Best Dispersed Camping near Fremont-Winema National Forest

Day 2 - Pacific North Quest (Crater Lake) 🏞

After sleeping in our cars at the bottom of Lassen Peak, we were excited to find this tucked away and relaxing spot just off of the road before Crater Lake.

The campgrounds is dotted with tall pine trees and sits next to a gorgeous river that comes out of the hillside just a short walk away. I’d imagine getting here early during peaks season would be key as there are only a handful of campsites. Early in the season however, it was uncrowded and an easy jump off point for our afternoon/evening ski mission to hike into and ski The Watchman Crater Lake.

Check out the three other campgrounds we visited (Prairie Campground, Smith Rock State Park, and Trillium Lake), on our Pacific North Quest summer ski touring trip and download the Snowledge App to see some incredible photos, along with touring stats and maps from each mission.

I stayed here 1 night a few years ago, the campground is small with a handful of sites.  Just a short walk from the campsite you get to see the wood river headwaters, gorgeous, crystal clear water.

This campsite was great! All the spots were very spread out and offered a lot of space. One thing… TONS of mosquitos. Absolutely swarmed. Bring bug spray like crazy. Otherwise it was a perfect place to stay! Stayed on 6/22

This campsite is dry camping.  Silver Creek may be dry, as it has been since 2021.  No facilities other than a picnic table.  No Cell, No WiFi, etc.  If you like totally 'being away from it all,' this is your place, if you can get there.

Needed a place stay for just two nights. This spot was not too far off the road, there were some bumps getting there but my Chevy Trax was able to get there just fine. The area was flat and no one else was there. Our T-Mobile phones had a small amount of Service in our campsite but not on the road to get there.

This spot was perfect for the one night I was there. Campsite was pretty quiet and had a handful of open spots upon arrival. Don’t let the many cars turn you away! It seems like most people use this as a put in spot and then caravan back from a second destination.

The water was so quiet and peaceful and there was just a few other people around. I had so many people wondering where this was after sharing photos because it was so beautiful!

Gorgeous primitive campground nestled among the tall pines. Sites have picnic tables and fire rings, but no electric, water or sewer onsite. There’s no potable water so make sure you bring what you need. There are two vault toilets. Campsites will fit a variety of needs, including longer campers, though only a couple of sites would fit the “big guys”. Sites are first come, first served. Note we had zero cell service on both Verizon and AT&T. Very pretty, clear river runs through the campground and is a popular spot for kayakers/paddle larders and fishing.

Seems like it would’ve been a cool spot to stay out there, but there were some serious red flags.

First off, there was a rusted out old truck on one of the dirt roads by the spots. Next to that was a makeshift beat up tin shed and a pickup truck leaning on it. I went close to it, but didn’t feel great about truly investigating without a gun.

Second, there was trash everywhere. And not like camping trash. In addition to the beer cans and bottles were bags of who knows what in them. The few wrappers I saw were for frozen burritos.

Lastly was the furniture around one of the campsites as well as some rope tied around the tree and on the ground. Almost looked like someone got tied to a tree and freed themselves.

I didn’t take pics of everything but there was enough there to trust my gut and leave.

I’m an athletic man and confident I could defend myself, but something felt wrong about everything back there.

Maybe someone else is braver than I and will go investigate the trash and the trucks, but I’d advise you just to go closer to the park and even suck it up and pay a fee to avoid whatever is going on back there.

Dirt road leads too many places to camp. Most vehicles should have no problem getting to a site. Some places can be difficult turning around for larger campers. My Crosstrek loved it.

Campground was really pretty and next to a beautiful blue creek/river. Offers a few walk-in tent sites, and a few pull-through sites. Quiet and relaxing place to stay. 0/10 do NOT recommend staying in May if you're not prepared for snow or cold 😂

The campground itself is pretty basic, though at $11/night the price is right. The setting is beautiful and it's very close to Crater Lake. Very buggy though!

But the main draw is the amazing clear beautiful glassy water. Wow. It's so beautiful.

Great views and easy camping. The sites were close together, but no one else was there while we were. Got super cold at night, but with the sun out, it’s perfect.

Easy to find. Small campground but was only 4 of us there so not too bad. Very beautiful scenery. Get your groceries before you get off your exit very limited on options. Toilets were stinky so I’m glad I had my private portable. Quiet morning.

Clean and simple campground. Twelve sites (three pull into spots and 9 where you park seperate and then walk around a fence to the tent site). 2 semi clean vault toilets, nothing to write home about but also fairly clean by comparison to others. Beautiful little lake/Creek next to the campground, only downside is it results in an abundance of mosquitos, like so so many.

Must be some horses near the campground too because I heard horses all evening.

Got in around 4pm. Plenty of sites were still available because of the rain. Chose a tent only one closer to the water with picnic table and fire pit. Not a lot to the water view and not a lot to kayak not the water is extremely clear. After a rain storm got a really pretty sunset.

Kimball state park was such a beautiful place for me to be able to camp! I ended up there after tragic news, connecting with nature is something that is so healing for me. My boyfriend, dog, and I made it home for two nights. We had brought our kayaks and launched right off the bank. It was also an off time at the end of September so we were practically the only ones. The bathrooms are nice, but it was recommended by the parks employees to keep the doors open for circulation. Every spot had room for a fire and a table. Will be back for sure.

Usually don't stay at campground with numbered sites but this place was gorgeous. The spring is stunning and the ground was soft and flat. Plenty of firewood around to start a cooking fire. Bugs were bad around sunset, but bug spray helped. Would recommend this site to anyone looking for a low key lace to cam near Crater Lake

Perfect little spot off the main road. not many sites but plenty of parking

Pristine water! It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. I love how primitive and small the campground is, and it would have been perfect but we set up camp and then noticed a massive, fresh bear scat about 15 feet away from our tent. Ok, not the end of the world. Then other campers came by to warn us there was an active bear who destroyed their food and gear the previous night. Ok, not great. We decided to stick it until said bear showed up at dinner time and had ZERO fear of us. He was willing to get way too close after several attempts to chase him off. He wasn't afraid of anything. Not our car horn, not banging pots and pans, not me aggressively yelling and clapping at him. We tried for close too an hour to chase him out of camp but to no avail. We had a toddler and weren't willing to stick around to see how much more friendly he could be. My problem with this campground is the lack of proper bear boxes and trash cans. Clearly, the bears realize it's easy pickings here and all they have to do is rummage through people's gear to find an easy food source. It's not good for the bears. I'm an avid camper and have had bear experiences before but this bear was entirely too comfortable with humans. I hope this park makes it safer for the bears and campers by providing proper food and garbage storage units. I plan on coming back though. The water was so amazing. And pack the bug spray. The mosquitos were more aggressive than the bear.

This campground is one of my favorites and is home to a beautiful crystal clear natural spring. It is well maintained, clean, and has picnic tables. It looked like there are stables available. We went kayaking and it was a nice calm gorgeous spot. Perfect spot for a campground.

I know the pictures are hard to believe, but yes, it's really that pretty! The campground is situated right next to a beautifully clear blue river and wooded hillsides—perfect for early morning serenity. Most of the sites are very near to each other without dividers, which could make it feel a little crowded if the campground gets full. But if you show up on a non-peak day and get lucky, you might just have the whole thing to yourself! If you do come on a busy time, look for the site past a big log at the very far end of the loop. It's all by itself which would provide some nice separation if you need it, plus it's invisible from the road so it might not be claimed yet!

There's no potable water, but the river is clear enough that you could easily boil or purify as much as you need. The vault toilets were nice and clean and pleasant. They didn't seem to have any firewood available at the campground, so you might want to plan ahead on that. There were a few bugs when we were there in late May, but nothing terrible.

Easily worth a visit! This is camping the way it's supposed to be—quiet, pretty, and just a little rough.

site: primitive site. site near to lagoon. private. amenities: no water. decently clean facilities. attractions: near Crater Lake State Park. I would go camping here next time we visit Crater Lake.

Not the greatest for tent camping but we made it work. We pulled up past the main location where the dirt mounds are. We found refuge for the night off one of the little pullouts and set up camp right by the water. Highway was a little noisy but nothing too bad as it was quiet in the middle of the night. Sunset was perfect. We saw a Coyote on the hill leading to the scarp. 10/10

We are full-timers and have a 36 ft Class A with a Cherokee Trailhawk tow. We stayed for one night here in late May. Pretty much what everyone else has said- quiet behind the gravel mounds, very little traffic on US 395, especially at night, a really nice place. However, some disgusting f@#$%ng person left a large nasty pile of feces soiled jeans, pee pad, wipes, etc. lying in a heap by one of the gravel mounds. It has now been bagged and removed so others won’t have it detract from their stay. AT&T coverage was fair, with 3 bars of LTE and speeds up to 3 MB/s.