FLORENCE ELKS LODGE RV PARK, FLORENCE, OREGON

Our Opinion: Rave.  This is a beautiful, lovingly maintained Elks RV park.  Private; you must be an Elk to stay here.

Date of Stay: September 18-23, 2009.

Weather During Stay: Rain, sun, cool, warm... typical Oregon late summer weather.

Sites: Forty roomy sites are spread throughout a large RV park, four or five miles north of the town of Florence and the Elks lodge there.  All sites have 30/50 amp electricity and water, and 4 channel cable TV (the 3 networks plus PBS).  Sixteen sites are long pull-throughs, facing north; the remaining sites are back-ins. All are suitable for big rigs, level, and unusually spacious, with room for your slides, awnings, and tow or towed vehicle at your site.  All sites have wooden picnic table. 

A bath house has toilets and showers.  Two dump stations serve the park. Roads and sites are gravel.  Large and small evergreens surround the park and are scattered throughout, so a roof-mounted satellite would present challenges in some sites. Beautiful landscaping throughout the park.

Rate: $18 for electricity and water, dump station use, cable TV and WiFi. 

Phone/radio/TV: Verizon phones and aircard work here, but the signal is rather weak – it was difficult to make phone calls. We opted to use the free, blazing fast WiFi instead of our aircard.  Pick a site carefully for roof-mounted TV satellite (many will work).  Just four cable TV stations.  We didn't check antenna reception.  Local NPR on 89.7 FM.

Elevation/Landscape/Terrain: Level sites in a beautiful RV park separate from the Elks lodge (RV parking with water and electricity is also available in the lodge parking lot). Elevation is near sea level. Views are of large and small evergreens (looks more like the mountains than the coast) with other rigs hidden in the foliage.  

Lighting/Noise: Quiet and dark at night.

Favorite Sites: Many, many beautiful sites here.  Because of our roof-mounted TV satellite, we would avoid 1-6, 22-27, 31, 32, 37 and 38.  Sites 9 through 20 are south facing back-ins, nice to catch winter sun (if it exists).

Hiking/Walking: Walk around the park for a short bout of exercise.  Sutton Recreation area (across Hwy 101) has hikes through the dunes, or head back south towards Florence a short distance to Heceta Beach for miles of beach walking.  For a longer hike, drive several miles north to Heceta Head Lighthouse to hike over the headlands. 

Comments: What a beautiful park!  Wonderful, friendly hosts.  It’s about 5 miles to Florence and the Elks lodge.  We began in site 10 (a back-in), then moved to site 29 (a pull-through) so we could stay a few days longer than our original plan.  Reservations recommended; probably essential during the summer.  For an excellent meal, visit Waterfront Depot in Old Town Florence (close to the bridge), a favorite with locals (for reservations, call 541-902-9100)