French Prairie Rest Area (Northbound) | Informal Campsite

April 12th, 2024 by ethicalhardboard62

Great over night park, you can park in the 3rd lot back and hear nothing from the road, clean bathrooms, the place felt safe.

March 24th, 2024 by nelsonalisha17

Super clean rest area with big lots for tractor trailers/ RVs and plenty of parking for cars as well. I did see an attendee on site cleaning but don’t know if they stay over night. we stayed the afternoon and night here with no problems. We did see some questionable cars but didn’t have any trouble or things bothered with as well stayed here in our RV

December 17th, 2023 by h.leforrest

3 huge lots. As you can imagine, the further back you drive hoping to gain more privacy, the more congested it gets as others have the same idea. I did stay in the back lot as I was committed at that point before having to exit. I car camped in my SUV for the night. While I did notice some, "questionable" vehicles, there wasn't any riffraff going on. By morning many more vehicles came in but I didn't hear any of them. everyone just stayed to themselves and seemed to respect other people's boundaries. I'm a sensitive sleeper and can't deal with BS when I'm trying to sleep, so this wound up being a good spot.
Go
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September 15th, 2023 by whiskeychicken

The northbound rest area is a very good clean spot. There is a secondary lot to the right past the main lot. Clean, morning shade, low freeway noise. Typically lots of open spaces. Good van life spot

September 6th, 2023 by Robert Davila

Excellent spot for this first time car camper! Plenty of spaces where I pulled in in my Outback around 7 last night. I set up my sleeping pad, stuffed plugs in my ears around 8 and went right to sleep. I heard occasional big rigs pulling in but no one being loud or making noise. Woke up to use bathroom around midnight and was glad to find them open and in decent shape for rest stop bathrooms. Slept again until 4:40 this morning (my regular wake-up time), hit the bathroom, rolled up my sleeping gear, and drove out. Was surprised to see a lot of cars that I had seen at midnight were already gone. All in all, it was a very good experience, and I would definitely stay again if I come back this way.

August 29th, 2023 by ericalanholbrook

This is an awesome rest stop. I think the bathrooms in the back area are closed, but other than that it's so nice. It's humongous and we couldn't hear interstate noise at all. A bunch of big rigs and car sleepers.

August 25th, 2023 by sylvin.bahr

My first time sleeping out of my car in a non campground and this spot was awesome. Pretty quiet, all things considered and it was not sketchy. There were tons of other cars, rvs and semis. Would stay again.

August 5th, 2023 by Emma Hardee

Good for a night! Showed up around 7pm and it was a bit busy, but open enough to where I could pick from different areas. There is 3 total sections it seems like on both sides. A few van lifers, but also a handful of people traveling out of their cars. Overall, a bit noisy, but definitely good for a night. I felt pretty safe as a solo female traveler.

April 24th, 2023 by bras.lorene

Arrived here around 6:30 pm, the sign says 12 hours but we had such a good night of sleep that we left around 10am. Yes it’s noisy because of the trucks, but we felt very safe. The restrooms were pretty clean considering the numbers of persons that come here. Will definitely come again.

March 19th, 2023 by maarten.buckens

Very nice and big rest area. No sketchy/homeless people so we felt safe here sleeping in our car. People are disgusting when they use a public restroom… but luckily someone came to clean the toilets in the morning. Would stay here again!

February 21st, 2023 by wanderingstoners

Absolutely gorgeous rest stop with an insane amount of room. Naturally, this means there are more than your average amount of permanent residents. No issue, they didn't bother anyone.

October 12th, 2022 by emmaorchard96

A good spot to be near Portland or if you’re passing through. It was very busy, lots of trucks idling through the night and coming and going, I just wore earplugs and it was fine but a good safe spot to spend the night near the city

September 24th, 2022 by GotPassport

It was already dark when we pulled in here. We decided to be in the back lots away from big trucks and the freeway. There’s still some road noise. Read great things about the scenery of this stop (seen photos also) so we are looking forward to waking up to the trees!

June 19th, 2022 by drumminrocks

French Prairie Rest Area (Northbound) on I-5

I stayed here overnight and it has got to be one of the nicer rest areas I’ve ever been to. You are allowed to stay 12 hours at rest stops in OR. Like another person mentioned, there is additional parking in two lots behind the main building. Follow the signs - multiple buildings and a ton of places to park, both for cars and pull-through spots for larger rigs and semi trucks. The trees surrounding make for beautiful scenery. This was a good place to park for a night. I would recommend it.

February 22nd, 2022 by jack

Southbound in overflow lot was very quiet. Would stay again. 2 bars Verizon.

September 27th, 2021 by nadiroselei

Great rest area, spacious, tons of ppl were here overnight. The southbound rest area might be a little less crowded. 3 bars Verizon lte, NO TREE COVERAGE. Super rainy today

August 19th, 2021 by TG_Ltd

Noisy - but I ain’t complaining - it’s free and legal!

December 21st, 2020 by cyrushuynh

Was here for 1 night. Three lots, make a right turn after the restrooms for the 2 lots in the back-quieter except for cars driving past pulling in for the night. All quiet after 10pm. Lots of trucks-all big spaces filled when I got here at 8:30pm but pulled into 2 car spaces-plenty of those. I’d stay again.

August 30th, 2020 by bruce.richards

great spot here, parking in rear is best. expect busiest day to be Sunday night. get here early.

August 13th, 2020 by carloslivingston

Bar-none one of the best Rest Areas I have ever been on!

February 24th, 2020 by kittihediger

love these rest stops.... these 2, frenh prairie south is great and french prairie north is bigger... both quiet and great to chill out for 12 hours.... then leave for awhile and hiy thd other side for another 12 hours.... no one bugs you

October 1st, 2019 by jjustj

very big rest area n bound or s bound I 5

August 26th, 2019 by amandeeep

Huge parking lots, easy access, convenient, easy to find, gorgeous, lots of trees, bathrooms, just past mile marker 281

August 9th, 2019 by gilipr_

excellent place to spend the night, as described, exceeded expectations.

May 27th, 2019 by j.krohn84

After we have tried several walmarts (seems like overnight parking in whole Oregon prohibited) and truck stops we decided to give this rest area a try. I am positively surprised. Lot of trees and lawn. Restrooms are ok. And it was relatively quiet after 22pm. Normally only 12h parking allowed. We definitely stayed longer. Best spot if you want to spend the night near the hwy and before entering Portlandi...coming from the south. At least if you don't want to pay. Parking lot fills up quickly after 7pm. Lots of trucks turning in. Try to park in the smaller stalls on the site if your rig isn't longer than maybe 22 feet.

January 29th, 2019 by WanderingBison.ca

Exactly as described. Works very well for a night in-transit. Relatively quiet if you use the additional area. Felt safe because there are a lot of other folks doing the same and the State Troopers came by a few times. No issues at all.

October 15th, 2018 by chantelhb

Lots of parking, very spacious! My 22 foot rig fit easily into the angled spaces for regular cars, but there are many large slots available too. Do pull through to the “additional parking” area. It was quiet for the night. Restrooms were clean in the morning. Lots of green space and big trees.

August 15th, 2018 by Ohlavan

As described before, huge rest area outside Portland. Definitely best to park in the Additional parking area if you want to avoid noise. Some weird people but overall, it felt safe. We had a good night of sleep.

July 14th, 2018 by AdventuresWithChewy

Good for one night. A lot of parking... best to stay in area marked “additional parking” as it seemed to be less noisy.

June 16th, 2018 by eyalo365

on west side look for "additional parking" far from I5 noise.

June 24th, 2017 by facebook.Roadtrip.Steph.Jimmy

Like describe, but very noisy, good for 1 night

December 20th, 2016 by instagram.com/2.5nomads

Good spot to spend the night, additional parking at the back is quieter

August 16th, 2016 by facebook.com/megamacaqueiros

Good place, restroom, pic nic table, drink water, lots of place. Good to stay 12 hours no more.