Cultus Lake Boat In - Big Cove Campground
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $22From, per site
- Sites
- 6All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Cultus Lake is one of the few lakes along the Cascade Lakes National Scenic Byway that allows high sped motorized water craft. Cultus Lake West Campground offers opportunities for waterskiing, windsurfing, swimming, sailing and jet skiing, as well as, access to trails leading into the Three Sisters Wilderness. Keep reading
Facilities
Cultus Lake Boat In - Big Cove Campground is one of three boat-in or hike-in only campgrounds on the north side of Cultus Lake. The campground is in a very rustic setting next to the water with six sites available.
Natural Features
Cultus Lake is a natural glacier-formed Lake. This is a recreational lake and is popular for water skiing, sailing, jet skiing, and boating.
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 is a boat-in or hike-in only campground. All sites are by reservation only, no first come first serve available
WHERE TO PARK: There is a parking area specifically designated for boat-in campground use located within Cultus Lake Campground. Visitors with reservations at one of the three boat-in campgrounds can launch their boats at the Cultus Lake Day Use boat ramp, but must park in the designated boat-in camping parking lot. A recreation pass is NOT required for this lot.
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.
Everything else this campground posts · 8
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 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.
Prevent the spread of invasive species by inspecting and cleaning packs, equipment and tires before using trails.
During your time in Central Oregon, you can find wildfire, prescribed fire and smoke information at centraloregonfire.org
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
- 6 · 6 boat-in
- Hookups
- None
- 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
- Lake
- Biking
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Jet Skiing
- Kayaking
- Sailboarding
- Sailing
- Water access
- Water Skiing
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 · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $22 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
6 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 6 mapped sitesAll 6 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. 6 of the 6 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Cultus Lake Boat In - Little Cove CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 0.9 mi
Cultus Lake Boat In - West CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 1.4 mi
Cultus Lake CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 1.7 mi
Little Cultus CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 3.2 miElk Lake CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 3.6 mi
Cultus Corral Horse CampDeschutes National Forest · 3.6 miFrom Bend, OR: Travel 46 miles southwest on Cascade Lakes Hwy (46), then west on Forest Road 4635 for 2 miles. There is a large paved parking area with a dock and two boat ramps which is adjacent to the Cultus Lake Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Three Rivers, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 31°F, day 62°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 21°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
Cultus Lake Boat In - Big Cove Campground 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 →