Olive Lake Campground (OR)
3Heads up3 fires, nearest 6 mi
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- $12From, per site
- Sites
- 28All of them booked ahead
- Season
- June 1 – November 30Open June 1 through November 30
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 1 notices
In the agency’s own words
Nestled on the edge of a lake, high in the Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon, this popular campground is only 8 miles west of the historic Fremont Powerhouse and 12 miles west of the old mining town of Granite. The campground features 28 campsites and 7 accessible toilet facilities. Other features include a 2-mile hiking trail around the lake with nearby access to wilderness and scenic area trails, a boat ramp and 2 docks. Besides beautiful scenery, the lake offers many opportunities for wildlife viewing--particularly a nesting pair of osprey that return annually. Activities in this area include fishing, boating, swimming, hiking, hunting, and photography. Within 20 miles are several historic sites. Keep reading
Recreation
A 2-mile hiking trail encircles the lake, providing access to more secluded spots where solitude can be enjoyed. Bicyclists can also enjoy the trail although there are a couple of spots bikes might need to be walked, depending on skill level. Anglers can fish for rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, brook trout, and kokanee and crawfish boils are a popular dinner option. There are 2 boat docks adjacent to the campground, as well as a boat ramp and trailer parking. Motorized boats are allowed on the lake, but wakes and jet skis are not allowed. There are opportunities for viewing wildlife such as deer, elk, bear, river otters, and osprey. Mushroom and berry picking are available in season. Other nearby trails access the North John Day Wilderness Area and Vinegar Hill Scenic Area. An interpretive sign about the beetle infestation is located in a few spots within the campground.
Facilities
The campground features 20 tent/RV campsites, 2 group sites, 6 tent only sites and 7 accessible toilet facilities. Other features include a 2-mile hiking trail around the lake with nearby access to wilderness and scenic area trails, a boat ramp and 2 docks, and an interpretive sign. There is no potable water. Potable water can be obtained from Fremont Powerhouse, 7 miles east of the campground from May 15-Sept 30.
Nearby Attractions
The area around Olive Lake is rich in history. The dam and gates on the north side of the lake were constructed as part of a hydroelectric system to support gold mining activities within the northern Blue Mountain Region. Historically, water from the lake flowed through a wooden pipeline to the Fremont Powerhouse, where it was used to produce electricity for mines and towns in the area. Fremont Powerhouse is located approximately 7 miles east and the historic moning town of Granite is 12 miles east of Olive Lake along Forest Road 73.
What the agency tells you
- Dogs must be on a leash at all times. - No discharging firearms (including bow/arrows) or possession of fireworks within the campground. - No OHVs are allowed within the campground or on FS Road 10 unless they are on a trailer. - Check-out time is 12:00pm. Check-in time is 2:00pm. - Some campsites are available on a first-come, first-served basis. - Sites 1-13 are within the part of the campground hardest hit by beetle killed trees. Anticipate very little shade and numerous stumps. Rehabilitation work will continue for several years. - Be bear aware; keep all food out of reach or locked inside your vehicle and remove all food from the area after eating. - 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 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. - Additional vehicles will require an additional fee paid on site. - Trash service is not available at this site; please pack home your garbage. - Motorized boats are allowed on the lake, but no wakes must be observed. Also no water skiing or personal watercraft permitted. - This lake is sometimes used as a dipping site to support fire suppression efforts. If you see a helicopter with a bucket hanging underneath coming toward the lake, please get off the lake no matter how far away you are.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 28 · 6 tent-only, 2 group
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- 7
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River
- Backpacking
- Berry Picking
- Biking
- Birding
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Crawfishing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Hunting
- Kayaking
- Motor Boat
- Mountain biking
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
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 · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $12 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.
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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
28 sites
All 28 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. 28 of the 28 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Olive Lake | 1 | tent only nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 10 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Olive Lake | 11 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Olive Lake | 12 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Olive Lake | 13 | group standard nonelectric | yes | $25 |
| Olive Lake | 14 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Olive Lake | 15 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
| Olive Lake | 16 | standard nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 16A | standard nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 17 | standard nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 18 | standard nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 19 | tent only nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 2 | tent only nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 20 | standard nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 21 | standard nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 22 | standard nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 23 | standard nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 24 | standard nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 25 | tent only nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 26 | tent only nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 27 | group standard nonelectric | $25 | |
| Olive Lake | 3 | tent only nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 4 | standard nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 5 | standard nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 6 | standard nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 7 | standard nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 8 | standard nonelectric | $12 | |
| Olive Lake | 9 | standard nonelectric | yes | $12 |
25 of 28 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Miners RetreatUmatilla National Forest · 4.9 mi
Caretakers CabinUmatilla National Forest · 4.9 mi
Hilltop Hideaway - Umatilla NF (OR)Umatilla National Forest · 4.9 mi
Congo GulchUmatilla National Forest · 4.9 miHead O' Boulder Forest CampMalheur National Forest · 5.2 mi
Sunshine Guard StationMalheur National Forest · 9.6 miFrom Ukiah, OR travel south to County Road 1475 (turns into Forest Service Road 52 after 5 miles). Go about 48.5 mile to the town of Granite. Instead of entering the town, turn right onto County Road 24/Forest Service Road (FSR) 10 and travel about 3.5 miles to the end of the pavement. Follow the gravel road up to the right (FSR 10). Travel about 9 miles on FSR 10. Turn right on FSR 1000480 and travel about 1/4 miles into the campground.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Greenhorn, OR
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
Olive Lake Campground (OR) 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 →