Elk Lake Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $25From, per site
- Sites
- 2219 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Elk Lake Campground is located on the north end of Elk Lake along the Cascade Lakes National Scenic Byway. Keep reading
Recreation
Both motorized and non-motorized boating are allowed on Elk Lake providing the opportunity for swimming, fishing, windsurfing and water skiing. Hiking and horseback riding are popular activities on the Elk-Devils Trail, which follows an historic route from Elk Lake to the Wickiup Plains Trail, just west of Devils Lake.
Facilities
Elk Lake Campground can accommodate RV, trailer or tent-campers, however, electric hookups are not available. All sites are equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring with grill. The campground has drinking water and vault toilets available. This campground also features a boat ramp to provide access to Elk Lake.
Natural Features
Elk Lake offers magnificent views of South Sister, Mt. Bachelor and numerous other mountainous features. Wetlands, diverse forests and rocky slopes near the campground provide habitat for shorebirds, porcupine, deer, bats and the occasional black bear.
Nearby Attractions
Visitors enjoy traveling the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway which climbs from Central Oregon's high desert floor into the Cascade Range on a 66-mile drive winding through snow-capped peaks and alpine lakes.
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
Prevent the spread of invasive species by inspecting and cleaning packs, equipment and tires before using rivers, lakes or 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.
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.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
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.
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
- 22
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…The campground has drinking water and vault toilets available. This campground also features a boat…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…ring with grill. The campground has drinking water and vault toilets available. This campground also…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 28 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Night sky · 388th darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 2
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 19 of the 22 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 · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $25 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
22 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 19 mapped sitesAll 22 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 22 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 | 36 ft | 65 ft | 611 ft | $25 |
| Loop 1 | 002 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 65 ft | 549 ft | $25 |
| Loop 1 | 003 | type not stated | 36 ft | 554 ft | ||
| Loop 1 | 004 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 70 ft | 498 ft | $25 |
| Loop 1 | 005 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 64 ft | 512 ft | $25 |
| Loop 1 | 006 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 62 ft | 464 ft | $25 |
| Loop 1 | 007 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 62 ft | 411 ft | $25 |
| Loop 1 | 008 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 47 ft | 213 ft | $25 |
| Loop 1 | 009 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 47 ft | 190 ft | $25 |
| Loop 1 | 010 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 55 ft | 148 ft | $25 |
| Loop 1 | 011 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 63 ft | 127 ft | $25 |
| Loop 1 | 012 | type not stated | ||||
| Loop 1 | 013 | type not stated | ||||
| Loop 2 | 014 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 102 ft | 382 ft | $25 |
| Loop 2 | 015 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 83 ft | 350 ft | $25 |
| Loop 2 | 016 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 83 ft | 331 ft | $25 |
| Loop 2 | 017 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 85 ft | 167 ft | $25 |
| Loop 2 | 018 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 70 ft | 148 ft | $25 |
| Loop 2 | 019 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 70 ft | 181 ft | $25 |
| Loop 2 | 020 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 67 ft | 256 ft | $25 |
| Loop 2 | 021 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 59 ft | 312 ft | $25 |
| Loop 2 | 022 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 59 ft | 364 ft | $25 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Point Campground - DeschutesDeschutes National Forest · 1.0 mi
Little Fawn CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 1.3 mi
Quinn Meadow Horse CampDeschutes National Forest · 1.6 mi
Mallard Marsh CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 1.6 mi
South Campground - Hosmer Lake (OR)Deschutes National Forest · 1.6 miDevils Lake CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 4.2 miFrom Bend, travel 33.1 miles southwest on Cascade Lakes Hwy (46) to north end of Elk Lake.
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
Elk 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 →