Best Glamping near Wallowa Whitman National Forest

Fish Lake Campground is up above Halfway, OR. It is a pine forested high elevation (6,990ft) Campground on NFD Rd. 66.

The campground on the lake is a pay site (6$ /night) with on site water and metal fire pits and vault toilets. However there is other sites that are dispersed nearby on NFD Rd. 66 and NFD Rd. 6625 along the road to DeadMans Trail. #1867. There is 2 sites at the end loop of the pay sites that are dispersed sites and lack tap for water and has a rock fire pit. Both have access to older vault toilets.

Beautiful in the morning!

Quaint campground with a neat western theme on its office, corresponding laundry and spa/shower building. Check in was easy to include being given a local paper other tour/restaurant type information. We had pull through site126 with FHUs, which was a little narrow but doable getting our 39’ Vilano 5th wheel into place. Great water pressure(about 100 psi) so we needed our regulator. They had a dump station and also sold propane. There was fenced playground and swimming pool available as well. Out the back gate near our site was a large area to walk your dog complete with poop bags. WIFI was so-so/normal for this type of campground. The park is well off the interstate so there was no road noise, but we did notice trains off and on durning the day and night, but the noise was not too bad.

We loved this little first-come, first-serve campground. It's small and squeezed in between the creek, mountain highway (only 2 lanes) and steep hillside with some grazing cattle on the other side. The cattle and road noise was okay for us at night, but if you are a light sleeper it might not be for you. There is plenty of shade with all the trees and it does get a little dark earlier because of all the shade. While the toilet facilities are a bit older, they flush and are clean where it counts. We stayed at campsite 5, which seems like an odd choice since it's right next to the welcome signage and fee drop box, but we really liked it because we were able to spread out along the side of the creek with our tent as well as our Big Agnes shade/bug screen we have as well. No fires allowed this time around, but we were fine with our camp stove on the picnic table. There were a few water spigots around and a trash can for each site. It was lovely listening to the creek all day (and waking up to it). A good number of spots in the middle of the campground seemed better suited to small-medium pull behinds since there wasn't as much separating the individual sites. The sites around the edges had a bit more privacy since they abut the edges of the creek or heavier brush. The day use area is a short 1/2 mile drive up the road or a 1 mile hike (0.5 there and 0.5 back) and we saw a few families enjoying the picnic and creek area over the weekend. We saw people using it as a one-night stopover on longer trips and a few campers stayed a few nights like we did. Besides the short hikes and a bit of splashing around in the creek in the day use area there isn't a lot to do in the area (no cell service on Verizon) besides relaxing. The creek side has been undergoing some restoration work so it's not a free-for-all access anywhere. It seems to be working since at campsite 5, being right next to the creek, we had plenty of critters - plenty of butterflies, a few more spiders than I usually notice. There were the usual gnats, mozzies, bees, wasps, and flies too, but no more than any other campground, as well as some creek specific ones since we were so close to the creek - I want to say mayflies or something similar. We also saw plenty of birds, snacking away on bugs in the trees or grass, as well as a few hummingbirds that really liked when the park ranger had put some sprinklers on to water the grass.

An incredibly beautiful area. It is rugged and feels so wild. Plan to take your time driving up 17 Mile road (takes about an hour to get here from Riggins!). The views are spectacular and easy to find. There are some areas that can be pretty dry and hot, so make sure to plan ahead and bring lots of water. There are several hikes that can be done in a single day or stretched out to multi day trips that go along mountaintops and alpine lakes. I have never seen more than a handful of other groups out here. This is one of my favorite places to go stay. After hiking, camping, and enjoying the mountains, head down to the Salmon for a swim! Watch out for black bears, rattlesnakes, mountain goats in the area.

We headed this way to get away from smoke caused by the 2020 Central Oregon fires.  It was a great choice.  Still hazy long distance views but had great views of the stars at night.  Peaceful and lovely spot.  We paddled on the lake, hiked around it, drove up to the top of the ski area for the view and part of our group hiked down from there.  We were able to drive through the campground with the 27' trailer we had rented but none of the spaces would have accommodated us (that we could see). We were lucky, though, they let us stay in the group camp since there were no reservations for a few days.  It was a little snug, but worked out beautifully.    The campground proper looked very pretty as well.