About this place
A basic campground on the north shore of Smith Reservoir. You can only reach it by boat.
People come here to get away from everyone, and having no road in at all is what keeps the place that way.
There are tables, vault toilets and fire pits. Bring water.
There is no drinking water. Any water here has to be filtered or treated first.
Nobody collects trash here, so take everything home with you.
Check before you set off. The road stays shut until 1 May while work goes on at the dams. And when the water is drawn down low, the boat launch can be unusable.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp
- Roads around it
- By boat only
- Stay limit
- 14 days
- Drinking water
- No, bring your own
- Toilet
- Yes
- Type
- Specific campsite
- When it’s open
- All year, though the road and the weather decide whether you get in
- Managed by
- Willamette National Forest
The roads around this place are not maintained for a regular car. That comes from the US Forest Service, who grade every road by the kind of vehicle it is looked after for. Those records cover the roads nearby. They do not cover the last stretch in to the campsite, and nobody has checked that part. Treat this as a warning. We are not promising what you will find when you get there. If you have driven it, tell us what it was like and we will say so here.
Rules and restrictions
- You can camp here for 14 days.
- Nothing here is set up for a trailer.
- Boats are limited to 10 mph.
Getting there
From McKenzie Bridge, go east on Highway 126 to Forest Road 732. Follow it round Trail Bridge Reservoir to Forest Road 730, then about 2 miles up to the Smith Reservoir boat launch. The campground is about 1.8 miles north across the lake.
Coordinates 44.332013, -122.047342
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
A few more of our own spots are within reach of this one, along with some better-known places.
- Clear Lake Directions
- Carpenter Mountain Directions
- Quartzville Back Country Byway Directions
- Quartzville Creek Wild and Scenic River Directions
- Mount Jefferson Directions
There is no road to this campsite, so every distance on this page is a straight line, not a drive. Getting back to a road comes first, and the real trip will be longer. Plan it before you set out.
Nearest town and supplies
- Black Butte Ranch, OR Directions
- Sisters, OR Directions
Sisters is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.
These are straight lines too. There is no road in, so there is no drive to measure.
Why the drive to town is usually twice what the map says — what we found measuring every campsite in this guide.
When it’s time to move on
You can camp here for 14 days. After that you have to move on. This is Forest Service land, and each forest sets its own rule for how far you have to go, so check before you travel.
The nearest other free campsite in this guide is Box Canyon Horse Camp, Oregon — 30 miles in a straight line. Three more sit closer than 25 miles, if the rule here allows them.
This guide covers five states and does not list every free campsite, so there may be something closer that we do not hold. Check this site’s own rule before you rely on it.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Forest Service’s own records, read in August 2026.