Shotgun Creek Recreation Site
This place has sites and nobody may sleep in them.Ask for camping here →
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
The refreshing location with its lush, forest setting, coupled with comforts normally associated with an urban park, blend seamlessly at this popular day-use site. Here, one can immerse in the enjoyment of surrounding hiking trails, a swimming area, meandering creeks, and picnicking units. Whether seeking trail solitude, a fun day of water play during the heat of summer, or the lingering memory of that very special celebration, this special place awaits your arrival. Shotgun Creek Recreation Site is open to day use year round. Shelter reservations are available from May 1-September 30 each year. Keep reading
Recreation
Hiking, picnicking, family gatherings, sand volleyball, softball, playground, horseshoe pits, and seasonal water play.
Facilities
Reserve one or both large group day-use shelters each equipped with fireplace, lights, sinks, potable water, and picnic tables that will accommodate up to 112 people comfortably for events. 23 individual picnic sites 6.43 miles of hiking trail Natural Features The beautiful, well-equipped wooden shelters, available by reservation, offer a fine place to celebrate special events such as weddings, anniversaries or birthday parties.
Nearby Attractions
The 34-mile Shotgun OHV Trail System is located immediately north of the recreation site. Nearby staging facilities offer free amenities such as picnic tables, bathrooms, and trash facilities. Elevations from 758 to 2,864. Current fire restrictions: Fire Closures and Restrictions . Public Fire Restriction lev els can be found on Oregon Department of Forestry's website. Earnest Bridge south on Marcola Rd about a mile on the left on Paschelke Rd. Springfield Golf Club south on Marcola Rd about 9 miles turn left on Sunderman Rd. McGowan Environmental Education Area is located along McGowan Creek Road west of Shotgun Creek Rd.
Charges & Cancellations
Standard fees apply and are non-refundable. Visit https://www.recreation.gov/rules-reservation-policies for more information.
What the agency tells you
Campfires? Please see here for current fire restrictions: Fire Closures and Restrictions. Typically, campfires are limited to the steel fire rings or BBQ grills provided within the recreation site. No building rock campfire rings. Public Fire Restriction levels can be found on Oregon Department of Forestry's website.
Shelters are available for reservations during peak season at the following fees: 1-100 people ($100) , both shelters ($300). Each additonal person over the initial 100 are rated at an additonal $1.50/ person. Fees do not include a per vehicle fee collected at the facility.
The facility collects a $5 fee for each vehicle entering the site including those vehicles associated with a shelter reservation. Alternatively, you may use the following annual passes: Shotgun Annual, Interagency Annual or Lifetime, and Golden Lifetime passes.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
Day-use only site, there is no overnight camping allowed.
The gate hours during peak season of May 1-September 30 is 9:00 am to 9:00 pm.
The gate hours during non-peak season of October 1-April 30 is 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.
No ATV's or ORV's allowed within the site.
Facilities
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER on 2 of 2 campsite records
- Playground
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Birding
- Hiking
- Picnicking
- Swimming
- Night sky · 759th darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 4 days ago, 32 km away
- Patchy color
Nothing here to sleep in
The agency files 2 records here and marks every one of them day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in.
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 · 18
What you actually pay
“Standard fees apply and are non-refundable. Visit https://www.recreation.gov/rules-reservation-policies for more information.” · 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
2 records · the site map
All 2 records
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Clark Creek Organization CampWillamette National Forest · 22 miBedrock CampgroundWillamette National Forest · 23 miFrom the North
- Take Interstate 5 south, exit 216, OR-228 towards Brownsville/Crawfordsville. Turn right on Bush Creek Road just east of Crawfordsville. Drive 12.4 miles on Bush Creek Road that turns into Marcola Road. Turn right just past the community of Mabel onto Shotgun Creek Road. Follow Shotgun Creek Road approximately 1.5 miles. The recreation site is located on the right side of the road.
From the South
- Take Interstate 5 north, exit 194A, OR-126 E towards Springfield. Travel 4 miles east to the 42nd St/Marcola exit and follow the signs to Marcola driving for about 13.3 miles until it intersects the Shotgun Creek Road (first paved road on the left). Follow Shotgun Creek Road approximately 1.5 miles. The recreation site is located on the right side of the road.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Marcola, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 43°F, day 65°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 35°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
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
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Shotgun Creek Recreation Site is in Oregon’s 4th congressional district. Its representative, Val Hoyle (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
The agency’s own record files sites here and marks every one of them day use. The draft asks whether any could open to overnight camping, and if not, why.
- The member who votes the moneyVal T. HoyleU.S. Representative · Oregon’s 4th 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
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Shotgun Creek Recreation Site has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Val T. Hoyle, I’m a constituent in Oregon’s 4th district. Shotgun Creek Recreation Site, Nw Oregon Upper Willamette Field Office, Oregon carries 2 records on the Bureau of Land Management’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the Bureau of Land Management in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Shotgun Creek Recreation Site (Nw Oregon Upper Willamette Field Office, Oregon) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Shotgun Creek Recreation Site has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Jeff Merkley, I’m a constituent in Oregon. Shotgun Creek Recreation Site, Nw Oregon Upper Willamette Field Office, Oregon carries 2 records on the Bureau of Land Management’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the Bureau of Land Management in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Shotgun Creek Recreation Site (Nw Oregon Upper Willamette Field Office, Oregon) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Shotgun Creek Recreation Site has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Ron Wyden, I’m a constituent in Oregon. Shotgun Creek Recreation Site, Nw Oregon Upper Willamette Field Office, Oregon carries 2 records on the Bureau of Land Management’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the Bureau of Land Management in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Shotgun Creek Recreation Site (Nw Oregon Upper Willamette Field Office, Oregon) via campanac.com