John Neal Memorial Park (Linn County Park)

Zoe Littmann

We camped here 5 nights and had a decent experience. The weekend gets packed with people who don’t always follow the rules (ie: dogs off leash). The week was pretty quiet with only a couple other campers. Fire pits and picnic tables available. Access to the river. Call host was very friendly and helpful. There’s a 1.5 mile trail you can check out and wild blackberries available for picking (in summer). Our biggest complaint were the bugs. The mosquitoes ate my partner alive and I got stung twice by a yellow jacket. These occurrences made us want to remain in our rig the whole time. Plus, it was hot and muggy. Also, a few questionable people occasionally hang out at the park and seem to be regulars that frequent for the facilities. All in all it wasn’t a bad experience since we were staying here so we could visit silver falls state park and Salem, both about 30 mins away. Not much to do around here otherwise.

Dee

There is a trail that surrounds the many ponds. You could conceivably walk into the town of Lyons and grab extra supplies if needed. This is a Linn County park. There were quite a few campsites being used. The trails are nice and easy to walk on. We were there towards the end of July and people were picking the Himalayan blackberries that are on the sides of the trail.

Shealinn Pohrman

Beautiful campground. The campsite we were in is on the river. Nice place. But SO MANY MOSQUITOES!!!! SO MANY! We ended up getting every bug spray, citronella candle, everything you can think of and NOTHING HELPS. We all each had probably over 100 mosquito bites on EACH person. No joke. Be prepared. It’s terrible. We’re frequent campers and I’ve never came across so many mosquitoes while camping anywhere else.

China Rose

Beautiful park setting with ample parking and good for camping. The river runs along an estuary with birds and a wide array of wildflowers and is clean and well maintained. The host on-site is friendly and knowledgeable. It’s not a big park but it’s a wildlife area filled with natural wonders. There’s areas for activities with a kid play set and a volley ball court. There’s a boat launch but it’s no longer useable. Fisherman frequent the area and the campsites are clean. In the summer kids swim in the shallows of the river near the old bait lunch. It’s a charming slice of wilderness in a natural setting near forest and the local town of Lyons. It can get quite busy but in my recent visit I enjoyed the quiet solitude of a forest setting and the wild roses in the preserve area mixed with wild flowers and blooming blackberry brambles that had a heavenly fragrance I’ll never forget. Simply enchanting.

Chris Harp

Never actually slept here but I've lived in Lyons (the town it's located in) for about 15 years and have explored this park thoroughly many times over. It's pretty small and most of the camp sites aren't very private but I few of them are right on the river which I always thought was pretty neat. Definitely NOT a river you would want to go swimming in though. The current is extremely fast and I can't imagine anyone even the best of swimmers having a good time in there. A place I worked at always has their summer company camp out here and they all absolutely loved this place and never had any issues with park hosts.