Food and Site
We do NOT provide dinner on Friday night, so eat before you arrive, or please bring something for yourself.
The Mt Hood Kiwanis Camp (MHKC) will provide us with delicious meals. Their food service utilizes fresh northwest products from local farms to create menus to suit our dietary needs. Their team is there to make our event a success and tantalize our palate. Check out the current menu plan.
There will be options for both carnivores and vegetarians. We will make reasonable efforts to satisfy special dietary needs if advance notice is provided.
Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp, an hour east of Portland near Rhododendron, OR, features a large wooden dance floor in the main lodge and other spaces for workshops and jamming. The camp has comfortable cabins (note: the camp does not provide bedding), tenting spaces, a limited number of RV spaces and easy access from nearby motels. You can save $30 on registration by providing your own tent, RV or nearby motel room, or using one of the shared “platform tent” spaces at camp.
The 22-acre campsite immerses you in the experience that is the Mt. Hood National Forest. The Little Zig Zag river flows thru the camp, and with the usually perfect weather this time of year, you can enjoy hiking trails, waterfalls, great dancing, wonderful food, and good company!!
Here’s a PDF map of the site.
Safety Notice: By late summer and early fall, the Mt. Hood area will be an elevated fire hazard area. Absolutely no smoking, candles, or other flames are allowed in any of the buildings or outside on the grounds. Smoking is allowed only in your car with windows rolled up.
Cabin/Dorm Lodging:
NOTE: The campsite does not provide bedding – be sure to bring your own sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, etc.
Cabins are located in three areas of the camp, under Fanning Hall, Cy Lodge and the dorms next to Laurel Lodge. All are convenient to the dance hall. Cabins have shared rooms accommodating 4-to-10 campers, shared bathrooms, and some refrigeration facilities. Space is allocated depending on the mix of registrants’ lodging preferences indicated on the registration form. Indoor sleeping accommodations are grouped as women only, men only, co-ed, and families with children. The dorms are usually one half men only and one half women only. Fanning and Cy are for staff and couples.
Private Tent Campers
Tenting “slots” are allocated first-come-first-serve based on registration date. On the day of camp, tenters will choose their actual location on first-come-first-serve arrival at camp. Specific locations may not be requested in advance, but we may make special arrangements for out-of-towners with travel logistics. Note: tenting locations are very limited. Make sure you register as tenting to ensure space is available.
Use the main entrance to arrange parking. Then head to the registration table to see the available spaces. After you pitch your tent, come back to registration to let us know what space you took, and to finish checking-in for camp.
Platform Tent Campers
There are 7 “platform tent” shared spaces (large canvas tents on a raised platform). Each platform has room for 5 campers on cots with mattresses). These are located in the woods east of the bathhouse and pool. The platform tents do not have electricity, heat, or cupboards like the cabins, but they do provide an experience more like truly camping (but without having to pitch your tent, although you can if you want to). We highly recommend these.
RV/Car Camping:
There will be some limited space for small campers or travel vans. There are a very limited number of RV sites. If you indicate you want an RV site on your registration, the first received registrations will be added to the list in order. When you arrive, our Parking coordinators will help you find an appropriate spot. The RV area is near Laurel Lodge and the maintenance building. Electricity is available in these areas. RV sites are first-come-first-serve based on registration requests. (Note: We’ve never had to turn down an RV request, but you never know.)
NOTE: Restroom/shower facilities are available in each building and in the nearby bathhouse for tent or car/RV campers.
Offsite Housing
There are several good motels or other accommodations located in or near Government Camp for those who wish to commute to camp.
See also interactive Google Maps link
Northwest Passage is located 4 miles east of Rhododendron, Oregon along US Highway 26.
From Portland airport PDX: Take I-205 south to I-84/US 30 east (exit 22) and continue with From Portland directions.
From Portland: Go east on I-84/US 30 E to Wood Village Exit 16. Turn right (south) and go up the hill (becomes 242nd) until you come to Burnside Street (2.8 miles). Turn left onto Burnside. You will come to the Powell Valley Junction (0.7 miles). Continue through it and you will be on US 26 eastbound. Stay on US 26 eastbound for about 33 miles.
Eastbound on US 26: the sign for camp will be on the right but the turn will be to the left. Forest Service road numbers increase as you leave Rhododendron. Watch the road numbers and turn left on Road #39. Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp is the second camp on the right. Road #39 ends shortly after the camp entrance. Warning: the left turn from US 26 onto Road #39 is very dangerous if there’s traffic. You’re in the number 1 (left) lane of a major highway waiting without a turn lane. Cars behind you may not notice you’re stationary and you might get rear-ended. If it’s not safe to turn left from US 26 onto Road #39, continue East for five miles to Government Camp where there are safe left turn lanes and opportunities to turn around and use the Westbound on US 26 instructions (below) to arrive safely at camp.
Westbound on US 26: go past Government Camp, watch the Forest Service Road numbers and turn right on Road #39. Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp is the second camp on the right. Road #39 ends shortly after the camp entrance.