Union Creek Campground

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FOREST SERVICE FIRE RESTRICTION EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2018: Standalone Charcoal BBQ’s not allowed; Standalone Propane BBQ’s are allowed. Charcoal and wood fires are only allowed in the campsite fire rings.

This picturesque campground in the midst of old growth forest cradles Union Creek as well as the intersection of Union Creek and the Rogue River. Groceries and a hot meal are close by in Prospect Oregon, or within walking distance at The Union Creek Resort. Amazing fishing locations, numerous hiking trails are within easy access to the Union Creek and Upper Rogue River Trails. Sites to see include Rogue Gorge and Natural Bridge which can be readily accessed via an easy trail adjacent to the Rogue River, and River Bridge.

Union Creek Campground can accommodate trailers or RVs under 28-feet but does not offer hookups within the campground loop. However, immediately outside the entrance–just before the main gate off a side dirt road–there are 3 RV sites (RV1, RV2, RV3) available with hookups reservable online. These 3 RV sites are considered part of Union Creek Campground.

65%-70% of the sites at Union Creek Campground are available for reservation through www.recreation.gov with the remaining sites designated as “first come, first served”.  

Sounds from Union Creek!

Some Union Creek history…

… Beginning in the 1860s, a wagon road connecting Jacksonville to Fort Klamath and other points east of the Cascades crossed Union Creek a short distance above its confluence with the Rogue River. After passing the site of present-day Prospect, wagons followed a dry, dusty route for ten miles north to Union Creek along the heavily forested pumice flat, paralleling and staying about a mile east of the Rogue’s lava-bordered banks. Union Creek provided the first water for travelers’ thirsty horses.

The crossing point at Union Creek was a favored spot to rest overnight before ascending the crest of the Cascades. By the late nineteenth century, the creek had become an important way-stop for tourists headed to Crater Lake.

In 1905, the U.S. Forest Service assumed control of the area where Union Creek flows into the Rogue River, and by 1925 the Union Creek crossing included a ranger station, store, tourist cabins, gas station, and Beckie’s Café, which served huckleberry pie and other “good things to eat.”

In the decades before World War II, the Forest Service permitted building of privately owned summer homes at Union Creek. During the Depression, Civilian Conservation Corps crews constructed a large campground, a rustic picnic shelter, and other facilities. In 1945, the Union Creek Lodge, built a few years before across the Crater Lake Highway from Beckie’s, included among its guests Hollywood stars Dana Andrews, Susan Hayward, and Brian Donlevy, who were filming Canyon Passage nearby.

In 1980, the resort buildings, summer homes, and CCC-era Forest Service structures were listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Union Creek Historic District.  Source