Scout Lake
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 7 mi
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $27From, per site
- Sites
- 10All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Scout Lake Group Campground sits near the shores of its namesake in Deschutes National Forest. Its proximity to high alpine lakes, lush forests and towering peaks in nearby wilderness areas make it a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts. Keep reading
Recreation
Water sport enthusiasts of all types will enjoy the opportunities available at Scout Creek Lake and nearby Suttle Lake. Only non-motorized watercraft are allowed on Scout Creek, but water skiing, fishing and boating are popular at Suttle Lake, less than one mile away. Nearby trails and a picturesque shoreline offer visitors opportunities for hiking, birding, wading and swimming at Scout Lake, and a large beach is located just steps away.
Facilities
There are 10 sites at this campground. Site #6 is a single family site while 3, 4A, 4B, 5, 7 and 8 are doubles. Sites 1, 2 and 9 are triples. If the entire campground is rented together, it will comfortably accommodate up to 100 guests. A large day-use area with 11 picnic tables and parking for 50 vehicles makes this area perfect for large parties and family functions. All sites are equipped with tables and campfire rings with grills. There are three vault toilets and a gravity fed water system.
Natural Features
The campground sits at 3,600 feet in the high desert region of central Oregon in a towering mixed conifer forest. Nearby landscapes showcase the unique volcanic activity throughout the region, and visitors can explore extinct volcanoes, calderas and lava flows typical in the area. The surrounding undeveloped wilderness, clean streams and diverse forests support an abundance of wildlife, including deer, squirrel, trout, salmon and a variety of migratory birds.
Nearby Attractions
Visitors can explore wilderness areas, rivers, lakes, reservoirs and approximately 1,600 miles of trails that comprise nearly 2.5 million acres the Deschutes National Forest and the adjacent Ochoco National Forest. Lava Lands Visitor Center in nearby Bend, Oregon, and the Newberry National Volcanic Monument are popular attractions as well. Visitors will also enjoy traveling the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway, known as Oregon's Highway in the Sky, which climbs into the clouds on a 66-mile drive through the Cascade Mountain range, weaving through 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 near by Scout Lake Day Use area is a seperate site requires an additional $5 use fee if vehicles are parked in the parking area.
The campsites are pet-friendly so long as animals are picked up after and kept on their leashes. Pets are not permitted in the Day Use Area or in Scout Lake.
Prevent the spread of invasive species by inspecting and cleaning packs, equipment and tires before using lake or trails.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Please Note: Single site fees include 1 vehicle and 1 legally towed vehicle, Double Site fees include 2 vehicles and Triple Site fees include 3 vehicles.
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.
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.
Click here for more information about Deschutes National Forest.
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
- 10 · 1 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…rings with grills. There are three vault toilets and a gravity fed water system. Natural Features…”
- Stay limit
- 28 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Beach
- Fishing
- Night sky · 452nd darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 2
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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $27 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
10 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 10 mapped sitesAll 10 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 10 of the 10 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 10 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA SCOUT LAKE | 001 Triple | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 91 ft | 627 ft | 2,396 ft | |
| AREA SCOUT LAKE | 002 Triple | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 91 ft | 711 ft | 2,394 ft | |
| AREA SCOUT LAKE | 003 Double | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 113 ft | 781 ft | 2,555 ft | |
| AREA SCOUT LAKE | 004A Double | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 53 ft | 667 ft | 2,611 ft | |
| AREA SCOUT LAKE | 004B Double | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 53 ft | 643 ft | 2,659 ft | |
| AREA SCOUT LAKE | 005 Double | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 104 ft | 788 ft | 2,668 ft | |
| AREA SCOUT LAKE | 006 Tent Only | tent only nonelectric | 40 ft | 104 ft | 740 ft | 2,753 ft | $27 |
| AREA SCOUT LAKE | 007 Double | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 127 ft | 664 ft | 2,844 ft | |
| AREA SCOUT LAKE | 008 Double | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 141 ft | 499 ft | 2,818 ft | |
| AREA SCOUT LAKE | 009 Triple | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 141 ft | 567 ft | 2,955 ft |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Link CreekDeschutes National Forest · 0.5 mi
South ShoreDeschutes National Forest · 0.7 mi
Blue BayDeschutes National Forest · 1.0 miJack Creek CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 5.7 miRiverside CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 6.0 mi
Riverside Campground (Deschutes National Forest, OR)Deschutes National Forest · 6.2 miFrom Sisters, Oregon, take Highway 20/126 NW for 12 miles. Turn left onto Forest Service Road 2070. Travel just less than a mile and turn left again onto Forest Service Road 2066 and continue to the campground entrance 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 Black Butte Ranch, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 33°F, day 65°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 23°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
Scout Lake 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 →