Joe Graham Horse Campground
4Heads up4 fires, nearest 11 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $30From, per site
- Sites
- 1413 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
Joe Graham Horse Campground is a beautiful equestrian camp with views of majestic Mt. Hood and its surrounding forest. It provides access to a variety of hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding trails, as well as scenic historic sites. Keep reading
Recreation
Clackamas Lake is a great place for fishing, swimming and non-motorized boating. Anglers can expect a catch of cutthroat, brook, rainbow and German brown trout. Nearby Timothy Lake provides opportunities for picnicking as well as water-related recreation, including the use of power boats. The Clackamas Lake Ranger Station Historic District is less than a mile from the campground. The structures and cabins were built to house forest service workers in the early 1900s. Rustic architecture and the historic nature of the buildings and the surrounding area draws thousands of visitors each year. It is a must-see while staying at the campground. Hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding are popular activities. The 1-mile Joe Graham Trail begins in the campground and connects to the Pacific Crest Trail, which extends more than 2,650 miles through California, Oregon and Washington as it stretches from Mexico to Canada. Trails to scenic Little Crater Lake and the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness are also nearby.
Facilities
The campground offers single-family equestrian campsites. Most of the sites are equipped with horse corrals, tables and campfire rings with grills. Accessible vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Horse owners are responsible for cleaning up after their horses. The campsites are intended for equestrians with horses only. Clackamas Lake Campground across the meadow is a good alternative site for those without horses.
Natural Features
The campground is located in Mt. Hood National Forest at an elevation of about 3,350 feet. It is near Clackamas Lake and larger Timothy Lake. The campground sits among a forest of tall fir trees near a marshy meadow. A variety of wildlife makes its home in the area. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (503) 622-3191.
Nearby Attractions
The campground is less than 40 miles from Mt. Hood, where a historic lookout provides scenic views of the snow-capped mountain. Hiking and year-round skiing is available there.
What the agency tells you
Off-road vehicle use is prohibited within the campground
In accordance with standard industry practices, Mount Hood Recreation will be assessing an additional vehicle fee on the second vehicle in each single family campsite, and on the third and fourth vehicle in any double family campsite, provided these vehicles are not joined to the first vehicle by a hitch and towed onto the site. In the case of motorcycles, the first two are considered as one vehicle for determining additional vehicle fees. The third and fourth motorcycle would also be considered as one vehicle. No additional vehicle fees are collected for bicycles.
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 · 3
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).
Click here for more information on Mt. Hood 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
- 14 · 13 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…campfire rings with grills. Accessible vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Horse owners are…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…grills. Accessible vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Horse owners are responsible for…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Meadow
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Swimming
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 588th darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 13 of the 14 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, $30 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
14 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 13 mapped sitesAll 14 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 14 of the 14 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. 13 of the 14 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA JOE GRAHAM | 001 | equestrian nonelectric | 36 ft | 70 ft | 490 ft | 156 ft | $30 |
| AREA JOE GRAHAM | 002 | equestrian nonelectric | 36 ft | 70 ft | 486 ft | 99 ft | $30 |
| AREA JOE GRAHAM | 003 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 73 ft | 479 ft | 95 ft | $30 |
| AREA JOE GRAHAM | 004 | equestrian nonelectric | 36 ft | 73 ft | 475 ft | 134 ft | $30 |
| AREA JOE GRAHAM | 005 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 55 ft | 438 ft | 169 ft | $30 |
| AREA JOE GRAHAM | 006 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 55 ft | 438 ft | 219 ft | $30 |
| AREA JOE GRAHAM | 007 | equestrian nonelectric | 27 ft | 95 ft | 360 ft | 302 ft | $30 |
| AREA JOE GRAHAM | 008 | equestrian nonelectric | 30 ft | 89 ft | 265 ft | 297 ft | $30 |
| AREA JOE GRAHAM | 009 | equestrian nonelectric | 20 ft | 74 ft | 181 ft | 283 ft | $30 |
| AREA JOE GRAHAM | 010 | equestrian nonelectric | 26 ft | 74 ft | 158 ft | 246 ft | $30 |
| AREA JOE GRAHAM | 011 | equestrian nonelectric | 26 ft | 99 ft | 208 ft | 190 ft | $30 |
| AREA JOE GRAHAM | 012 | equestrian nonelectric | 20 ft | 100 ft | 265 ft | 174 ft | $30 |
| AREA JOE GRAHAM | 013 | equestrian nonelectric | 36 ft | 100 ft | 315 ft | 212 ft | $30 |
| AREA JOE GRAHAM | 014 | type not stated | 36 ft | 460 ft | 310 ft |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Clackamas Lake Historic CabinMt. Hood National Forest · 0.2 mi
Clackamas LakeMt. Hood National Forest · 0.4 mi
Oak Fork Campground (Timothy Lake, OR)Mt. Hood National Forest · 1.5 mi
Gone Creek Campground (Timothy Lake, OR)Mt. Hood National Forest · 1.6 mi
Stone Creek Campground (Timothy Lake, OR)Mt. Hood National Forest · 1.9 mi
Hoodview Campground (Timothy Lake, OR)Mt. Hood National Forest · 2.2 miFrom Sandy, travel east on Highway 26 for approximately 40 miles to Skyline Road (Road 42). Turn right onto Skyline Road and travel south for 9 miles 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 Government Camp, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 37°F, day 53°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 26°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 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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Joe Graham Horse 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 →