Our first camping trip of 2025 was to Schwarz Park Campground, Oregon! This was also our first time camping with friends and using a group camp site. We went for two nights and had a great time!

About Schwarz Park Campground

Schwarz Park Campground is located in the South Willamette Valley by Dorena Lake, just a few miles from Cottage Grove and less than an hour from Eugene. In other words, it’s an easy drive from town and close enough to go to the store if you forgot something or go home if you need to bail!

The campground includes:

• single and double family campsites (mostly wooded and nicely separated)
• 6 group campsites (all open fields with some woods behind, some picnic tables and one campfire)
• flush toilets and showers
• drinking water
• dump station
• playground
• lots of flat paved roads
• (no electricity, water or sewer hook ups)

Things to Do

Here are the highlights of things to do at or near the campground:

• Hiking – there is a 1 mile loop from the campground through woods and by the dam that is perfect for kids (no bikes)
• Row River – there is at least one access point at the campgrounds, nice for throwing rocks or wading
• Walking/Running/Biking – access to the Row River Trail which spans 14 miles from Cottage Grove past the dam and around the lake
• Fishing in the Row River
• Dorena Dam is an easy walk from the campground or can be driven to
• Dorena Reservoir/Lake and Baker Bay is a short drive from the campgrounds for swimming and boating
• Cottage Grove Scenic Byway Tour past 7 historic covered bridges

Some Interesting History

I keep calling it Dorena Lake because that’s what everyone else called it, but its official name is Dorena Reservoir. The reservoir was created in the 1940’s for flood control via the Dorena Dam as one of 13 dams in the Willamette River’s basin. They had to relocate he original town of Dorena, named after residents Dora and Rena and population 450, to 5 miles upriver. In the winter the reservoir is drained down and no remnants exist. (For more interested info see this webpage). To cross Row River, they added the Dorena Covered Bridge which was used from 1950ish to 1974 and can still be visited today on the way to the reservoir and campground.

Our Experience

First off, I really like this campground. It’s all flat, with paved roads for biking kids, a playground, a river, a trail, and bathrooms – what else do you need? (Well, electric plugins would have been nice). I will say the cell service is limited but not completely cut off, I was able to check messages as needed.

Here is a map of the campgrounds:

Our group site (Site E) was long with the firepit at one end, which was nice for lining up all the tents and keeping the activity and noise to one end of the area when kids were put to bed early – but we ended up walking back and forth from our van a LOT carrying food to the campfire/cooking area. Site D was rounder with a central campfire area which looked nice but would require more organization of a large group to fit in. Overall, lots of options for group sites here!

Biking around there were some nice campsites along the river, not with direct access that I could tell but peacefully close, with some trees and pretty far apart. This was around sites 40’s and 50’s.

More campsites are in a beautiful wooded area with tall pines. These were site 70’s and 80’s.

The first morning we played at the campgrounds, visited the river and the playground, biked around, and played with friends at the campsite.

That afternoon everyone went to Dorena Lake at Baker Bay for swimming. It’s just a few minutes up the road from the campgrounds. There is a lot of parking and bathrooms and several different places to get in to swim that are marked off. The water was pretty low and got deep kinda quick but it was still fine for all the kids – our 6 and 8 year old swam around in life jackets and our 4 year old walked in up to her knees.

On the second morning we did the 1 mile hike from Schwarz campground through the forest and by the dam. This was the highlight for me. It says no bikes but we let our youngest take the balance bike because then we don’t have to carry her when she’s tired and it worked out great.

We started at the trailhead in the campground on the far left of the map. The first half of the trail is through woods and rather steep but still manageable with the bike and even our friends’ 3 year old walked most of it. It was beautiful and enjoyable. There was poison oak so keep an eye out and just stay on the trail.

At the wide dirt road that parallels the dam, we turned left toward the dam structure itself – you can see it in the distance. In June there were beautiful bright pink wild pea flowers lining the road.

The road goes straight all the way to the dam where the boys climbed down to a lookout and spent quite some time watching an osprey hunt.

Lastly we took the road back to the campsite and finished our hike. It was really pleasant! There is a cut-across trail to go back to camp instead of all to the way to the dam that supposedly goes by a pond, but it was uneventful and not that much shorter and we didn’t see a pond – the kids enjoyed the road by the dam better. Overall, the trail was a 10/10!

We even brought back some pea flowers for a little bouquet in our new Eurovan mug from GoWesty.

The only downside of this trip is realizing we are really outgrowing the van, as a family of 5. First, in a few years the youngest will outgrow the front seat toddler mattress. Second, as they get bigger their clothes get bigger and there is no way to fit more than 3 days’ worth of clothes for everyone in the little closet…ditto for the food eating and storage situation as they get bigger. Third, that third seat is a chore to take in and out – if you want to have the bed comfortably open or use the van for cooking you have to take it out…and then put it back in to go anywhere. Fourth, to make it work, everyone in the family needs to be super organized and tidy. And fifth, when you add in firewood and everyone’s bikes, that’s a lot to carry. We actually took the truck and the van in order to bring everything because the campsite was under an hour from home, but we can’t do that for cross country.

Yes, there are solutions to all of this – get a little luggage trailer or rack, when the kids get older they sleep in tents, when the kids are older they can manage the third seat… but we just don’t think we can make it work for longer trips, or any trip with rain. We are keeping the van forever and for short overnights and when we want to blend in with tent campers, but are thinking about something bigger for longer trips 🙂 The funny thing is, when we took the trip to Michigan with a 2 and 4 year old, it was great! But one more kids and bigger kiddos make it really tight.

I mean, this is what it looks like with the beds set up. I think the tents had more room than we did!

Also, did I mention when we got home we found that half the LP gas tank was hanging off the bottom? Two bolts fell out. I can’t imagine why, it’s not like it’s rusty or anything.

To end on a good note, this was our first trip with the new TruckFridge and NO electric hookups and it was AMAZING! We used the outlets to charge our phones a few times, and used the lights sparingly, and at the end of 2 days the battery was still full! Also, it holds so much more than the old fridge. The TruckFridge really opens new doors to camping.

Happy camping!