Richardson Park Campground

I was definitely not impressed with this camp site. When we arrived it smelled like a sewer and this didn’t go away until the next day. There was also ants everywhere in the camp site. I expected bugs but this was over the top.
I think the worst part about this campground is the customer service. When we arrived no one was in the booth to welcome us or give us any information. The next day there were multiple staff members going around in golf carts demanding to collect money from people on the spot. Ridiculous considering it was mid day. They also tried to charge us 7.00 for an extra car and 7.00 more for the boat attached on the second car. That doesn’t even make sense and I have never heard of a camp group charging for that. A boat is not a car and obviously cannot drive on land. The staff also argued with us, stating this policy and information is listed online, «and $ 7.00 per extra vehicle» is all it says. I would not go back to this campground.

We camped here for one night while on a road trip and had a fine experience. There were plenty of open and available camp sites when we arrived, some more private than others. The people in charge were off duty so we were able to pay by putting our money in an envelope. It was a fair rate, I believe $ 25. The bathrooms and showers were pretty clean. There were electric hook ups at the camp sites, too. People were respectful and quiet. It was a fine place to camp for a night, but I don’t think I could imagine staying any longer than that as there wasn’t anything too spectacular or exciting about this place.

Just like any other concrete site. The playgrounds were just a few rusty swings. The blue-​green algae kept us from swimming. Making matters worse our ice chest was stolen in the middle of the night.

This is a very family & RV oriented type of campground. It’s primarily for families who have children, boats, RVs, big gas guzzling trucks and other vestigages of the typical Middle America kinds of lifestyle (shopping at Costco, for example).
It’s a pretty tidy campground — could use more trees, fewer signs about poison oak nailed to the trees that are there. The camp hosts are legion here — and they are all extremely friendly and helpful.
I landed here just at sunset on Fourth of July — the campground was packed, but I was able to get a spot in the «hiker/​biker» camp area (which would only take 4 tents) despite the fact that I later saw plenty of camp sites that were reserved only for someone’s boat/​trailer (so a tent area, picnic table & fire pit were just being unused!)
Folks stay up late drinking beer and shooting off fireworks, the I think I was the first person up and about except for the janitor at 5:30am the next morning in Campground B. I don’t know that I would make this a destination but it would do in a pinch and I imagine that it would be far less crowded off-​holiday.
The reservoir is big enough that it has multiple marina areas — and they seemed to be having a fireworks showdown which was enjoyable though not spectacular.
Great for kids & families!

We had a great time at Richardson campground. We were driving north on I-​5 to Seattle. Tucked off I-​5, this campground is on an enormous, beautiful lake with sailboats, fishing, & swimming. The lake is not visible from the campground, but that’s because it’s tucked in a beautiful forest.
We were just passing through for a night, but we ended up renting the camp’s surrey (4 – 5 seater bicycle) and riding around the park, then we had dinner by the lake and the kids swam (water is pretty cloudy). The park staff were nice and helpful.
The only downside was that we couldn’t spend more time there and we knew we wouldn’t be able to come back again.
I do recommend a more secluded campsite in Camp A closest to the lake. This is a county park, so there are some interesting camping groups…

Richardson Park is the official Lane County campground on Fern Ridge reservoir just west of Eugene. I have had the pleasure of visiting this park on 2 separate occasions — once to chill with a friend who was camping here for Oregon Country Fair, and the second time recently with a 5-​star group of friends who camp here every year on Labor Day weekend.
The camp is divided into 2 areas — camps A and B. One is heavily wooded and sits adjacent to the day use area and Marina right on the reservoir. The other area is set back off the lake amongst sparse evergreen trees but offers more open, flat, grassy greenbelts between campsites. There’s not much privacy or shelter in this second area, and it happens to be where I camped this year.
The sites cost $ 20 are long enough to pull about 3 full-​size cars into (first car is free, each extra car is $ 6.50, which I don’t get, since I’m renting the space, I should get use of the whole parking slip regardless of whether I have one bog motor home or 3 small cars). The area associated with each site is fairly large. I shared one site with a couple of other large tents, and we were not crammed together in the least. The bathrooms and showers are clean and centrally located. $.50 will get you a nice hot shower for about 7 minutes (I didn’t time it, but it was more than ample time for me to wash and warm up).
This campground can be said to be good for groups, for sure, bit it’s not really picturesque in the least. It’s basically grass and trees, and had I not wandered across the road and through the other campground to see the lake, I could just as well have been camping, well, in someone’s big grassy backyard. That said, there was plenty of area in which we could set up games like bocce ball, and the 2 horseshoe pits kept many in our group occupied. It’s definitely convenient to Fern Ridge, and it’s quiet enough, so if your activities take you out to the lake, then you’re in good position to capitalize on that.
All this said, the campground leaves a bit to be desired. Some more trees, for one, would be nice. There are some campsites that offer nothing but a paved parking space and a fire pit. I’d be pissed if I were in one of those. Also, the 7am cleaning of the bathrooms is really annoying if you’re camping anywhere near said bathrooms. And third, the camp host is a little rude.
Oh, and it rains on Labor Day at this campground (and supposedly has done so for the past few years as well), so if you’re not into wet-​camping, this may not be your bag. Use of the reservoir requires a fairly nice day, and if you can’t use the lake, there’s not much to do in the nearby campground or surrounding areas.
Overall, a decent campground. Good thing I was hanging with some cool folks, or I might have decided to spend the second-​half of my Labor Day weekend somewhere a bit more dry and a lot more entertaining.