Walton Lake
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $25From, per site
- Sites
- 32All of them booked ahead
- Season
- May 15 – October 15Open May 15 through October 15
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Walton Lake Campground may be the best-known location in the Ochoco National Forest, offering a serene setting among old-growth Ponderosa pine and mountain meadows. Most sites offer sweeping lake views. Keep reading
Recreation
Visitors can choose to spend their vacation relaxing by fishing on the shore of Walton Lake, or swimming and paddling in the water. There is a swimming beach, fishing pier and boat ramp for small self powered craft, and the lake is stocked with rainbow trout. There are also many trails nearby for those who would like to explore on foot or mountain bike. This includes the 7.5-mile multi-use Round Mountain Trail as well as the 1-mile Walton Lake Trail, which offers many scenic views around the lake.
Facilities
There are paved parking spurs, picnic tables and fire rings with grills at each single site. The campistes resiside on the South Side best for large RV's while the North side is best for car and tent camping. Vault toilets are available in both sections of the camp, and a solar powered water pump for drinking water is located in the south shore section. Look for water signs to guide you located near the entrance. There are two group sites that have three tables and a fire ring at each. These sites can accommodate three to four RVs, and there are several tent pitching spots available. There are accessible accomodating campsites and vault toilets in the south shore section of the camp though everyone is welcome to rent them.
Natural Features
Walton Lake is a blue sparkling jewel hidden within the dense forest. A small dam impounds spring-fed water that seeps from surrounding sloped meadows. Fishing is a favorite activity while hiking is very popular as is simply enjoying a picnic at the lake. Aspen and tall willows add habitat diversity to make this place especially attractive to wildlife. This is a place to find white-headed woodpecker, belted kingfisher, spotted sandpiper, cinnamon teal, American coot, Steller's jay, yellow-headed blackbird and Brewer's blackbird.
Nearby Attractions
For visitors seeking a bit of civilization, the city of Prineville is nearby. There are opportunities to shop, dine out, golf, attend events and visit the localmuseum. For those wanting to explore the Ochoco National Forest, Lookout Mt and Round Mt are great places to hike and Mt bike. Wild flowers are abundant at the Big Summit Prairie where occasional antelope, elk and deer are sometimes seen.
What the agency tells you
Horses are not permitted in the campground or on the lake trail.
Off-Highway Vehicles (OHVs) can not be operated in the campground or anywhere off road.
Click here for more information about Ochoco National Forest
Everything else this campground posts · 4
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.
This is a small, no wake lake. Motorized boats are prohibited. Electric and self powered water craft only.
A per-day, per vehicle fee of $7.00 at day use area. No other recreation passes accepted.
Check-in Time is 2:00pm and Check-out time is 12:00pm
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 32 · 6 tent-only, 2 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 70 ft
- Paved pads
- 31 of 32
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…side is best for car and tent camping. Vault toilets are available in both sections of the camp, and a…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…of the camp, and a solar powered water pump for drinking water is located in the south shore…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Beach, Meadow
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Swimming
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 185th 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 · 14
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.
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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
32 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 29 mapped sitesAll 32 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 29 of the 32 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. 32 of the 32 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 001 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 95 ft | 362 ft | 44 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 002 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 95 ft | 291 ft | 67 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 003 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 77 ft | 239 ft | 197 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 004 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 55 ft | 162 ft | 236 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 005 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 55 ft | 129 ft | 228 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 006 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 108 ft | 226 ft | 99 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 007 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 45 ft | 390 ft | 150 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 008 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 45 ft | 361 ft | 166 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 009 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 56 ft | 328 ft | 210 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 010 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 97 ft | 255 ft | 152 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 011 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 54 ft | 251 ft | 246 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 012 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 56 ft | 296 ft | 235 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 013 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 54 ft | 213 ft | 285 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 014 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 61 ft | 168 ft | 282 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 015 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 74 ft | 246 ft | 202 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 016 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 74 ft | 210 ft | 208 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 017 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $25 | |||
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 018 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $25 | |||
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 019 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $25 | |||
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 020 | tent only nonelectric | 24 ft | 120 ft | 112 ft | 122 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 021 | tent only nonelectric | 24 ft | 98 ft | 97 ft | 157 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 022 | tent only nonelectric | 24 ft | 98 ft | 114 ft | 229 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 023 | tent only nonelectric | 24 ft | 96 ft | 147 ft | 131 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 024 | tent only nonelectric | 24 ft | 91 ft | 104 ft | 115 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 025 | tent only nonelectric | 24 ft | 91 ft | 169 ft | 71 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 026 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 42 ft | 211 ft | 136 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 027 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 42 ft | 201 ft | 177 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 028 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 86 ft | 172 ft | 263 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 029 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 105 ft | 117 ft | 186 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | 030 | standard nonelectric | 16 ft | 105 ft | 50 ft | 130 ft | $25 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | Large Group Site | group standard nonelectric | 70 ft | 283 ft | 466 ft | 147 ft | $75 |
| AREA WALTON LAKE | Small Group Site | group standard nonelectric | 70 ft | 417 ft | 380 ft | 280 ft | $75 |
25 of 32 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Ochoco Forest CampOchoco National Forest · 5.0 mi
Ochoco Ranger RentalOchoco National Forest · 5.1 mi
Ochoco Divide Group SiteOchoco National Forest · 5.3 miWhistler CampgroundOchoco National Forest · 8.5 miScotts CampgroundOchoco National Forest · 9.5 miFrom Prineville, Oregon, take Highway 26 east for 16 miles. Turn right at the junction to Walton Lake and Big Summit Prairie (County Road 23) and travel 9 miles to Forest Service Road 22. Turn left and proceed approximately 7 miles to Walton Lake. The campground will be on the left.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Mitchell, OR
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
Walton Lake 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 →