Santiam Rest Area | Informal Campsite

April 11th, 2024 by allison.gray9057

Other than being a bit noisy this was great. Lots of others parked for the night. Just noisy from the trucks coming and going and idling their engines.

October 27th, 2023 by tristasmithinca88

Great spot for the night! It is a bit noisy if you pull into the first set of parking spots but if you go to the back I’m pretty sure it would be less noisy from the highway. I slept like a baby in my van I was super comfortable. A lot of grass for my dogs to run on leash which was awesome. There’s very clean restrooms here as well. 7/10 for a spot only because when I got here there was some homeless people just going through the trash at like 9-10pm.

October 25th, 2023 by peggylselby

Area away from the actual rest area by the river offered a great place to spend the night. A fair amount of road noise from the freeway but as in all it was a pleasant place to stay.

October 24th, 2023 by backroads&bananas

Stayed here last night. Actually really liked it! Much better than stealth camping somewhere. Plenty of space for my 26’ trailer. Parked at the end spot of the trailer/truck parking area. No issues with noise - I sleep with earplugs anyways. Spigot on the side of the bldg with potable water. There’s even a trail to the river behind the rest area where I walked my dog. Perfect!

July 9th, 2023 by AwkwardSUV

Good for a night but very very busy. Parking spots were almost all filled by the time the sun set, was much emptier by the morning though. If you need quiet this may not work for you. Lots of people of all types staying overnight (vans, trucks, cars, regulars, etc)

June 11th, 2023 by Ami

If you stay on a Sun evening, be warned that garbage pickup happens at like 1 am. That and a couple of super noisy motorcycles at 3 am and we did not get a good rest.

March 11th, 2023 by YukonCornelius

A couple big lots for parking, lots of campers. Great place for an overnight stay. There is a second unpaved lot along the river that's much more quiet and has lovely views.

October 25th, 2022 by sydneykirby1999

This rest area was a little difficult to navigate at night, but that could just be me. It was clean, relatively quiet besides interstate noise, and lots of grass for the dogs.

September 26th, 2022 by Nomad N Rad

We had a good night here. Lots of grass for a morning workout and there’s a forest on one side and an orchard on another so an overall nice place to spend a night. There are enough trees around to hang a hammock too!

August 22nd, 2022 by ashe

Southbound side. Very large rest area, some nice stuff shade. Busy. Many campers, several appear to be long term dwellers, on the truck/trailer side.
Nice place to stop and eat lunch and maybe take a little snooze but overall a weird vibe and I would not have felt ok re staying overnight.
My perception was probably swayed by 1) encountering a large angry man trying to pull his female companion from out of her truck due to a cigarette dispute and 2) the long term camper sitting and holding a 3’ long 4x4 timber, accompanied by staring large dogs.
It looks like there are rest stop hosts over by the car area, but they are distant from the camper area.

August 5th, 2022 by ufrannu

Very busy our first night and mostly truckers And cars but quiet at night except for cars going by on the freeway.

July 13th, 2022 by heisenberg

Enormous rest area. If you’re driving south bound, there’s the first rest area, then if you keep driving there’s some gravel pull offs next to the river and under the bridge, and if you keep driving there’s another rest area which I think is the overflow lot. 12 hour maximum stay, but you could easily get away with longer. Good cell signal, plenty of trashcans and bathrooms. Lots of semi trucks so it’s a little noisy. I slept with a few other vans in the gravel pull offs by the bridge and it was pretty quiet. Police patrolled through around 8pm and it was all good.

June 16th, 2022 by John S.

Parked along the fence line on the exit road, quiet restrooms ok
Cell signal seemed ok

May 14th, 2022 by Sam Soffes

Lots of people camping past the no camping sign. No issues and very quiet. I’ll agree with others that the sign hopefully means no tents 😄

December 12th, 2021 by wjplata

Spent two nights and a whole day here under the trees in the “in between” spots by the water. No streetlights which is a +. No one bothered us. I think the “no parking” signs are only for the areas right by them as the road is narrow. Quiet downs a bit at night. Still one of my favorite rest stops

September 22nd, 2021 by alexander.ives8

Restrooms are ok. Plenty of Rvs and trucks. If you don’t mind the engine noise good place to stay.

July 25th, 2021 by pavingclarityroad

Poor qiality photo attached but sign says 'no camping' in the dirt patch. Everything else is up for grabs. Southbound was more crowded this time.
Update: There are people camping everywhere regardless of signs. Seems to be mix of nomads, and people living in vehicles out of necessity.

July 16th, 2021 by venturingangel

Wow, what a rest stop! Apparently there’s free coffee too. There’s also an overflow spot and I saw some people parked by the river too, super cool!

June 23rd, 2021 by rickihoffman537

Stayed on the northbound side. Big mistake. Stay on the southbound as there's more room. North and south bound connect via the bridge underpass. Overall good nights sleep was just very crowded on north bound

May 13th, 2021 by taylorcaravelli

Plenty of parking & only free water fountains/water filling access I’ve been able to find in last week or so of being around Salem & Wilsonville rest areas. The north bound side has running fountains, but not southbound side. Also, no running water for fill-ability, except in restrooms, at the French Prairie rest stops at next area north on either side. Their spigots are also turned off. But French Prairie is a gorgeous rest area. Both sides are nearly identical. Both have 3 different large sections to park whatever vehicle you might have. Tons of room for dogs to roam and they can run through the woods a bit more freely without being an issue for other patrons. Have traveled all over the country and French Prairie is by far the largest and most spread out I’ve ever seen. So if you’re able to go there, it’s about a thousand times better than these other small rest stops. This one at Santiam is just not very family/kid friendly in my opinion because the areas next to the bridge are super sketchy. There’s also quite a few impound marked/stranded vehicles all about either side.

This was a long review, but I’ve barely written any on here yet. Seemed necessary. The place just feels off a bit, and definitely not a location I’m guessing most folks would want to land for upwards of their 12 hour limit per 24 hour time frame. French Prairie though...definitely a great place to chill for a bit before heading back on the road.

October 26th, 2020 by instagram.com/theombuslife

Great place but really busy with truckers coming in and out so it was noisy. If staying overnight, go over to the overflow area.

August 14th, 2020 by az4huskers

Great location. Close to river. Lots of trees, shade and picnic tables

July 11th, 2020 by isamazingjourney

Beautiful spot. Spaces for overnight. Restrooms. Great view.

November 15th, 2019 by wjplata

Really liked this rest area. Access to the river. Plenty of spots under trees/ away from parking lot lights. Underpass road connects both sides of rest area- south bound side has the wooded areas right off the connector road

July 16th, 2018 by mrmitchsanders

Mediocre rest area. Close to highway without sound barrier so noisy