Haystack Campground (East Shore)
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 14 mi
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- $25From, per site
- Sites
- 2726 on recreation.gov
- Season
- April 1 – October 31Open April 1 through October 31
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 5 notices
In the agency’s own words
Haystack Campground (East Shore) is located in central Oregon's scenic Crooked River National Grassland. With a view of Mt. Jefferson in the distance, visitors can enjoy the beautiful vistas while relaxing in the high desert. Keep reading
Recreation
Fishing is a popular pastime at the reservoir, which is regularly stocked. Largemouth bass, rainbow trout, kokanee, along with crappie and catfish are some of the species that inhabit the water. Recreational boating is also popular with paved boat ramps available at Haystack Campground as well as at the West Shore Campground. Swimming is also permitted. Nearby areas provide other activities such as rock climbing, hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, and ATV use.
Facilities
Haystack Campground offers 24 spacious campsites that will accommodate tents to large RVs. It is located on the east shore of Haystack Reservoir and has paved interior roads and site pads. Each campsite has a picnic table and campfire ring. There are five vault toilets conveniently located throughout the campground. Potable water is available at the RV fill station located just past the entrance station. In addition to the individual campsites, there are Group Sites and Day Use areas that have covered picnic tables.
Natural Features
Near Madras, Oregon, Haystack Reservoir's 240 surface-acres are surrounded by a high desert landscape of juniper trees and sagebrush. The expanse of water attracts waterfowl such as common loon, horned grebe, red-necked grebe, and eared grebe for a respite during migration. Rarities that have been reported are trumpeter swan, surf scoter, black-necked stilt, sanderling, bald eagle, osprey, and eastern kingbird. The spring breeding season in April through May produces nature's own concert from Pacific chorus frog.
Nearby Attractions
Smith Rock State Park, a very popular area for rock climbing is about a 20-minute drive to the south. Also, a spectacular view of the Crooked River Gorge is available from an old highway bridge, now accessible by a short walk from a rest area just off Hwy 97 about 15 minutes south of the campground.
What the agency tells you
A per-day, per vehicle fee of $7.00 at day use area. No other recreation passes accepted.
Off-highway vehicles and horses riding are not allowed in the campground.
This campground has reservable and first-come, first-serve sites.
Everything else this campground posts · 2
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.
Check-in Time is 2:00pm and Check-out time is 12:00pm
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 27 · 3 group, 3 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 140 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 1 of 27 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER on 1 of 27 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, River
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Visitor center
- Night sky · 698th darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 26 of the 27 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 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.
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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
27 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 23 mapped sitesAll 27 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. 27 of the 27 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Haystack Campground (East Shore) | Group 1 | group shelter nonelectric | 20 ft | $50 | |||
| Haystack Campground (East Shore) | Group 2 | group shelter nonelectric | 20 ft | $50 | |||
| Haystack Campground (East Shore) | Group 3 | group shelter nonelectric | 20 ft | $50 | |||
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 001 | type not stated | 40 ft | 50 amp | $25 | ||
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 002 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 80 ft | 426 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 003 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 80 ft | 413 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 004 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 98 ft | 389 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 005 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 98 ft | 405 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 006 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 150 ft | 405 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 007 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 125 ft | 403 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 008 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 125 ft | 358 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 009 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 121 ft | 208 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 010 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 71 ft | 144 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 011 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 71 ft | 205 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 012 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 56 ft | 215 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 013 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 56 ft | 201 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 014 | standard nonelectric | 85 ft | 87 ft | 133 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 015 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 109 ft | 129 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 016 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 127 ft | 204 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 017 | standard nonelectric | 140 ft | 127 ft | 89 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 018 | standard nonelectric | 80 ft | 63 ft | 178 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 019 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 63 ft | 237 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 020 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 79 ft | 269 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 021 | standard nonelectric | 125 ft | 88 ft | 174 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 022 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 76 ft | 244 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 023 | standard nonelectric | 85 ft | 76 ft | 202 ft | $25 | |
| HAYSTACK CAMPGROUND (EAST SHORE) | 024 | standard nonelectric | 85 ft | 76 ft | 277 ft | $25 |
25 of 27 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
South Shore Group Sites0.4 mi
South Shore Group Campground0.4 miHaystack West Shore Campground and Day Use Area0.9 miSkull Hollow CampgroundCrooked River National Grassland · 7.8 mi
Steelhead Falls CampgroundPrineville Deschutes Field Office · 9.6 miBLM Beach CampgroundPrineville Deschutes Field Office · 13 miFrom Highway 97: Exit Jericho Lane and go east for approximately 1.2 miles. Turn right on Haystack Drive (FS 7130 / FS 96) and continue on for about 2.1 miles. The Haystack Campground entrance is on the left. From Highway 26: Exit on Laurel Lane (FS 96) and go west for approximately 4 miles. Bear right at the intersection of FS 7130 / FS 96 and continue on for about 2 miles. Haystack Campground entrance will be on the right.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Culver, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 30°F, day 62°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical April night 27°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 moreOutside the published season
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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Haystack Campground (East Shore) 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 →