a positive. Trees need trimming on all the roads. We saw very few, if any, sites that were level. Most of the longest sites (including ours) have a curve near the front which makes it interesting to park an un-bendable motorhome. Many sites are also awkward to back into due to the angle and trees. There is nice spacing between sites and tall trees that offer some shade. Grass is optional and is losing the battle to dirt and sticky weeds. There are many, many ankle breaker holes dug by ground squirrels and gophers. We even lucky enough to have a broken water sprinkler that we had to cover to avoid tripping over it. Each site comes with a coveted, tired picnic table. The campground is right by I-5 so there is constant traffic noise regardless of your site. The restrooms and showers are old and need a good cleaning. They did have toilet paper and paper towels. There is no WI FII. Verizon was 4g 4 bars. Satellite is possible in some sites. If you are towing, it is best to unhook your vehicle in the amphitheater parking lot or you will block the road at your site. We visited some of the wineries and breweries. It was very smoky when we were there so didn’t do any outdoor activities. Definitely left a bad taste...

Words can't describe how backward this place is. First off, it's just a rest area that charges you $50 to overnight.

No one works the Ranger Hut, so you have to pay online and put your pass on the dash.

I initially "paid" (free) for one night. Within a couple of minutes of parking, a woman is banging on my RV asking to see my pass - it's on the dash in plain sight for her to see as the instructions told me.

I woke up the next morning and was exhausted from traveling, so I called reservations and asked to stay over another night because the campground was only about 25% booked, and my spot was still available. I was told that I would not be able to extend my stay and that i would need to book my second night, leave at checkout, and return at 4 pm. I decided not to book and see what I felt like later.

I ended up driving and sitting in a parking lot 45 minutes away for the day, went back around 330, and no one was working the hut again. I drove to every camp host, and everyone was "off duty." So I called reservations again (around 3:45 now) and asked if I could go ahead and get a spot since it's almost 4. They told me no, that I would need to wait until 4 pm. 4:05p comes, and I find a spot I like, go to take care of my dog, and halfway booking the site and the ... ranger was banging on my RV telling me I can't be there without having a site booked. Ma'am, I tried ALL DAY. I just arrived. Your state can take it's over priced campgrounds and eat dirt. I left there and drove out of state to ca. NEVER have I had lunatics banging on my RV like this place.

That was my 4th trip through OR this year. The 3 times I purposely didn't stay except to drive through because their state parks are double the price of any others in the US. They have disabled vet passes for free camping, which I applied, but unlike other states, they will not mail it to a district office for you to pick up. Since I live full-time in my RV, I had no way to receive the pass for months. Once I got it, I thought I was going to spend quite some time finally exploring the state, but I have no desire to step foot in another park of theirs again. Free camping or not, they couldn't pay me to go to...