About this place
Lower Buck Creek is 35 minutes southwest of Silver Lake. If you want backcountry quiet, this is it.
The small stream runs through meadows and mixed conifer forest, at just over 5000 feet.
Hunting parties and small family reunions are the usual visitors, and the place suits both because it is so quiet.
There are five camping sites with picnic tables, fire rings, and one vault toilet.
Park at least 200 feet from the creek.
People come to watch deer and elk, take photographs, and sit still. There are brook trout in the creek, and you can walk along the stream that comes down from Yamsay Mountain.
There is day use parking here as well.
There is no drinking water. Bring a lot of it.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp
- Roads around it
- Not maintained for ordinary cars
- Drinking water
- No, bring your own
- Toilet
- Yes
- Type
- Specific campsite
- Managed by
- Fremont-Winema 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
Vehicles have to stay 200 feet away from the creek here.
Ask the district office about fire restrictions before you set off.
Getting there
From Silver Lake, take Highway 31 for about a mile and turn onto County Road 4-10, Bear Flat Road. It becomes Forest Road 2804. The campground is off 2804 to the south.
Coordinates 43.069485, -121.246287
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
There is another spot of ours within reach, and some better-known places further out.
- Christmas Valley Back Country Byway Directions
- Mount Thielsen Directions
- Newberry Volcano Directions
- Crater Lake Directions
Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.
Nearest town and supplies
- Silver Lake, OR Directions
- La Pine, OR Directions
La Pine 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.
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
On most public land you can camp for 14 days before you have to move on. Check this site’s own limit before you plan a long stay. 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 Scott Creek Campground, Oregon — 37 miles in a straight line, but a 50 mile drive. Four 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.