My family all had a wonderful time at Mollala Ripple and we all agreed we are looking forward to spending more time here soon. James has clearly put a lot of thought and care into creating a beautiful, clean, and stress-free experience in nature for his guests.
A couple standouts for us included warm running water, a proper sink, and yes even soap in the soap dispenser (!) in the public area, clean toilets and additional sinks with soap and water in the main restroom/shower area, and a 24/7 vending cooler with a nice selection of reasonably priced items if someone in your group really wishes they brought a Diet Coke or two. The list goes out, but let it suffice that the camp site and amenities exceeded our expectations, despite having read many of the glowing reviews and photos.
One thing I’ll add that wasn’t entirely clear to me beforehand is that all the campsites are really immediately adjacent to the river, right at the crest of the bank. You can’t really go wrong. Site 4 is right next to the public area with the hot water sink, main restroom/shower cluster, and access down to the river, but none of the sites are more than a one minute walk away from those facilities down the flat access road. Since there is the single river access leading to a wide stretch of river (at least when we visited mid-September), it didn’t appear like you could really go wrong with any of the sites assuming you meet the stated size criteria for your setup.
Finally, when we visited in late-September, the water level was low enough for my 4 and 6 year olds to have a great time searching through the rocks for critters and cool rocks for hours. We found fish, crawfish, and even a garder snake! Apparently they are strong swimmers. Even so, there were still areas with water plenty deep enough for swimming if desired, and the water temp was cool but quite pleasant, especially for an Oregon river.