Mazama Village Campground

I stayed here for two nights ($ 22/​night) near the end of September and had an awesome time. I tried to get an earlier visit in the summer but with a few attempts with their online reservation system, I realized this campground gets booked solid way in advance.
This place is easy to find (follow signs for Mazama Village) since the park isn’t that big and the ranger at the entrance gives you a useful map. When you enter the parking lot, there’s a sign saying check in at the kiosk. There was only a short wait and the person working registration was nice and efficient. You get a piece of paper with your color designation (for small tent site, large tent site, RV, etc.) and choose your own site (there are large stakes at each site clearly colored). Although the person recommended the last loop since that’s reserved only for tents, I went with D loop since the sites looked spacious. I got in around 3:00/4:00pm and there were plenty of sites to choose from.
My site had a picnic table, bear box, fire ring with grill, and two movable tree stumps near the fire ring. Neighbors not too close, enough to see but not hear. The bathrooms were surprisingly very clean each visit and there was a water spigot nearby. Our trash bag fit into a nearby trash can. The sky was beautiful at night… so many stars! It did get down to the 30s, so bring your layers!
Only downsides would be the bees (not tons) and some RV generator noise (although they respected quiet hours).

Huge campground with a «pick your own campsite» policy. Online they tell you that sites are not reservable but the brochure they give you at check-​in tells you otherwise. We had to wait about 20 minutes in line because the guy running the check-​in booth was about 90 years old and very slow. I really wanted to like this campground but my experience was almost ruined by all the college students there. Our first day we hiked Cleetwood Cove to go swimming at the lake, but when we got to the water, we found it VERY crowded with roudy college kids. And the only way into the water was to jump in from a 20 foot high cliff. Cleetwood Cove is the only way to access the boats to Wizard Island and it’s quite a steep strenuous hike back up to the road/​parking, so plan accordingly. We didn’t do the boat tour to Wizard Island since it was way overpriced at $ 40 a person. Back at the campsite, we decided to attend the ranger talk at the ampitheater, which was great, but the ranger mentioned, as part of the presentation, a grand welcome to Humboldt University students. So THAT’S why there were so many college kids at the lake! Later on, as we were grilling burgers over our campfire, we noticed a campsite just on the other side of the trees where tons of Humboldt University students were partying. LOUDLY. And they did so until about 3:30am. Needless to say, I had a very hard time sleeping that night. No rangers ever came by to tell them to quiet down, despite several complaints from different campsites. The next morning, it wasn’t even 8am and they started blasting rap music which I’m sure woke everyone up, not just my boyfriend and I. What bothered me the most though, was that the campground staff KNEW the students were camping here, they KNEW they were going to be loud and roudy and yet did nothing to control the situation, or even try to place them in a secluded site where it would be less of a nuisance to other campers. As we were leaving, we passed their campsite and it was a MESS of beer bottles and cups everywhere. I give this campground 3 stars because the actual sites were great. Plenty of space and privacy for the most part, but not a great staff running the place. Oh and showers are only available at the Village Registration/​Store, 3 shower stalls for women and 3 for men. 75 cents for 4 minutes, and they are only open from 8am-​8pm. Note that in early September, there is a serious bee problem in the parking lot. They literally swarm around the cars.

So, when I booked my campsite here, I booked it for the wrong day. So, I got to registration and found out I didn’t have a place to stay for the night since the campground was full. The lady at registration was incredibly rude and unhelpful. She felt the need to point out multiple times that if I were to look at my confirmation I would see it was for the next day. Then, when I asked if there was anywhere else for me to stay for the night, she just handed me a list of camps nearby and said, «here’s a list, now move out of the way so I can help other people.» I couldn’t believe how rude she was. I’m giving it two stars cuz while the campground was nice (I did see around it) the lady at registration was not.

This campground is not run as smoothly as other national parks campgrounds. The sites are walking distance to the Annie Creek Restaurant and associated gift shop, which is a good spot for food. The night I was there, the wait was 2 hours, but it was indicated to me that this was not typical. You do have to pay for the showers, so plan accordingly. I did not, so cannot rate. The camp store was pretty thorough, and the hot chocolate machine a welcome sight after a chilly evening.

Crater Lake is beautiful… and yet the employees of Xanterra managed to make our planned four day stay turn into one of the absolute worst weekend trips of our lives. So bad in fact that it turned into a 3 day stay.
From the very first time we called ahead to check in our our reservation and the Xanterra employee had us jump through hoops just to verify that they had our reservation, thankfully we called as the company had us down for the wrong day, after a 35 min. phone call, they had it booked correctly. Upon check in we found a make shift desk in a closed convenience store with two employees fighting with each other as to who could use the good computer, (the one that could print) every few minutes of our 25 min. check in process the employee who was «helping us» would pause from fighting with his coworker to recite a well practiced line of apology.
The restaurant near us and the make shift convenience store had both closed at 7pm for some unknown and unexplained reason so they sent us to the lodge where we were told to wait for 90 min. to be seated. Obviously the staff was not prepared for the amount of people staying at the lodge and cabins, which by the way, they managed.
For all of our other meals we were treated to horrifically bad food and even worse service. We watched as three hosts stood at the front desk while cooks and waiters sprinted to try to get food to tables. The hosts (all three of them) then started to turn people away at 7pm because they were going to close at 8pm. If the guests pushed back the hosts would fight them for about 5 min. and then eventually seat them, albeit in a very huffy manner. WHAT?
A personal note to Xanterra — I am not sure what is going on at Crater Lake or if the rest of your company is like this but it is truly sad that your employees and corporate «culture» are systematically destroying vacations, one family at time. You should all be ashamed. I know I would be if I was a part of your incompetent organization.

I’m convinced that Xanterra is run by a family of chipmunks…
Not sure how this company landed a stronghold on the beautiful crater lake area, but they did, and you therefore should expect the least common denominator when it comes to service. The campsites themselves were solid, but everything else was astoundingly weak. One major piece of advice — BRING ALL YOUR FOOD!

Three friends and I stayed at the Mazama Village Campground one night in mid-​June. I would gladly stay there again. The day prior to our arrival, we reserved a 12×12 ft camping site for $ 28 dollars over the telephone. The site, which we chose after checking in at noon, was large enough to accommodate three tents and an SUV. We had a bear box, a fire pit, a good deal of chopped firewood, and easy access to potable water, a trash can, and bathrooms. Having arrived early, we had our pick of campsites. The campsites are close together, but not too close together. We couldn’t hear anyone else, but that may have been due to the fact that we were probably the noisy ones. Sorry, folks around us at E34!
We did not use the showers because we stayed only one night, but the bathrooms both at our campsite and at the check-​in place were very clean. It was initially unclear where we should check in: NOT at the general store, but rather at the building «behind» or across the parking lot from the back of the general store. The person who found our reservation was very friendly: no complaints regarding service from us!
Only having to drive a short distance to get to the rim of Crater Lake was fantastic. The only feature that could improve this campsite would be internet capability, but hey, we can rough it without checking our e-​mail and posting photos of our antics for one day!

I actually just signed into the Unilocal for the first time in ages to write a good review!
Granted, I did not go when the ice was melting and the bugs infested the land. I did however, use the showers (hot, 75 cents). Gawked at the clean bathrooms. Because my friends, I was in quite the opposite of a campground the week before. This is when I knew, those Unilocal reviews are crazy.
For car camping this is where its at! Walk to the general store for a pretty good selection of beer, build a fire post beautiful hiking that can acommodate all levels, from tour bus to experienced hiker. We met some PCT hikers, and some lost tour bus people on our hike looking for the falls right off the road. I highly suggest doing the crater peak hike, about 7 miles round trip of solitude, and yeah the lake is dope.
Anywho, come after the snow melts, for a bug-​free atmospher and berries are out so the bears are happy and full with no need into going into the campground, maybe. Use your locker yo!

We stayed here 3 nights over the 4^th of July weekend so it was jam-​packed as expected. All of the reservations were full a couple of months out so we chanced it and arrived at about 7pm on July 4^th and were able to score a campsite – albeit not a tent site but an RV site which we had to pay $ 8 a night extra for ($ 29/​nt).
There were definite pros and cons of this campground as opposed to others in national parks which I’ll compare them too.
Pros:
— Availability on the 4^th of July weekend
— Fairly clean and well-​lit flush toilets
— Store nearby
— Hot showers
Cons:
— Every campsite we could see in every loop was pretty full of downed trees. Some had 2 – 3, 50 foot tall and 2 foot diameter trees in them, some going right across the tent sites, between picnic table and fire pits, etc. In some sites we couldn’t see how you could even pitch a tent. (But on the pro-​side of that, there was plenty of kindling available.)
— The trashcans always were full day or night and had bags of trash all around them. (Kind of makes the bear proof trashcans and bear boxes in the campsite irrelevant.) I asked maintenance about it and they said they emptied them once a day, but for the 4 days/​3 nights we were there I never found an empty trashcan near us. (They blamed it on budget cuts and being understaffed which is probably true.)
— This was the loudest campground I’ve ever stayed at (even louder than Yosemite Valley). People were drunk and yelling and playing music way too loudly, even past the supposed 10PM quite time and the staff didn’t do anything about it. (Actually I never saw any employees or patrols after mid-​day when they checked the sites for reservations.)
— In addition, there were the rudest and most clueless campers of any campsite I’ve ever stayed at. We had at least 15 – 20 people walk right through our camp day and night and I’m not talking at the outskirts of camp, I’m talking between our car and the picnic table, 8 feet from our campfire, through our «driveway», even picking up sticks in our campsite, etc. It was really annoying!
People, you don’t walk through someone else’s campsite! That’s camping etiquette 101! Educate yourselves! This is something that the NPS should post, in addition to their fire and bear suggestions.
— Finally as others have said… some of the staff were a bit clueless. I guess this is what you’d expect because I’m sure Xanterra probably only pays minimum wage or thereabouts and so people are probably not motivated to give a damn. There were several unknowledgeable people we talked to who either gave us conflicting information or simply just didn’t have a clue.
— Finally there was the billing and campsite reservation system. Since we were «walk ins» we had to resecure and pay for the next night every morning. That’s not really a problem because we were there anyway. Since we could only find an RV site we had to pay $ 29/​night which was fine since that’s all we could get. Then when I got my credit card bill I saw they charged $ 29 for one night and $ 35 for the next 2 nights. When I called to ask why they said it was because we were in a full electric site and should have actually been charged even more. However, at the campground they said that since we were in a tent and not using electricity it was only $ 29/​night. It’s only $ 12 so not that big of a deal, but it’s just another example of how unorganized and confused this place seems to be.
If you’re going to camp in a proper campground at crater lake this is your only choice so take it or leave it I guess. (There are some primitive forest service campgrounds semi-​nearby and you can also camp at the snow parks and other forest service land for free of course.)
All in all there are a lot of potential positives about this campground (the store, restaurants, showers, etc.) and this could probably be a decent campground if Xanterra would maintain it and hire a better quality of staff. I sure wish the NPS would hold them to higher standards so people’s experiences in the national parks would be better.

We stayed at this campground for the Crater Lake night of our road trip. As such, we didn’t get here until dark, but we followed the only road there was and found it without a problem. We had called and told the rangers/​caretakers that we would be late, so they told us to look for our assignment at the booth. That was easy to find, as the booth window was lit and had a few tags creating shadows in it. We took ours, and our assigned spot was also easy to find.
At that entrance booth, Wi-​Fi was available, free for hotel guests. It said «log in with your room number and last name», but I didn’t get a chance to try if it worked with a campsite number. There was a paid option available.
The best part about staying here was that we could get a head start on the Cleetwood Trail down to the lake, so that we could come back up before it got hot. Then continue farther on our road trip.

John C said it all. We enjoyed our experience and would stay here again. It is akin to a national park campground with a few extra amenities. It is owned by xanterra, which also does Yellowstone. Enjoy!

Campground is fine; sites are large enough and there many pull-​throughs if you have a trailer.
Reasons for the downgrade:
Signage is TERRIBLE. We had a very hard time finding the campground. Make sure you get good directions before you go.
Customer service is TERRIBLE. People operating the campground couldn’t care less that no one answers their telephone, the line for the kiosk was very long and slow, there was no ice or newspapers available.
I can’t comment on the mosquitos as we were there during a dry time.

WARNING: If the snow is starting to melt in the area, DON’T GO TO CRATER LAKE!!! The mosquitos were absolutely unbearable around the campground and in the lower parts of the park. (This has nothing to do with the campground itself)
We stayed in the camping cabins, which are a single building with 4 units per building. We stayed when there was snow on the ground, so I can’t comment on the grounds and avalibility of outdoor benches or activity when there isn’t 6 feet of snow on the ground, but it seemed clean. They’re clean and decent cabins, nothing wrong with them, but they are really nothing spectacular. They are definitely overpriced.

Pros: Camping post-​Labor day means the campground (and the park) is less crowded. We got to choose our own campsite, and ended up with F5, a great RV spot with a very private camping area. We were close to water, bear-​proof garbage disposal, the bathroom, and free showers. Our campsite was clean, and we appreciated the bear proof food locker right next to the parking area. You are allowed to collect dead wood to burn, and there is plenty throughout the woods. There is also reasonably priced gas ($ 3.01/gallon on 9÷15÷10).
Cons: There was only one, very grumpy lady working the check-​in kiosk when we arrived around 5pm, and a line quickly formed behind us. They had «lost» our reservation (we prepaid a year ago), so I had to pay with our debit card. Camping post-​Labor day means that fewer staff are working, so the group in G-​loop playing their music at ridiculously high volume all day and night were left alone. The showers, while clean, were ice cold both days (but for some reason, the F-​loop showers were free, though the website says they are 75 cents for 4-​minutes).
Take my advice, camp in or near F-​loop. Not only are you near the Annie Creek Gorge, but you are near the showers, the only other showers being back at the main building where the store and check-​in kiosk are located. You do not want to drag yourself all the way back there to shower – the campground is large.
Also, Crater Lake is around 7000′ elevation, and it gets COLD at night. Plan accordingly… a wool blanket, thermal sleeping bags, and a 4-​season tent worked for us. Although late September means the season is coming to an end, it also means you often have the park to yourself, and we only saw a half-​dozen mosquitoes the entire three days we were there.

For a national park campground, this was great! It was quiet and clean. There was plenty of space to spread out. When we made reservations I was very scared due to the indication that we would be limited to a 12×12 tent site. However, each site had plenty of space for multiple tents. The bathroom was clean and had seat covers & soap — a great luxury. The women’s showers were great (I heard the men’s were not).

The campsite was great, I reserved 4 and we were pretty much near each other. For campground I give it a 4 –5 star.
It drops down to 1 star as my partner reports back the Men’s shower was awful!
Only one of the 4 showers worked properly.
The handicap shower would not accept quarters.
The handicap shower seat was broken.
There were no privacy shower curtains.
The pressure varied.
There was not hot water in the number 3 shower.
The faucet temp control was broken.
The drainage did not work in the showers.
There is no excuse for the mens showers to be so bad! It did not happen overnight, it is neglect.
I give it 2 star, but if the showers were repaired up the stars to 4 please!

First let me make it clear that I am not a fan of established campgrounds. I prefer back country camping where I don’t have a neighbor for miles. Here it’s 20 feet. However, this was great! We made reservations about 2 weeks out (half are available for reservations) and because we have a Roof Top tent on our truck we got an RV spot. I would definitely recommend an RV spot as you can still use a tent but have a lot more room. Also, it was interesting to note that all of the tent sites were taken but there were plenty of RV spots. We were in E Loop, Site 33. It was on the gorge side and so we didn’t have neighbors behind us. The site was very large with a picknic table, a bear food locker and a fire ring.
What impressed me the most was that at 9pm it was DEAD quiet. Very unlike my past experiences in most campgrounds.
The bathrooms were very clean so my wife was happy. We were there at the end of July and the weather was perfect. Very few mosquitoes but don’t forget the repellent because they are there to get you .
Not knowing the area I was disappointed that we still had to go 7 miles to get to Crater Lake. But the campground was so nice it wasn’t a big deal.
They have a general store with most of the little things that you might forget, plenty of food and good firewood. There is also a buffet style restaurant that is supposed to be good. They offer pizza’s to go until 9pm which is cool in case you get there late.
On our way out we used the showers in the main building for $.75/​4 minutes. It was nice to get cleaned up. The showers were a bit on that mildewy side but still did the job.
Overall I would definitely recommend this to anyone visiting the Crater Lake area.

This campground was clean, had decent bathrooms, showers, a very useful convenience store, pay phones, etc.
So why the bad review?
1) Misleading/​incorrect information on both the Xanterra and NPS websites,
2) Lame customer service, and
3) An untimely opening of the campground. Mosquitoes were everywhere!
Be careful with information you see on the website. Call the location directly to get the facts so you can plan ahead effectively.
I visited Crater Lake in a group of four, and none of us had a tent large enough to fit all of us. The website said that the tent spots were 12’x12’, so to have room for everyone to sleep in a tent we would have either had to pay double to get enough space to fit our tents, or find a larger tent. I purchased a larger tent for our trip, but it turns out that we had PLENTY of space to pitch two 3-​person tents. Further information we received upon check-​in was was that up to 3 tents are allowed per site.
The website also said that they had firewood available for purchase at the campground. We opted to buy it there to save space in the car for our gear. When we arrived, the store clerk stated the firewood was on order and they would have it next week. So, I guess no campfire for us? We were later told that it is permissible to collect fallen dead wood, so thankfully we did have a fire on day 2.
The site’s customer service/​administration was disappointing. When we arrived we spent over twenty minutes standing in the wrong check-​in line. Very poor signage.
Our tent neighbors had a screaming child and we had trouble sleeping. Not a word from park administration. The next day, our fire had an accidental flare-​up because we accidentally spilled some cooking oil in the fire, and quickly we had someone coming by telling us to «tame the flame» — how lame!
Finally, it seemed like they opened the campground prematurely due to the campground conditions. The store was not stocked as promised, and the campsites were not in great condition either.
We were all a bit confused to find our space 50% covered in snow (including our picnic table and fire pit). The next 25% was dry ground for our tents, and the other 25% was all wet. We had to dig out our table and fire pit, and it was difficult not to get soaking wet. We did have a flat, dry place for our tent, though, which is why it was an available space I suppose. Some spaces were completely dry and seemed very nice. Other unoccupied sites were either buried in snow or a complete mucky mess.
Oh, and according to park staff, mosquitoes lay their eggs in the meting snow. They were everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. As soon as I parked my car we were surrounded. Neighboring campers also mentioned how many mosquitoes we had, so I attribute it to our exceptionally damp spot. Bug spray with DEET was somewhat effective, but you can’t (and don’t really want to) cover every inch of your body. A citronella candle had minimal effects, and the heat from our campfire helped on the second night. It still felt like a constant annoyance, though. I came home with mosquito bites on my feet, hands, face, and scalp. They were exceptionally large ones, too. I am going to have bug nightmares for the next few weeks.
We generally did have a good time, but I highly suggest calling them ahead to get the facts and current conditions so you can plan ahead. Info on the web was insufficient, and I was all over that.
We just visited this past weekend, June 25^th-​27^th, and the park was still considerably covered in snow, many trails were closed, some roads still closed, and the boat to Wizard Island wasn’t running yet. Oh, and the campground was soaking wet and infested with mosquitoes. I recommend coming much later in the summer when conditions are significantly drier if you want to camp here.