Sheep Springs Horse Camp
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 13 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $25From, per site
- Sites
- 11All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 13 notices
In the agency’s own words
Sheep Springs Horse Campground sits in the spectacular Metolius River Basin area in Deschutes National Forest. In close proximity to snow-capped peaks, high elevation lakes, scenic rivers and several wilderness areas, this campground offers a variety of scenery and recreational opportunities for visitors. Keep reading
Recreation
A favorite among horse enthusiasts, the campground provides visitors access to a variety of trails. Lakes, lava flows and thick forests provide the backdrop for horseback riding and hiking. The Metolius-Windigo Trail, which offers a trailhead at the campground, is a long-distance trail open to horseback riders, hikers and bicyclists. More than 100 miles long, this trail begins near the Metolius River headwaters and runs south to Windigo Pass near Crescent Lake. Because of its lower elevation, this trail remains snow-free for longer than other nearby trails.
Facilities
The campground offers 11 large equestrian sites, each equipped with a 4-place box stall. Picnic tables, campfire rings and grills and ample room for parking vehicles and trailers are also available at each site. Drinking water and a vault toilet are also provided.
Natural Features
Located at an elevation of approximately 3,200 feet, campsites are interspersed among a towering canopy of old-growth Ponderosa pine and a variety of spruce and fir. The Metolius River flows nearby, making its headwaters at Metolius Springs at the base of nearby Black Butte, 6,436-foot extinct stratovolcano. The clear, cold river flows north from the springs through diverse coniferous forest and a landscape of volcanic activity. The surrounding undeveloped wilderness, clean streams and diverse forests support an abundance of wildlife, including mule deer, coyote, and cougar. Migratory birds and native fish also call the area home.
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, is a great starting point for visitors to learn about the diverse landscape and history of the area through interpretive programs and exhibits. Visitors can explore the Lava River Cave, also located in the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. At 5,211 feet in length, the northwest section of the cave is the longest continuous lava tube in Oregon. The nearby town of Camp Sherman has basic supplies and restaurants available.
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
Sheep Springs Horse Camp is intended for equestrian camping
Horses must be kept in stalls provided, and may not be teathered or picketed outside of stalls
Horse Campers must use Certified Weed-Seed-Free Hay
Everything else this campground posts · 10
No hookups are available
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.
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
- 11 · 11 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…at each site. Drinking water and a vault toilet are also provided. Natural Features Located at an…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…are also available at each site. Drinking water and a vault toilet are also provided. Natural…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 28 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek
- Biking
- Hiking
- Night sky · 384th darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 2
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 16:25 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
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, $25 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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:25 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
11 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 11 mapped sitesAll 11 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. 11 of the 11 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA SHEEP SPRINGS HORSE CAMP | 001 | equestrian nonelectric | 30 ft | 103 ft | 286 ft | $25 |
| AREA SHEEP SPRINGS HORSE CAMP | 002 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 91 ft | 340 ft | $25 |
| AREA SHEEP SPRINGS HORSE CAMP | 003 | equestrian nonelectric | 30 ft | 77 ft | 407 ft | $25 |
| AREA SHEEP SPRINGS HORSE CAMP | 004 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 73 ft | 463 ft | $25 |
| AREA SHEEP SPRINGS HORSE CAMP | 005 | equestrian nonelectric | 45 ft | 73 ft | 494 ft | $25 |
| AREA SHEEP SPRINGS HORSE CAMP | 006 | equestrian nonelectric | 30 ft | 80 ft | 521 ft | $25 |
| AREA SHEEP SPRINGS HORSE CAMP | 007 | equestrian nonelectric | 30 ft | 106 ft | 522 ft | $25 |
| AREA SHEEP SPRINGS HORSE CAMP | 008 | equestrian nonelectric | 30 ft | 135 ft | 529 ft | $25 |
| AREA SHEEP SPRINGS HORSE CAMP | 009 | equestrian nonelectric | 26 ft | 135 ft | 454 ft | $25 |
| AREA SHEEP SPRINGS HORSE CAMP | 010 | equestrian nonelectric | 44 ft | 120 ft | 349 ft | $25 |
| AREA SHEEP SPRINGS HORSE CAMP | 011 | equestrian nonelectric | 28 ft | 106 ft | 419 ft | $25 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Candle Creek Campground2.5 miLower Bridge CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 3.3 mi
Pioneer Ford CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 3.4 mi
Allen Springs CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 4.3 mi
Green Ridge LookoutDeschutes National Forest · 4.7 mi
Jack Creek CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 4.9 miFrom Sisters, Oregon, take Highway 20 west for about 12 miles. Turn north onto Jack Lake Road/FS Road 12 and continue for nearly 6 miles. Turn left onto FS Road 1260, then right onto FS Road 200. Sheep Springs will be on the right hand side.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Camp Sherman, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 35°F, day 60°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 27°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
Sheep Springs Horse Camp 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 →