Buckhorn Recreation Area

What a pleasant surprise! The Buckhorn campground on the Black Butte Reservoir is managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. There are 3 separate camping loops that cozy up to the main body or arms of the reservoir about 13 miles northeast of I-5 from Orland California.

We visited in February and only the south loop was open on a first-come, first-served basis. The mostly level and paved sites sit on a hill overlooking the reservoir and many have either a water view or a view of Mt. Lassen and surrounding mountains to the east. There are no hook-ups but water is available and there are flush toilets and showers. There is an RV dump available. The pull-through sites would handle very big rigs. We chose a back-in site and were able to leave our 21 foot (overall) trailer connected to the truck. The sites were nicely spaced as well although the lack of foliage means there's little privacy.

If fishing is your thing there's a boat launch and reports of great fishing. We saw/heard tons of birds and watched a small herd of deer that was enjoying the new grass growing near the campground. Other campers told us that winter and spring are the best time to visit because it gets hot and crowded in the summer months.

We got 3 bars of Verizon 4g service. Nightly rate is $20 but federal passes are accepted.

**update**. We went back to Buckhorn after upgrading from a 21 foot trailer to a 30 foot fifth wheel. We still loved it but be advised, tall 5th wheel like ours (13’ 4”) may scrape very hard oak branches in many sites. There were only 2-3 sites we could get into without risking roof penetration. Since we went back in February I can’t say if the other loops have the same problem.

Let me preface by saying I work from the road, so Internet/cell service is crucial. When I pulled in to this campground, the camp host (Beebs) was super kind and helpful, but she was not optimistic about cell coverage on T-Mobile. Since I was coming off a night Boondocking in Walmart after a disappointing trip to Stony Gorge, I wanted to give the campground a shot so I drove through to assess.

I drove every loop until I arrived at the very top of a short but steep hill, all the time monitoring the cell strength. When I crested the hill at site 65, my gauge went green! This is the only site in the campground that I could get reliable signal, so I booked 4 nights.

It’s a fairly large campground, some sites very close to the water and some quite a bit above. They seem to have everything I needed and then some - nice clean showers/bathrooms, lots of water sport options, water spigots (not hookups, you gotta Sherpa the water if you need it), a dump station, great road surfaces, and best of all, not crowded at all.

I’d highly recommend this place, and will be back. Unfortunately, Beebs told me they do not honor the America the Beautiful passes anymore - no discounts. Max stay 14 days.

You’ll like it here.

I was here in early December, so it was empty. There were a total of about four other parties there. Talk about peaceful! And I actually caught fish, icing on the cake. There are numerous day activities there, and there's a nice five mile loop to hike or bike, just westof the CG. I was in site #35 and got decent Verizon reception. I can't remember if I got Sprint service...I don't think so. Even though it was deserted, the showers had hot water! The host Dave and local Ranger Amber were really nice.

I would definitely recommend this campground for fall, winter or spring camping. Not sure about summer as it gets quite hot in the summer.
Clean Bathroom, well maintained trails, several playgrounds... We will definitely be back.

Stayed here 2 nights in January. Park was clean and had beautiful views of the reservoir. No issues getting a 36ft Super C around, though sites will take some effort to get level. Absolutely quiet at night with great views of the stars. Has fresh water fill up and black tank dumps as well. Our only complaint were the people who ran their generators from 8am-10pm, but I won’t ding the campground for that (they left by our 2nd day). Get up here when there aren’t a ton of people and it’s awesome!

This place was decent, but not great. We came in through Corning, but left through Orland. The road out was MUCH better! If you’re headed south, it’s worth the extra drive to Orland and then in. We used a Federal Pass and paid half price. The spots are not particularly level. The bathrooms were okay and there is a shower. My biggest gripe is the other camper who ran his commercial generator until sometime after 10:30 and then started it up again at 6:30 this morning. Beautiful sunrise, though.

I've had my eye on this campground for a while - looking at the Campendium reviews and Youtube videos. I like the California setting - grasslands and oaks. Lots of pretty wildflowers this time of year.

We were here in mid March 2020 and some of the loops were closed, but there were only 4 of us campers. Many of the sites are short back-ins. Many are also pull-throughs where you basically just set up and park along-side the road through the campground.

There is easy access of highway 5 and only a short drive on the 2 lane road from Orland to the campground. Using Google maps from our home near Santa Rosa, the driving time was posted as about 3 hours and 15 minutes, but it took us 4.

I had no idea from the websites I'd seen about the extensive boating access. There is a large parking lot and ramp below the campground.

We stayed here a few years back in late September. Wanted to get warm after being at Crater Lake and having a snow surprise! Randomly drove in and selected a site and we were the only ones in our loop! Nice ranger - pull thru site with a nice view. Yes the lake level was way down, but this is California... Great walking and a spot for the old black Lab to cool off in. Deer and gorgeous sunrise. I think the off-season here is perfect! Dry camping - our favorite. Restrooms and I think showers. A great place to just chill, watch the deer and birds from up on the bluff. Definitely a bit of a wander on narrow country roads - another reason we like having a small trailer!

Great place to camp by the water... assuming there is water. The area is officially in a drought for 2021and the water level shows it. It's an easy drive in and amenities in the town of Orland right off the major freeway, so you can supply-up prior to arriving. The roads throughout the campsites may be narrow, so I'd be mindful for rigs longer than 35 feet or wide rigs. Read: Drive slow if you're at sites facing the water. The main road looks freshly paved, but the oneway roads throughout the campsites are old and narrow. Some sites are level, while others are not, but you can accommodate for it easily with blocks or whatever leveling system you have for an RV. Most sites have a platform for the campsite area that are level so there should be no issues with tents. That being said, it's an ACOE's campground, so overall they did a great job on the quality of the sites. The campsite is on a peninsula of sorts and are susceptible to the water levels. As noted, if the water is low, the peninsula will start to disappear as the water goes down on the East side. If there is water, it's a great place to SUP, swim, and fish, but bringing in a boat would be unwise as the water gets as low as a couple feet. There are plenty of trails to hike around these rolling hills. Quite a beautiful place to visit. We visited in May 2021 a bit early in the season. It was busy on the weekends, but I believe it's mostly because most people don't realize it's open. Because of this, I can see this place being very busy in the peak months. Also, I can see the weather being very hot during the Summer months. During our stay in Mid-May, it was in the mid-90's.

At arrival, we were not greeted by anyone, so we just went directly to our reserved site. Eventually, a friendly host came by to provide us the necessary tag to put on our site post and cars. The host did drive by a few times a day to check on things, including at quiet time hours. This does worry me of someone taking a reserved site, as there wasn't anything there to indicate we belonged there outside of the reservation confirmation we had. I say this, because there were a few people driving around looking for a site that didn't have reservations. I can see someone taking a reserved site, as there is nothing to indicate it's reserved. This would not be an issue if all site should be reserved.

There are bathrooms scattered around the campground, but I did not have the opportunity to visit them, as we have our own amenities in our trailer. We did get water from these areas and utilized the dump station when we left, but nothing else.

This is a big boating area where you can launch on the South side of the campground. A lot of people will park their boats on the shores of where they're camping, so j

Connectivity really depends on where you stay. If you're on the campsites by the water, signal diminishes a bit, but noticeably more for AT&T service. Otherwise, we got a solid 3-bars on Verizon, not boosted.

The only issue we had was other campers. Too much drinking, too much noise, but the host did a good job making sure after 10 pm everything was shut down. As with other campsites, other patrons can make or break whether you have a good time or not. In this case, it was not a big deal, but as noted, when the Summer months go on, I can see this being more of an issue, but not with our visit.

Overall, I would say this is a great place to visit. As of my visit (05/14/2021) the campground is open, but you need to make reservations on Recreation.gov.

We arrived here after a disappointing experience at the stony gorge which was closed for no reason whatsoever. We did reservations online at rec.gov immediately when we arrived at the gate. We like the site so much that we reserved another night on the same day.

Plenty of room to walk and bike around. Clean installations. Multiple bathroom sites and also has a dump station if you need it.

Like all campgrounds you could hear noises but after quiet time (10 pm) it was really quiet. Overall great place for camping.