Date: Saturday-Sunday, June 20-21, 2026
Location: Sam Brown Campground

SOTA is hosting a social campout event in the Briggs Valley on June 20-21, to celebrate the recent completion of the Taylor Creek Trail restoration project! Join us at Sam Brown campground for a weekend of camping with other awesome trail people. Incredibly, we’re not doing trail work (except maybe a little bit just for fun), and this campout is focused on recreating and enjoying the fruits of our labors.

If you enjoy camping, hiking, running, biking, dirt biking, horse riding, creek swimming, hammock napping, bird watching, or just about anything you can do in nature with friends, then this is a weekend for you.

The campground is first-come first-served and costs $10 per night plus $5 for extra vehicles. Pit toilets are available but potable water is not so bring your own water (and food). Cell service in the area is mostly nonexistent. We WILL be following rules regarding trail use, fire restrictions, and shenanigans. More details about the campground and facilities at recreation.gov.

We’ll have a fun and loose weekend with no itinerary, but there will be opportunities for group runs, bike rides, optional trail work, and maybe moto as well. We ask that everyone be familiar with the area and take responsibility for their own camping and recreational success!

Email web@southernoregontrails.org with any questions or to let us know you’re coming!

Things to do

SOTA recently completed work restoring the 7-mile Taylor Creek Trail, which is just one of many trails in the Briggs Valley. Several trails are accessible right from the campground or are a short drive, pedal, or jaunt away. Some of the activities we recommend are:

• – Mountain biking or gravel biking (road biking is also possible on NF-25)
• – Hiking
• – Trail running
• – Dirtbiking
• – Creek lounging or swimming
• – Hang out and enjoy camp!

There are many ways to find trail maps of the area. Luckily, the former SOTA organization installed trailhead kiosks so there are maps out there as well. Trailforks is a quick and easy way to explore the trails ahead of time: trailforks.com/region/taylor-creek–briggs-valley-21430

Location

Located in the middle of the Briggs Valley, you can access Sam Brown Campground from the Merlin or Selma side of the valley.

On Google Maps, navigate yourself to either “Sam Brown Horse Camp” or “Briggs Creek Trailhead” and that will put you in the right spot. When you make the turn off of the NF-25 road into Sam Brown, you’ll cross Briggs Creek and the horse camp is on the right, while the main campground is a little further up on the left. As long as all goes well, we’ll be in the main campground.

There is little to no cell service in the Briggs Valley, so plan your maps and route ahead of time to ensure you know where to meet us, if you haven’t been out to Sam Brown before.

Coordinates: 42.442857, -123.688867

Directions from Merlin:

1. 1. Drive west on Galice Rd for 8.5 miles
2. 2. After passing Morrison’s Lodge, turn left on Taylor Creek Road/NF-25 (Sign for Briggs Valley 13mi)
3. 3. Drive approximately 15 miles, stay right on NF-25 (the main, paved road) at all road splits. Do not cross any bridges over Taylor Creek (to the left). The road is paved the entire way.

What to bring & Things to know

This campout will be fully self-supported, meaning you will be responsible for yourself! Bring everything you need to have a fun, comfortable weekend of camping. SOTA will not be supplying food/drink for the group. Some key things to remember:

• Campsites cost $10 per night and $5 per extra vehicle. Plan to bring some cash with you, though supposedly this campground is being upgraded to a scan-to-pay system in the near future.
• There is no potable water, so bring all the water you’ll need for drinking, cooking, cleaning
• There are vault toilets but it’s always a good idea to bring your own extra TP
• There are fire rings and picnic tables at all the sites (check fire restrictions the day before)
• There is limited or no cell service, and no power access, so bring whatever you need to stay charged (or don’t!)
• Check the weather and pack accordingly. Also poison oak and bugs may be abundant, so we recommend some long sleeves/pants
• No dirtbiking allowed in camp
• Dogs are allowed at Sam Brown, but please have a way to manage or contain your dog out of respect for other dogs, campers, and potential horses

RSVPs not required but click below to let us know if you’re coming!

P.S. it’s also our president, Larry’s birthday on June 20th, in case you wanted to know that. He did not authorize me to put this here. 😉