House Rock Campground
- Right now
- OpenListed open; its database flags it not open
- A night
- $25From, per site
- Sites
- 1716 on recreation.gov
- Season
- May 1 – October 31Open May 1 through October 31
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
There are 17 campsites set in an upper and lower loop. Some of the sites can accommodate trailers up to 22 feet in length. The upper loop has one accessible single vault toilet while the lower loop has two accessible single vault toilets. Drinking water is available from hand pumps located in both the upper and lower loops. The adjacent picnic area is part of the site and has four tables and two grills, and provides access to the Horse Rock Trial, a 0.8-mile loop trail. Scan and Pay might be offered at this campground; It is recommended that you pay by cash or check for FCFS campsites. Keep reading
There are no refunds, modifications, cancellations, or other fee changes allowed with FCFS payments. This system is the same as putting cash into a fee tube and cannot be refunded. Please download the Rec.Gov app prior to arriving at the campground as there may be no cellular service or very limited service at the campground. If no Scan & Pay option is available you must pay via cash or check. Reservations may be made up to 6 months in advance of arrival date by reserving online at RECREATION.GOV or by calling 877-444-6777.
Recreation
Swimming is popular, especially because many sites have riverfront access to shallow swimming areas. Anglers can cast for native cutthroat trout. In addition to the House Rock Trail, hikers have access to a variety of other trails in the Tombstone Pass Area, like the Iron Mountain Trail.
Facilities
The campground road and parking spurs are composed of packed dirt and rock. The double-loop area comes with accessible vault toilets and drinking water from hand pumps. Picnic tables, campfire rings and grills are at each site. Campfire wood is not readily available at the park. Please plan to bring firewood or purchase from a nearby vendor. Linn County Parks staff, may occasionally, pass through the park with firewood available for purchase.
Natural Features
House Rock Campground is perched on the confluence of Sheep Creek and the South Santiam River in an old growth grove. The river is a 66-mile tributary of the Santiam River that is fed by snowmelt from the Cascade Mountains.
Nearby Attractions
Campers enjoy hiking the House Rock Trail, which starts at the day-use area. Part of the trail shares paths with the historic Santiam Wagon Road, a trail used to transport livestock east across the Cascade Mountains to central Oregon's grasslands. In addition to the House Rock Trail, hikers have access to a variety of other trails in the Tombstone Pass Area, like the Iron Mountain Trail. Swimming is popular, especially because many sites have riverfront access to shallow swimming areas. Anglers can cast for native cutthroat trout.
What the agency tells you
Trailers
Site fee covers 1 vehicle; additional vehicles will be charged a $10 fee, per vehicle per night. If you have questions on what is considered an "extra vehicle", please refer to our kiosk for details.
No electric hookups are available
Everything else this campground posts · 6
No firearms, fireworks or chainsaws
Check out is 12:00 noon
Scan and Pay might be offered at this campground; It is recommended that you pay by cash or check for FCFS campsites. There are no refunds, modifications, cancellations, or other fee changes allowed with FCFS payments. This system is the same as putting cash into a fee tube and cannot be refunded. Please download the Rec.Gov app prior to arriving at the campground as there may be no cellular service or very limited service at the campground. If no Scan & Pay option is available you must pay via cash or check.
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.
Campfire wood is not readily available at the park. Please plan to bring firewood or purchase from a nearby vendor. Linn County Parks staff, may occasionally, come through the park with firewood available for purchase.
For more information on Willamette National Forest, click here
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 17
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 65 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…The upper loop has one accessible single vault toilet while the lower loop has two accessible single…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…has two accessible single vault toilets. Drinking water is available from hand pumps located in both the…”
- Firewood
- Sold here
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Night sky · 501st darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 3
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Forest Service says
- Spotty
- Fall color · reported 3 days ago, 21 km away
- Patchy color
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 16 of the 17 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
“additional vehicles will be charged a $10 fee, per vehicle per night.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
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 · 6
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
17 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 16 mapped sitesAll 17 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. 17 of the 17 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.
| Lower | 002 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 55 ft | 43 ft | $25 |
| Lower | 003 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 43 ft | 66 ft | $25 |
| Lower | 004 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 43 ft | 99 ft | $25 |
| Lower | 005 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 57 ft | 118 ft | $25 |
| Lower | 006 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 57 ft | 132 ftSouth Santiam River | $25 |
| Lower | 007 | standard nonelectric | 29 ft | 88 ft | 149 ftSouth Santiam River | $25 |
| S&P | Standard S&P | type not stated | 26 ft | $25 | ||
| Upper | 008 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 50 ft | 232 ftSouth Santiam River | $25 |
| Upper | 009 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 50 ft | 183 ftSouth Santiam River | $25 |
| Upper | 010 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 51 ft | 176 ftSouth Santiam River | $25 |
| Upper | 011 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 74 ft | 205 ftSouth Santiam River | $25 |
| Upper | 012 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 74 ft | 148 ftSouth Santiam River | $25 |
| Upper | 013 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 52 ft | 172 ftSouth Santiam River | $25 |
| Upper | 014 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 52 ft | 121 ftSouth Santiam River | $25 |
| Upper | 015 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 98 ft | 100 ftSouth Santiam River | $25 |
| Upper | 016 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 49 ft | 170 ftSouth Santiam River | $25 |
| Upper | 017 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 49 ft | 189 ftSouth Santiam River | $25 |
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
Fernview Group SiteWillamette National Forest · 2.8 mi
Yukwah CampgroundWillamette National Forest · 4.7 mi
Trout Creek Campground - Willamette (OR)Willamette National Forest · 5.2 miTrout Creek CampgroundWillamette National Forest · 5.2 mi
Longbow Organization GroupWillamette National Forest · 6.1 miFrom Sweet Home, follow Highway 20 east for 26 miles to Forest Road 2044 and turn right. Follow Forest Road 2044 for a half mile and turn right, then drive for another quarter mile. House Rock Campground is across the Sheep Creek bridge.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Cascadia, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 39°F, day 62°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical October night 39°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
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 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
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
House Rock 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 →
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“…app prior to arriving at the campground as there may be no cellular service or very limited service at the campground. If no Scan & Pay…”