Best RV Parks & Resorts near Crater Lake National Park

Easy check in in this quaint little RV park right off OR 97 on the Williamson River. We were directed to our pull through site 26 with water and electric but only 30 AMP. We had to disconnect and park in the little field across from or trailer, which was not a big deal. Our site had 30 AMP but there were 50 AMP spots in the middle and on the river rows. All three rows with RV hook ups had sites close together as we had to adjust our rig to clear trees so we could get our slides out. There were plenty of areas to include a small playground and large grass area to walk the dogs. Verizon cell, cable, and the WIFI all worked well. Water Wheel was a well kept campground with 32 RV sites plus a private island connected by a small walking bridge across the river for tent campers. If we were tent campers this would definitely be a great place to camp. We enjoyed exploring the area.  We would stay here again, but would definitely book in advance to get a river row site with 50 AMPs.

Collier State Park is a typically nice Oregon State park, with the benefit that there's often spaces open only a few days out that you can book online and just 30 miles from Crater Lake. There's enough to keep kids busy for a day or so, including the free logging museum across the road. Clean bathrooms and showers and tons of rangers/employees getting sites ready, picking up litter etc. Prices were great, just $19 for tent sites and $29 for a full RV hook-up, including a few pull-through spots, plus flush toilets and showers. On our recent road trip in a 32-foot RV, this was probably the best deal of anywhere we went. For a state park, though, spots were right on top of each other, with very little in terms of privacy.

Pros:

• Nice, well maintained facilities
• Good deal, especially for RVs with hook-ups.

Cons:

• Spots felt very crowded and on top of each other.
• Horrible mosquitoes kept us inside the RV in the evening.

Just off Highway 97, about 30 miles from the entrance to Crater Lake National Park, you'll come to a wooden sign pointing to two campgrounds. To the right is Collier Memorial State Park, and if you want flush toilets, showers and/or RV hook-ups, that's where you should head. But if you want to pay just $10 and travel 1.5 miles on a gravel road for much larger sites with less facilities, turn left to Williamson River Campground for a great deal.

On Forest Service land, Williamson River has 20 spots well-spaced-out, including at least two pull-throughs. There's a camp host right in the front, a self-service kiosk, and we were able to pull up and grab a spot with no notice in July for a 32-foot RV. There's several water spickets throughout, two pit-toilets that weren't too gross, a day-use area, a short trail down the the Williamson River and a 1.3-mile trail that hooks up with Collier Campground. I'm not sure if there's a per-person or car limit per site, but several of the spaces had 2-3 trailers and several families, so could be a really great deal at $10 plus $4 per extra vehicle for what's essentially a "group" site.

Pros:

• Beautiful country
• Large spaces
• Just $10

Cons:

• Mosquitoes!!!! They were everywhere, especially at dusk.
• No flush toilets or showers.

Tips:

• If you need an RV dump site, head over to Collier, where there's a dump site and water hook-up for free/donation.
• The logging museum back on highway 97 is worth a visit.

We stayed for one week in site#23 with 50-amp electric service and water. Only the middle row of the park has full hookups, although the park has been making improvements since the current owners took over a couple of years ago. The manager and camp hosts are terrific! Very welcoming and very friendly. Most of the sites are small. There are a couple of sites that are a little bit bigger, especially those sites facing East. Site#11 is the best, in my opinion, as your patio would be right on the river! Aside from the size of the small site, the only downer for us is there weren't a lot of places to walk our dog without driving somewhere and no enclosed dog area. Otherwise, the park is dog-friendly. Plus, you and your dog can swim in the Williamson River that is there onsite. Cell signals from AT&T and Verizon provided enough connectivity for us to work during the week. AT&T, in particular, had a very good and strong signal.  As the park is only about 40 minutes from Crater Lake National Park's South Entrance.

We chose an RV hookup site for our 40' coach with tow vehicle. 30 amp power but based on forecasted cold weather they had turned off the water at the sites. Potable water was available at the dump station. Free warm showers and flush toilets. However, the bathrooms are old and appear dirty and grimy (rust stains, chipped paint, etc). Great walking and bath paths at the park and close enough to visit Crater Lake National Park. Large trees within the park though it doesn't provide much privacy with camp neighbors. In late October they had reduced the open loops but there was a good mix of tent and RV campers.