Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Bend, OR

This place is loaded with just about everything you need from putt putt golf to a fully stocked pond (barbless un-baited hooks only, catch & release). We loved the giant dog park, huge sites, and the staff were absolutely amazing. They not only brought the bundles of wood to your site for you but they also come and collect your trash from your site.

We will definitely be going back. The only problem I have with this place (and it can also be considered a good thing when dealing with bad dog owners that don’t pick up after their pets) is that they have signs everywhere saying to keep the dogs off the grass and are pretty rigid about enforcing it.

If you are going south from Bend, you have to turn around at exit 151 due to center barrier now constructed

There are a few campsites and some are obviously used frequently. You will encounter some road noise from hwy 97 but otherwise peaceful; at least early in the season

We had a wonderful time at this campsite, kinda hard to find as there aren’t really any signs or ‘designated’ spots like we are used to, just random pull off spots in the woods. It was about a 20-30 min drive from bend. Super quiet and relaxing. We had cell service and there was a lot of wood lying around to snag for a campfire.

Lava Lake Campground is about 45 mins from Bend, OR. The sites are large, though close together. The abundance of trees makes it feel more spread out.

They have multiple vault toilets, water spigots scattered throughout and trash/recycling by every restroom.

We are right on the lake, so bring your paddleboard, kayak, float to take advantage of the water.

Hiking trails are scattered throughout the mountain.

Crater Lake is about 90 minutes away.

Note that Bend is a great spot for stocking up. They have REI, Patagonia, Target, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, etc.

One of several BLM (fee) campgrounds along the Crooked River. Post Pile is one of the smaller sites. Only 7 designated spots. I stayed here one Saturday night in June, to connect with someone cycling north along the Oregon Outback route. This area is a good place for cyclists doing that ride to camp (night 3 if you do the full ride in 5 days, Klamath Falls to Biggs Junction).

These campgrounds were full of trailer campers, most who were there for multiple days. Rocky Canyon, and the Crooked River below Prineville Reservoir and the Bowman Dam is very popular being about an hour from Bend. Because of that camp sites are hard to come by.

This site is about an hour away from Bend, or two hours from Lakeview Oregon. It is an Oregon State Natural Area, open to the public and has a short up to the viewing point or if you would like to hike around the rock it is closer to a full mile. The views are gorgeous and you may find some wildlife or snakes on your way. The rock formation is caused by erosion from a past lake. Don’t forget to check out the gravesite where many locals still burry their family and friends. Limited gravel roads/mostly paved and a small day use area to stop for lunch. The bathrooms are clean and there is access for water and a host nearby if you find that you have questions or need help.

Coordinates get to entrance with signs, lots of rocks on this sandy rd. Kinda a wastelandish area for offroading and target practice. A good spot for app like Regrid, as half the pond on NW side is state property. Theres some creepy private property sign but that prob means no boating. Prob better to get here from other side from Bend Rd like at 44.085493,-121.126358 if you have a bike or want to hike in. Some cool rock features to climb. Mainly seems like a place for partying.

Cove Palisades state park is pretty rad, especially if you’ve got a family! There’s a playground, a fenced in dog park, trail heads, showers, and a cute little camp store. If you’re looking for seclusion, this probably isn’t the park for you. But if you can get roll with the communal feel, Cove Palisades is great.

We were able to score a couple of nights here in Early May.  It's a very popular Oregon State Park and I'm sure summer requires advance planning.  The weekend we were there was pretty full and our site was at the top of the B loop.  Monday, however, the park cleared out to much fewer campers.   The lake was actually mostly full and the views were beautiful.   Some of the amenities were boating, of course, lake views from some sites, a nice dog park along with the normal state park fare.  We'll definitely make another trip!

The proper Little Cultus Lake Campground has a bunch of sites but only a few on the water and not really worth the $ unless you get a site on the water. If you turn right instead of going left towards the campground, there are around 5-6 dispersed sites right there on the corner plus an amazing single site about 1/2 mile down that road, right on the lake. No cell service, rough roads, but amazing views right on the water of Little Cultus Lake. One of our favorite dispersed sites. For even more remote dispersed camping you can drive up to Irish and Taylor Lakes that have beautiful dispersed sites on the water but the road up is rough rough rough, not suitable for anything but a high clearance 4x4. About an hour from Bend.

We arrived on a Monday afternoon of a long holiday weekend in October and the campground was about 1/4 full with half the sites closed for the season. Lots of trees, level paved pads, and electric and water hookup at all sites. $33 per night as of October 2020. Everything was clean and well maintained including a nice, roomy trash/recycling station and dual dump stations with lots of room for lines. Good distance between sites and the campground was very quiet. There was a separate grassy fenced dog area as nice as some of the dog parks in our neighborhood in Portland. We usually go for a more rustic/dispersed setup because we don’t want to be right on top of our neighbors when we camp, and we were pleasantly surprised by how idyllic this site was. Would stay again!

Decent campground, nicely kept, clean, very friendly rangers. Really nice and big dog park. Nice hikes right from the campground. We couldn't go to the water, since we only have an RV and no tow car, and it seems that the water is the main draw to this campground. Lots of jet skis and boats and screaming kids.

Cell reception was ok.

We went up to the upper campground on our way out to dump, and there is no water spigot there. Heads up. We flagged down a nice ranger who hooked us up but you may not be able to fill your tanks here.

Sites in this campground vary in size. We fit into one of the tent sites in our 26ft class c. You'll probably have to drive through the loop first before picking a site if you're trying to stay here in an RV.

Pelton park was clean and well taken care of during our visit. The park is very family-friendly, with easy physical access to restrooms, the docks and playground equipment. Pet-friendly too, stocked poo bags, poles by restrooms to hold leashes and a small fenced-in area to let the dogs run and play. Docks were clean and safe. Rental boats were well-maintained. The yomes are small, 6 people and 2 dogs is tight and gear had to stay outside with that many people, but we all fit. The lake itself is beautiful, good fishing, and appreciate the 10mph speed limit throughout the majority of the lake.

Arrived after the office closed and started to read late check in rules and available spaces. Helped to look up to see on the other side of the door envelopes with names, including ours. Access is easy for even large rigs. All sites are paved. Space between sites is reasonable. On site restrooms are very nicely presented. There is an on site pool and outdoor gathering place, a general store, propane vending, a dog walking path and large property behind the park to take pets with a reminder to clean up and pack it out. Garbage service is nice - place the bags by the road and maintenance staff will take it away.

You are a few miles from sisters and about 15 from the outskirts of Bend (the side that has the big box hardware and all purpose stores).

The RV park is quiet and comfortable. There are plenty of trees and green grass at each site. The way the park is laid out, it’s more of an RV neighborhood of travelers.

There are 2 campgrounds in The Cove Palisades; Crooked River Campground, which is the upper or rim campground, and Deschutes Campground, which is the lower campground at Lake Billy Chinook level, another 5 miles drive down into the canyon past the upper campground. This review is for Deschutes Campground.  We stayed at Deshutes a week with our travel trailer in loop A in mid May.  We would stay here again.  I would not want to stay here during wildfire season due to the smoke and low visibility (personal preference), plus I'm not crazy about hot weather and it would certainly be hot in the high desert in summer as well as crowded which is also not my thing. Every time you come and go from this campsite, you have a 5 mile drive in or out of this canyon. I have Republic Wireless on Sprint and had no signal within the canyon but did at the top.  Husband has Cricket on AT&T and had a signal in the canyon. Our antenna did not pick up any TV channels so download some Netflix to your device before coming here, or maybe have a better antenna than we do if you desire to watch anything. The hosts take great care of the grounds. I do not know the condition of the bathrooms but heard and read they were very clean as well. We spent most of our time away from the campground but the time we were there was pleasant and quiet.  Our spot backed up to the road which was slightly above us so didn't really affect our view and there were some trees and shrubbery between us and the road.  Occasionally a vehicle would go by that was quite loud which would be louder and more frequent in the busy season. We had a large gap between us and the campsite to our right as well as a view of the palisades on that side.  We usually travel with our dog, but she recently passed away unfortunately so this trip was dogless, but I still view things from the eyes of a dog owner.  They had a large, grassy, fenced-in dog park that would be a great respite as the campsites aren't that grassy, mostly dirt with some juniper trees, sage, and boulders.  Watch for foxtails which we saw in spring, as well as rattlesnakes.  We didn't see any rattlesnakes at the time we were there - a rainy, cool week in mid May. Because of all the rain, everything was still very green and all the wildflowers were in bloom. On a clear day you can see at least 6 mountain peaks from the top of the canyon.  This is a great spot to explore Central Oregon.  In fact, we need to go back because we didn't get to everything we wanted to do but we visited Richardson Rock Ranch, Smith Rock, Bend, Lava Lands, Oregon High Desert Museum, Glass Buttes, and more.

We followed our RV GPS and WAZE, which agreed until we got near the state park. We checked out the confirmation email, which stated to follow the signs. We could have gotten to the campground(CG) following either our RV GPS or WAZE but held steady on following the signs. We arrived at the upper Crooked River CG early, so there was no one at the check-in; however, a ranger pulled up just as we were looking at the information board and she checked us in. We then proceeded to back-in site E61 with water and electric(50/30/20 AMP). We had no problem backing into our site, and the pad was just long enough for our 40’ fifth wheel and F450. We only paid an$8 online booking fee with the Oregon State Park Disabled Veterans Pass. The utilities were in the middle of the site, so that was convenient. The water pressure was close to 60 psi, and we used a reducer. Verizon was 1 bar, and as we were on the northwest edge of the CG, we had no problem getting a north shot for Starlink. There are mature trees in the CG, mainly on the interior sites, so satellite could be iffy in some sites. We were here the first week of October; only the first loop and the associated bathhouse were open. Sites on the NW edge of the CG from E71- E41 could be good for north or south satellites. Sites E65- E55 on the edge provide very nice mountain views. They have a large(about 1/4 acre) fenced dog park on the east side of the CG. Madras, 15 minutes away, has your major amenities. We enjoyed seeing deer moving around the CG, plus amazing views of the mountains and canyon.

My wife and I are working remotely and exploring the PNW, and certain amenities are important: full hook up for our trailer, pet friendly, laundry, WiFi, and good location. The Camp HAS it ALL. Located in Bend, close to a Safeway grocery store, Walgreens, Starbucks and Dutch & Bros plus a lot of other places...easy drive to the freeways so you can go explore around. We’ve met a few people that are regulars there and they love it. We loved it too and will be back when in the area. Tyler, the manager is great, cool guy, knows all the details of the trailers and he can tell you a bit about Bend and about things to do since he is local. He takes good care of the place! The Camp is a small campground and very cozy. It has vintage trailers for people to rent as well as a tiny house plus full hook up sites. They also have a common area with gas grills (2), a gas fire pit with blankets available, two tables with umbrellas and chairs, great laundry facility, awesome bathrooms (individual toilette, sink and shower, 4-5 hooks, which is great so you can hang your stuff. Pass code needed for bathrooms and laundry rooms. There is a gated pet area which is great for the dogs to be off leash for a bit (kinda of hidden by the office). They have trash and recycle, which is great. We’ve seen half and half in terms of campgrounds that recycle vs those who don’t. We wish they all had a recycle option and The Camp had glass, plastic, paper, can recycle. The sites are very close to one another and there are not mature trees but you are in the city so that’s expected. While there we went on a cool drive and stopped to see the sea of lava...we are still talking about it...those lavas have been there for over 1,500 years...it is amazing and picturesque. After stopping at the sea of lava, we went to Dee Wright Observatory, walked to the top and enjoyed the beautiful view, then continued on our scenic drive to the proxy falls. It was an easy 1.25 mile (round trip) hike. It was raining so it was a bit muddy and slippery in certain areas but super fun (we had our two dogs with us and we were fine), people were doing the hike with their kids-so good for families too. We loved it. While in Bend, we went to a park in town, which was cute and people were walking around, laying in the grass, paddle Bording, kayaking and we also saw some people getting into the river on a raft. Lots to do in Bend...scenic drives, hiking, mountain biking, road biking, river water rafting, etc. This is a super cool campground, well maintained, super clean and it even has a hair salon in an air stream! This place has personality! We loved it and will be back.