Pickett Butte Lookout
4Heads up4 fires, nearest 19 mi
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:42 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 14 notices
In the agency’s own words
Perched atop Pickett Butte at an elevation of 3,200 feet, this lookout offers visitors a unique lodging experience in Umpqua National Forest in southwest Oregon. After climbing 40 feet up on a very narrow steep stairway to the one-room structure, guests are rewarded with panoramic views of the entire Jackson Creek Drainage and much of the lower elevation lands around the town of Tiller. The original lookout was 25 feet tall and built in 1934. In 1948 the tower was replaced with the current flat top structure. Keep reading
The tower is available for reservations October 15 through July 15 (lookout is utilized for fire season during the summer months). The roads to the lookout are not plowed, nor are they maintained for passenger cars. High clearance or four wheel drive vehicles are recommended for travel to this site, and guests must bring several of their own amenities. Please be aware that while very uncommon, during winter months guests may need to snowmobile, ski or snowshoe up to four miles to reach the lookout.
Recreation
Hiking, birding and wildlife viewing are popular among guests. Seasonal changes envelope the area as snowmelt gives rise to spring flowers and vivid autumn colors welcome a landscape dusted with snow. Guests may enjoy a day of scenic driving along a portion of the 172-miles Rogue-Umpqua National Scenic Byway. Mountain and river scenery unfold along the highway, showcasing everything from rolling oak-covered hills and towering coniferous forests to roaring white water rapids and incised inter-canyon lava flows. Swimming at the Three C Rock Picnic Area, about 7 miles from the lookout, is also a refreshing way to spend a warm summer afternoon.
Facilities
The lookout cabin is a 12 x 12 room, set 40 feet above the ground. It is furnished with a single bed, and a small table and chair, and is equipped with a propane heater, lanterns, cooking stove with oven and a refrigerator (propane is provided). A vault toilet is located at the lookout site. There is a pulley system available to transport items from the ground to the lookout (use at your own risk). There is no water at the site, so visitors must bring plenty for drinking, cooking and washing. Potable water is available at a spigot in front of the Tiller Ranger Station office (20 minutes away via car). Guests must bring several of their own supplies, including food, cooking utensils, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, towels, dish soap, matches, cooking gear, toilet paper and garbage bags. There is no trash service. Pack out all food and garbage.
Natural Features
In 1898, homesteader William T. Pickett rode into this area on horseback and decided to stay and build a life and home. Perched atop the butte named after him, the Pickett Butte Lookout offers a view of the entire Jackson Creek Drainage and much of the lower elevation lands around the town of Tiller. The Rogue-Umpqua Divide, south and east of Pickett Butte, has scenic peak landmarks, which are capped with snow until early summer. Water is abundant in streams and a handful of lakes in the area, and diverse plant communities provide habitat for abundant wildlife ranging from hummingbird to black bear. Learn more about bear safety.
Nearby Attractions
Visitors may want to take some time to visit nearby Crater Lake National Park for a glimpse into the area's fascinating geological and cultural history.
What the agency tells you
Maximum capacity is four people (due to weight limits on the tower)
There is no water at the site
This site is not recommended for families with small children; the high steep tower stairway, catwalk access, and potential for inclement weather pose significant risks for injury if not careful.
Everything else this campground posts · 11
The tower is secured with an overhead hatch door which may be difficult to open; please use caution when opening and closing this door, and keep the door closed while in the lookout
Entry to the lookout is by combination lock. The combination will be included in your reservation confirmation letter. To open the lock, set the combination to the correct code and squeeze the lock shut, which will allow it to then pop open. Vehicle access past the road gate is permitted with your reservation, but other users may hike from the gate to the lookout during your stay. Placing personal locks on the gate is not permitted as agency personnel may need to access the site.
Please leave the lookout cleaner than you found it. Due to the remote location of the lookout, it cannot be cleaned after every stay. Do not leave food, bottled water or cans/bottles (these can freeze and burst between guests) in the refrigerator when you leave. Do not leave food out where it can attract animals. Keep the building and grounds clean to deter squirrels, mice, rats, and bears. Please leave the refrigerator on when you leave and clean it out thoroughly.
The lookout tower is a no-smoking facility
Storms are part of the thrill of staying at a lookout, but they are also extremely dangerous. If a lightning storm should occur while you are at the lookout, please follow these rules: Stay indoors or in your car If you are trapped outside during a lightning storm, move to lower ground and stay low to the ground. Do not stand under trees or other high objects. If you are in the lookout building, close windows and doors. Turn off radios and not touch anything metal, the lookout itself is 'grounded'.
Visitors must pack out all trash. Please be respectful of other visitors, and be aware that leaving trash out can attract rodents and other animals. There is a transfer station off County Road 46 at milepost 4.5, but it is only open on Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and a fee of $3.00 per can (up to 35 gallons) is charged.
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.
Doors and windows should be locked and all personal items removed upon departure
Please do not let pets roam freely, as they may endanger wildlife and plants
Inclement weather can occur during any time of the year, but during winter months snow storms can make the lookout unreachable by vehicle. Depending on snow-pack, the lookout can usually still be accessed with a high-clearance vehicle with four-wheel drive and/or tire chains, but be aware that there are times that the lookout can only be accessed by snowshoeing, skiing, or snowmobiling up to 3 miles one-way. Refunds are generally not given for inclement weather.
Renters are advised to bring cleaning supplies to clean interior surfaces upon arrival and departure. The Forest Service will provide cleaning supplies but cannot guarantee their availability in the case they have been used or taken by previous occupants. Renters assume responsibility for cleaning surfaces to reduce the risk of potential COVID infection. If unwilling or unable to use cleaning supplies, renters can avoid going to the rental and submit for a full refund.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…to the lookout (use at your own risk). There is no water at the site, so visitors must bring plenty for…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Swimming
- Wildlife viewing
Full this Saturdayread 16:42 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
2 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 16:57 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday, and on four midweek nights after it as well. read 16:42 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
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
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 2
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:57 UTC
- Cavitt Creek Falls Recreation SiteRoseburg District Swiftwater Field Office · 20 mi · 8 of 20 site-nights open
- Susan Creek CampgroundRoseburg District Swiftwater Field Office · 24 mi · 14 of 58 site-nights open
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
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 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. 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.
| AREA PICKETT BUTTE LOOKOUT | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 1,233 ft | 153 ft | $40 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Three C Rock CampgroundUmpqua National Forest · 2.2 mi
Whisky Camp Guard StationUmpqua National Forest · 6.5 mi
Dumont Creek CampgroundUmpqua National Forest · 6.8 mi
Boulder Creek CampgroundUmpqua National Forest · 8.5 miCover CampgroundUmpqua National Forest · 8.8 mi
Ash Flat CampgroundUmpqua National Forest · 9.3 miImportant note regarding GPS use: please be advised that GPS units can, and have sent guests down the wrong roads to access the lookout. Please consider following the directions below rather than your GPS unit.
Directions: From Canyonville take West 1st Street and turn onto SE 3rd St/OR-227. Continue to follow OR-227 approximately 23 miles until you reach Tiller. From Tiller take Douglas County Road #46 for 3 miles to the Pickett Butte turn off which is marked as Forest Service Road #3113 (on the right across the bridge). Follow Forest Service Road #3113 approximately 5 miles up to the 300 Spur Road sign (#3113-300). Take the 300 Spur Road up to the lookout (2 miles). The road to the lookout is not snow plowed.
Please use caution during winter months. Pickett Butte's elevation is 3,200 feet and does receive snow. The road to the lookout is not plowed. While very uncommon, during winter months guests may need to snowmobile, ski or snowshoe up to three miles to reach the lookout.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Days Creek, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 38°F, day 70°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 30°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 · 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
Pickett Butte Lookout 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 →
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 moneyCliff BentzU.S. Representative · Oregon’s 2nd 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 Pickett Butte Lookout, Umpqua National Forest, Oregon
Dear Cliff Bentz, I’m a constituent in Oregon’s 2nd district. I tried to camp at Pickett Butte Lookout, Umpqua National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Pickett Butte Lookout 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. Pickett Butte Lookout keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Pickett Butte Lookout. 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 Pickett Butte Lookout (Umpqua 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 Pickett Butte Lookout, Umpqua National Forest, Oregon
Dear Jeff Merkley, I’m a constituent in Oregon. I tried to camp at Pickett Butte Lookout, Umpqua National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Pickett Butte Lookout 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. Pickett Butte Lookout keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Pickett Butte Lookout. 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 Pickett Butte Lookout (Umpqua 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 Pickett Butte Lookout, Umpqua National Forest, Oregon
Dear Ron Wyden, I’m a constituent in Oregon. I tried to camp at Pickett Butte Lookout, Umpqua National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Pickett Butte Lookout 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. Pickett Butte Lookout keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Pickett Butte Lookout. 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 Pickett Butte Lookout (Umpqua National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com