Crane Prairie Campground

We found the red loop to be quiet and private. A welcome change after many KOA type campgrounds with neighbors only inches away. The chipmunks are bold and on the stairs of our camper! We like to allow our dogs some freedom in and out of the rig, but between the mosquitos and the chipmunks -that wasn’t happening.

Verizon cell coverage was mostly on-existent in our site, and I couldn’t find anywhere with a consistent 2 bars to download some work I needed to do.

No dump station. Only a fill station for water.

With a little bit of maintenance work this place could be stellar. The blue loop along the waterfront seemed to be the happening place. We were content in the Red Loop.

This was always our favorite campground when we had a truck and camper. Unfortunately after buying our 5th wheel trailer we haven't been able to get into the campground because of a few spots with low hanging branches. Our 5th wheel is quite tall, so shorter trailers should not have a problem. We have not driven through in the last year to see if that issue had been addressed, and if so we would love to camp there again.

This is a large campground located on the Crane Prairie Reservoir. Quite a few sites are located along the lake shore with nice views of Mt. Bachelor across the water. No hookups for RVs but there is a water fill station at the campground entrance plus a few spigots scattered throughout the campground (many were off, so a bit of a treasure hunt to find ones that had water). Wide variety of sites/sizes, we had no trouble finding a site large enough for our 32' trailer plus tow vehicle.

We arrived on a Thursday morning. Many sites had "reserved" signs showing next reserved dates as is usual at NFS campgrounds, some sites had no signs which we figured meant they were available for first-come-first-serve of any length stay (up to 14 night limit). We found a nice site large enough for our 32' trailer and tow vehicle right on the lake (site 108) with no reserved sign, so we moved in and set up the trailer intending to stay 2 nights. Then when I went to self-pay the registration fee, I noticed small print on the envelope indicating one could only pay one night at any unreserved site. This info was not posted on the main information boards - it was just tiny print on the registration envelope.

Then I went to the Campground Host site hoping to get more information. Nobody home but there were some not-so-obvious (from the road) notices taped to the trailer indicating the host only worked Friday-Tuesday at this campground (managed by a private concession company), plus a bit more information indicating just a few of the sites in the campground were available for multi-night first-come-first-served stays, of course our site wasn't on the list. Adding insult to injury both the small print on the registration envelope and a notice on the host's trailer suggested calling recreation.gov for more info and help. Really??? There is no cell service at this campground! (at least for us having T-Mobile)

Putting two-and-two together, we figured the very nice lakefront site we'd just occupied was probably reserved for the weekend, even though the site didn't have a reserved sign. So we hopped in the truck and drove to Mt Bachelor ski area where we did have service and checked site availability information at recreation.gov where sure enough, our site showed reserved starting the next night. So we drove back to the campground, packed up the trailer, and moved to a different site (54) which was indicated first-come-first-serve on recreation.gov and thankfully still available. What a hassle.

Site 54 is in the back-side of the campground (nicely forested area) and although it's not adjacent to the lake, the sites in this area are widely spaced with a more peaceful feeling than the more crowded lake-front area. We had nice neighbors and enjoyed our stay there, though we feel the concession company managing the campground could do a much better job - there should be a host on-site every day for such a large/busy campground and information about the next reserved dates should always be posted on the campsites.

We lucked out when choosing are camping site. Our closest neighbors were either down the hill or up over the hill. The campsite itself was large and spacious, surrounded by trees. It had plenty of space for multiple tents if needed. There were vault toilets located around the campground. The campground is considered dry, but there were a couple of spots to fill water jugs. Lots of deer roaming around and through the campground. Views of the gorgeous mountain range can be seen from lake. There was an algae bloom at the reservoir when we camped, so we drove to Little Cultus Lake for some kayaking.

Crane Prairie Campground is a great place to call home for the weekend. Some sites are more private than others, but for the most part there are trees and vegetation between most sites. The road through the campground is paved, keep an eye on the low hanging branches if you have a tall rig!

Cell reception was good enough for a text or phone call, but we weren't able to stream or facetime. No road noise and very peaceful at night! Highly recommend checking out Crane Prairie. We will be back next summer!

Few other notes: Two boat ramps, the resort has boat docks and RV spots with electricity, there is a water fill station when you enter the campground, so no need to fill up at home and drive full of water.

The nightly rate here includes an $8 online reservation fee and about $5 for another fee. We loved our site, 78, because it had plenty of tall trees and was feet away from the water. The water was nice and warm for swimming in late June. There were lots of people fishing, kayaking, and just floating. We went out on the raft and just loved the water + mountain view. The sites are a bit uneven and you can’t escape the dirt/dust, but that’s nothing to complain about when you have the most amazing views.
Fire ring, trash, and sink water waste areas nearby. The resort next door has a small store and laundromat but the laundromat was closed due to COVID. There’s a lovely, small laundromat in La Pine, 30 minutes away.
We had enough ATT cell service to use our phones as hotspots for streaming and working on the laptop most times.

Another great National Forest campground. Crane Prairie CG is one of the largest NF campgrounds in the Cascade Lakes area near Bend and it gets lots of use on summer weekends. Apparently the days of arriving on a Friday and having the CG to yourself, as the reviewer reported in 2016, are long gone. The CG was not at capacity over the weekend but every site with a view of the lake was occupied.

There's a combination of reservable and walk in sites. If you're a tent camper or small rv owner you could probably find something workable even on the weekend. We arrived on a Sunday and had numerous choices for our 40' 5W. We set up in site 18 originally, an extra long pull through. But, with measuring tape in hand, my husband felt he could get us into site 76, a spacious waterfront site with a sandy beach. It was really lovely to have views of the water and snow capped mountains.

There's a threaded potable water spigot on the right just as you turn off the road and numerous unthreaded spigots scattered around. No dump on site. We went to Gordy's Truck Stop on Hiway 97 in La Pine, which is very easy to access, $8. Vault toilets are clean. There's a boat launch in the CG and a bigger one in the adjoining day use area.
With a MIMO antenna, Verizon was good right on the lake at our site, 76, but basically nonexistent away from the lake.

Misc: Cultus Lake Resort, about 10 miles away, has a nice little cafe and terrace with views of the lake . We enjoyed a surprisingly delicious Shrimp PoBoy. The absolute cheapest propane in the Bend area is Oregon Pet & Feed in Bend ($1.70 in Aug 2019)

Crane Prairie CG has a really friendly, fun summer vibe. This past weekend, there was a bluegrass community play along and a church group in the yellow loop. Lots and lots of kayaks and canoes. Lots of young families.

This is a National Forest Service campground on Crane Prairie Reservoir. Crane Prairie is a large campground with 5 loops and 140 sites. We camped in the blue loop at site 105. We were here on Friday, August 28 through Sunday, August 30 and the campground was mostly empty. We had no neighbors in the blue loop and this is the loop by the water. It almost felt like a scene from the Twilight Zone, but we didn't complain about the peace and quiet.

Many of the sites at Crane Prairie are small and will not accommodate RV's. However, there are larger sites in each loop. We walked around the campground and made a note of the larger sites. Some of our favorites were 105, 108, 116, 134, 144, 49, 52. As with most Forest Service campgrounds, the pads are dirt with varying degrees of levelness. Each site has a picnic table and fire pit. The sites are partly to mostly shaded by pine trees.

This campground is directly beside Crane Prairie RV Resort. The resort campsites are more than twice the price of the Forest Service sites, but you do get full hookups at the resort. We had solar power and a full water tank so the hookups were not needed. The Forest Service campground was perfect for us.

We had a good cell signal using AirVoice (AT&T) and Straight Talk (Verizon).