Crane Prairie Resort

I was delighted with our recent stay in the campground! It was so nice to stay somewhere quiet and well-​managed. Because the rules are enforced, you don’t have to spend your vacation frustrated by loose and barking dogs, loud and obnoxious guests, etc… The sites are clean and spacious. We’ll be back again in the future! Thank you for a relaxing stay.

Nice place. We just stayed here for the 2015 deer season and rented one of the rustic cabins. For $ 55 a night it was much more comfortable than staying in a tent and lugging all our camping gear in. A dry bed, a nice warm fire in the wood stove and a cool old gas stove to cook dinner on. Played some cards and drank some whisky before bed. Awesome.
Negative reviewers seem to have had personal issues with staff (we had none) and then used the platform to rip on the place. Don’t expect a bell hop and turn down service. The cabins are as advertised. There will not be a chocolate under your pillow when you return each day. But when you brew some coffee on that old stove and step outside to see the lake and South Sister from your stoop, you will forget about those trivial inconveniences.

Beware when making your reservations. They do not tell you what their cancellation policy is. If you cancel within 2 weeks of your arrival you forfeit your 2 night deposit. We made our reservation within 2 weeks of our arrival over the phone. We were not told about the 2 week cancellation policy. Just that if we didn’t show up we would be charged. Due to a job offer, I called back the very next morning to cancel. I was told to call back the next day and speak with Jody as she was the only one who could cancel a reservation. She then informed me of the policy which I did not know about. She said it was on their website and their rate sheet — I hadn’t visited their website so I didn’t know that. I then asked to speak with the man who took my reservation and he insisted he tells everyone about the policy. And then he proceeded to tell me it was my fault for not asking the question, that they cannot tell everyone what their policies are or they would be on the phone for too many minutes with each person. I told him this was extremely poor customer service to blame the customer and we would be disputing any credit card charges.

THINK AGAIN BEFORE CAMPING AT CRANE PRAIRIE RESORT! This was my first time ever going to Crane Prairie and I was very excited until I got there. I am very much an avid camper (born and raised in Oregon) and I have camped at MANY campgrounds in this beautiful state and this is by far thee worst experience I have ever had. Thinking that I only had to pay $ 33 a night, I was quickly shown otherwise. With my family (wife, son, father in law, brother in law, and niece) awaiting me in the truck, I went inside their general store they have there to pay for the RV site that I had reserved on the phone. I was rudely approached by an older man who I assume to be either the owner or the main caretaker of this resort. The first thing he said was «you are the last ones here that had reservations (it was only 6:00 pm). He asked for the typical information that you would expect for checking into a place such as this. He asked how many dogs, I said two. Its ten bucks if you have 3, fine. Then he asked how many childeren I had and I said two. He then says that it is 7 dollars extra for each person over the four included per camp. I was like well they are kids, one is 5 and the other is a toddler and he very rudely said «well they are people too aren’t they?» This really made me kind of mad but I just took it and it was $ 14 dollars on top of the $ 33 per night I was already paying, plus tax. I am just your average guy trying to have a good time with his family and these people try to nickel and dime you for everything you got. To put the icing on the cake, I handed this man my debit card and he said its $ 1 per transaction for debit/​credit cards. With that being said, I ended up paying $ 102.46 for two nights. This was only the beginning of the rudeness of the staff/​owners. We had the same older man barge into our camp with obnoxious behavior stating that our dogs were barking obsessively when there where several other dogs within the park barking as well. This man actually told my wife «if you don’t get your dogs under control then you will have to be dismissed». This was at around 1:00 in the afternoon and they only barked because somebody walked by! The list goes on. If you want to launch your boat from their boat launch well that’s 5 bucks. You wanna park the truck you just drove the boat with, well that’s cost extra too. If you more your boat at their launch for five minutes to use the restroom, they yell at you and say that is an additional charge. If you want a map of the lake printed by a Xerox machine not even laminated well that’s 50 cents. Seriously I am a straight shooter here and this place is a complete joke. This lake is nice but its a crying shame that one group of very rude, arrogant, and disrespectful individuals could give such a negative perception of this gem of the cascades. I can assure you, my family, my friends, my co workers, nor I with never ever ever stay at the Crane Prairie Resort unless they get friendlier staff and better management.

Ok I have a lot to say about this place. The only reason I gave it one star is because it wouldn’t allow me to put NONE!
The lake is great and the fishing is good.
The camp ground on the other hand is total dump. Showers don’t work. Dry brush and dead trees everywhere.
Here’s the real reason you will never see me back there… The owner, Pat, is a complete whack job. He actually tried to start a fight with us! He’s completely out of control and confrontational to the point that he will stand there trying to antagonize you into a fight!
I’ve never seen anything like it in any service industry .
After our little run in with this idiot, I came home and googled the resort and found that my story is not at all unique.
Seems he is famous for freaking out on people. I saw him threaten to try to throw someone out of the camp ground for walking through about 10 ft of the woods as a short cut instead of using the road. He tried to start a physical fight with that guy right in from of the mans kids!!!
In short, this guy is a Phyco and a power tripping idiot that has no business working with the public. It isn’t worth spending your money here! There are so many excellent places to camp in central Oregon that you do not need to waste you time and money here.
Fair warning, Google this place and see for yourself before you go here.
Rudest people I’ve ever encountered anyplace!

Beautiful and well kept camp ground with full RV hook ups. Kid and dog friendly. We rented boats and went fishing, making great memories. They provided life vest and a good walk through of the boat. Only draw back was that the laundry was secured due to vandalism, but that won’t take a star from them. Amazing friendly owner operated staff, love this place. Word to the wise, it’s a little tight backing into your campsite, but totally worth it!!!

I’ve been coming up to Crane Prairie for the past 8 years with the same group of guys. We stay at the campground next door but we rent boats and get a lot of our tackle and snacks here at the store. Prices are competitive and it gives us a chance to see what other people are using. Everyone working here is nice and willing to help you with advice on where to go and what to use to catch fish. The pay showers are really nice after a few days sweatin it out on the lake!

Don’t waste your money. The staff are rude, they told us yesterday to turn off our fans because it was causing a problem with their circuits and the shore around the water is horrible. No decent spot to hang out, let the kids play etc. Not impressed and will not be back

My brother Dave already wrote a review of this great place that we visited in July, 2013. I want to add a few more comments. We had read some old reviews and were worried before arriving there, but it is obvious there is new management. Everyone was helpful, the place was clean, and they had a large enough store to supply visitors with the essentials.
We caught the biggest trout of our lives when we fly fished. And we have been fly fishing many years. Copy and paste this YouTube link to watch the fishing video and learn what we used.

John Boneck

Very nice people with helpful fishing information and gear. The campground is in the trees and close to the water in the trees. All very nice.

Rate it at a «0» out of ten If I could rate it lower I would. We arrived fri ⁸⁄₁₀ late afternoon as my wife, mother in law and myself walked in we went up to the counter and the owner was helping a oriental family who were obvious tourists. There was a language barrier and the owner seemed put off by it. The lady and her family were there to rent a small boat for just a couple hours he told her the fee was $ 15 she had no problem and handed him a amex card he charged her card and handed her the receipt to sign she made a comment on being charged $ 16 not $ 15 she thought the boat costs he said I told you I charge a dollar to use credit card she was obviously confused but rather than try to calmly explain he rudely grabbed $ 16 cash from the drawer and handed it to her as he was telling her how patient he had been and how he was doing her a favor all the while one of his clerks is physically removing the life jacket off of one of the children then told them to leave. Now comes my turn at the counter the owners wife is helping us. I told her we had reservations for the larger cabin for 2 nights and the larger pontoon boat so she was starting to write the tickets up and was just being short I said bad day? she said ya. when it came time to pay ($ 450) I was going over the ticket and noticed that the boat was not on it for Sun. I said what about the ½ day rental on Sun. she said we already rented it and we don’t rent half day. I’m like your website says otherwise as did the person we spoke to two weeks ago when we made reservations. She argued with me saying they would not tell us that. I said to them you know were here getting ready to drop around 500 bucks and you wont rent us the boat for a half day on sun. She looks at her husband Now I’m a bit perplexed and I say no wonder you get such bad reviews online. The owner looks at me and says… what? so I say it again and he looks at his wife and says have you ran there card yet? Telling her he doesn’t care if we rent or not. At this point we have our kids anxiously waiting for a camping trip along with boat fishing etc. and just wanted to pay and move on. So reluctantly I did ($ 322) went outside and felt like crap literally I hate confrontations like that and still felt bad about the oriental lady. Parked by the cabin and stated putting our stuff inside. I am using the word cabin very loosely !! you could see through the walls !! Thank god we brought our own sleeping bags. Boat was ok at best. Sat evening wife wanted a shower after we returned the boat it was 7:15 pm the owner lady says showers close @ 7:30 saying she kept them open extra long tonight (sun hasn’t even gone down yet) That evening sitting by the fire there was a dog barking in a forest service camp site across the small cove and the owner guy yells across the way shut your dam dog up !! I didn’t really know if I wanted to spend this much time writing a review but I really hope someone takes note and avoids the resort period !! The lake is great and if you must stay in a cabin or need supplies there is other places nearby. WE will not EVER go back to the resort !! Aside from the negative the lake was beautiful sun was hot the fishing well not so much
09/​21/​12 went back and they have not learned !!! I didn’t spend a penny but went in to see how things were and they seemed put off by my asking questions about the lake. I could tell within a couple min it hasn’t changed a bit

This is a small little resort with a couple of cabins, a couple gas pumps, and a pretty nice little general store. It is good to have around when you are camping around the lake. The little beach near the lake is pretty nice… the lakebed seems to be chock full of weeds… not to cool to step in. You never know what you’re going to step in!
The service was nice and the prices weren’t out of control. I recommend coming here for the view on a summer adventure. You can see the South Sister, Broken Top, and Mt. Bachelor from here. The view is beautiful. It is worth the trip.