Best RV Parks & Resorts near Deschutes & Ochoco National Forests & Crooked River National Grassland

 This campground in Willamette National Forest is operated by Linn County but is a forest service campground. It has narrow access road off hwy 20 but is paved. 

The campground sits along Trout Creek and has semi private sites with picnic tables and fire pits. There are pits toilets and pump water and garbage cans throughout, no recycling. 

Heavily shaded with sun peaking through throughout the day. Many sites available on Sunday morning when we were there and some pull throughs. 

Reservations can be made but also there is first come first served. There is also a picnic and day use area as well.

$20/night Open May 21st-Sept 

NO fires at this time 

One bar ATT service but no TMobile or Verizon

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.

Our first time here at East Lake Campground in the last week of September 2023 just 1 day before the park closed for the season. Because East Lake Campground is 6500 feet in elevation the nights were very cold, from 44 to 31 degrees but normally the days were in the morning windy and about 62*. The camp has 29 sites and NO hookups.

There is flush toilets, NO showers, but had drinking water. East Lake also had 1 boat launch but the water was very low, some 40' down from the edge of the bank to the water. Great fishing and a great place for kayaks. Each site has a picnic table and fireplace. Most Sites on the lake side has pull-thru that were about 50' long. Some back-in sites were only 35'. Very quite campground and not too close to each others camp site. We camped at East Lake Campground in a Travel Trailer.

Restrooms Flush toilets, faucet water. No hookups, No electric, No water hookup, No sewer hookup. You can fill your water tank FREE at the ($10) Dump Station so you don't have the weight in your rig. Dog-friendliness Lots of space to run and play.

Beautiful location with good sized camping spots for travel trailers and RVs. Almost all spots are wooded so shade is plentiful for hot Summer afternoons. Safe for bike rides in park with 5mph posted. Great location for easy access to Sunriver and Bend. Paulina Lake and East Lake are within a 30 minute drive for kayaking, fishing and hiking.

Electric (30 amp) and water at all spots. No sewer hookups. Internet works fairly well. Good cell phone reception for Verizon and ATT.

Facilities are decent, but need some care. Neither the pool nor laundry were available and no work is active to open either. Staff are friendly but management seems to be focused elsewhere.

A few miles from La Pine, this 5-site campground sits along the Deschutes River in the Deschutes National Forest. The campground is pretty bare-bones in terms of basic amenities; there is no tap water available and there are two pit-toilets. There is also no cell service. However, the campground does provide great access to the river and even has a cement boat ramp for easy access.

Each campsite has a picnic table, a fire pit, provided firewood (at least when I was there), either a pull-through or back-in parking space, and a view of the river. If you make a reservation (which are required for at least 2021), the camp manager will post this on the site marker so that your site isn’t taken by another party. The campsites themselves are somewhat dusty/sandy, but are otherwise clean. Sites 1-2 and 4-5 are right next to each other, whereas site 3 is probably the best site for privacy.

One more thing to consider if you are staying in a vehicle is that not all of the sites have flat parking spaces. I was able to make something work with my van in site 1, but site 2 would have been unpleasant for sleeping in a van. Sites 4 and 5 seemed to have the flattest parking.

The front of the camp ground is long term if not permanent residents.  Lots of clutter and miscellaneous items.  Looks like stuff that just doesn't fit into their trailer and made its way to their covered area (near their trailers).

Everyone kept to themselves, not much chatting going on with nearby "campers".  The level we were on, just above the level near the River wasn't terrible.  I liked it because we were a little further from the strong flowing river with our 2 little boys.  It is beautiful and sounds awesome, but just to play it safe with the young ones I would recommend the spots on the level right above the river front.

The spots near the water look really nice.  You would be able to hear the River from your camp spot.  These spots had fire pits.  Our spot looked like it was there at one point, but wasn't there any longer.

Very limited cell signal here.

Camp ground said their wifi was down, she mentioned it would be back up the next day, but it never was during or stay.  That would have made it a little better to have connection to the world (as I am working on the road).

Our spot was unique, the power and water were on the same side, if you back in they would be on the passenger side and the sewer didnt have a good connection so I located a nearby stump to weigh it down.  That was on the drivers side (again if you back into the space).

They offer a cable box at check in, which we didnt use that came with a coax cable and HDMI.  (again, wifi would have solved this instead of taking these items that look like they are in a reusable bag).

Overall, the views are awesome, being that close to the water is awesome and I didnt feel unsafe, just a little unique of a spot.  They did offer good sam and the lady was very nice to call and check on our good sam membership number. 

The common room (they call the friendship room) that looks like a living room appeared closed for now (covid) and the laundry was open, but we did not use.  The bathrooms were closed (covid).