North Arm Campground (Timothy Lake, OR)
4Heads up4 fires, nearest 12 mi
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $24–$28Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 2019 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 14 notices
In the agency’s own words
The North Arm Campground sits on the shores of Timothy Lake, in the shadow of Oregon's Mt. Hood. The surrounding forest setting offers spectacular views, wetlands, trails for exploration, and abundant fishing. This campground is smaller and more secluded than the others on the south side of the lake. DRIVING NOTE: There are two routes to North Arm Campground—one is rugged and one is suitable for RVs and trailers. Recommended Route: From Sandy, Oregon, travel east on Highway 26 for approximately 40 miles to Skyline Road / FS Road 42. Turn right on Skyline Road, and continue south for about 9 miles. Turn right on FS Road 57, and travel west for approximately 3 ½ miles, crossing the dam at Timothy Lake. Take the 2nd right onto FS Road 5810. North Arm is approximately 5 ½ miles from here. Keep right at all intersections—the road becomes FS Road 5890. The campground is on the right. Keep reading
Recreation
Proximity to Timothy Lake allows campers to enjoy a variety of water-related recreation, including boating and sailing, as well as swimming, windsurfing and fishing. Anglers can expect a catch of kokanee salmon and a variety of trout, as well as crayfish. This area has wonderful canoeing and kayaking opportunities. A variety of trails are located in the area. The Timothy Lake Trail is popular for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. The 12 miles of relatively level terrain loops trekkers around the lake, providing scenic views of the area. It connects to the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, a lengthy hike that extends across three states, from the borders of Canada and Mexico. Portions of that trail also lead southwest to Clackamas Lake Campground and a historic site. The Little Crater Lake is only a short hike away. Little Crater Lake is a geologic oddity, possibly formed by artesian water forcing its way through soft, volcanic rock. The beautiful, turquoise water is a wonder to see. The surrounding meadow is a great place for observing birds and other wildlife. The region is ripe for huckleberry picking as well.
Facilities
The campground offers 14 campsites for tent and RV camping. There are four hike-to campsites available as well. Each site is equipped with a table and a fire ring. Accessible vault toilets and drinking water are provided. A campground host is also available onsite. The nearest gas station/convenience store is about 14 miles away, west on Hwy. 26. The nearest grocery store is in Government Camp, about 19 miles away, west on Hwy. 26.
Natural Features
The campground is situated on the northeastern shore of the roughly 1,400-acre lake, at an elevation of 3,400 feet. Timothy Lake was created in 1956 as a storage reservoir for the Oak Grove Hydroelectric Project. It is one of the larger lakes in the Mt. Hood National Forest. The campground is nestled in a dense mix conifer forest close to the shoreline. Most sites have a thick understory to provide privacy between sites. The wetlands nearby provide an opportunity to observe many species of wildlife.
Nearby Attractions
The Clackamas Lake Ranger Station Historic District is less than 10 miles from the campground. It was built to house Forest Service workers in the early 1900s. The rustic architecture and historic nature of the buildings and the surrounding area draws thousands of tourists each year. Contact Info Between 05/26/2023 and 09/09/2023 this location is staffed. Please call (503) 834-2215 to speak with local staff. From 11/22/2022 to 05/25/2023 this location is unstaffed. Please call (503) 464-8515 for general information.
Charges & Cancellations
A service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation. Late cancellations are subject to additional fees. For full details see the Recreation.Gov, Rules & Reservation Policies.
What the agency tells you
NOTICE: Driving apps may direct you to rough, rugged roads. We strongly recomment the following route: From Government Camp, travel east on Highway 26 for approximately 11 miles to Skyline Road / FS Road 42. Turn right on Skyline Road, and continue south for just over 8 miles. Turn right on FS Road 57, and travel west for approximately 3 ½ miles, crossing the dam at Timothy Lake. Take the 2nd right onto FS Road 5810. North Arm is approximately 5 miles from here. Keep right at all intersections — the road becomes FS Road 5890. The campground is on the right.
Dust: This campground can be dusty due to gravel roads and naturally occuring soil types.
Check-In/Out: Sites must be occupied each night. Check-in starts at 4 PM. Check-out is 12 PM. Sites unoccupied by 12 PM the day after the start the reservation will be forfeited without refund and resold. Call the campground office (503-834-2215) if you cannot arrive the first day of your reservation.
Everything else this campground posts · 11
Generators: Generator use is permitted from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Due to customer feedback, we ask that campers refrain from using open-frame, construction-style generators, as they create excessive noise and may violate our peace and quiet rules. Generators are PROHIBITED after 8 PM and before 8 AM including to power medical devices or other equipment.
Parking: There is a $10 fee per day for each extra vehicle. One vehicle is included with single campsite, two with a double site. Please check your site's driveway length. This may limit the number and size of vehicles at your site.
Maximum Occupancy: Standard Sites = 6 persons. Hike-To sites = 4 persons (small tent only).
RV Water Tanks: Please fill your water tanks before arriving. We do not have fill stations. Filling at campsite water standpipes is prohibited.
Day Use: Day use parking permits are required at this location. Campers must display their hang tag. Daily parking permits are $10. Northwest Forest Passes and Interagency America the Beautiful Passes are honored.
Registration: If you booked for someone else, please update the reservation with their information. The person listed is responsible for the activities of everyone at the site.
Wildfires: Before arrival, check your destination for wildfires , fire restrictions and air quality .
Non-Refundable Fees: Service fees such as reservation fees, cancellation fees, and change fees are non-refundable. They are retained by the reservation service contractor, not by PGE or the U.S. Forest Service.
This campground is managed by Portland General Electric, under a partnership with the U.S. Forest Service as a part of the Clackamas River Hydroelectric Project FERC No. 2195. Contact PGE Parks and Recreation for more information: PortlandGeneral.com/parks, 503-464-8515, pgeparks@pgn.com. More Information: Park Rules, Boater R egulations, Mt. Hood National Forest, Portland General Elect ric .
Firewood: Buy it where you burn it. Did you know? Invasive insects and diseases can hitchhike in on logs, and they can destroy forests. Keep firewood local: under 10 miles is best, and 50 is too far. Learn more: dontmovefirewood.org
Cannabis: Please remember that Timothy Lake is on federal lands. While cannabis is legal in Oregon, possession and use are illegal on National Forest lands including in campgrounds.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 20
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 45 ft
- Accessible sites
- 2
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…with a table and a fire ring. Accessible vault toilets and drinking water are provided. A campground host…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…fire ring. Accessible vault toilets and drinking water are provided. A campground host is also available…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, Beach, Meadow
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 636th darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 19 of the 20 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 · 16
What you actually pay
“Parking: There is a $10 fee per day for each extra vehicle.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $24–$28 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.
“A service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation. Late cancellations are subject to additional fees. For full details see the Recreation.Gov, Rules & Reservation Policies.” · 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 · 7
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
20 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 18 mapped sitesAll 20 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. 19 of the 20 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| HIKE TO | 005 | standard nonelectric | 116 ft | 29 ft | $24–$28 | ||
| HIKE TO | 006 | standard nonelectric | 116 ft | 42 ft | $24–$28 | ||
| HIKE TO | 007 | standard nonelectric | 81 ft | 52 ft | $24–$28 | ||
| HIKE TO | 008 | standard nonelectric | 81 ft | 67 ft | $24–$28 | ||
| HIKE TO | 020 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | $24–$28 | |||
| NORTH ARM (TIMOTHY LAKE) CAMPGROUND | 001 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 212 ft | 316 ft | $24–$28 | |
| NORTH ARM (TIMOTHY LAKE) CAMPGROUND | 002 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 147 ft | 240 ft | $24–$28 | |
| NORTH ARM (TIMOTHY LAKE) CAMPGROUND | 003 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 147 ft | 223 ft | $24–$28 | |
| NORTH ARM (TIMOTHY LAKE) CAMPGROUND | 004 | standard nonelectric | 194 ft | 194 ft | $24–$28 | ||
| NORTH ARM (TIMOTHY LAKE) CAMPGROUND | 009 | standard nonelectric | yes | 253 ft | 214 ft | $24–$28 | |
| NORTH ARM (TIMOTHY LAKE) CAMPGROUND | 010 | type not stated | 409 ft | ||||
| NORTH ARM (TIMOTHY LAKE) CAMPGROUND | 011 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 212 ft | 459 ft | $24–$28 | |
| NORTH ARM (TIMOTHY LAKE) CAMPGROUND | 012 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 125 ft | 565 ft | $24–$28 | |
| NORTH ARM (TIMOTHY LAKE) CAMPGROUND | 013 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 125 ft | 471 ft | $24–$28 | |
| NORTH ARM (TIMOTHY LAKE) CAMPGROUND | 014 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 105 ft | 485 ft | $24–$28 | |
| NORTH ARM (TIMOTHY LAKE) CAMPGROUND | 015 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 105 ft | 381 ft | $24–$28 |
| NORTH ARM (TIMOTHY LAKE) CAMPGROUND | 016 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 128 ft | 438 ft | $24–$28 | |
| NORTH ARM (TIMOTHY LAKE) CAMPGROUND | 017 | standard nonelectric | 128 ft | 428 ft | $24–$28 | ||
| NORTH ARM (TIMOTHY LAKE) CAMPGROUND | 018 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 113 ft | 625 ft | $24–$28 | |
| NORTH ARM (TIMOTHY LAKE) CAMPGROUND | 019 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 113 ft | 556 ft | $24–$28 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Little Crater LakeMt. Hood National Forest · 1.3 miTimothy Lake - Meditation Point CampgroundMt. Hood National Forest · 1.5 mi
Oak Fork Campground (Timothy Lake, OR)Mt. Hood National Forest · 1.9 mi
Gone Creek Campground (Timothy Lake, OR)Mt. Hood National Forest · 2.1 mi
Pine Point Campground (Timothy Lake, OR)Mt. Hood National Forest · 2.5 mi
Stone Creek Campground (Timothy Lake, OR)Mt. Hood National Forest · 2.5 miRecommended Route: From Government Camp, travel east on Highway 26 for approximately 11 miles to Skyline Road / FS Road 42. Turn right on Skyline Road, and continue south for just over 8 miles. Turn right on FS Road 57, and travel west for approximately 3 ½ miles, crossing the dam at Timothy Lake. Take the 2nd right onto FS Road 5810. North Arm is approximately 5 miles from here. Keep right at all intersections—the road becomes FS Road 5890. The campground is on the right.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Government Camp, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 37°F, day 53°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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
North Arm Campground (Timothy Lake, OR) 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 →