Green Ridge Lookout
1Heads up1 fire 14 mi away
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:47 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Green Ridge Lookout is perched on a ridge more than 2,000 feet above the Metolius River. It offers guests a unique lodging experience in Deschutes National Forest. The lookout, a 20-foot tall fire lookout with unmatched views of Mt. Jefferson and the Metolius River basin, was built in the 1960s. Green Ridge Lookout is available for rent early May - June and mid September - mid November. During the summer months, the lookout is staffed with Forest Service volunteers who help with forest fire detection. Keep reading
Recreation
Fishing and hiking top the list of recreational activities in the area. For anglers, the Metolius River offers a stunning setting for fly-fishing. Its clear, cold waters support rainbow trout, whitefish, bull trout and kokanee salmon. For day hikers and backpackers, the area offers a wide variety of scenic terrain, ranging from riverside trails to routes through subalpine forests. Several pleasant day hikes are found along the Metolius River and to the top of Black Butte. Lake Billy Chinook, approximately ten miles away, offers boating and fishing opportunities.
Facilities
The R6 style cab sits on a two-story tower hugging the side of Green Ridge. From the parking area, there is a short boardwalk to the lower 20x20-ft. wooden deck. A one story flight of steps leads to the catwalk of the upper deck surrounding the cabin. The one-room cabin is furnished with a futon, a table and two chairs. It is also equipped with a propane refrigerator, an overhead light, a propane wall heater, a four-burner propane stove and oven. Guests must bring several of their own amenities, including food, water, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, towels, cookware, dish soap, matches, toilet paper and garbage bags. There is no water available at the site. Guests must bring water for drinking, cooking and washing. Although lighting is available, bringing an additional light source is recommended.
Natural Features
Guests to Green Ridge Lookout are treated to views of snow-capped mountain peaks and dense forests of Douglas-fir, cedar and Ponderosa pine that stretch out to the horizon. Mount Jefferson, the most prominent peak in view, is a stratovolcano that reaches an elevation of 10,497 feet, the second highest mountain in Oregon. The scenic Metolius River flows through the basin beneath the tower lookout. The headwaters of the river are at Metolius Springs at the base of nearby Black Butte, a 6,436 ft. cinder cone. The clear, cold river flows north from the springs through diverse coniferous forest and a landscape of volcanic activity. Nearby Attractions
What the agency tells you
• There wil be no kitchenware provided such as pots, pans and utensils. Please plan ahead and prepare to bring your own.
• Please contact the Sisters Ranger District at (541) 549-7700 (Monday-Friday) prior to arriving at the lookout to check on any restrictions or conditions, such as fire or road closures, weather or storms that may affect the quality of your visit. The combination code will be provided in your reservation reminder email that is automatically sent out several days ahead of your reservation.
• Check-out time is 11:00 a.m. and the check-in time is 3:00 p.m.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Please be aware that Green Ridge Lookout is a remote location and Forest Service personnel may not always be available for assistance, especially after hours and on weekends
Maximum of four persons allowed in lookout, but there is only one futon available
Cell phone service is minimal at the lookout and extremely limited in surrounding areas.
Pets are allowed outside only
Pack out all food and garbage
Doors and windows should be locked and all personal items removed upon departure
The lookout is a non-smoking facility
Learn more about Deschutes National Forest
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 20 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…matches, toilet paper and garbage bags. There is no water available at the site. Guests must bring water for…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Mountain biking
- Night sky · 438th darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 2
Full this Saturdayread 16:47 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday, and on four midweek nights after it as well. read 16:47 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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
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 · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:47 UTC · rules read Oct 1, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 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. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| AREA GREEN RIDGE LOOKOUT | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 20 ft | 4,811 ft | $40 |
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.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Allen Springs CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 1.0 mi
Pioneer Ford CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 1.3 miLower Bridge CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 1.7 mi
Lower Canyon Creek CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 2.8 mi
Candle Creek Campground3.1 mi
Smiling River Campground3.2 miEntry to the lookout is by combination lock. Please call the Sisters Ranger District at (541) 549-7700 one week in advance to get the gate combination.
From Sisters, travel 5.5 miles west on U.S. Highway 20 to Forest Road 11 at Indian Ford Campground. Turn right on Forest Road 11 and travel approximately 10 miles to the end of pavement at the junction with Forest Road 1150. Take the left fork of Forest Road 1150, to the junction with Forest Road 1154. Turn left on Forest Road 1154 and continue to Forest Road 1140. Turn left on Forest Road 1140 and continue a short distance to spur road 600. Take a very sharp right on spur road 600, and travel approximately 0.5 miles on the spur road to the parking area for Green Ridge Lookout.
Early and late season travel may require high clearance four-wheel drive vehicles. If snow blocks access to the facility during the early season, opening may be delayed. In the event of a delayed opening, reservations will be canceled and money refunded.
Please contact the Ranger District at (541) 549-7700 prior to arriving at the cabin to check on any restrictions or conditions, such as fire or road closures, weather or storms that may affect the quality of your visit.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Camp Sherman, OR
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send
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
Green Ridge Lookout is in Oregon’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Cliff Bentz (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyCliff BentzU.S. Representative · Oregon’s 2nd district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJeff MerkleyU.S. Senator · Oregon
- Your senator, on the same appropriationRon WydenU.S. Senator · Oregon
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Green Ridge Lookout, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon
Dear Cliff Bentz, I’m a constituent in Oregon’s 2nd district. I tried to camp at Green Ridge Lookout, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Green Ridge Lookout are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Green Ridge Lookout keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Green Ridge Lookout. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Green Ridge Lookout (Deschutes National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Green Ridge Lookout, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon
Dear Jeff Merkley, I’m a constituent in Oregon. I tried to camp at Green Ridge Lookout, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Green Ridge Lookout are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Green Ridge Lookout keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Green Ridge Lookout. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Green Ridge Lookout (Deschutes National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Green Ridge Lookout, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon
Dear Ron Wyden, I’m a constituent in Oregon. I tried to camp at Green Ridge Lookout, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Green Ridge Lookout are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Green Ridge Lookout keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Green Ridge Lookout. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Green Ridge Lookout (Deschutes National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com