Mazama Campground — Hotel in Klamath Falls

We had a fun time at this campground. We stayed early August during Covid, it was full all nights, there is some social distancing between some camps but it's luck of the draw, we had people on either side but managed to stay six feet apart. About 40% wore masks around the campsite which was inline with Crater Lake. 100% wore masks in store with limited people allowed inside and a 6ft distance line.

Amenities: we stayed in a reserved site one night and first come first serve tent sites subsequent nights. The reservation sites are generally a good size for a National Park campground, the first come first serve are smaller and for tents only (RVs can queue for cancellation but not use first come slots). In both sites we managed to fit a hammock, three person tent and a mosquito pop up that went over the picnic benches. There were bear bins and a grill at every site, wood was $9.99 but lasted a long time. The E loop is the most crowded and where the first come sites are, the site next to ours was the smallest but still had space for two tents. There is potable water and trash cans throughout. Restrooms (comfort stations) were clean and we'll kept and lit on E and A loop, I did visit a few that were a bit messy but still fine to use. They had lights in the evening and had soap. Laundry and showers are closed. The shop had a good selection of food and general camping gear. The restaurant is currently serving lunch and dinner same menu, it's ok - the fish and fries or pizza are the best. There is also a gift store attached to the restaurant. Food has outdoor or spaced out indoor, takes time (about an hour with the line and service). They had pretty good social distancing practices. There is a gas station! The site itself had an ok vibe, there is a mix of people who keep themselves to themselves. 10pm was generally respected, though there was no host wandering, a group quietened down when asked at 11pm. Climate was generally hot in the day and a bit cooler than expected at night. First come first serve: a lot of misinformation on this one, here is my experience: *We were getting in Thursday, early August *People form a line out front starting at the stores entrance. *There were 15 slots the day we were trying (less on Fridays) *Two types of people, 6 in the line that started to queue between 10am-11am, about 6 more who joined 11:50-12pm. *At 12 they take people in order to give slots, they never changed the sign to say any were available and by 12:30pm spots were all taken. *Spots are assigned at random though they did give us one at the top when I asked, check out loop E, I don't know exactly what spots are first come, but if you have a few spots I'm mind they may accomodate if polite. *You pay and can go straight to the spot (reservations don't arrive until 4pm) If you really want a slot, I'd suggest arriving before 11am, and if looking to arrive after 1pm I would say your chances are slim!! We nabbed a one night booking and arrived at four so we could them try first come the next day. As we're were setting up, the spot next to us and opposite appeared to be double booked. We never found out what happened with these but heard the woman say it's impossible and one group did share they hadn't paid but the others seemed very confused. Trees felled and other things appear common, about 20% of sites were empty which was frustrating but could be a covid thing as well. We learnt we had to roll with the process and hope for the best. The staff were sometimes friendly sometimes short but they are dealing with a lot of people trying to get in stores without masks, get a few spots, push in lines, and generally argue a lot! None were too bad, all professional. Finally, crater lake is 20 mins drive but cool, the walk around the campground and valley was nice but we were prepared for the heat so more challenging...

Crater Lake Hospitality, which runs Mazama Campground in 2022, gets 1 star for having the basics (picnic table, bear box, and fire ring) and 1 star for really nice staff at check in and at the store. Beyond that, camping here certainly did not ruin my 3 night visit to Crater Lake, but it was just a bummer the campground is not more spacious and run better.||||I should say that I have camped a lot and always with a tent. I love tent camping! When making my reservation four months in advance for July, I indicated that there would be two of us with a tent. I was hoping to be placed in the G loop tents only section because I hate the humming sound of RV generators. That did not happen. I was crammed into a tiny spot in the E section on the inside of loop, E 27 to be exact. Sitting on my site, I could see 8 other sites. And hear their conversations and humming generators. That's how close you are to other campers. At night, I could hear my neighbor in E 29 snoring. Glad I brought my earplugs!||||My neighbor in E 29 was livid that our sites were so close together with nothing but a bear box separating us. He tried to talk to camp staff but there was no changing sites. He got an apology and that's it. Just to be clear, you don't get to pick your site at Mazama in July. They pick for you. So if you indicate that you are bringing a tent, they will cram you where it works regardless of when you make the reservation. Their goal is to maximize how many people they can cram into the campground. That said, I saw another tent camper on a beautifully spacious site right up against the end of the edge of the campground. It's the luck of the draw.||||As other reviewers have indicated, the communication and maintenance is not great. On their website it says there are not showers for 2022. But when I got there, their showers in F loop were fully operational. Bummed I didn't bring my quarters. Also, the closest water spigot worked, sort of, on one day but not the next. (Insert eyeroll here.) I never saw any camp staff around other than in the store and at check in, unlike other parks I've stayed at.||||Since this is the only operation inside the park, you don't have a lot of options if you want to camp close to the lake. So here's a tip: if you are tent camping, pay the $10 more per night and indicate that you are in a giant RV. You won't be placed in the tents only section, but you will have a nice big site with...

There was a mixup with our site and when we arrived after driving eight hours they informed us our reservation booked to months and months in advance has been canceled, but we weren’t notified - someone must have missed calling us they said. We were supposed to have a site with hook ups, but they did not have that for us anymore due to the mixup. They were at least decent enough to find a spot for us to at least park and refunded our money for the previous site they canceled - we were OK, but not expecting to not have hook ups so hadn’t really planned for that. There was also supposed to be showers and laundry facilities, etc but they were no longer functional. I gather the previous park operator ran the facility/campground into the ground and the new park operator is only a couple months into it - hoping this gets better with time but most workers were pretty unprofessional and very aloof to people’s frustrations. Many of the shower houses/facilities apparently had black mold and needed to be torn down and rebuilt. This left one shower house with two showerheads for the entire campground - and the heaters did not work so you screamed under the cold water. Went twice to try and have a shower and the lineups were long because of 200+ campsite trying to use two showerheads. We decided not to use them regardless, as they were both filthy with dirt, clumped up toilet soggy paper on the floor, and empty bottles and soggy bars of soap left laying around. The “store” mostly carried souvenirs and things like booze and energy drinks and candy and a few overpriced canned/boxed processed food type things. They did not carry milk or eggs nor bread anymore, and certainly no fruit or veggies etc. It was a really unfortunate experience. I think Crater Lake could be quite cool to see and experience but the smoke made it so that we couldn’t see much, which is nobody’s fault. The awful campground just made the experience suck and think just needs to be shut down for a time and redone instead of trying to keep it running while it’s essentially hardly functioning - at least certainly not with the amenities it claims to...