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The lure of the open spaces Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming Camille Bridges of Eagle Point finds a shady spot at Rogue Elk Park Thursday for a campout this weekend with about 15 family members from California. Rogue Elk is one of several area campgrounds open on a first-come, first-served basis for those who make last-minute plans for the holiday. Camp sites start to fill up for holiday weekend By MARK FREEMAN Rogue Elk Park near Shady Cove has it, but Hart-Tish Park off Upper Applegate Road doesn't. There's a lot of it at Douglas County's Diamond Lake, but so little at Lost Creek Lake that you have to drive two miles down Highway 62 to get there. It's water - enough to swim in, fish in, throw rocks in and just twiddle your toes in over the Labor Day weekend. And cool water is the hot commodity today among campers who are flocking to lakeside and riverside campgrounds for the annual three-day swan song to summer. First-come, first-served Here are some area campgrounds that have campsites available on a first-come, first-served basis during Labor Day weekend. Abbott Creek - off Abbott Creek Road west of Highway 62 near Union Creek. Diamond Lake - off Highway 230 in east Douglas County. Farewell Bend - off Highway 62 just north of Union Creek. Fourbit Ford - off the Butte Falls-Fish Lake Road northeast of Willow Lake. Lake of the Woods - off Highway 140 just east of the Jackson-Klamath county line. Rogue Elk - along Highway 62 north of Shady Cove. Squaw Lakes - off Squaw Creek Road near Applegate Lake. Union Creek - off Highway 62 at Union Creek north of Prospect. Whiskey Spring - Near Fourbit Ford campground off the Butte Falls-Fish Lake Road. Campground managers say traditional heavy-use holiday campgrounds such as those at Howard Prairie, Applegate and Lost Creek lakes likely will be in less demand because of low-water conditions brought on by Southern Oregon's ongoing drought. So campers are looking elsewhere, and those still without solid plans today likely will consider locales such as Rogue Elk Campground, a small Jackson County facility wedged between the Highway 62 shoulder and the Rogue River near Shady Cove. "That's going to be a really popular site this weekend, and I think that will fill up first," says Paul Korbulic, whose Jackson County Roads and Parks Department runs several area campgrounds. "There's water in the river and there's fish in the water," Korbulic says. That's not the case at Hart-Tish Park along the shores of Applegate Lake in southwest Jackson County. The lake level is so low that the Rogue River National Forest never even opened the campground this summer, sending campers looking to the northeast side of the county for sites. With just 16 open campsites Thursday morning, the Rogue Forest's Farewell Bend campground likely will fill early today because its campsites are nestled beneath old-growth Douglas fir and the cool waters of the far upper Rogue flow by. "Farewell Bend has 63 spots and flush toilets," says Dick Goodboe, whose Rogue Recreation, Inc., runs Farewell Bend and several other Rogue Forest campgrounds. "That always fills up first." But nearby Union Creek Campground probably will still have spots open into Friday night for those getting a late-late start, Goodboe says. And out-of-the-way campgrounds such as Abbott Creek, Whiskey Spring, Hamaker and Fourbit Ford likely will have sites available into Saturday, Goodboe says. "If I was looking for a last-minute place to go," he says, "I'd go to Union Creek or Hamaker." Rogue Forest and Jackson County campgrounds are all filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so getting a nice spot comes down to getting there early - and going to campgrounds others might not consider. Diamond Lake's campgrounds, for example, are far from full, chiefly because an August algae bloom caused boating and swimming closures that were just lifted Thursday. Officials say the water is safe and open to boaters, swimmers, anglers and water-skiers. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.