Camp Life

A Louisiana family with a love for the West dreams up an idyllic outdoor retreat tucked among fir and cedar trees more than 2,600 miles away from home in Southern Oregon.

- Chantal Lamers

When summer descends on Louisiana, many locals escape the unfriendly heat and humidity by catching a plane to a cooler climate, or they head to summer camp in a neighboring state. Then there are more adventurous Louisianans, like Neal and Anne Morris and their three kids, Owen, age 12, and 16-year-olds Natalia and Henry. Each summer, the New Orleans family packs their Westfalia camper with swimsuits and flip-flops and drives 48 hours to explore the wilderness of the West.

After more than two decades of road trips (pre- and post-children) to dude ranches in Wyoming, the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington, and countless national and state parks, the Morris family has yet to shake its collective affection for the region. “We reached a point in our lives where we don’t have to be practical,” says Neal. “We love being outdoors in the West, so let’s do what we love.” True to that laid-back Big Easy spirit, they doubled down on an acre of land off Oregon’s Chetco River, where they built the outdoor camp of their dreams.