Quinn Meadow Horse Camp, Three Sisters Wilderness, Oregon

Quinn Meadow is a very popular and large camp situated near some of the best scenery and trails Central Oregon has to offer.

South Sister views at Quinn Meadow Horse Camp.

To get there: From Bend, take Cascade Lakes Highway for 31 miles until you see the sign for Quinn Meadow, take a left and the camp is half a mile down the dirt road.

Since there is no day use area, when I want to ride on these trails, I park at a nearby trailhead and go in from there. Although the camp will be open in June, depending on the snowfall for the year, most of the trails are not cleared, and the snow has not melted enough by then to be able to do that much riding, especially in the more scenic higher elevation areas. Many people have made that mistake, so find out ahead of time before making a trip.

Quinn Meadow Horse Camp.

Quinn Meadow has 26 sites, several dumpsters for garbage, potable water from a hand pump, (there is also a horse watering area at Sink Creek), two bathrooms, and a manure bin. There is a group picnic/BBQ area across from the shelter, and there is a camp host. It's probably best to get a reservation, as it can get very busy especially on weekends. It is $14.00 for a site with two corrals and $18.00 for a four corral spot. Last year OET replaced some of the older log corrals with brand new steel ones. Most of the sites can accommodate bigger rigs.

Quinn Meadow Horse Camp. Some of the new corrals.

The shelter at Quinn Meadow.

There are a variety of trails that leave right from camp that are in the lower elevation category. They have easy riding and you can make loops and visit some nearby bodies of water, like Hosmer and Lava Lakes. Also you can get onto the Metolius Windigo Trail and follow it either north or south for as long as you want. Across the highway are trails that lead into the higher elevation. A couple of good ones are Horse Lake and Sisters Mirror Lake, and you can also eventually reach the PCT. (Pacific Crest Trail).

At Quinn Creek, very close to Quinn Meadow Horse Camp.

Lava Lake is about 7 miles, one way, from Quinn.

Taking a break by Horse Lake.

Horse Lake.

Sisters Mirror Lake.

Another option is to get right up close to the Three Sisters, which is doable from camp but you will need to do some longer rides. On the drive to Quinn, you will pass another horse camp Todd Creek and several trailheads, like Green Lakes and Devil's Lake. Green Lakes is a beautiful and popular area that is of course accessible from it's actual trailhead, but you can also ride into there from Todd Creek.
From Devil's Lake you can ride up to Wickiup Plain and over to Moraine Lake at the base of South Sister which is one of my favorite places. So it would be well worth it to either trailer out to one of these other trailheads, (a mere 3 miles to Devil's) or camp at both Quinn and Todd Creek in the same trip.

A culvert leads under the highway from Devil's Lake Trailhead.

Wickiup Plain.

Moraine Lake can be ridden to from Quinn, it is about a 16 mile round trip.

On the Metolius Windigo Trail near Todd Creek Horse Camp.

Broken Top, a longer ride from Quinn or a shorter ride from Todd Creek.

A bonus is that Elk Lake Resort is very close by, where you can go for a swim, rent a paddle board or kayak, or drive over for dinner, and listen to live music on a Saturday night.

Happy Trails!


GPS COORDINATES TO QUINN