Cinder Hill Campground

We were going to stay at La Pines but you’re packed in like sardines there and we didn’t see any sites with a view of the lake. A nice man at the grocery store recommended East lake so we took a chance on the 18 mile drive up with no reservations. All the other campgrounds on the lakes before were full coming in because they’re all able to be reserved. Cinder Hill keeps a percentage of spots open for first come / first serve. We almost parked at the rv park but we’re so glad we decided to look in cinder first. There were a lot of options, and all sites have somewhat of a lake view. I would say they are quite large and very private.

We stayed in 44 the first night and had an easy walk to the beach. The site has a large backyard where you can post up and see the lake.

We grabbed 94 the last two nights and it was private with lake front access — all gorgeous. However, there is lake access right by the site so people walk into your camp area a bit when they’re coming up or down. Also, the last night we had a lot of people stopping by asking if we were leaving and when so they could scoop up the site next. One man put his stub down and asked us to switch it out for him. We told him we were leaving at 10 am but he drove by at least three times before that the next morning waiting for us to leave. Another girl drove by about three times in the evening while we were enjoying our fire. She came up to us trying to meet us in the morning to take the spot next. She then left and came back an hour later and asked us to put her stub under the man’s so she could get it next. Not a huge deal, but it was a little disruptive while we were trying to enjoy our last night / morning.

Sites 96, 98 are also beautiful — would recommend them too. Anything above 100 will have limited generator use (2-4 pm only).

East resort has basic supplies if you need anything, you can rent lake toys too. The grill is open as well!

It’s a paved road all the way up so rvs and trailers are fine. We saw some giant ones up there.

There are lots of trails to explore and the lake is great for swimming. Highly recommend this excursion. The drive to DT Bend was about an hour, but we preferred to stay in the mountains anyway. No cell service for us. We had a trailer so I didn’t explore the vault toilets but they were definitely there.

This is a great site for access to hikes and mountain biking. We picked this campground because it wasn’t as crowded for the Memorial Day weekend as some of the other sites were. Some small sites but plenty of big ones especially in the higher numbered sites. If you can get site 94 it looked like the bomb, right on the water. We had site envy 😊. Hiked up to cinder hill viewpoint for a great view of the lakes. Stopped at the big obsidian flow, lava butte lookout, and the high desert museum. If you have certain recreation passes hoodoo gives you half off your site, normal price is $18.

Cinder Hill Campground is located in the caldera of the Newberry Volcano which is the centerpiece of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument southeast of Bend, OR. It is located on the shores of East Lake which has boating, fishing, hiking and a myriad of other recreational opportunities.

The campground is your typical Forest Service campground: bathrooms (some flushies, most pit toilets), water available, no hookups, no showers. It is in a nice wooded area with good site separation. Signs indicated that a tree thinning operation would be happening soon to remove diseased trees and reduce fire risk. Due to snow, the CG is usually open June - September.

About half the campsites are reservable online and many other nice sites are first-come first-served. We were camping the week before the August 2017 Eclipse and the campground was not full at all (although it was not in the path of totality - the surrounding area was pretty busy due to the upcoming event). But, this wasn’t a typical week and your mileage may vary.

During our 3 night stay, we did a day of local sightseeing, but also went outside the Newberry Crater to see more of the National Monument and Bend, OR. Cinder Hill CG is literally at the end of the road into Newberry Crater. It’s 18 miles uphill from US-97 (a half hour+ drive). For this sort of sightseeing trip, it would have been better to be located outside of the caldera and do a day trip up instead (the Big Obsidian Flow is an amazing place to visit). But, if you’re looking for a restful mountain lake vacation away from the hubbub, you’ve come to the right place. Although we drove a bit more to see the other sights, we did enjoy our stay. Due to the altitude, it was also a bit cooler which was nice.

During our stay, forest fires were going in the mountains to the west and smoke would sometimes blow into the caldera. Cell phone coverage was non-existent in most of the caldera, but a drive to the top of Paulina Peak on the caldera rim gives you a fantastic overlook of the surrounding area and good cell signal without driving off the mountain (some T-Mobile coverage was also available at Paulina Falls). Newberry National Volcanic Monument is fairly large and worth spending a couple of days exploring.

The nightly rate does not include the $9 reservation fee.