By:
Submission
Pine Point Campground is located on the shores of Timothy Lake in the shadow of Oregon's Mt. Hood. It is a beautiful place for individuals, families and larger groups to camp and enjoy nature with a standard sites and a large group camp as well as miles of scenic trails around the lake providing endless recreation possibilities.
Proximity to Timothy Lake allows campers to enjoy a variety of water-related recreation activities, including boating and sailing, as well as swimming, windsurfing and fishing. Anglers can expect a catch of kokanee salmon and a variety of trout. A range of trails are located in the area. The Timothy Lake Trail is popular for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. The 12 miles of relatively level terrain loops trekkers around the lake, providing scenic views of the area. It connects to the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, a lengthy hike that extends across three states, from the borders of Canada and Mexico. Portions of that trail also lead southwest to Clackamas Lake Campground. The Clackamas Lake Ranger Station Historic District is less than 3 miles from the campground. It was built to house forest service workers in the early 1900s. The rustic architecture and historic nature of the buildings and the surrounding area, draws thousands of tourists each year.
The campground offers dozens of single-family campsites and five large-group campsites, available for tent and RV camping. Sites are equipped with tables and campfire rings with grills. Accessible vault toilets and drinking water are provided. An on-site host is available at the campground.
The nearest gas station/convenience store is about 18 miles away, west on Hwy. 26. The nearest grocery store is in Government Camp, about 23 miles away, west on Hwy. 26.
The campground is situated on the south shore of the roughly 1,400-acre lake, at an elevation of 3,400 feet. Timothy Lake was created in 1956 as a storage reservoir for the Oak Grove Hydroelectric Project. It is one of the larger lakes in the Mt. Hood National Forest. The campground is nestled in a mixed conifer forest, with many sites with views of the water's edge.
Pine Point is about 28 miles from the base of majestic Mt. Hood, the highest point in Oregon. The historic Timberline Lodge in Government Camp offers scenic views of the snow-capped mountain.
Between 05/27/2022 and 09/24/2022 this location is staffed. Please call (503) 834-2215 to speak with local staff. From 09/25/2022 to 05/26/2023 this location is unstaffed. Please call (503) 464-8515 for general information.
A service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation. Late cancellations are subject to additional fees. For details, see the Recreation.Gov, Rules & Reservation Policies.
From Government Camp, OR, take US Rt 26 east 11.2 miles to Timothy Lake sign. Turn right at sign onto Skyline Rd./Forest Rt 42 and go 8.2 miles to a "Y" intersection. Bear right and go 3.2 miles to campground on right.
Payment in-full will be charged to your credit card upon completion of the reservation. A non-refundable online reservation fee may be charged for some facilities.
Unfortunately, I need to give this campground a 1 Star rating. I recently stayed in a group site for a company outing for two nights and was unimpressed by the staff and organization responsible for the camp ground.
We had some aggressive camp neighbors that found the need to repeatedly file complaints against our site for talking after 10pm. Not only were we harassed but threatened multiple times during our stay. As a result, we were “talked to” several times by Verna and Paul, the camp hosts. Verna’s attitude and demeanor was also very aggressive and not suited for camp host service.
We are respectful, experienced campers and wanted nothing more than to make sure everyone including the surrounding groups enjoyed their time. We reserved two group sites and had a group of people ranging in age from 1 to 60. Yet, we were treated like we were a group of kids trying to get wasted in the woods.
If you are considering camping here as a group, I would strongly recommend finding a camp ground run by actual camp hosts not associated with PGE that understand the desire to stay up past 10pm, tell camp stories, and have a good laugh or two. Were were told by the camp hosts “ laughing is not allowed past 10pm”. It’s sad to know a beautiful area is being run by such a disrespectful staff.
I will say, that finally, once the camp hosts called security on us (at 6pm in broad daylight) in anticipation that we weren’t going to abide by curfew rules. Tom, the security officer, was the only courteous and logical staff member we spoke to. And, after our interaction with him, the harassment subsided. Thanks for treating us like humans, Tom.
In conclusion, don’t camp here if you want to laugh after 10pm.
I would like to echo the sentiments in Mr Copeland’s review as my group received the same treatment. We are NOT a loud rowdy group of people, but we’re treated as such. I understand a 10pm noise ordinance but my group chose to go to the edge of the lake to minimize noise so we could continue talking and sharing stories at a normal volume level. It was the first night we were staying there and wasn’t even 10:30PM when a woman (most likely this Vera person) came and started threatening and yelling at my friends. We tried to come from a place of compassion and understanding and she did not care and was very disrespectful. We apologized and tried to ask questions but she would not answer anything and continued making threats. No warnings no nothing, if we made one more sound we would be kicked out in the middle of the night. Very unpleasant situation, I will never stay at this campground again.
Also very crowded, also the camp staff didn’t carry change and my friends were overcharged for an extra parking pass.
We have stayed at this campground for decades and used to live in the area. This year we rented one of their newer large west group site and had a great host...came and greeted us at the camp site, gave us little activity kits for the kids to do that is a part of their Junior Park Ranger program. We had a concern over cars speeding through our area...we had kids riding bikes, and some were looking for a spot to claim as theirs,, and she came and set up more signs to indicate that the whole area was rented and gave us cones to block our area off so to detour that from happening during the rest of our stay. Upon departing, she invited us to park in the day use area for free and that we could continue to play in the water after we packed up our stuff and that she hoped to see us next year.. Also...she was wonderful in learning park guests names and treating us as family/friends. We will be returning in the future...we hope she is there when we do.
I can't find a review site for the actual camground so I'll put mine here.
Beautiful, very well maintained campground. Right from the start, we had a great time. The campground Host, Phillip, was very friendly, funny and heplful. The Hosts work extremely hard at keeping the area in first-rate condition. The campsites are cleaned and raked between guests and they clean and replenish the outhouses several time a day.
There are a lot of great hiking trails and pretty much unlimited space for water play
We are going to make it an anual family event. Thanks again to Phillip and his wife for helping make our time there so enjoyable.
The campground was great! Well maintained, nice staff, safe for my kids to ride their bikes around the camp loop. (I’m giving it four stars overall just because it doesn’t have restrooms with running water/showers). We had a great time. The lake is beautiful.
