Clear Lake (OR)
4Heads up4 fires, nearest 10 mi
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $21.34From, per site
- Sites
- 2827 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Clear Lake Campground is a shady outdoor paradise ON Clear Lake in the mountains of northern Oregon. Visitors enjoy boating, fishing, swimming and sailing on the lake, and hiking and exploring the nearby hills and terraces. Winter recreation opportunities are available in the area when it snows. Keep reading
Recreation
Boating is popular on the lake, however speeds are limited to 10 mph. A steady breeze keeps bugs away at the campground, and also propels sailboats on the lake. Swimming and fishing are available. Anglers can expect to find a variety of trout. Visitors enjoy picnicking in the day use area near the boat ramp. A hiking trail begins near the north end of the lake, connecting to the Pacific Crest Trail. In the winter, miles of snow-covered roads and trails crisscross the forest. Shellrock Creek and High Rock, off Forest Road 57, are open to cross-country skiers and snowmobile enthusiasts.
Facilities
The campground offers single-family sites for tent and RV camping. Each site is equipped with a table and campfire ring with grill. Vault toilets, drinking water and trash collection are provided, but utility hookups are not available. Parking surfaces are gravel and dirt. Firewood can be purchased from the host.
Natural Features
The campground is located in a mixed conifer forest, just north of Warm Springs Indian Reservation, in Mt. Hood National Forest. It is situated on the eastern shore of the 560-acre lake, at an elevation of 3,600. Clear Lake is used primarily for irrigation purposes. Wild mushrooms are abundant in the area during late summer and early fall. A variety of wildlife makes its home in the area. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (541) 352-6002.
Nearby Attractions
The small Mt. Hood village of Government Camp is 12 miles northwest of the campground. The area offers a visitor center, restaurants and year-round skiing, as well as scenic views.
What the agency tells you
Water level and lake access are highly dependent on weather conditions, snow melt, and irrigation usage. We have no control of water levels and cannot assure you water activities will be available to you at the time of your reservation. The water level progressively drops throughout the year.
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.
Off-road vehicle use is prohibited within the campground
Everything else this campground posts · 4
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.
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 on the Mt. Hood National Forest
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 28 · 12 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 34 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…a table and campfire ring with grill. Vault toilets, drinking water and trash collection are provided,…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…campfire ring with grill. Vault toilets, drinking water and trash collection are provided, but utility…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Firewood
- Sold here
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Boating
- Fishing
- Swimming
- Wildlife viewing
- Winter sports
- Night sky · 614th darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 27 of the 28 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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $21.34 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
28 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 27 mapped sitesAll 28 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 28 of the 28 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. 27 of the 28 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.
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 001 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 225 ft | 279 ft | 329 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 002 | type not stated | 30 ft | 344 ft | 176 ft | ||
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 003 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 119 ft | 347 ft | 87 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 004 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 114 ft | 230 ft | 151 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 005 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 110 ft | 204 ft | 136 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 006 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 101 ft | 323 ft | 100 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 007 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 101 ft | 224 ft | 162 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 008 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 116 ft | 210 ft | 261 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 009 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 123 ft | 309 ft | 196 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 010 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 123 ft | 188 ft | 211 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 011 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 116 ft | 184 ft | 128 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 012 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 87 ft | 298 ft | under 10 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 013 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 112 ft | 188 ft | 131 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 014 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 112 ft | 248 ft | 178 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 015 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 87 ft | 320 ft | 78 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 016 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 100 ft | 392 ft | 217 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 017 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 100 ft | 483 ft | 243 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 018 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 87 ft | 404 ft | 115 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 019 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 125 ft | 549 ft | 250 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 020 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 90 ft | 420 ft | 131 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 021 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 125 ft | 572 ft | 284 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 022 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 90 ft | 430 ft | 193 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 023 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 141 ft | 575 ft | 218 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 024 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 128 ft | 446 ft | 127 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 025 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 152 ft | 592 ft | 102 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 026 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 146 ft | 597 ft | 150 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 027 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 122 ft | 455 ft | 53 ft | $21.34 |
| AREA CLEAR LAKE | 028 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 119 ft | 452 ft | 116 ft | $21.34 |
25 of 28 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Clear Lake Cabin LookoutMt. Hood National Forest · 1.9 mi
Frog LakeMt. Hood National Forest · 3.1 mi
Little Crater LakeMt. Hood National Forest · 3.2 mi
North Arm Campground (Timothy Lake, OR)Mt. Hood National Forest · 4.5 mi
Barlow Crossing CampgroundMount Hood National Recreation Area · 4.9 miWhite River Station CampgroundMt. Hood National Forest · 4.9 miFrom Sandy, travel east on Highway 26 for about 35 miles. Turn onto Forest Road 2630 and continue for 1 mile to the campground.
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
Clear Lake (OR) 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 →