Best RV Parks & Resorts near Alder Springs, OR

 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.

Humbug is one of our favorite campgrounds. We love the easy access to the beach and the beautiful hikes.  Showers are hot and free, rangers are always friendly.

Cell service is pretty iffy here, but we manage to make it work with the cell booster.

There's a dump station and water fill, trash and recycling, water spigots throughout campground, and firewood for sale.

Tent sites in Oregon don't currently have the 25% non-resident surcharge (though I've heard that's changing soon) and there are plenty of non-hookup/tent sites that will fit RVs. There are also FHU and pull through sites.

While staying here in August 2024: -Dog friendly -No hookups -2 bars on Verizon -No shade -Madras, OR only 10 minutes away. -1 acres fenced in dog park in Madras OR (15 min. drive) -Used my credit card at the automated self pay station (super convenient). -fairly clean bathroom (toilet only). -From travel trailers to Teslas, they all have made down the road and plenty of room.

Situated on the banks of the Deschutes Wild and Scenic River, Mecca Flat Campground is located just a mile and a half from Oregon State HIghway 26 near Warm Springs. The site features 13 individual campsites and one group use area. The southern terminus of the 7-mile long Trout Creek Trail can be accessed directly from the campground.

Know Before You Go:

All campsites, including the group use area are open year-round on a first-come, first-served basis; no potable water is available. The 1.6 mile Mecca Flat Road is narrow with few pullouts; use caution particularly when pulling a trailer. Access the nearby non-motorized Trout Creek Trail which fronts the Deschutes Wild and Scenic River for 7 miles where it terminates at Trout Creek Campground. Cell phone service is not available in the campground. Goathead, also known as puncturevine, is present in the area; protect your pets and bicycle tires Point of Interest:

The Deschutes Railroad ran on portions of the nearby Trout Creek trail and Mecca Flat Road for several decades, competing with the Oregon Trunk Railroad before abandonment in the early 20th century. Look for the historic, now-abandoned tunnel near Highway 26 - but stay clear of this degrading and unstable structure.

Blue Bay Campground (Suttle Lake) Site 15 description from Recreation.gov, which I found to be accurate: “Driveway Entry: Pull-Through Driveway Length: 110 Driveway Surface: Gravel Is Equipment Mandatory: Yes Max Num of Vehicles: 2 Max Vehicle Length: 40

This site will accommodate one 40-foot and one 30-foot vehicle (total vehicle length). In addition to the above space, there is parking for approximately two extra vehicles (total vehicle length less than eighteen feet each).”

What is not mentioned, that I could find, is the driveway is shaped like a horseshoe and to pull through your RV or trailer might be tough. There are several large boulders and wood bollards on the right side of the driveway that may make it difficult to swing the front end of your vehicle wide enough to clear the trees on left. We ended up backing our trailer (32’) into the site vs. trying to pull through it.

Site 15 is spacious and mostly private that has 2 picnic tables. Plenty of space for several tents in the site and to set-up if your outdoor games. There is some road noise, but it was not overwhelming. The boat dock is a short walk from this site - short enough to walk with your SUP board, kayak or canoe. The dumpster is close to this site, but it was not overflowing and the garbage service came on Friday of the holiday weekend.

Blue Bay campground appears to be the smallest of the three campgrounds on Suttle Lake and it appears that several of the sites are semi-private to mostly private. It was mostly quiet during our stay, the loudest noise heard was the occasional barking dog and excited child.

The dock at the campground is small, but perfect for smaller craft launching and close to Suttle Lake Boat House and lodge. The lake is gorgeous and no wake for a generous part of it. Perfect for paddle boarding. The trail around the lake gets a lot of use - walkers, runners and bikers.

Accessing the campground is easy, just off HWY 20. The campground road was in good shape and we found that we had no issues pulling our 32’ trailer through the campground.

We did not utilize the restrooms (pit toilets) during our stay, but they were directly off the campground ground road and we walked by them several times and did not notice an odor.

The campground host was off duty during the holiday weekend (odd?) It looked like, if on duty, firewood might have been available for purchase. However, we did not get close enough to the wood bundles to inquire if there was an alternate pay system (leaving cash in a box vs. paying a person). There was not much Forest Service (FS) personnel presence, we saw a FS vehicle once.

We have AT&T as our phone carrier and received and made calls without issue. Text messages mostly went through, however internet was slow and iffy most of the time.

Our GPS and Waze wanted to take us to the Fair& Expo main gate, but we followed the website instructions to the RV park portion of the fairgrounds adjacent to the Juniper Golf Course. Check-in was quick and easy. We proceeded to pull through site B-1 with FHUs for our two-night stay. The fairgrounds have nice cement sites to include a spot to park your tow vehicle or toad. Utilities are placed in the back center of the pad. The water pressure was good at about 50 psi. We got 4 bars on Verizon and the Wifi was above average for a park this size, i.e. you can check email and surf but not stream. There are no trees around the sites, so no issues with satellite. The sites in the B loop and this CG in general are close together. It was a pleasant surprise to find that they have a laundry, which is located in the office building where you register. There are also restrooms and showers there as well. As we were in site B-1 near the RV park entrance, we took our dog for walks to the left where there were trails into the adjacent state land(identified by a sign on a tree). The site had a picnic table and nice little standup grill. We enjoyed our stay at this CG.