Driftwood Campground - Deschutes
1Heads up1 fire 27 mi away
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $23From, per site
- Sites
- 18All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Driftwood Campground is the first of four facilities located on Three Creeks Lake and provides campers with beautiful views of the water and surrounding nature. Keep reading
Recreation
Driftwood Campground is at the head of the Tam McArthur Trail which is a short, reasonably easy hike that provides great views of the Sisters - Faith (North), Hope (Middle) and Charity (South). The Three Sisters are volcanic peaks and are the third-, fourth- and fifth-highest peaks in Oregon. Three Creeks Lake is easy to fish from shore or by wading, but boat fishing is the most popular method. Only non-motorized boating is allowed.
Facilities
Driftwood Campground can accommodate tent only. This is a no water facility so campers will need to bring their own supply. All sites are equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring with grill and the campground has vault toilets available.
Natural Features
All sites in this campground fall on the lakeside providing campers with wonderful views of adjacent Three Creeks Lake. Located in a glacial cirque below Tam McArthur Rim, the lake is 28-acre alpine gem with an elevation of 6,550 ft. surrounded by old growth forest. The outlet stream from the lake flows northward and is joined by two other streams to form Three Creek. The shoreline of Three Creek Lake varies from gentle slope to rocky cliff. Maximum depth is 28 feet down the center and near the cliff on the south end of the lake.
Nearby Attractions
The close proximity to the town of Sisters offers many additional amenities and attractions, as well as the nearby Tam McArthur Trail and Sisters Wilderness Trails. Visitors can explore wilderness areas, rivers, lakes and reservoirs, and approximately 1,600 miles of trails that comprise nearly 2.5 million acres within the Deschutes National Forest and the adjacent Ochoco National Forest. Many enjoy traveling the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway, known as Oregon's Highway in the Sky, which climbs into the clouds on a 66-mile drive through the Cascade Range, weaving past snow-capped peaks and alpine lakes. To the north the Camp Sherman Fish Viewing Platform allows visitors the chance to view a variety of types of fish while the Metolius Research Natural Area gives bird watchers ample opportunities. Visit the Metolius Fish Hatchery or Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery display ponds to observe and feed different types of salmon and other fish. The Metolius-Windigo Trail, open to hikers, bikers and horses, is more than 100 miles in length and begins near the Metolius River headwaters west of the town of Sisters, Oregon. The trail was created in the 1980s primarily to serve long-distance horse riders seeking an alternative to the Pacific Crest Trail. Lava Lands Visitor Center in nearby Bend, Oregon, and the unique geological landscape of Newberry National Volcanic Monument draw visitors to the region as well. It is a great starting point for visitors to learn about the diverse landscape and history of the area through interpretive programs and exhibits. Visitors can also explore the Lava River Cave, located in the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. At 5,211 feet in length, the northwest section of the cave is the longest continuous lava tube in Oregon.
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 no water facility so campers will need to bring their own supply.
This campground is only suitable for tent camping since we cannot accommodate RVs or trailers.
Prevent the spread of invasive species by inspecting and cleaning packs, equipment and tires before using lake or trails.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Please Note: One vehicle per single 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.
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
- 18 · 9 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…ring with grill and the campground has vault toilets available. Natural Features All sites in this…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…can accommodate tent only. This is a no water facility so campers will need to bring their own…”
- Stay limit
- 28 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Beach
- Night sky · 629th darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 3
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, $23 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
18 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 18 mapped sitesAll 18 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. 9 of the 18 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Back | 07 | tent only nonelectric | 18 ft | 96 ft | 123 ft | |
| Back | 08 | tent only nonelectric | 18 ft | 96 ft | 119 ft | |
| Back | 09 | tent only nonelectric | 18 ft | 58 ft | 147 ft | |
| Back | 10 | tent only nonelectric | 40 ft | 58 ft | 191 ft | |
| Back | 11 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 59 ft | 186 ft | $23 |
| Back | 12 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 61 ft | 196 ft | $23 |
| Back | 13 | tent only nonelectric | 26 ft | 77 ft | 208 ft | |
| Back | 14 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 73 ft | 218 ft | $23 |
| Back | 15 | tent only nonelectric | 18 ft | 73 ft | 221 ft | |
| Back | 16 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 72 ft | 223 ft | |
| Back | 17 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 64 ft | 228 ft | |
| Back | 18 | tent only nonelectric | 18 ft | 64 ft | 227 ft | |
| Front | 01 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 80 ft | 53 ft | $23 |
| Front | 02 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 80 ft | 92 ft | $23 |
| Front | 03 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 97 ft | 106 ft | $23 |
| Front | 04 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 97 ft | 102 ft | $23 |
| Front | 05 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 131 ft | 150 ft | $23 |
| Front | 06 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 131 ft | 177 ft | $23 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Three Creeks Lake CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 0.5 miThree Creek Meadow Horse CampDeschutes National Forest · 0.8 mi
Three Creeks Meadow Horse CampDeschutes National Forest · 2.1 mi
Three Creeks Meadow CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 2.7 miTodd Lake CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 5.9 mi
Soda Creek CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 7.1 miFrom Sisters, OR: Travel about 16 miles south on Forest Road 16 (Elm Street in Sisters).
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Bend, OR
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
Driftwood Campground - Deschutes 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 →