Link Creek
1Heads up1 fire 25 mi away
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 28 of the next 30 nights; a database flag says not open read 16:19 UTC
- A night
- $25–$54Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 33All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Link Creek Campground is situated on the shores of Suttle Lake in the Deschutes National Forest. Visitors enjoy boating, fishing, hiking and biking in summer, and cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in winter. Keep reading
Recreation
Popular activities in the area include hiking, fishing and motorized boating in the summer months, and cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in winter months. Numerous hiking mountain biking trails are accessible from the campground and in the surrounding area. The 3.2 mile Suttle Lake Loop Trail meanders through the developed recreation areas on Suttle Lake. The trail is relatively flat and follows the wooded shoreline of the lake, providing opportunities for fishing or picnicking along the way. A boat ramp is located within the campground. Motorized and non-motorized boats are allowed on Suttle Lake.
Facilities
Link Creek Campground offers tent and RV campsites, as well as yurts. Campsites are equipped with tables and campfire rings with grills. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Electrical hookups are not available. The yurts are equipped with electricity. While the campsites are pet-friendly, unfortunately pets are not permitted within the yurts. The yurts are available for reservation year-round. Housekeeping is reduced to 2-3 days from November - March. Each is equipped with a bunkbed with one double and one single mattress, double futon, table and chairs and a wood stove. Visitors need to bring their own linens and eating essentials. They each have a light, a wall heater, and 1 - 110 electrical outlet.
Natural Features
Suttle Lake is surrounded by a mixed conifer forest. The lake is deep and clear. The lake covers an area of 253 acres and has an average depth of 44 feet. It sustains an excellent population of naturally reproducing kokanee, brown trout, whitefish, and crayfish. Link Creek, which empties into Suttle Lake, is shallow and clear enough to view spawning fish. Lake Creek flows eastward from Suttle Lake and eventually joins the Metolius River. In autumn, the local vine maple trees display brilliant orange, red and yellow foliage.
Nearby Attractions
Visitors can explore wilderness areas, rivers, lakes and reservoirs, and approximately 1,600 miles of trails that comprise nearly 2.5 million acres within the Deschutes National Forest and the adjacent Ochoco National Forest. Visitors enjoy traveling the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway, known as Oregon's Highway in the Sky, which climbs into the clouds on a 66-mile drive through the Cascade Range, weaving past snow-capped peaks and alpine lakes.
Charges & Cancellations
Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.
What the agency tells you
Yurts are available for reservation year-round; campground closes in winter
While the campsites are pet-friendly, unfortunately pets are not permitted within the yurts
Prevent the spread of invasive species by inspecting and cleaning packs, equipment and tires before using lake or trails
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Please Note: One RV with tow vehicle per single site or one vehicle per single tent site. Two RV’S with tow vehicle per double site or two vehicles per double tent site. Most sites can accommodate 1 extra vehicle that is not included with the reservation fee. Extra vehicle will be charged a per night fee and collected at the campground.
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
During your time in Central Oregon, you can find wildfire, prescribed fire and smoke information at centraloregonfire.org
Reserved Sites will be held until check out time (NOON) the day following your arrival date. Sites must be occupied by the checkout time of that following day to hold a reservation or the site will be forfeited and released to other guests. Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.
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).
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.
Click here for more information about Deschutes National Forest
Camping or otherwise occupying a single location (including leaving camping equipment and/or related supplies) for a period longer than 14 consecutive calendar days is prohibited. ‘Location’ means the occupied area, the occupied campsite, and the National Forest System lands in the immediate vicinity thereof. Camping or occupying any location on all National Forest lands for more than 28 calendar days total during a calendar year is prohibited.
NO generator use is allowed in campgrounds between 10:00PM and 7:00AM (36 CFR 261.10). Silent power banks or battery powered devices are allowed.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 33 · 3 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Paved pads
- 3 of 33
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…tables and campfire rings with grills. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Electrical hookups…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…rings with grills. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Electrical hookups are not available.…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 28 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Night sky · 441st darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 2
Full this Saturdayread 16:19 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBookedClosed
Every one of the 3 sites on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 3 are free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:19 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 16
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $25–$54 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.
“Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.” · this campground’s own terms
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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:19 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
34 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 33 mapped sitesAll 34 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 34 of the 34 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. 33 of the 34 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA LINK CREEK | 001 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 87 ft | 506 ft | 3,144 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 002 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 82 ft | 548 ft | 3,058 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 003 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 82 ft | 493 ft | 2,976 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 004 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 55 ft | 351 ft | 2,788 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 005 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 55 ft | 392 ft | 2,801 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 006 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 76 ft | 395 ft | 2,726 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 007 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 89 ft | 317 ft | 2,644 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 008 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 76 ft | 403 ft | 2,668 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 009 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 75 ft | 207 ft | 2,501 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 010 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 42 ft | 191 ft | 2,559 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 011 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 42 ft | 183 ft | 2,592 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 012 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 68 ft | 189 ft | 2,656 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 013 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 68 ft | 205 ft | 2,707 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 014 | standard nonelectric | 44 ft | 120 ft | 248 ft | 2,807 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 015 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 81 ft | 223 ft | 2,855 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 016 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 80 ft | 214 ft | 2,882 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 017 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 80 ft | 294 ft | 2,942 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 018 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 107 ft | 195 ft | 2,930 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 019 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 107 ft | 174 ft | 2,983 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 020 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 101 ft | 166 ft | 3,044 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 021 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 101 ft | 71 ft | 3,145 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 022 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 98 ft | 83 ft | 3,178 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 023 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 74 ft | 180 ft | 3,093 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 024 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 88 ft | 166 ft | 3,156 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 025 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 74 ft | 237 ft | 3,069 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 026 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 86 ft | 256 ft | 3,143 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 027 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 75 ft | 319 ft | 3,058 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 028 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 52 ft | 382 ft | 3,083 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 029 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 92 ft | 461 ft | 3,064 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 030 Host | host pad | 40 ft | 359 ft | 3,245 ft | $40 | |
| AREA LINK CREEK | 033 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 59 ft | 323 ft | 3,139 ft | $25–$54 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | Y31 | yurt | 40 ft | 86 ft | 377 ft | 3,152 ft | $64 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | Y32 | yurt | 36 ft | 65 ft | 296 ft | 3,192 ft | $64 |
| AREA LINK CREEK | Y34 | yurt | 36 ft | 52 ft | 384 ft | 3,050 ft | $64 |
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.
25 of 34 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Scout LakeDeschutes National Forest · 0.5 mi
South ShoreDeschutes National Forest · 0.9 mi
Blue BayDeschutes National Forest · 1.2 miJack Creek CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 5.6 miRiverside CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 6.3 mi
Big LakeWillamette National Forest · 6.3 miTravel approximately 13 miles northwest of Sisters on Highway 20/126. Turn left onto Forest Road 2070/Suttle Lake Campgrounds. Travel less than 1/2 mile to Blue Bay entrance on the right to Link Creek.
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 October night 33°F, day 65°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 23°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 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 · a letter you can send
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
Link Creek 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 →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyJanelle S. BynumU.S. Representative · Oregon’s 5th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJeff MerkleyU.S. Senator · Oregon
- Your senator, on the same appropriationRon WydenU.S. Senator · Oregon
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Link Creek, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon
Dear Janelle S. Bynum, I’m a constituent in Oregon’s 5th district. I tried to camp at Link Creek, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t. All 33 sites at Link Creek are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 3 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Link Creek keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Link Creek. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Link Creek (Deschutes National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Link Creek, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon
Dear Jeff Merkley, I’m a constituent in Oregon. I tried to camp at Link Creek, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t. All 33 sites at Link Creek are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 3 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Link Creek keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Link Creek. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Link Creek (Deschutes National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Link Creek, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon
Dear Ron Wyden, I’m a constituent in Oregon. I tried to camp at Link Creek, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t. All 33 sites at Link Creek are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 3 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Link Creek keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Link Creek. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Link Creek (Deschutes National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com