Ice Cap Campground
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $25From, per site
- Sites
- 2220 on recreation.gov
- Season
- May 1 – September 30Open May 1 through September 30
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
There are 21 campsites, 9 of which are walk-in tent only sites; the remaining sites can accommodate trailers up to 20 feet in length. There is 1 picnic site located immediately inside the entrance, on the right, up on a rise. There are two double vault toilets in the center of the campground; they are wheelchair accessible. This campground has both reservable and FCFS sites. Campfires allowed until and unless otherwise posted. Fire bans are common during summer months. Please plan accordingly. 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
The McKenzie River National Recreation Trail is a hiking and biking destination. The McKenzie Wild & Scenic River is well known for boating and fishing as are Carmen Reservoir, Fish Lake and Clear Lake. There is a 3 mile loop trail to Koosah Falls and Sahalie Falls.
Facilities
Ice Cap offers 22 campsites with 9 that are walk-in tent sites. The other 13 can accommodate either tents or RVs. Each site has a fire ring and picnic table. There are vault toilets. There may or may not be a host onsite.
Natural Features
Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (541) 967-3917.
Nearby Attractions
McKenzie Pass-Santiam Pass National Scenic Byway, McKenzie River National Recreation Trail (hiking and mountain biking destination), the McKenzie Wild & Scenic River for boating and fishing, Carmen Reservoir for boating and fishing, Sahalie and Koosah Falls and the 3-mile waterfalls loop trail. This area of the Willamette National Forest is a destination spot for hiking, biking, fishing, and water sports. A boat ramp and lake access are within one mile, and hot springs, river access and a non-motorized boat ramp are within ten miles. Visitors also enjoy the views along the National Scenic Byway.
What the agency tells you
There are no electric site hook-ups for this facility.
This campground has first-come, first-served sites.
Be sure to reserve a site that will accommodate your equipment. The site you reserve is your site. You may not move to another site.
Everything else this campground posts · 8
Limit 1 vehicle per site, there is a $10 per vehicle per night fee for additional vehicles.
No discharging firearms, possession of fireworks or use of chainsaws allowed
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.
Campfires allowed until and unless otherwise posted. Fire bans are common during summer months. Please plan accordingly.
Check-In 2:00PM
Check-Out 12:00PM
Be bear aware; keep all food out of sight in approved containers or locked inside your vehicle and remove all food from the area after eating
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
- 22 · 3 tent-only, 9 walk-in
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 55 ft
- Paved pads
- 7 of 22
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 8 of 22 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Hot springs, Waterfall, Reservoir, Lake, River
- Boating
- Hiking
- Mountain biking
- Night sky · 372nd darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 2
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Forest Service says
- Spotty
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 20 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 · 14
What you actually pay
“Limit 1 vehicle per site, there is a $10 per vehicle per night fee for additional vehicles.” · 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 Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
22 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 20 mapped sitesAll 22 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 20 of the 22 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. 22 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.
| ICE CAP | 04 | type not stated | 55 ft | Vault Toilets listed | $25 | |||
| ICE CAP | 05 | tent only nonelectric | 24 ft | 74 ft | 229 ftMcKenzie River | 2,608 ft | $25 | |
| ICE CAP | 08 | walk to | 15 ft | 34 ft | 273 ftMcKenzie River | 2,838 ft | $25 | |
| ICE CAP | 10 | walk to | 15 ft | 44 ft | 299 ftMcKenzie River | 2,892 ft | $25 | |
| ICE CAP | 12 | walk to | 15 ft | 43 ft | 335 ft | 2,910 ft | $25 | |
| ICE CAP | 16 | walk to | 15 ft | 50 ft | 286 ftIce Cap Creek | 2,819 ft | $25 | |
| ICE CAP | 18 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 92 ft | 274 ftIce Cap Creek | 2,665 ft | $25 | |
| ICE CAP | 20 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 34 ft | 129 ftIce Cap Creek | 2,262 ft | $25 | |
| ICE CAP CAMPGROUND | 01 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 41 ft | 138 ftIce Cap Creek | 2,205 ft | $25 | |
| ICE CAP CAMPGROUND | 02 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 34 ft | 158 ftIce Cap Creek | 2,256 ft | $25 | |
| ICE CAP CAMPGROUND | 03 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 75 ft | 194 ftIce Cap Creek | 2,331 ft | $25 | |
| ICE CAP CAMPGROUND | 06 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | 49 ft | 244 ftMcKenzie River | 2,682 ft | $25 | |
| ICE CAP CAMPGROUND | 07 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 49 ft | 255 ftMcKenzie River | 2,731 ft | $25 | |
| ICE CAP CAMPGROUND | 09 | walk to | 15 ft | 34 ft | 304 ftMcKenzie River | 2,849 ft | $25 | |
| ICE CAP CAMPGROUND | 11 | walk to | 15 ft | 46 ft | 347 ftMcKenzie River | 2,863 ft | $25 | |
| ICE CAP CAMPGROUND | 13 | walk to | 15 ft | 43 ft | 320 ft | 2,902 ft | $25 | |
| ICE CAP CAMPGROUND | 14 | walk to | 15 ft | yes | 50 ft | 336 ftIce Cap Creek | 2,832 ft | $25 |
| ICE CAP CAMPGROUND | 15 | walk to | 18 ft | 50 ft | 283 ftIce Cap Creek | 2,888 ft | $25 | |
| ICE CAP CAMPGROUND | 17 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 66 ft | 288 ftIce Cap Creek | 2,756 ft | $25 | |
| ICE CAP CAMPGROUND | 19 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 166 ft | 240 ftIce Cap Creek | 2,486 ft | $25 | |
| ICE CAP CAMPGROUND | 21 | tent only nonelectric | 45 ft | 41 ft | 104 ftIce Cap Creek | 2,177 ft | $25 | |
| S&P | Single S&P | type not stated | $25 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Cold Water Cove - Willamette NF (OR)Willamette National Forest · 1.7 miLakes End CampgroundWillamette National Forest · 2.5 mi
Fish Lake Remount Depot CabinsWillamette National Forest · 4.4 miTrail BridgeWillamette National Forest · 4.8 mi
Lost Prairie Group SiteWillamette National Forest · 5.7 miFrom McKenzie Bridge, travel 17.3 miles east on Hwy 126. Turn left at the Ice Cap Campground/Koosah Falls Sign. Follow signs about half a mile to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Black Butte Ranch, OR
Typical weather
Typical May night 41°F, day 65°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical May night 41°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 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
Ice Cap 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…”