Trillium Lake Campground

Ahem.
Good stuff: the lake itself is lovely, the hike around it is very pleasant (and only 2 miles, with no elevation, so it’s good for kids and small dogs), and the views of Mt. Hood are pretty epic. The camp hosts are friendly and some of the spots (we had #14) are nice and big — easy to fit a couple of tents.
Bad stuff: the toilets are nasty. Seriously. Even by pit toilet standards, they’re small, they reek, and there are not enough for the number of camp sites. Honestly, this was a very strange and unpleasant discovery. It’s a crowded campground with tons of day trippers and the main trail around goes right next to the campsites themselves, so there is next to no privacy.
Overall, this is an okay campground for a family trip, but it’s really designed for people who want to go out on the lake in an inflatable and who have lots of kids… if you’re looking for a more peaceful setting, look elsewhere.
Also: did I mention that the toilets suck?

I’m an avid camper and outdoors person. Every summer for the past 23 years I’ve coordinated camping trips on Mt Hood with friends, co-​workers and my family.
Each year, we try out a new location, plus return to our favorites (Ripplebrook, Timothy Lake, Clear Lake). Basically, any campground near water.
This year, I picked Trillium Lake because all the information online sounded amazing. The lake was described as beautiful, scenic, serene, great views of Mt Hood, etc. This is all true for the lake itself, but the campground was a HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT!!!
Let’s start with the check in process. At the main entrance to the camp, the first site had a large trailer with a sign «CAMP HOST» and the front door had another sign that read «Please Use Other Door — Knock». Next to the trailer was a large pile of wood and a sign «Wood for Sale»
I stood at the door for several minutes, knocking a few times, but nobody answered. Then we see a golf cart driving by, so my friend flags them down. A couple in their late 70s or early 80s are driving the cart and they inform us that THEY are the actual camp hosts and that the woman living in the trailer (and I quote) «oh, she isn’t that kind of camp host, she just sells fire wood.»
Um, ok… so why would she have a huge sign on her trailer that says «Camp Host»???
They told us that we could proceed to our site and they would be making their scheduled rounds later to check us in. So I (very nicely, very politely) explained to them that we needed to check in now, so that we could get our vehicle parking permits, because we were planning to drive down to the public boat launch area. We needed our parking permits to avoid the $ 5 per vehicle entry fee. They checked us in, but acted like we were asking for a special favor or something.
Well, good thing we didn’t sit around the campsite and wait for them, because as it turns out (we found this out from the people at the site next to us who were patiently waiting to be checked in) it was 2−½ he’s before they came around to check people in.
Next problem, the camp hosts were both very hard of hearing (the wife actually told us they were both practically deaf) so I’m in no way exaggerating this part… the camp is supposed to be «quiet» from 10pm — 8am but there was absolutely no enforcement of this rule. There were kids running through other people’s campsites screaming, blowing whistles, playing tag and hide-​n-​seek, riding bikes, etc. well past 11pm. There were also at least 3 large dogs in different sites barking at each other until after 11pm and people yelling at them to «shut up!»
While all of this was going on, there was no sign of the camp hosts after 7pm.
The next morning, there was a group of 8 – 10 kids (same kids as the night before) who began playing tag, screaming and chasing each other at 7:30am. No joke. I was already up cooking breakfast when it started, but I guarantee there were a lot of upset campers who were trying to sleep in!
A few other things we disliked about this campground, the vault toilets are disgusting, I quite literally felt nauseous every time I had to go in. I’m used to campgrounds with vaulted toilets, but they need to have some venting and be maintained at least twice a day. These were not. OMG the smell of ammonia and s**t smacks ya in the face as soon as the door opens. Even at 7am the smell made me gag, when that should be the time of day the smell is the least strong.
Another issue is that the «all dogs must be on a leash» rule was not enforced. There were two very large dogs wandering around the campground and lake unleashed. For two days. We overheard other people saying something to the dogs owners and one of my friends also said something to one of the dog owners, but they didn’t leash their dogs. Again, the park hosts were nowhere to be found.
We were at our site 3 days and only saw the parks hosts drive by in their cart twice.
This is NOT the campground to stay at if you are wanting peace, serenity, or the chance to quietly enjoy nature. This is basically a campground for people who don’t mind barking dogs, loud kids, inattentive camp hosts, nasty bathrooms, and oblivious parents.
It’s probably hard to tell from this review, but I’m actually a pretty mellow laid back camper. I don’t mind noisy campgrounds during the day/​evening, but after 10pm I want to kick back and enjoy the stars and crickets in peace and quiet.
Obviously, we will not be returning to this campground. There are so many other wonderful well-​managed campgrounds around Mt Hood that we enjoy.