Chief Paulina Horse Camp
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $23–$27Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 14All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 14 notices
In the agency’s own words
Chief Paulina Horse Camp is the only horse campground located in Newberry National Volcanic Monument in Deschutes National Forest. A favorite for horse enthusiasts, the campground provides visitors with access to lakes, lava flows and spectacular geologic features. For more information about the Newberry National Volcanic Monument, please visit: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/deschutes/recarea/?recid=66159 Recreation Visitors on horseback can explore the area on a variety of trails, with several trailheads located at the campground. Keep reading
Lakes, lava flows and forested areas provide a beautiful scenic backdrop for a variety of rides. The Crater Rim Trail, considered one of the premiere high country trails in the area, boasts vast stretches of forest, desert and mountain views, with many access points and connector trails for convenient and customized rides. For visitors who enjoy hiking, the Peter Skene Ogden National Scenic Trail parallels Paulina Creek as it ascends 8.5 miles to the spectacular Paulina Lake. Lost Lake Trail traverses drier landscapes and heads up from the lakes into a more arid part of the Newberry Caldera. This trail affords some excellent views of The Big Obsidian Flow as well as pumice flats and other features of Newberry Volcanic National Monument. The start of the trail is near Big Obsidian Flow.
Facilities
All sites are reservable at this campground. There are basic amenities for horse camping, including large equestrian sites with double or quadruple corrals and ample room for parking vehicles and trailers. Roads in the campground are unpaved as are the parking spurs. The campground parking was reconstructed in the fall of 2018 to allow for larger vehicle trailer combinations and some sites were modified to accomodate pull thru parking. While there is a water tank for the live stock, no potable drinking water is available. Restaurants and basic supplies are available at nearby resorts. Monument information is available at the nearby Paulina Visitor Center.
Natural Features
Visitors can catch a glimpse of the area's unique geological features by exploring nearby Paulina Lake, located within the collapsed caldera of Newberry Volcano. The lake covers a surface area of 1,531 acres and reaches depths of up to 250 ft., but neither Paulina Lake or its twin, East Lake, receives water from an inlet stream. Instead, each lake relies on relies on rain, snowmelt and hot springs for water. Paulina Creek drains the lake and has chiseled a narrow gorge through the caldera's west wall creating a remarkable twin waterfall. Thermal vents and hot springs along the lake's northeast edge help create a highly productive ecosystem. Wetlands, diverse forests, and rocky slopes near the campground provide a necessary habitat for shorebirds, racoons, deer, bats, and the occasional black bear. In September, the outlet of Paulina Lake may be choked with Kokanee salmon moving to spawn in Paulina Creek. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (541) 323-1746.
Nearby Attractions
Lava Lands Visitor Center in nearby Bend, Oregon, is a great starting point for visitors to learn about the diverse landscape and history of the area through interpretive programs and exhibits. Visitors can explore the Lava River Cave, also located in the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. At 5,211 feet (1,588 m) in length, the northwest section of the cave is the longest continuous lava tube in Oregon.
Charges & Cancellations
Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.
What the agency tells you
This facility is for horse campers. To ensure everyone's safety, horses are only allowed in horse camps and are not permitted in other campgrounds. Horse campers are limited in their choices, so we ask that campers staying in this facility have at least one horse.
There is no potable drinking water, but stock water is available at a water tank.
Horse campers must use certified weed-seed-free feed hay.
Everything else this campground posts · 11
Prevent the spread of invasive species by inspecting and cleaning packs, equipment and tires before using lake or trails.
There is limited day use parking on site.
Please leave your site in great condition and utilize the manure bin located on site at the day use parking area.
Please Note: One RV with tow vehicle per single site or one vehicle per 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.
During your time in Central Oregon, you can find wildfire, prescribed fire and smoke information at centraloregonfire.org
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.
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
- 14 · 14 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Stay limit
- 28 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Hot springs, Waterfall, Lake, River, Creek
- Hiking
- Horse Camping
- Horseback riding
- Night sky · 417th 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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $23–$27 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.
“Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.” · this campground’s own terms
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 · 6
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
14 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 14 mapped sitesAll 14 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 14 of the 14 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Chief Paulina Horse Camp | 001 | equestrian nonelectric | 30 ft | 110 ft | 1,035 ft | $23–$27 |
| Chief Paulina Horse Camp | 002 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 126 ft | 1,642 ft | $23–$27 |
| Chief Paulina Horse Camp | 003 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 119 ft | 1,667 ft | $23–$27 |
| Chief Paulina Horse Camp | 004 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 65 ft | 1,620 ft | $23–$27 |
| Chief Paulina Horse Camp | 005 | equestrian nonelectric | 36 ft | 65 ft | 1,589 ft | $23–$27 |
| Chief Paulina Horse Camp | 006 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 81 ft | 1,531 ft | $23–$27 |
| Chief Paulina Horse Camp | 007 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 97 ft | 1,387 ft | $23–$27 |
| Chief Paulina Horse Camp | 008 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 97 ft | 1,291 ft | $23–$27 |
| Chief Paulina Horse Camp | 009 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 110 ft | 1,326 ft | $23–$27 |
| Chief Paulina Horse Camp | 010 | equestrian nonelectric | 45 ft | 135 ft | 1,165 ft | $23–$27 |
| Chief Paulina Horse Camp | 011 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 101 ft | 1,262 ft | $23–$27 |
| Chief Paulina Horse Camp | 012 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 101 ft | 1,167 ft | $23–$27 |
| Chief Paulina Horse Camp | 013 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 116 ft | 1,151 ft | $23–$27 |
| Chief Paulina Horse Camp | 014 | equestrian nonelectric | 45 ft | 110 ft | 1,043 ft | $23–$27 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Newberry Group Camp SiteNewberry National Volcanic Monument · 0.2 mi
Little Crater CampgroundNewberry National Volcanic Monument · 0.8 mi
Paulina Lake CampgroundNewberry National Volcanic Monument · 1.2 mi
East Lake CampgroundNewberry National Volcanic Monument · 2.4 mi
Cinder Hill CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 3.4 mi
Cinder Hill CampgroundNewberry National Volcanic Monument · 3.6 miFrom Bend go south 23.5 miles on Hwy 97, then 13.9 miles east on County Rd 21(Paulina Lake Road)
From La Pine go north 5 miles on Hwy 97, then 13.9 miles east on County Rd. 21 (Paulina Lake Road)
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for La Pine, OR
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
Chief Paulina Horse Camp is in Oregon’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Cliff Bentz (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →