U.S. Forest Service · Fremont National Forest · OR

Lower Buck Creek Campground

1Heads up1 fire 40 mi away
Wildfire
Forty Four fire · 40 mi away · 9 acres · updated Oct 15, 2026
First come, first servedNo reservation, and none to be had: the sites go to whoever pulls in first.

This is how it should work.

Right now
Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
A night
FreeNo camping fee
Drawn from the record · 4,910 ft · 29% tree cover · Buck Creek within reach · Bortle 2 sky
4,910 ftElevation
2,829 ftWater · Buck Creek
42.4 miSE of La Pine, OR
29%Tree cover
Bortle 2Night sky · 45th darkest of 770 in OR

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

Lower Buck Creek is located 35 minutes southwest of Silver Lake, Oregon. For back-country solitude, look no further than Lower Buck Creek. The small stream is surrounded by pastoral meadows and a mixed conifer forest. Lower Buck Creek's elevation tips 5000 feet. Hunter groups and small family reunions are typical groups that enjoy this rustic forest camp. This campground has five camping sites, picnic tables, fire rings, and one vault toilet. Remember to park your vehicle a minimum of 200 feet from the creek. Lower Buck Creek is ideal for wildlife viewing (deer and elk), photography, and relaxing. You can also fish for Brook trout in the creek and stroll along the perennial stream that flows from Yamsay Mountain. There is no potable water. Visitors need to pack plenty of water. Day use parking is available at this site.

Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…picnic tables, fire rings, and one vault toilet. Remember to park your vehicle a minimum of 200…”
Drinking water
None, bring your own
“…stream that flows from Yamsay Mountain. There is no potable water. Visitors need to pack plenty of water. Day use…”
Source: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
Lake, Creek, Meadow
Source: Stated in the agency description

Nothing to book, just show up

One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first, and it costs nothing at all. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.

recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.

BookingNo reservationsNothing to book, and no release date to wait forthe record
A nightFreeNo camping feethe agency’s fee record
A weekendNothingDerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 4

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
Camping feeFree
No fee
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
What a stay costs
A night, and a whole weekendDerivedNothing

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s own record says there’s no camping fee, and no booking fee, because this campground takes no reservations. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.

How we know this receipt · 5
Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Today74°Sunny
Tonight34°Partly Cloudy
Saturday69°Mostly Sunny
Saturday Night29°Partly Cloudy

NWS forecast for Silver Lake, OR

Typical weather

Typical October night 29°F, day 63°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical December night 19°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°10°

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.

Measured at: SILVER LAKE RS, OR (USC00357817), 10 miles away and 525 ft lower

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

Roadless country, and what’s coming for it

Roadless
Buck Creek9,887 acres · 8 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Antler5,498 acres · 8 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Who answers for this land

Cliff Bentz, official portrait

Lower Buck Creek Campground 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 →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service’s own recreation database flags it not open and publishes no reason and no date. That’s a flag, not a notice.
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Silver Lake, OR, 9.6 mi WSW (a census designated place). Straight line.