Mallard Marsh Campground
1Heads up1 fire 34 mi away
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $24From, per site
- Sites
- 1514 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Mallard Marsh Campground is located along the reed-lined shores of Hosmer Lake a popular destination for fly-fishing, paddling and birding. Keep reading
Recreation
Nearby Hosmer Lake offers opportunities for fly fishing and boating as well as spectacular views. There are also trails and other opportunities for hiking and horseback riding nearby.
Facilities
This facility has vault toilets and each site is equipped with a picnic table and fire pit with grill. Please note campers will need to bring their own water supply.
Natural Features
At the north end of Hosmer Lake, water drains into a porous rim of lava. Hosmer is a “fly fishing only” lake well known for its breath taking views of Mt. Bachelor, South Sisters, Broken Top as well as wildlife viewing and the big Atlantic salmon, brook trout and rainbows that are quite visible in this shallow clear lake. The best way to experience this lake is by canoe or kayak as shore access is limited due to marshy vegetation.
Nearby Attractions
Visitors enjoy traveling the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway which climbs 66-miles 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
The camping fee includes entry for 1 vehicle and 1 legally towed vehicle, any extra vehicles will be subject to an extra vehicle fee at the campground.
Please Note: One RV with tow vehicle per single site or one vehicle per 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.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
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.
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
- 15
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…nearby. Facilities This facility has vault toilets and each site is equipped with a picnic table and…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…grill. Please note campers will need to bring their own water supply. Natural Features At the north end of Hosmer…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host Site”
- Stay limit
- 28 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Night sky · 408th darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 2
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 14 of the 15 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, $24 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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
15 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 14 mapped sitesAll 15 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 2 of the 15 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. 14 of the 15 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| Loop 1 | 001 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 141 ft | 122 ft | $24 | |
| Loop 1 | 002 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 126 ft | 196 ft | $24 | |
| Loop 1 | 003 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 126 ft | 100 ft | $24 | |
| Loop 1 | 004 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 116 ft | 214 ft | $24 | |
| Loop 1 | 005 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 116 ft | 101 ft | $24 | |
| Loop 1 | 006 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 115 ft | 222 ft | 3,242 ft | $24 |
| Loop 1 | 007 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 99 ft | 116 ft | $24 | |
| Loop 1 | 008 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 129 ft | 235 ft | 3,276 ft | $24 |
| Loop 1 | 009 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 77 ft | 109 ft | $24 | |
| Loop 1 | 010 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 77 ft | 97 ft | $24 | |
| Loop 1 | 011 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 97 ft | 106 ft | $24 | |
| Loop 1 | 012 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 111 ft | 182 ft | $24 | |
| Loop 1 | 013 | type not stated | 40 ft | ||||
| Loop 1 | 014 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 111 ft | 113 ft | $24 | |
| Loop 1 | 015 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 121 ft | 121 ft | $24 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
South Campground - Hosmer Lake (OR)Deschutes National Forest · 0.1 mi
Little Fawn CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 0.5 mi
Point Campground - DeschutesDeschutes National Forest · 1.2 mi
Elk Lake CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 1.6 mi
Quinn Meadow Horse CampDeschutes National Forest · 2.4 mi
Lava Lake CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 3.5 miFrom Bend, travel 35.5 miles southwest on Cascade Lakes Hwy (46), then 1.3 miles east on Forest Road 4625. South Campground will come up on the right side first and then Mallard Marsh.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Three Rivers, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 31°F, day 62°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 21°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
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
Mallard Marsh 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 →