Fish Creek was a Forest Service campground where Fish Creek meets the Clackamas River, an hour and a quarter from Portland: gravel pads under big cedars, two yurts, and calm water beside it.
The 2020 Riverside Fire damaged it, and it has been closed since. The Forest Service is redesigning the Upper Clackamas campgrounds and plans to start construction in 2027. These are its sites as they were in September 2019.
Quick facts
- Run by
- Mt Hood National Forest
- Now
- Closed since the 2020 Riverside Fire, in the Upper Clackamas redesign
- Sites in 2019
- 24 on our map; Recreation.gov lists 23, two of them yurts (10 and 16)
- Fee in 2019
- $23 a night
- Elevation
- About 900 feet
- From Portland
- About 44 miles, an hour and a quarter, up OR 224
In 2019, before the fire
- Closest to the Clackamas: 15, 16, 13, 14, 12 About 120 to 150 feet from the river.
- Furthest from the highway: 15, 16, 13, 14, 12, 11 About 1,200 feet from OR 224. “Away from the main road,” says our note.
- The yurts: 10, 16
- Closest to Fish Creek: 16, 15, 18 About 210 to 280 feet from the creek.
Every site, as it was in 2019
| Site | To the river | Next site | In our photo |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 210 ft | 140 ft | no photo |
| 2 | 350 ft | 100 ft | shaded, a gravel pad among firs |
| 3 | 280 ft | 60 ft | gravel pad, a log along the edge |
| 4 | 240 ft | 60 ft | big gravel pad, river light beyond |
| 5 | 260 ft | 40 ft | fire ring and table, the river through the trees |
| 6 | 280 ft | 40 ft | a big log, a table, the river beyond |
| 7 | 300 ft | 40 ft | table and fire ring among young firs |
| 8 | 270 ft | 40 ft | table by a fence, sunny |
| 9 | 230 ft | 40 ft | no photo |
| 10 | 230 ft | 100 ft | a yurt, with a table and fire ring |
| 11 | 170 ft | 100 ft | shaded, big cedars |
| 12 | 150 ft | 60 ft | a sunny gravel pad |
| 13 | 130 ft | 60 ft | no photo |
| 14 | 130 ft | 60 ft | table under a big cedar |
| 15 | 120 ft | 60 ft | table at the edge of the trees, the river beyond |
| 16 | 120 ft | 70 ft | a yurt among tall firs |
| 17 | 350 ft | 70 ft | no photo |
| 18 | 200 ft | 90 ft | shaded, big cedars and stumps |
| 19 | 280 ft | 70 ft | no photo |
| 20 | 270 ft | 60 ft | dappled, ferns |
| 21 | 280 ft | 60 ft | gravel pad, fire ring, a boulder |
| 22 | 290 ft | 70 ft | dappled, boulders and ferns |
| 23 | 380 ft | 90 ft | gravel pad hemmed in by ferns |
| 24 | 430 ft | 100 ft | table and fire ring among ferns and logs |
Distances are straight lines from each pin, to the water and to the nearest neighbor, so read them as “about”. Photos from July 2019, a year before the fire.
Questions
- Is Fish Creek Campground open?
- No. Recreation.gov says the campground is closed because of the 2020 Riverside Fire.
- Will it reopen?
- It is one of the Upper Clackamas campgrounds the Forest Service is redesigning. The plan is to finish the designs in 2026 and start construction in 2027, and the Forest Service is still looking for funding to build it.
- Where can I camp nearby instead?
- Promontory Park, about 9 miles down OR 224, is open in summer by reservation. Armstrong, right next door, and Ripplebrook, about eight miles up the road, reopened after the 2020 fire, but the 2026 Austin Fire closed them too; check the Forest Service before you go.
Nearby
- Armstrong Campground next door; reopened after the 2020 fire; closed for a time by the 2026 Austin Fire
- Roaring River Campground about 2 miles; closed since the 2020 fire
- Sunstrip Campground about 2.5 miles; closed since the 2020 fire
- Ripplebrook Campground about 8 miles; reopened after the 2020 fire; closed again by the 2026 Austin Fire
The places to camp outside the campgrounds on this river, photographed the same summer
Checked October 2026 with Recreation.gov: Fish Creek (OR), Forest Service: Upper Clackamas campground redesign and OpenStreetMap (the Clackamas River). Been there since? Tell us what has changed: support@tentspots.com.
Amenities
WATER
ACCESSIBLE
WATER
24 Camping Spots
