Cottonwood Campground (Fremont-Winema National Forest)
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $6From, per site
- Sites
- 1918 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 1 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Cottonwood Recreation Area, located 45 minutes northwest of Lakeview, Oregon, is one of the busiest campgrounds in the southeast zone of the Fremont-Winema National Forest. Western white pine and white fir offer shade, and aspens turn gold every autumn. Abundant deer and even the occasional black bear can be sighted strolling through the campground. It is essential to pack all food away in vehicles, or hang it high. This campground features 18 campsites, 6 vault toilets, and potable water during the season. Each campground has a picnic table and campfire ring. Keep reading
Additionally, there are 4 walk-in, tent only sites and 1 horse camp site. The horse camp includes its own corral and water area, as well as a trailer turn-around. This high-elevation camp is generally free of snow mid-June through mid-October. Cottonwood Meadows Lake is stocked with rainbow and brook trout, offering excellent fishing opportunity. There are 2 day-use areas and a boat launch on the north side of the lake. Only non-motorized and electric boat motors are allowed. Other recreation opportunities include hiking, mountain biking, and exploring.
Recreation
Recreational activities include hunting, fishing, hiking, horse-back trail riding, picnicking, mountain biking, and nature viewing.
Facilities
3 vault toilets and 4 pit toilets scattered around the lake at different campsite locations, a boat ramp launch with parking area, recreational trailhead, and horse corrals.
Natural Features
Cottonwood Meadows Lake and surrounding Fremont-Winema National Forest.
Nearby Attractions
Close to Gearhart Wilderness Area and the greater Fishhole Lake Recreation Areas.
What the agency tells you
Dogs must be kept on a leash. Camping stay is only allowed for 14 days maximum. There is no trash services, so pack it in, pack it out. Practice leave-no-trace policy. Potable water is only available during the fee-season, at spigots scattered across the campground. Water system is turned off and drained during the winter months. Signage will be posted at designated kiosks regarding water quality, testing, and safety.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 19
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets · Pit Toilets
- “…This campground features 18 campsites, 6 vault toilets, and potable water during the season. Each… / …Facilities 3 vault toilets and 4 pit toilets scattered around the lake at different campsite…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…18 campsites, 6 vault toilets, and potable water during the season. Each campground has a picnic…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Meadow
- Accessible Swimming
- Backpacking
- Birding
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Hiking
- Horse Camping
- Horseback riding
- Non-Motorized Boating
- Paddling
- Picnicking
- Swimming
- Water access
- Wildlife viewing
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 18 of the 19 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 · 15
What you actually pay
“Camping: $6/Night for single unit, $2/Night for extra vehicle.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own fee record
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $6 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 · 6
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
19 sites
All 19 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. 19 of the 19 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Cottonwood Campground | 01 | standard nonelectric | $6 |
| Cottonwood Campground | 02 | standard nonelectric | $6 |
| Cottonwood Campground | 03 | standard nonelectric | $6 |
| Cottonwood Campground | 04 | standard nonelectric | $6 |
| Cottonwood Campground | 05 | standard nonelectric | $6 |
| Cottonwood Campground | 06 | standard nonelectric | $6 |
| Cottonwood Campground | 07 | standard nonelectric | $6 |
| Cottonwood Campground | 08 | standard nonelectric | $6 |
| Cottonwood Campground | 09 | standard nonelectric | $6 |
| Cottonwood Campground | 10 | standard nonelectric | $6 |
| Cottonwood Campground | 11 | standard nonelectric | $6 |
| Cottonwood Campground | 12 | standard nonelectric | $6 |
| Cottonwood Campground | 13 | standard nonelectric | $6 |
| Cottonwood Campground | 14 | standard nonelectric | $6 |
| Cottonwood Campground | 15 | standard nonelectric | $6 |
| Cottonwood Campground | 16 | standard nonelectric | $6 |
| Cottonwood Campground | 17 | standard nonelectric | $6 |
| Cottonwood Campground | 18 | standard nonelectric | $6 |
| Extra Vehicle Fee | Extra Vehicle Fee | type not stated | $2 |