Clackamas Lake
4Heads up4 fires, nearest 11 mi
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $30From, per site
- Sites
- 4544 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
Clackamas Lake Campground is a great camping destination, especially when nearby Timothy Lake sites are full. The lake is small and shallow. The facility is located in the Clackamas Lake Historic District in Mt. Hood National Forest. It provides access to fishing, swimming and leisurely boating, as well as a number of trails and historic points along the way. Keep reading
Recreation
Clackamas Lake is a great place for fishing, swimming and non-motorized boating. Anglers can expect a catch of cutthroat, brook, rainbow or German brown trout. A variety of wildlife make its home in the area as well. Nearby Timothy Lake provides opportunities for picnicking and water-related recreation, including use of power boats. The Clackamas Lake Ranger Station Historic District is less than a mile from the campground. It is a series of structures and cabins built to house Forest Service workers in the early 1900s. Rustic architecture and the historic nature of the buildings and the surrounding area, draws thousands of tourists each year. It is a must-see while staying at the campground. Hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding are also popular activities. The 2.2-mile Miller Trail begins in the campground and connects to the Pacific Crest Trail, which extends more than 2,650 miles, from Canada to Mexico. Additional trails, to scenic Little Crater Lake and to the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, are also available in the area.
Facilities
The campground offers single-family sites for tent and RV camping. There are 11 equestrian sites in the 49-site campground with corrals. Equestrian sites have 2, 3, or 4 horse corrals and are reservable only by those with horses. Some sites are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Natural Features
The campground is nestled in a heavily wooded forest of pine trees, with partial views of Oregon's highest peak. A lush, green understory provides some privacy between campsites. The campground is near the shores of 3-acre Clackamas Lake, and just three miles from larger Timothy Lake. It is situated at an elevation of about 3,400 feet.
Nearby Attractions
The campground is less than 40 miles from Mt. Hood, where a historic lookout provides scenic views of the snow-capped mountain. Hiking and year-round skiing is available. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (503) 622-3191.
What the agency tells you
Off-road vehicle use is prohibited within the campground
In accordance with standard industry practices, Mount Hood Recreation will be assessing an additional vehicle fee on the second vehicle in each single family campsite, and on the third and fourth vehicle in any double family campsite, provided these vehicles are not joined to the first vehicle by a hitch and towed onto the site. In the case of motorcycles, the first two are considered as one vehicle for determining additional vehicle fees. The third and fourth motorcycle would also be considered as one vehicle. No additional vehicle fees are collected for bicycles.
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.
Everything else this campground posts · 3
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).
Click here for more information on Mt. Hood National Forest
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 45 · 25 tent-only, 9 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 120 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Swimming
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 580th darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 44 of the 45 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
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 rate for this season, $30 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 Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
45 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 44 mapped sitesAll 45 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 45 of the 45 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. 44 of the 45 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| 1st Loop | 001 | tent only nonelectric | 22 ft | 78 ft | 678 ft | 1,567 ft | $30 |
| 1st Loop | 002 | type not stated | 45 ft | 650 ft | 1,479 ft | ||
| 1st Loop | 003 | tent only nonelectric | 22 ft | 78 ft | 600 ft | 1,504 ft | $30 |
| 1st Loop | 004 | equestrian nonelectric | 55 ft | 83 ft | 564 ft | 1,423 ft | $30 |
| 1st Loop | 006 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 78 ft | 522 ft | 1,444 ft | $30 |
| 1st Loop | 007 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 91 ft | 398 ft | 1,335 ft | $30 |
| 1st Loop | 008 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 91 ft | 337 ft | 1,244 ft | $30 |
| 1st Loop | 009 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 54 ft | 404 ft | 1,205 ft | $30 |
| 1st Loop | 010 | tent only nonelectric | 35 ft | 54 ft | 450 ft | 1,258 ft | $30 |
| 1st Loop | 011 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 45 ft | 379 ft | 1,215 ft | $30 |
| 1st Loop | 012 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 71 ft | 445 ft | 1,295 ft | $30 |
| 1st Loop | 013 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 52 ft | 423 ft | 1,311 ft | $30 |
| 1st Loop | 014 | equestrian nonelectric | 45 ft | 45 ft | 374 ft | 1,235 ft | $30 |
| 1st Loop | 015 | tent only nonelectric | 26 ft | 52 ft | 403 ft | 1,324 ft | $30 |
| 1st Loop | 016 | tent only nonelectric | 24 ft | 63 ft | 350 ft | 1,249 ft | $30 |
| 1st Loop | 017 | equestrian nonelectric | 55 ft | 63 ft | 328 ft | 1,269 ft | $30 |
| 1st Loop | 018 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 79 ft | 358 ft | 1,354 ft | $30 |
| 1st Loop | 019 | equestrian nonelectric | 65 ft | 59 ft | 285 ft | 1,281 ft | $30 |
| 1st Loop | 020 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 59 ft | 251 ft | 1,295 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 021 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 60 ft | 350 ft | 1,467 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 022 | tent only nonelectric | 35 ft | 60 ft | 291 ft | 1,417 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 023 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | 48 ft | 204 ft | 1,303 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 024 | tent only nonelectric | 40 ft | 48 ft | 178 ft | 1,309 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 025 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 64 ft | 147 ft | 1,335 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 026 | standard nonelectric | 70 ft | 64 ft | 140 ft | 1,359 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 027 | tent only nonelectric | 36 ft | 96 ft | 306 ft | 1,551 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 028 | tent only nonelectric | 120 ft | 102 ft | 414 ft | 1,668 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 029 | tent only nonelectric | 22 ft | 96 ft | 301 ft | 1,567 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 030 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 102 ft | 332 ftClackamas Lake | 1,674 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 031 | standard nonelectric | 41 ft | 81 ft | 423 ftClackamas Lake | 1,857 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 032 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 131 ft | 275 ftClackamas Lake | 1,795 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 033 | tent only nonelectric | 26 ft | 81 ft | 389 ftClackamas Lake | 1,905 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 034 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 115 ft | 490 ftClackamas Lake | 2,011 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 035 | tent only nonelectric | 40 ft | 88 ft | 511 ftClackamas Lake | 1,904 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 036 | tent only nonelectric | 24 ft | 122 ft | 608 ftClackamas Lake | 2,018 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 037 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 94 ft | 556 ftClackamas Lake | 1,829 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 038 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | 126 ft | 654 ftClackamas Lake | 1,942 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 039 | tent only nonelectric | 35 ft | 94 ft | 525 ft | 1,747 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 040 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 126 ft | 641 ft | 1,837 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 041 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | 114 ft | 455 ft | 1,642 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 042 | tent only nonelectric | 36 ft | 86 ft | 553 ft | 1,712 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 043 | tent only nonelectric | 26 ft | 86 ft | 522 ft | 1,649 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 044 | standard nonelectric | 56 ft | 94 ft | 444 ft | 1,547 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 045 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 128 ft | 560 ft | 1,613 ft | $30 |
| 2nd Loop | 046 | tent only nonelectric | 24 ft | 154 ft | 535 ft | 1,502 ft | $30 |
25 of 45 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Clackamas Lake Historic CabinMt. Hood National Forest · 0.3 mi
Joe Graham Horse CampgroundMt. Hood National Forest · 0.4 mi
Oak Fork Campground (Timothy Lake, OR)Mt. Hood National Forest · 1.8 mi
Gone Creek Campground (Timothy Lake, OR)Mt. Hood National Forest · 1.8 mi
Stone Creek Campground (Timothy Lake, OR)Mt. Hood National Forest · 2.1 mi
Hoodview Campground (Timothy Lake, OR)Mt. Hood National Forest · 2.4 miFrom Sandy, travel east on Highway 26 for approximately 40 miles to Skyline Road (Forest Road 42). Turn right on Skyline Road and continue south for 10 miles to the Clackamas Lake entrance sign. Turn left and head east less than half a mile to the campground entrance.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Government Camp, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 37°F, day 53°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 26°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 Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Clackamas Lake 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 →