Sunstrip
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 1 mi
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 16:03 UTC
- Sites
- 8In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices
In the agency’s own words
Campground closed due to the 2020 Riverside Wildfire Sunstrip Campground is a primitive campground on the banks of the Clackamas Wild and Scenic River. It provides access to a variety of outdoor activities, but retains the look and feel of true nature, with only a few amenities. Keep reading
Recreation
Fishing is very popular in the Clackamas and anglers can expect winter Steelhead, spring Chinook and late summer Kokanee salmon, as well as other species of freshwater fish. Whitewater rafting is also a favorite activity among visitors. The Clackamas River provides miles of wild water as it snakes through the scenic Cascade range. A hiking trail meanders along the riverbank, north and south of the campground. Scenic driving is available on the nearby West Cascades National Scenic Byway, which follows the river.
Facilities
The campground offers about eight tent-only campsites, half of which are on the waterfront. Each site is equipped with a table and campfire ring with grill. Accessible vault toilets are provided. Drinking water is not available at the campground.
Natural Features
The campground is nestled in a wooded area of the Mt. Hood National Forest, thick with moss and greenery, at an elevation of about 1,000 feet. The river provides habitat for the federally protected bald eagle and northern spotted owl, as well as the occasional peregrine falcon. A variety of wildlife make its home in the area.
Nearby Attractions
The Clackamas River, just below nearby Indian Henry Campground to the North Fork Reservoir, provides 12.5 miles of class III-IV whitewater. Outfitters are located in the town of Estacada.
What the agency tells you
In accordance with standard industry practices, Mount Hood Recreation will be assessing a $8 additional vehicle fee on the second vehicle in each single family campsite, and on the third and fourth vehicle in any double family campsite, provided these vehicles are not joined to the first vehicle by a hitch and towed onto the site. In the case of motorcycles, the first two are considered as one vehicle for determining additional vehicle fees. The third and fourth motorcycle would also be considered as one vehicle. No additional vehicle fees are collected for bicycles.
Off-road vehicle use is prohibited within the campground
Click here for more information on the Mt. Hood National Forest
Everything else this campground posts · 1
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 8 · 8 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…and campfire ring with grill. Accessible vault toilets are provided. Drinking water is not available at…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…Accessible vault toilets are provided. Drinking water is not available at the campground. Natural Features The campground…”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, River
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
- Fall color · reported 5 days ago, 27 km away
- Patchy color
Nothing to book until it reopensread 16:03 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
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.
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
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.
Every line of the receipt · 9
What you actually pay
“In accordance with standard industry practices, Mount Hood Recreation will be assessing a $8 additional vehicle fee on the second vehicle in each single family campsite, and on the third and fourth vehicle in any doub…” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
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 · 4
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at Sunstrip closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Forest Service has published no closure notice we hold, so this page can’t say why, and it won’t fill the gap with a guess. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one: the reservations its record still carries were taken before the sites were closed.
There’s no notice to quote and no reason to argue with, so this page offers you the watch and the list below, and no letter.
Open within 60 miles · 4
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- Elk Lake CampgroundMt. Hood National Forest · 23 mi · walk-up
- Fox Creek Group CampWillamette National Forest · 26 mi · 1 site
- Marion Forks Campground and Day Use AreaWillamette National Forest · 38 mi · walk-up
- Sunset Falls CampgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 47 mi · 18 sites
recreation.gov availability, read 16:03 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · record Aug 23, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
8 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 8 mapped sitesAll 8 sites
| AREA SUNSTRIP | 001 | tent only nonelectric | 68 ft | 165 ft |
| AREA SUNSTRIP | 002 | tent only nonelectric | 68 ft | 123 ft |
| AREA SUNSTRIP | 004 | tent only nonelectric | 120 ft | 97 ft |
| AREA SUNSTRIP | 005 | tent only nonelectric | 79 ft | 108 ft |
| AREA SUNSTRIP | 006 | tent only nonelectric | 37 ft | 160 ft |
| AREA SUNSTRIP | 007 | tent only nonelectric | 37 ft | 196 ft |
| AREA SUNSTRIP | 008 | tent only nonelectric | 35 ft | 233 ft |
| AREA SUNSTRIP | 009 | tent only nonelectric | 35 ft | 251 ft |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Roaring RiverMt. Hood National Forest · 0.5 miFish Creek Campground/Day UseMt. Hood National Forest · 2.2 mi
Fish Creek (OR)Mt. Hood National Forest · 2.2 mi
ArmstrongMt. Hood National Forest · 2.3 mi
LockabyMt. Hood National Forest · 2.3 miCarter Bridge CampgroundMt. Hood National Forest · 2.7 miFrom Estacada, travel east on Highway 224 for about 21 miles to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Mount Hood Villages, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 42°F, day 59°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 33°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
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
Sunstrip 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 →