Cultus Lake Campground
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 43 mi
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $21–$22.83Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 5453 on recreation.gov
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 speed motorized water craft. Cultus Lake 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
Recreation
Cultus Lake Campground offers opportunities for waterskiing, windsurfing, swimming, sailing and jet skiing, as well as, access to trails leading into the Three Sisters Wilderness. Campers have the option to launch their boat from a walk-in boat launch located within the campground or the more developed boat launch located within the day use area.
Facilities
Cultus Lake Campground offers visitors 55 campsites suitable for tents, trailers and RVs under 30 feet. Larger RVs are not recommended due to narrow roads and smaller campsite sizes. The majority of campsites are well-shaded by the tree canopy with many sites offering water-front access. This facility has a number of vault toilets interspersed throughout the campground while each site comes equipped with a picnic table and a fire pit.
Nearby Attractions
Cultus Lake Campground is located on the shore of Cultus Lake just a few miles off the Cascade Lakes Highway. The campground offers visitors access to boating on Cultus Lake, hiking in the Three Sisters Wilderness and exploring the rich volcanic hisotry of Central Oregon's Cascades.
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 pet friendly so long as animals are picked up after and kept on their leashes.
Prevent the spread of invasive species by inspecting and cleaning packs, equipment and tires before using trails.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
- 54
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…access. This facility has a number of vault toilets interspersed throughout the campground while each…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 28 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Amphitheater
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Jet Skiing
- Motor Boat
- Mountain biking
- Night sky · 323rd darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 2
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 53 of the 54 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 rates for this season, $21–$22.83 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
55 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 53 mapped sitesAll 55 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 54 of the 55 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Loop 1 | 001 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 145 ft | 367 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 1 | 002 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 161 ft | 376 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 1 | 003 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 49 ft | 510 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 1 | 004 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 128 ft | 543 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 1 | 005 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 44 ft | 544 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 1 | 006 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 146 ft | 679 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 1 | 007 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 44 ft | 537 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 1 | 008 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 110 ft | 639 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 1 | 009 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 75 ft | 478 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 1 | 010 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 70 ft | 423 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 1 | 011 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 79 ft | 481 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 1 | 012 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 70 ft | 375 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 1 | 013 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 73 ft | 453 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 1 | 014 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 82 ft | 323 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 1 | 015 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 73 ft | 412 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 1 | 016 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 140 ft | 293 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 1 | 055 | type not stated | 36 ft | 292 ft | $22.83 | |
| Loop 2 | 017 Host | host pad | 40 ft | $22.83 | ||
| Loop 2 | 018 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 54 ft | 326 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 019 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 63 ft | 357 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 020 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 128 ft | 451 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 021 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 63 ft | 324 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 022 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 63 ft | 308 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 023 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 153 ft | 401 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 024 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 78 ft | 461 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 025 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 81 ft | 294 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 026 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 78 ft | 493 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 027 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 51 ft | 342 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 028 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 83 ft | 528 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 029 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 52 ft | 367 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 030 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 183 ft | 541 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 031 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 92 ft | 428 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 032 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 51 ft | 434 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 033 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 104 ft | 507 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 034 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 51 ft | 388 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 035 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 81 ft | 309 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 036 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 94 ft | 213 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 037 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 85 ft | 294 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 038 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 109 ft | 304 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 039 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 94 ft | 196 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 040 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 66 ft | 192 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 041 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 66 ft | 190 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 042 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 67 ft | 185 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 043 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 52 ft | 315 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 044 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 69 ft | 174 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 045 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 51 ft | 297 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 046 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 77 ft | 155 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 047 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 81 ft | 134 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 048 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 86 ft | 278 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 049 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 102 ft | 116 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 050 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 120 ft | 119 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 051 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 63 ft | 317 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 052 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 54 ft | 297 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 053 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 155 ft | 116 ft | $21–$22.83 |
| Loop 2 | 054 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 155 ft | 190 ft | $21–$22.83 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
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.
25 of 55 listed
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 - Big Cove CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 1.7 mi
Cultus Corral Horse CampDeschutes National Forest · 1.9 miElk Lake CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 1.9 mi
Cultus Lake Boat In - West CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 2.8 mi
Little Cultus CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 2.9 miFrom Bend, OR: Travel 46 miles southwest on Cascade Lakes Hwy (46), then west on Forest Road 4635 for 2 miles.
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 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 →