Eel Creek Campground
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- $22–$44Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 5249 on recreation.gov
- Season
- Year-roundOpen year-round
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Eel Creek Campground sits among coastal shrubbery on the edge of the sandy dunes within the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. The campground provides a peaceful and attractive atmosphere for hikers and birders. The most popular non-motorized trail here is the John Dellenback Dunes Trail, which guides hikers through the scenic dunes to the Pacific beach. This section of dunes features spectacular heights and stunning, expansive vistas. Keep reading
Recreation
The John Dellenback Dunes Trail takes hikers on a 2.7-mile (one way) trek from a conifer forest across the open dunes to the beach at the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, hikers will be treated to expansive views of the surrounding landscape. This hike makes for an incredible workout, due to tall dunes and soft sand. Quality wildlife watching is also available at the campground.
Facilities
The campground is divided into a north loop and a south loop. Amenities include flush toilets, drinking water, picnic tables, and fire rings. A campground host is available and an amphitheater sits between the two loops. This campground has 51 reservable sites.
Natural Features
Most sites are secluded and private due to dense shrubbery like rhododendrons and salal. Sites 7, 8, 42, and 43 are perched on the sand of the dunes. The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area is known for its wind-sculpted sand dunes towering up to 500 feet above sea level.
Nearby Attractions
Visit Umpqua Lighthouse State Park, which features a historic lighthouse, camping, and hiking trails around Lake Marie. The Umpqua River Lighthouse stands on the site where the first lighthouse on the Oregon Coast was built in 1857. The current lighthouse dates back to 1890. Boating and fishing are available at Tenmile Lake and Eel Lake. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (541) 271-6000.
Charges & Cancellations
Campsites that are not occupied after 24 hours of arrival time will be considered as a "no show" and sites will be released for others to reserve. If campers will be arriving after 24 hours of their arrival time, they are encouraged to call the ranger station at 541-271-6000 to let staff know.
What the agency tells you
Guidelines for a safe visit to the Siuslaw National Forest The Siuslaw’s campgrounds, day use areas, and trails continue to be open for public enjoyment. While you are visiting the Forest, please adhere to the following guidelines. These guidelines will help ensure a safe and healthy visit for you and your family, our employees and volunteers, and other visitors: Please keep in mind that restrooms are generally cleaned and disinfected at least once daily at the more popular campgrounds and day use sites, and once to three times a week at other sites. Be prepared to provide your own soap, sanitizer, or disinfectant. If no trash receptacle is provided, please protect your public lands by packing out your waste and trash.
Forest Service-operated campsites on the Siuslaw National Forest are currently available by online reservation only. Visitors can make reservations online through this website (preferred), or via phone by calling the recreation.gov phone line at 877-444-6777. If you call this number, please be prepared for longer-than-usual wait times. Please note that the Siuslaw National Forest does not have any control over the recreation.gov phone line, so we ask you to please prepare by making reservations well in advance.
There is a 14-day in 30 rolling days camping limit on the Siuslaw National Forest. The 14 days does not have to be consecutive. The 14-day limit covers the entire Siuslaw National Forest and not just this campground as shown in the Rules Section. This means you cannot go to other campgrounds on the Siuslaw National Forest after reaching the 14-day limit.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
No RV hookups available in this campground
Sites must occupied within first 24 hours of arrival time. Otherwise unoccupied sites will be considered a "no-show" and will be released.
For more information on Siuslaw National Forest, click here
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.
There is a 2 vehicle limit per campsite
This campground is located in close proximity to multiple lakes and wetlands. Due to this, there can be an abundance of mosquitoes between the months of April and August. Please be prepared for this.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 52 · 2 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 54 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…loop and a south loop. Amenities include flush toilets, drinking water, picnic tables, and fire rings. A…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…loop. Amenities include flush toilets, drinking water, picnic tables, and fire rings. A campground host…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Beach, Coast
- Hiking
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 659th darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 3
53 of 66 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:24 UTC
recreation.gov lists 49 of the 52 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
OpenBooked
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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $22–$44 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.
“Campsites that are not occupied after 24 hours of arrival time will be considered as a "no show" and sites will be released for others to reserve. If campers will be arriving after 24 hours of their arrival time, they are encouraged to call the ranger station at 541-271-6000 to let staff know.” · this campground’s own no-show 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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:24 UTC · rules read Oct 1, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
52 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 36 mapped sitesAll 52 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 38 of the 52 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. 49 of the 52 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 01 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | $22–$44 | |||
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 02 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 163 ft | 491 ft | 1,846 ft | $22 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 03 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $22–$44 | |||
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 04 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 64 ft | 615 ft | 2,004 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 05 | standard nonelectric | 54 ft | 64 ft | 577 ft | 2,016 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 06 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 136 ft | 539 ft | 2,073 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 07/08 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 175 ft | 644 ft | 2,280 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 09 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 175 ft | 700 ft | 2,448 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 10 | type not stated | 30 ft | ||||
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 11 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 112 ft | 847 ft | 2,665 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 12 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 112 ft | 959 ft | 2,707 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 13 | standard nonelectric | 54 ft | $22–$44 | |||
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 14 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $22–$44 | |||
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 15 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $22–$44 | |||
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 16 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 109 ft | 1,099 ft | 2,698 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 17 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 109 ft | 990 ft | 2,622 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 18 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | $22–$44 | |||
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 19 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 96 ft | 1,076 ft | 2,551 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 20 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $22–$44 | |||
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 21 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 96 ft | 980 ft | 2,502 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 22 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | $22–$44 | |||
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 23 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $22–$44 | |||
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 24 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $22–$44 | |||
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 25 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | $22–$44 | |||
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 26 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 70 ft | 991 ft | 2,357 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 27 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 91 ft | 900 ft | 2,302 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 28 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 70 ft | 943 ft | 2,288 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 29 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | $22–$44 | |||
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 30 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 120 ft | 771 ft | 2,115 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 31 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 100 ft | 878 ft | 2,149 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 32 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 100 ft | 857 ft | 2,062 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 33 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $22–$44 | |||
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 34 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 110 ft | 810 ft | 1,954 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 35 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 119 ft | 784 ft | 1,841 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 36 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | 123 ft | 690 ft | 1,861 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 37 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 84 ft | 553 ft | 1,254 ft | $22 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 38 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 70 ft | 512 ft | 1,170 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 39 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 70 ft | 469 ft | 1,101 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 40 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 71 ft | 424 ft | 1,034 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 41 | type not stated | 50 ft | 373 ft | 959 ft | ||
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 42 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 94 ft | 425 ft | 931 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 43 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 94 ft | 445 ft | 882 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 44 | type not stated | 20 ft | 379 ft | 785 ft | ||
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 45 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 74 ft | 282 ft | 709 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 46 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 58 ft | 209 ft | 675 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 47 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 58 ft | 168 ft | 682 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 48 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 66 ft | 172 ft | 727 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 49 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 83 ft | 180 ft | 809 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 50 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 83 ft | 224 ft | 889 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 51 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 87 ft | 329 ft | 1,024 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 52 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 87 ft | 377 ft | 1,108 ft | $22–$44 |
| AREA EEL CREEK CAMPGROUND | 53 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 96 ft | 448 ft | 1,200 ft | $22–$44 |
25 of 52 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
SpinreelSiuslaw National Forest · 1.6 mi
Spinreel Sand CampingSiuslaw National Forest · 1.6 mi
Umpqua Sand CampingOregon Dunes National Recreation Area · 3.2 mi
Hauser Sand CampingOregon Dunes National Recreation Area · 7.1 mi
Bluebill CampgroundSiuslaw National Forest · 10 mi
HorsfallSiuslaw National Forest · 10 miFrom Reedsport, Oregon travel south for 10 miles to Eel Creek Campground. The campground entrance is located on the right (west) side of Highway 101 near mile post 222.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Lakeside, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 47°F, day 63°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 40°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
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
Eel Creek Campground is in Oregon’s 4th congressional district. Its representative, Val Hoyle (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →