Mossytoes
Oregon
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Joined: 07/23/2005
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My three children and I just spent a week there and fell totally in love with the park and the region. Love the Oregon high desert!
Prineville Reservoir is a smaller park, well kept with nicely situated sites and lovely views. There are sites with full hookups as well as tent sites without and a few cabins. Even though there was no real cover between our site and the one behind, our site was large enough and positioned so that we didn't feel crowded in. The sites are sand/dirt but there are lots of grassy areas around and between sites that they are kept well watered so the overall feel of the campground is pleasant and not horribly dry for high desert.
There is one bath house and it's stellar (as usual in Oregon), free and clean and one of the nicer facilities where the showers are in individual locking rooms and you can control the amount and the temperature of the water instead of just pushing a button for a pre-mixed, timed amount (I hate those).
You can purchase wood and ice from the camp hosts and the wood was actually decent quality. Oh and there is a bathroom w/out shower in each loop as well as water every few sites in the non hookup areas, and gray water dumps.
The camp hosts were all very nice and they work hard to keep the camp clean. It really is a beautiful place!
The day use area has a roped off area for swimming and the bottom is not mucky which is nice for a lake. It would be perfect for younger kids. My kids (ages 11-13) played there the first day and enjoyed it a lot, however we wanted/needed a place for our dog to enjoy the water as well and since dogs are not allowed off leash or in the water in the day use area, we went looking for a place to let him off leash. What we found turned out to be so much better then the limited day use area. Up the park road a short distance are several really nice and reasonably accessible "coves" where we were able to let him run and play while we swam. None of these lovely spots are officially listed, and none are posted as official off-leash areas, you just have to drive along the park road and look for trail-head parking in various areas, and then follow the trails down to the lake. We made sure each time that any people already there were comfortable with a loose dog and all three times they were totally cool because they already had their dogs off leash well. Our dog thought he had made it to doggie heaven with hours to romp and play in and out of the water and with other dogs. I thought I'd include this info since I had no luck finding out ahead of our trip where I'd be able to let my dog off-leash.
Prineville is a pretty little city about 20 minutes from the camp with everything you might need including a very nice vet. About the only thing I didn't see there was a movie theater and the closest discount store (i.e. Wally World) is about 40 mins so away in Redmond. Friendly people and a great little burger joint (Tastee Treat) were the highlights we found.
Bottom line if you ever have the privilege of visiting central Oregon and your looking for a place to camp, don't miss Prineville Reservoir State Park - it's awesome!!!
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Dshultz50
Oregon
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Joined: 06/23/2006
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Great! That's one campground we haven't made it to yet. We live in LaPine, south of Bend. Did you know that the Prineville area is a mecca for rockhounding? There are 2 rock shops in Prineville....stop in and get a map. The kids would have a ball looking for "pretty rocks"...
"I tried sniffing Coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose"
Dee & Bob
1990 Fleetwood 5er
2 cats - Donner and Dasher
12 grandkids
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dgo1369
Georgetown, TX, US
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Joined: 11/22/2003
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A friend of mine is a ranger there and I'll forward this to her. It's always great to see comments from people who appreciate the beauty of our parks and who respect not only those who work hard to keep the environment friendly and beautiful, but also the hard working volunteers without whom many of the state parks would have to close.
Dennis Osha
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Sandia Man
Rio Rancho, NM
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Joined: 08/09/2008
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Glad to hear you had an awesome camping trip with your family. That's why so many of us love it.
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