Blue Bay
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 7 mi
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $30–$60Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 24All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Blue Bay Campground is situated in a diverse forest of pine and fir on the south shore of Suttle Lake in Deschutes National Forest. Its proximity to high alpine lakes, lush forests and towering peaks in nearby wilderness areas make it a popular destination for individual and group camping excursions. Keep reading
Recreation
Popular activities in the area include hiking, fishing and motorized boating in the summer months, as well as cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in the winter. Numerous non-motorized trails can be accessed from the campground and in the surrounding area. The 3.2-mile Suttle Lake Loop Trail meanders through the developed recreation areas on Suttle Lake. The trail follows the wooded shoreline of the lake, providing opportunities for fishing or picnicking along the way. For fishing, boats are most commonly used on Suttle Lake. Float tubes are adequate, and wading is possible in some areas. A few areas are fishable from shore. The lake sustains an excellent population of naturally reproducing kokanee, brown trout, whitefish and crayfish. The campground has a shallow boat ramp area, and most campsites have easy access to the waterfront. Motorized and non-motorized boats are allowed on Suttle Lake.
Facilities
Blue Bay Campground offers standard sites that accommodate both tents and RVs, but no hookups are available. Picnic tables and campfire rings with grills are provided, as are vault toilets and drinking water.
Natural Features
Suttle Lake is surrounded by mixed conifer forest. Its waters are deep and clear, formed in a terminal moraine, deposited by glacial ice about 25,000 years ago. Lake Creek flows eastward from Suttle Lake to the Metolius River. The clear, cold Metolius flows north from headwater springs through diverse coniferous forests and a volcanic landscape with extinct volcanoes, cinder cones, calderas and ancient lava flows.
Nearby Attractions
Visitors can explore wilderness areas, lakes, reservoirs, wild and scenic rivers and approximately 1,600 miles of trails that comprise nearly 2.5 million acres within the Deschutes National Forest and the adjacent Ochoco National Forest.
What the agency tells you
Shallow launch area at boat ramp; larger watercraft not recommended
A day use fee charged at nearby Scout Lake
Boat launch parking is for day use only and requires a recreation fee seperate from camping fees. Park your boat trailers and vehicles at your campsite please.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Prevent the spread of invasive species by inspecting and cleaning packs, equipment and tires before using lake or trails
Please Note: One RV with tow vehicle per single site or one vehicle per single tent site. Two RV’S with tow vehicle per double site or two vehicles per double tent site. Most sites can accommodate 1 extra vehicle that is not included with the reservation fee. Extra vehicle will be charged a per night fee and collected at the campground.
Fire Restrictions: Fire restrictions may be imposed at any time due to hot, dry weather conditions, at which time campfires and charcoal fires may not be allowed.
Reserved Sites will be held until check out time (NOON) the day following your arrival date. Sites must be occupied by the checkout time of that following day to hold a reservation or the site will be forfeited and released to other guests. Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.
Refunds: Refund requests made through www.recreation.gov will be charged a $10 processing fee. This fee is retained by the reservation service contractor along with the non-refundable reservation fee. All requests for the return of the non-refundable reservation fee and the cancellation fee will be declined by the campground concessionaire as they did not receive these fees (these are the fees retained by the reservation contractor, a different entity).
Don't Move Firewood: Please protect Pacific Northwest forests by preventing the spread of invasive species. Firewood can carry insects and diseases that can threaten the health of our western forests. You can make a difference by obtaining and burning your firewood near your camping destination. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Click here for more information about Deschutes National Forest
Camping or otherwise occupying a single location (including leaving camping equipment and/or related supplies) for a period longer than 14 consecutive calendar days is prohibited. ‘Location’ means the occupied area, the occupied campsite, and the National Forest System lands in the immediate vicinity thereof. Camping or occupying any location on all National Forest lands for more than 28 calendar days total during a calendar year is prohibited.
NO generator use is allowed in campgrounds between 10:00PM and 7:00AM (36 CFR 261.10). Silent power banks or battery powered devices are allowed.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 24
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…rings with grills are provided, as are vault toilets and drinking water. Natural Features Suttle Lake is…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…are provided, as are vault toilets and drinking water. Natural Features Suttle Lake is surrounded by…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 28 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Beach, Coast
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Ranger programs
- Night sky · 456th darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 2
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $30–$60 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
25 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 24 mapped sitesAll 25 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 25 of the 25 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 24 of the 25 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA BLUE BAY | 001 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 101 ft | 152 ft | 2,517 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 002 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 48 ft | 109 ft | 2,518 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 003 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 48 ft | 145 ft | 2,565 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 004 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 79 ft | 122 ft | 2,599 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 005 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 79 ft | 56 ft | 2,560 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 006 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 58 ft | 121 ft | 2,661 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 007 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 58 ft | 63 ft | 2,612 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 008 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 73 ft | 82 ft | 2,674 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 009 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 73 ft | 155 ft | 2,735 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 010 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 33 ft | 226 ft | 2,800 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 011 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 33 ft | 258 ft | 2,802 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 012 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 61 ft | 266 ft | 2,800 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 013 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 61 ft | 308 ft | 2,857 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 014 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 56 ft | 303 ft | 2,799 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 015 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 56 ft | 358 ft | 2,852 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 016 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 125 ft | 341 ft | 2,772 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 017 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 125 ft | 351 ft | 2,727 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 018 HOST | host pad | 30 ft | 291 ft | 2,676 ft | $26 | |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 019 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 159 ft | 88 ft | 2,389 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 020 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 55 ft | 83 ft | 2,296 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 021 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 55 ft | 113 ft | 2,303 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 022 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 59 ft | 172 ft | 2,356 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 023 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 51 ft | 233 ft | 2,420 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 024 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 51 ft | 252 ft | 2,456 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA BLUE BAY | 025 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 80 ft | 226 ft | 2,467 ft | $30–$60 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
South ShoreDeschutes National Forest · 0.3 mi
Scout LakeDeschutes National Forest · 1.0 mi
Link CreekDeschutes National Forest · 1.2 miJack Creek CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 4.9 miRiverside CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 5.1 mi
Riverside Campground (Deschutes National Forest, OR)Deschutes National Forest · 5.2 miFrom Sisters, travel approximately 13 miles northwest on Highway 20/126. Turn left onto Forest Road 2070 (Suttle Lake Campgrounds). Travel just less than 1/2-mile to Blue Bay entrance on the right.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Black Butte Ranch, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 33°F, day 65°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 23°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Blue Bay is in Oregon’s 5th congressional district. Its representative, Janelle Bynum (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →