Roaring River was a Forest Service campground where the Roaring River comes down to meet the Clackamas, across the highway from the main river, an hour and a quarter from Portland: fourteen sites in a loop in the firs, with the white water of the Roaring River tumbling over boulders just below.
As our note says, the river really is loud, and luckily the sites are not right next to it. The 2020 Riverside Fire damaged the campground badly and it has been closed since; the Forest Service is redesigning it, and in August 2026 the Austin Fire closure took in this stretch again. 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
- 14 on our map
- Fee when open
- $19 a night, the Forest Service lists
- From Portland
- About 45 miles, an hour and a quarter, up OR 224
In 2019, before the fire
- Closest to the Roaring River: 6, 7, 5, 8 About 120 to 145 feet from it, and loud.
- Quietest: 1, 14, 13 About 400 to 530 feet from the Roaring River.
Every site, as it was in 2019
| Site | To the Roaring River | Next site | In our photo |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 530 ft | 100 ft | a table on a sunny pad, ferns at the edge |
| 2 | 370 ft | 90 ft | a table and fire ring in an open clearing |
| 3 | 280 ft | 90 ft | no photo |
| 4 | 190 ft | 70 ft | no photo |
| 5 | 140 ft | 70 ft | no photo |
| 6 | 120 ft | 40 ft | a table in the shade, the post marked 6 |
| 7 | 130 ft | 40 ft | a pad under a big mossy tree |
| 8 | 140 ft | 50 ft | no photo |
| 9 | 190 ft | 30 ft | no photo |
| 10 | 220 ft | 30 ft | no photo |
| 11 | 210 ft | 80 ft | no photo |
| 12 | 330 ft | 80 ft | a table and fire ring among tall firs |
| 13 | 400 ft | 80 ft | no photo |
| 14 | 530 ft | 100 ft | no photo |
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 Roaring River Campground open?
- No. The Forest Service says the Riverside Fire damaged it extensively and recovery and redesign plans are in progress.
- Will it reopen?
- It is one of the seven Upper Clackamas campgrounds being redesigned; construction is planned to start in 2027, if the money is found.
- Is it noisy?
- Our note: “River is really roaring loud! Luckily the campsites are not next to it.”
Nearby
- Sunstrip Campground under a mile; closed since the 2020 fire
- Fish Creek Campground about 2 miles; closed since the 2020 fire
- After the 2020 fires every campground the fires reached
The places to camp outside the campgrounds on this river, photographed the same summer
Checked October 2026 with Forest Service: Roaring River Campground, Forest Service: Upper Clackamas campground redesign and OpenStreetMap (the Roaring River). Been there since? Tell us what has changed: support@tentspots.com.
Amenities
ACCESSIBLE
WATER
14 Camping Spots
