Kelsay Valley Horse Camp
1Heads up1 fire 27 mi away
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $10From, per site
- Sites
- 1714 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
This campground and trailhead is located along the Wild and Scenic North Umpqua River. Visitors will experience the river's rushing waters as they pass through lush high Cascade meadows. Spring arrives late in the high country and it is welcomed here with an explosion of colors. Purples, reds, yellows, greens, and white are arranged in a riotous bouquet. This site is designed to accommodate pack and saddle use as well as standard camping. Keep reading
Recreation
The campground serves as a base camp for many trailheads that are local favorites for horse riding. Please be courteous and only reserve equestrian site(s) if you bring a horse. Campers in equestrian site(s) without pack or riding horses may be turned away or directed to another campground.
Facilities
This campground has 15 sites open to the public. There are ten equestrian sites with corrals for pack and riding horses. Most corrals are 12 ft. by 12 ft. The campground also has five non-equestrian/standard non-electric sites. All sites have partial shade, picnic tables and and campfire rings with grills. Vault toilets are provided, however, there is no drinking water. Manure bins, wheelbarrows and shovels are also provided. There is limited garbage service – please pack your garbage out with you.
Natural Features
Umpqua National Forest visitors are often taken aback by unique and surprising landscapes shaped by explosive geologic events. The 984,602-acre forest provides spectacular scenery and an abundance of natural and cultural resources. The translation of the word, "Umpqua," meaning "thundering waters," defines the area. High mountain lakes, heart-stopping rapids, peaceful ponds and thundering waterfalls, including the 272-foot Watson Falls on the North Umpqua Highway, offer visitors a renewed sense of spirit. Diverse ecosystems support a wide range of habitat for wildlife. From eagles and owls to salamanders and salmon, these species, along with many others, depend on surrounding undeveloped wilderness, clean streams and diverse forests to live.
Nearby Attractions
This site provides access to Porcupine Connect Trail 1412A , which connects to the North Umpqua Trail 1414 and Windigo Pass Trail 1412 . The North Umpqua Trail heads southeast to enter Mount Thielsen Wilderness where it connects with the Tolo Creek Trail #1466 , Lucile Lake Trail #1459 , Maidu Lake Loop Trail, and the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail #2000 . In addition, Lemolo Lake and Resort are just a short drive away.
What the agency tells you
The primary use for this campground is equestrian use. Non equestrian use is welcomed in non-equestrian sites.
Quiet hours between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Campfires in developed fire pits only
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Fireworks are prohibited
Visitors must bring their own water.
Limited garbage service; pack-out trash
Dogs must be on leash
OHV/ATV use prohibited in the campground
Maximum length of stay: 14 days
$5.00 extra vehicle fee
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.
Maximum vehicle length: 20 feet
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 17 · 8 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 25 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…and and campfire rings with grills. Vault toilets are provided, however, there is no drinking water.…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…Vault toilets are provided, however, there is no drinking water. Manure bins, wheelbarrows and shovels are also…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Lake, River, Creek, Meadow
- Hiking
- Horse Camping
- Horseback riding
- Night sky · 158th darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 2
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 14 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 · 14
What you actually pay
“$5.00 extra vehicle fee per vehicle per night **MUST BE PAID AT THE CAMPGROUND FEE KIOSK UPON ARRIVAL” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own fee record
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $10 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
18 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 14 mapped sitesAll 18 records
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 18 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| A | A001 - HOST | host pad | 25 ft | 126 ft | 320 ft | $10 |
| A | A002 | type not stated | 25 ft | 485 ft | $5–$10 | |
| A | A003 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 138 ft | 510 ft | $10 |
| A | A004 | equestrian nonelectric | 25 ft | 105 ft | 655 ft | $10 |
| A | A005 | equestrian nonelectric | 25 ft | 90 ft | 568 ft | $10 |
| A | A006 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 90 ft | 518 ft | $10 |
| A | A007 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 88 ft | 489 ft | $10 |
| A | A008 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 88 ft | 463 ft | $10 |
| A | A009 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 132 ft | 358 ft | $10 |
| B | B001 | type not stated | 25 ft | 348 ft | $5–$10 | |
| B | B002 | equestrian nonelectric | 25 ft | 27 ft | 438 ft | $10 |
| B | B003 | equestrian nonelectric | 25 ft | 27 ft | 466 ft | $10 |
| B | B004 | equestrian nonelectric | 25 ft | 86 ft | 417 ft | $10 |
| B | B005 | equestrian nonelectric | 25 ft | 101 ft | 550 ft | $10 |
| B | B006 | equestrian nonelectric | 25 ft | 84 ft | 673 ft | $10 |
| B | B007 | equestrian nonelectric | 25 ft | 84 ft | 667 ft | $10 |
| Extra Vehicle | Extra Vehicle Fee | type not stated | 25 ft | $5–$10 | ||
| Scan and Pay | Equestrian and Standard Sites | type not stated | 25 ft | $5–$10 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Inlet CampgroundUmpqua National Forest · 3.0 mi
East Lemolo CampgroundUmpqua National Forest · 3.3 mi
Bunker Hill CampgroundUmpqua National Forest · 4.6 mi
Poole CreekUmpqua National Forest · 5.2 mi
TimpanogasWillamette National Forest · 6.7 mi
Clearwater Falls CampgroundUmpqua National Forest · 8.2 miFrom Roseburg, OR, travel east on OR-138 /NE Diamond Lake Boulevard for about 74 miles. Turn left onto Forest Road 60 (Windigo Pass Road). Follow for 4.5 miles, and then turn right onto Forest Road 6000-958 (red road). Drive 1.5 miles to the end of the road to Kelsay Valley Horse Camp and Trailhead.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Crescent Lake, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 36°F, day 59°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
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
Kelsay Valley Horse Camp 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 →