Collier Memorial State Park–Railroad Museum

Since our arrival here at Collier Memorial State Park we have been experiencing unseasonably cool mornings and relatively temperate afternoons. The state park itself is a really nice little park with mostly paved, 50 amp, full hookup sites. Many are fairly level but there are some that slope a bit too much for our rig.

When we first arrived we made our way to the site we had reserved which was a pull through.  However, when we scouted it out it was apparent that we would have to lift the rear end way up to get level. The camp hosts happened by and let us know that the A Loop was first come first served and suggested a site that would work better for us. So here we are happily snuggled into site A27 in a nicely wooded and level site.

The park is nestled between the Spring Creek and the Williamson River which makes it conducive to enjoyable walking along the trails. Lots of fisherman have been trying their luck fly fishing in the catch and release Spring Creek, mostly from the shore with a few waders. Just across the state road is the Railroad museum that from what we heard was very interesting.

We took the short hike over to the Railroad Museum and sure enough this museum had a fairly massive collection of old logging equipment and vehicles that were used for logging during the 1800’s up to the present day.  They also had a few cabins that have been refurbished and furnished in the era they were built. Although visitors are not allowed to enter the cabins, beside each front door was a timer that turned on spotlights for viewing the inside from the front door and side windows.

The museum was a very unexpected treat and one that we will visit again before we leave. The walk along Crystal Creek to the museum is a great way to spend some time all by itself. We observed lots of birds including a nesting pair of Ospreys.  We also stumbled upon a few Ponderosa Pine saplings that had their bark gnawed off by a porcupine, and a few Aspen saplings that were nubbed by some local Beaver.

A great little campsite with plenty of nearby hiking. What could be better? I will tell you what makes it better … it is only 30 minutes away from Crater Lake National Monument! What a great place this is and I will provide more pictures of this very special area in the next blog.

Did I mention that chipmunks here are more common than cockroaches and fire ants down south…