I assume staying in Portland would be more expensive both with the driving and it being more expensive, but it also could be nice to visit. Or is there any way to just camp in portland?
I assume staying in Portland would be more expensive both with the driving and it being more expensive, but it also could be nice to visit. Or is there any way to just camp in portland?
I haven't been to Portland in a couple of years but I seem to recall a lot of people were camping downtown. Maybe you could just pull up a tent and join, they seem like nice people, always partying too it seems so you will likely have a good time!
Rent a uhaul van camp down by the river
In all seriousness, I know people who camped 4 miles north of Eugene (during Worlds). They didn't want to spend tons on a hotel in Eugene and were all geared up, outdoorsy types, so they just camped here (15 minutes away) from Hayward.
Caveat: you need a car b/c the campground is too far from campus and you need a tent and sleeping bags, there are no cabins.
Now that I am looking at this campground, I want to camp there! It looks great.
https://www.lanecounty.org/government/county_departments/public_works/parks/our_parks/armitage_park
Car camp or self storage unit
Stay in parking lot at McKenzie Willamette Medical Center. Hospitals are great places to car camp because they have 24/7 security. Park at or near employee lot. I've done this numerous times and never been questioned or had anything happen.
Another option is to park at a car dealership or large auto repair shop. They all have employee parking spaces. Some are behind gates but most of the times aren't.
The nice thing is with a car you can move around night to night if you want to.
Avoid hotel parking lots. During big events/sold out nights they actually get your license plate info and will tow. Avoid near parks.
If you find a school that's in a more rural area you can almost always sleep in their parking lots. I've done this before marathons. It's a little dicey if no one else is doing it as you'll stick out for cops.
Rent a public storage unit for a month. You can do this online. Biggest negatives are normally a lack of power and lack of bathroom. You could always set up an air mattress, solar lights, sleeping bag. I wouldn't recommend this for more than a few days as technically it's illegal but most of the time they'll never know.
Check out "Stealth Camping" series of vids on YouTube.
I've rented a minivan and slept in the long term parking at airports. Seemed safe and no problem going in and out of the terminal to use bathroom.
MeHereYouWhere?! wrote:
Car camp or self storage unit
Stay in parking lot at McKenzie Willamette Medical Center. Hospitals are great places to car camp because they have 24/7 security. Park at or near employee lot. I've done this numerous times and never been questioned or had anything happen.
Another option is to park at a car dealership or large auto repair shop. They all have employee parking spaces. Some are behind gates but most of the times aren't.
The nice thing is with a car you can move around night to night if you want to.
Avoid hotel parking lots. During big events/sold out nights they actually get your license plate info and will tow. Avoid near parks.
If you find a school that's in a more rural area you can almost always sleep in their parking lots. I've done this before marathons. It's a little dicey if no one else is doing it as you'll stick out for cops.
Rent a public storage unit for a month. You can do this online. Biggest negatives are normally a lack of power and lack of bathroom. You could always set up an air mattress, solar lights, sleeping bag. I wouldn't recommend this for more than a few days as technically it's illegal but most of the time they'll never know.
Check out "Stealth Camping" series of vids on YouTube.
Car camping is doable but we are talking about Eugene here. There's a ton of security at storage units and car dealers including razor wire. With a heavy vagrant community, businesses have taken a lot of measures to eliminate tresspassing and vampiring energy.
Get a rental car and park on the street in Springfield or near campus. Still need a place to clean up. Plenty of Safeway grocery store bathrooms to lock yourself in for a bit to freshen up, get something to eat. Just park on the street nearby.
I admit to having not been to Eugene in 6 years so not sure how bad it's gotten
You could always get a membership at Planet Fitness to shower. They are (I think) month to month. Looks like 24 hours a day during the week but do close during the weekends.
Just make sure to cancel.
Is anyone seriously thinking of road-tripping it up there? Like in, 24hrs of driving, just to get there? Crazy.
Too bad the stadium is not in a convenient location, like Chicago, Minneapolis, etc.
Why all the psycho options: sleeping in front of a hospital, renting a uhaul, renting a storage unit with no bathroom, sleeping in a car for a while and then moving your vehicle, and so on? These are all crazy.
Just buy a nice little tent and camp in a beautiful campground 10 minutes north of Eugene. Why is this not the obvious answer? I know people who did it and they had a great time (during worlds).
I even posted the link. It is an actual, good solution.
saving $ wrote:
I assume staying in Portland would be more expensive both with the driving and it being more expensive, but it also could be nice to visit. Or is there any way to just camp in portland?
You could also stay in Salem or south Salem and just drive. It's a bit shorter than staying in Portland and is only 65 miles. You could also stay in Corvallis, OR and make the 52 mile commute.
Camp by the river, get a portable shower, hang it from a tree and rinse off each day after a run. You'll manage. Or pay for a gym pass for a real shower. Fukk paying $400-500 a night for crap hotels.
If you're asking this.... You should probably just have your money
Old hand wrote:
Camp by the river, get a portable shower, hang it from a tree and rinse off each day after a run. You'll manage. Or pay for a gym pass for a real shower. Fukk paying $400-500 a night for crap hotels.
Camping is white trash
Pay up $ wrote:
Camping is white trash
If someone wants to not throw away three grand in obscene motel rates and attend the Olympic Trials, this is the way to do it. Yiu're just soft.
If the city of Eugene would get their head out of their butt all they have to do is set up a fenced camp from Civic Park to South Eugene HS through Amazon Park and charge a couple hundred bucks a head to camp and have access to bathrooms and showers. Between the Field House, YMCA and the HS, theres a tremendous amount of property, facilities and space within walking distance to Hayward Field to house spectators. The wealthier fans that dont like camping will still get their rooms at the hotels and the mid rangers air bnb but Im thinking theirs a huge potential to fill empty seats with another economical group. Place several food trucks, porta pottie station, get a couple stages set up and have some music, social zones etc... The poo pooers of this idea have never been to multi day outdoor concerts, rode on 400 mile bike tours with 20,000 other people etc...Add some security etc...and they could make a ton of bank. The locals would come out and spend their money too. Yeah, yeah but but but the homeless people....well they got swept away for the WC and are mostly located on the NW corner of town opposite of Hayward Field anyway.
Has it occurred to anyone that more cities don't bid because of threads like this one? If I worked for a local Chamber of Commerce, tourism board, or sports authority, I would read this thread and think to myself, "Running fans are a bunch of cheap weirdos! They seemingly don't like spending money and are willing to live in parking lots and storage units to avoid paying for hotels and short-term rentals. They complain about ticket prices, have no interest in culture or other outdoor activities. Most won't eat in our restaurants or buy things at our local shops. These guys are not worth rolling out the red carpet for! We'll make more money and generate more tourist traffic with youth soccer and lacrosse tournaments plus a regional comic-con than we will off these tightwads.".
Eugene T. Roll wrote:
Has it occurred to anyone that more cities don't bid because of threads like this one? If I worked for a local Chamber of Commerce, tourism board, or sports authority, I would read this thread and think to myself, "Running fans are a bunch of cheap weirdos! They seemingly don't like spending money and are willing to live in parking lots and storage units to avoid paying for hotels and short-term rentals. They complain about ticket prices, have no interest in culture or other outdoor activities. Most won't eat in our restaurants or buy things at our local shops. These guys are not worth rolling out the red carpet for! We'll make more money and generate more tourist traffic with youth soccer and lacrosse tournaments plus a regional comic-con than we will off these tightwads.".
Eugene is a small city so its a bit late to book hotels now. They simply don't have the hotel capacity for anything beyond a U of Oregon home game. Looks like some low quality motels still have rooms for 150 a night, but decent hotels are going for over 500 a night in Eugene for the week of the trials.
The choices are strategies like these or a drive from out of town. The biggest problem is Eugene relies on out of towners to fill the stands and does not generate enough local interest. For other events, its hard to get tickets, NOT hotel rooms.
I live here and am well aware of the limitations. While I enjoyed having Worlds in my backyard, the city wasn't 100% ready and COVID killed a lot of the planned new lodging that was to be built. I do find myself a bit mystified that a lot of track fans can't use Google Maps and travel sites like Kayak or Expedia to find accommodations in nearby places like Corvallis, Salem, and Albany. It's either $500/nt. in town, driving 100 miles from Portland each way and each day, or this strange stealth camping bent. For a bunch of "smart" fans, they seem rather unable to utilize creative thinking.
Civic leaders do talk to each other when bidding for things like sports events, conventions, tradeshows, and such. If a city like Austin were thinking about hosting a USATF Championships, NCAA, or Olympic Trials, then they would reach out to Eugene, Sport Oregon, and the U of O Sports Management Program who would tell them how much or how little economic activity it generated. By not supporting the sport in person and, by default, not creating revenues for local businesses, are we effectively handing these events to Eugene every time because no metropolitan area or university is willing to build facilities if the ROI isn't there.
The bottom line is that track fans better start to spend money travelling to championship events and stimulating the local economies or Hayward Field will become the permanent site of all domestic championship events in America simply because Eugene has a proper facility and Uncle Phil's endowment money.