Sunstrip was a small, primitive campground on the bank of the Wild and Scenic Clackamas, an hour and a quarter from Portland: nine sites in the firs between the highway and the river, most of them, as our note says, with a little path of their own down to the water.
The 2020 Riverside Fire damaged it badly, and it has been closed since. The Forest Service is redesigning the Upper Clackamas campgrounds and hopes to start building in 2027. In August 2026 the Austin Fire closure took in this stretch of the river 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
- 9 on our map
- Fee when open
- $8 a night, the Forest Service lists
- From Portland
- About 46 miles, an hour and a quarter, up OR 224
In 2019, before the fire
- Closest to the river: 5, 6, 7, 4 About 120 to 170 feet from the Clackamas.
- Furthest from the highway: 5, 6, 7 About 250 feet from OR 224.
Every site, as it was in 2019
| Site | To the Clackamas | Next site | In our photo |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 220 ft | 90 ft | a table on gravel, alders and ferns around it |
| 2 | 200 ft | 90 ft | a table and fire ring in the sun |
| 3 | 190 ft | 70 ft | a table and fire ring among tall firs, mossy boulders |
| 4 | 170 ft | 70 ft | a table on a shaded pad, the river light through the trees |
| 5 | 120 ft | 80 ft | a table at the edge, the river just beyond the trunks |
| 6 | 120 ft | 60 ft | no photo |
| 7 | 120 ft | 60 ft | no photo |
| 8 | 200 ft | 60 ft | a table and fire ring in the shade, brush behind |
| 9 | 240 ft | 60 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 Sunstrip 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 Upper Clackamas campgrounds being redesigned. The plan is to finish the designs in 2026 and start construction in 2027, and the Forest Service is still looking for the money.
- Where can I camp nearby instead?
- Promontory Park, about 12 miles down OR 224, is open in summer by reservation. Armstrong, about two and a half miles down the river, reopened after the 2020 fire, but the 2026 Austin Fire closed it for a time; check its Forest Service page before you go.
Nearby
- Roaring River Campground under a mile; closed since the 2020 fire
- Fish Creek Campground about 2.5 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: Sunstrip Campground, Forest Service: Upper Clackamas campground redesign and OpenStreetMap (the Clackamas River). Been there since? Tell us what has changed: support@tentspots.com.
Amenities
ACCESSIBLE
WATER
9 Camping Spots
