Lost Prairie Group Site
1Heads up1 fire 11 mi away
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- OpenListed open; its database flags it not open
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
- Season
- May 1 – October 31Open May 1 through October 31
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices
In the agency’s own words
This site was originally a campground that has been converted to a group site with a 75-person capacity limit. There are 10 individual campsites. Sites #1-4 are back-in, paved surface sites suitable for tents and accommodating of trailers ranging up to 42 feet long depending on the site. Sites #5 -10 were originally walk-in sites less that 60 feet from the main area which can still be utilized for tents. Each individual site has a picnic table and fire pit. Keep reading
There is a paved parking area which can be used for RV parking with capacity for up to 6 RV's There are two double vault toilets, one behind site #1 and an accessible one near the parking area. Drinking water is available from a handpump well at the front of the campground. Lost Prairie Group Site is located along the Over the Rivers and Through the Woods Scenic Byway and is nestled among the forest in the Cascades at an elevation of 3600 feet. Lost Prairie is only 15 minutes from the McKenzie River National Scenic Trail and Clear Lake. Numerous other trails and lakes are close by as well. Reservations may be made up to 12 months in advance of arrival date by reserving online at RECREATION.GOV or by calling 877-444-6777.
Recreation
Lost Prairie Group Site is close to numerous hiking and boating opportunities. The McKenzie River trail, Iron Mountain, Echo Basin, Crescent Mountain and Browder Ridge trails are all within a fifteen minute drive. Clear Lake, Smith Reservoir and Suttle Lake are all close by and offer boating and fishing opportunities.
Facilities
One hand pump provides water and there is a newer double CXT toilet on site and an older outhouse near site 1. The creek can be accessed from the campground easily. The Lost Prairie Group Area was originally a campground that has been converted to a group site. If this area is not reserved as a group site, sites 1-4 are available on a first come, first serve basis. Below are the details on the individual sites within the group site; every site has a picnic table and fire pit/grill. There is a parking area originally designed for the walk in sites that can be used for RV parking; this area is suitable for 3 large or 5 small RV's, maximum 6 RV's. Site 1 Back-in, paved surface, 42 feet long, flat grade, suitable for tent or small camper Site 2 Back-in, paved surface, 30 feet long, slight grade, suitable for tent or small camper Site 3 Back-in, paved surface, 17 feet long, slight grade, suitable for tent or small camper Site 4 Back-in, paved surface, 15 feet long, slight grade, suitable for tent or small camper Site 5 -10 were originally walk-in sites. Walk is less than 60 feet. Tents may be set up in area where original sites were located. Parking area can be used for autos using walk-in area and RV's. 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.
Natural Features
The group site is nestled in the trees and Hackleman Creek flows through the back of the site. There are many wildflowers blooming in the prairie during the summer.
Nearby Attractions
Lost Prairie Group Site is close to numerous hiking and boating opportunities. The McKenzie River trail, Echo Basin, Crescent Mountain, and Browder Ridge trails are all within fifteen minutes drive. Clear Lake, Smith Reservoir and Suttle Lake are all close by and offer boating and fishing opportunities. Clear Lake Resort is just down the road from Lost Prairie Group Site on Hwy 126 with a restaurant, boat rentals and excellent hiking. It is unique and well known for its clarity and standing dead trees created by the eruption of Sand Mountain. The West Cascades Scenic Byway and Santiam Pass-McKenzie Pass Scenic Byway are in close proximity to the site. Numerous short hikes to lakes, waterfalls and scenic vistas are along both routes. Part of the historic Santiam Wagon Road, Lost Prairie is a natural meadow near Hackleman creek where a scouting party looking for a new wagon route across the Cascades became lost. After several days of frustration, one member of the party climbed a tall tree and spotted Sand Mountain to the east, regaining his bearings.
What the agency tells you
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.
Check-Out 12:00 noon
Everything else this campground posts · 1
Check-In 2:00PM
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 35 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…for up to 6 RV's There are two double vault toilets, one behind site #1 and an accessible one near the…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…an accessible one near the parking area. Drinking water is available from a handpump well at the front of…”
- Firewood
- Sold here
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Reservoir, Lake, River, Creek, Meadow
- Night sky · 406th darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 2
- Fall color · reported 4 days ago, 35 km away
- Patchy color
Full this Saturdayread 16:42 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
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.
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
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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:42 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 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. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| 1 | 1 | group standard area nonelectric | 35 ft | 178 ft | $225 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Fish Lake Remount Depot CabinsWillamette National Forest · 3.4 mi
Cold Water Cove - Willamette NF (OR)Willamette National Forest · 5.1 miLakes End CampgroundWillamette National Forest · 5.1 miCold Water Cove CampgroundWillamette National Forest · 5.1 mi
Ice Cap CampgroundWillamette National Forest · 5.7 miSevenmileWillamette National Forest · 6.9 miFrom Sweet Home, OR, follow Highway 20 east for 38 miles and look for signs for the Lost Prairie Group Site.
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 35°F, day 60°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical October night 35°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 · 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
Lost Prairie Group Site 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 Lost Prairie Group Site, Willamette National Forest, Oregon
Dear Janelle S. Bynum, I’m a constituent in Oregon’s 5th district. I tried to camp at Lost Prairie Group Site, Willamette National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Lost Prairie Group Site are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Lost Prairie Group Site keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Lost Prairie Group Site. 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 Lost Prairie Group Site (Willamette 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 Lost Prairie Group Site, Willamette National Forest, Oregon
Dear Jeff Merkley, I’m a constituent in Oregon. I tried to camp at Lost Prairie Group Site, Willamette National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Lost Prairie Group Site are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Lost Prairie Group Site keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Lost Prairie Group Site. 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 Lost Prairie Group Site (Willamette 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 Lost Prairie Group Site, Willamette National Forest, Oregon
Dear Ron Wyden, I’m a constituent in Oregon. I tried to camp at Lost Prairie Group Site, Willamette National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Lost Prairie Group Site are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Lost Prairie Group Site keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Lost Prairie Group Site. 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 Lost Prairie Group Site (Willamette National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com