Hit Douglas Creek for an overnight camping trip for the 4th in search of something out of the crowds where we could do some exploring and swimming. We weren't sure what to expect but overall the group was happy that we chose this area.
The road coming from the North Entrance was a little choppy. There were 3 or 4 creek crossings across the road that are un-passable without a bigger car. We were driving a highlander and gave up after the second creek and pitched camp. There were 3 or 4 campsites up to the 3rd crossing that were fairly large which were occupied, but on a non-holiday weekend I find it hard to believe these would all be occupied. If you can make it past the 3rd creek crossing where we setup camp, there were some pretty nice areas in the trees. All in all the campsites were pretty nice, not a lot of trash, not too many bugs, free (BLM land), and people were having campfires, but there were no amenities.
After putting down stakes the group hit the main road to seek out a good swimming hole in the creek. We were hoping to find something a little closer to camp but ended up walking the entirety of the canyon to the south entrance (about 2 miles) where we found the awesome swimming holes. If you're just looking for a day trip to swim, head for the south entrance, we didn't see any other places along the creek that were deep enough or cleared of foliage enough to be called a 'swimming hole'. Unfortunately it got pretty crowded, but it was worth it. Side note- we passed a county sheriff on our 'hike' who was driving a newer explorer, and he managed to make it across all the creek crossings (We watched him tackle the 4th crossing, which was pretty rough), that was the only car that we saw cross the 3rd creek in the 2 days we were there.
The canyon was pretty, quiet and clean, but nothing spectacular. Besides the main road, there wasn't a lot to explore. I'd give this 3/5 stars, with so many things in the surrounding area to experience I probably won't be making the trip to camp again anytime soon, but I'm glad we had the opportunity to explore and I could definitely imagine going back to the south entrance to hit the swimming holes again.
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