Spring temperatures have many Central Oregonians pulling out tents, sleeping bags and pony-keg-sized thermoses. But where to camp?

In the face of Central Oregon’s ever-growing population, Deschutes National Forest supervisors are nudging hikers and campers to skip the top-five splashiest spots for some equally beautiful landscapes that see far less crowding.

While the U.S. Forest Service considers ways to further regulate the five wilderness areas in the Central Cascades, the access to the greater Deschutes National Forest will remain the same.

More than 80 campgrounds are scattered throughout the Deschutes National Forest, which totals 1.6 million acres and is more than twice the size of Rhode Island.

To help take the guesswork out of finding some choice spots to ring in the camping season, Jana Johnson, the Forest Service’s recreation team leader at the Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District, offers three diverse camping destinations in overlooked sections of the Deschutes National Forest.

You can make reservations at any of these designated camping destinations on recreation.gov.

As a rule of thumb, about 50 percent of campsites are only available on a walk-up basis throughout the Deschutes National Forest. Fees vary.

If a campground is closed, the public is still allowed to access it, although all amenities, such as toilets and dumpsters, will be locked and gates may be in place.

Other locations listed below do not have designated campgrounds and require dispersed camping, which ups the “roughing it” factor by a couple notches.

Monty and Perry South campgrounds

Location: Borders Warm Springs Reservation, along Lake Billy Chinook, about 37 miles north of Sisters

Opening date: Monty, May 24; Perry South, May 24

Campsites: Monty: $14 per night; Perry South: $18 per night

Details: Despite Lake Billy Chinook offering 72 miles of shoreline, these campgrounds are not widely used, Johnson said. Monty Campground is situated on the lower Metolius River, which is home to redband trout and bull trout. Nearby, Lake Billy Chinook is popular with motorized and non-motorized boaters and swimmers. Depths range from 100 to 400 feet. A hilly, mixed pine forest surrounds the lake. Mule deer, cougars, coyotes and black-tailed jackrabbits are native to the area, according to recreation.gov.

South side of Wickiup Reservoir

Location: About 17 miles west of La Pine

Campsites: There are no designated campsites.

Details: The main attraction to this area is the water. When full, Wickiup Reservoir is the largest body of water in the Deschutes National Forest and the second-largest in the state after Upper Klamath Lake.

The reservoir is also a destination and a layover spot for migrating birds, making the area popular with birders.

Historically, the area, known as Wickiup’s, was a camping area for Native Americans during the fall, according to the Forest Service. The Wickiup Dam was finished in 1949. Compared to Cascade lakes such as Devils or Sparks, the reservoir’s water is relatively warm during the summer months — if silty.

The Forest Service has revitalized the south side of Wickiup by installing boulders that indicate the high-water mark of the reservoir. Per regulation, it’s important campers don’t camp inside of the boulders as the water level goes down later in the season, Johnson said.

Within the two campgrounds, sites are easily accessed by vehicle or can be reached by foot.

Follow the travel management rules using the Forest Service motor vehicle use map, which is best used digitally by downloading the Avenza Maps app. Even without cellphone reception, GPS-equipped phones will track one’s location on a downloaded map with a roving blue dot.

Some roads, which may have been illegally created by visitors, are marked as closed. Some designated sites require a short walk from the road and offer tree cover, Johnson said.

Hole-in-the-Ground area

Location: 30 miles southeast of La Pine

Campsites: There are no designated campsites.

Details: While this area does not have designated campsites, it is a great place for camping. The area, which includes Fort Rock, is surrounded by a mix of juniper and ponderosa pine forest and is rife with distinct geographic features like Hole-in-the-Ground, a bowl-shaped crater that stretches one mile in diameter. It was formed thousands of years ago by the collision of rising magma and groundwater.

“You have nice views of the Oregon Outback toward the Steens Mountain,” Johnson said.

Unlike most Deschutes National Forest campgrounds, which are close to water, water sources are scarce in this area, so plan accordingly.

Cellphone coverage is also unreliable. Even though Cabin Lake is less than 10 miles away, the body of water disappeared centuries ago, according to the Forest Service.

“It is a nice place to visit in the spring and fall when temperatures are cooler,” Johnson said. “It’s a relatively open area with a light density of ponderosas.”

Birders can take advantage of the Cabin Lake bird-viewing blind, which is an amenityless shack with a slit for viewing. Nearby is the unoccupied Fort Rock Ranger District office, which was used before the merger with the Bend district office.

Tent, gear care

Despite the bluebird workdays that inspire us to plan camping trips during the weekends, rain can still sour — or at least complicate — camping plans. But showers can heighten a camping strip if you take a few simple precautions to ensure that your gear is up to snuff, said Clara Culp, a Gear Fix sewer. Culp has already repaired 40 tents in the past month — the height of tent reparation.

Making sure your tent and sleeping bag are in working order before the season’s first outing is a good idea. Often, the first features to deteriorate on tents are zipper slides, Culp said, fitting a new pair on a tent as she spoke. A “gear first-aid kit,” is also a good idea, Culp said. In it, keep a roll of adhesive repair tape to seal a tent wall if it somehow gets torn.

“You can just on-the-spot fix it, and you’ll stay dry,” Culp said.

If a tent door’s zippers begin pulling apart, safety pins can keep the door closed and mosquitoes out.

If rain is in the forecast, but you’re not canceling your camping trip, consider spraying a water-repellent coating onto your tent and a rain fly. An extra tarp, which you can string across your tent, provides an extra layer of protection, Culp said. Make sure your tarp’s footprint is at least 6 inches wider and longer than your tent, which will help keep the bottom of your tent dry.

You can ward off unwanted tent moisture by tying the rain flies open and expanded. This will keep air flowing through the tent.

“If you have wet fabric lying on top of wet fabric, it’s just not going to dry out,” Culp said.

After a rainy weekend, try to air out the tent as much as possible. Put it on a clothes line or leave the tent in however much sunshine you have before hiking out. Putting the tent away wet is the worst thing you can possibly do.

“It will deteriorate the fabric,” Culp said. “That applies to any rain gear: jacket, pants,” she said.

“You never want to put anything away wet. The fabrics are meant to breathe. Clogging them up like that not only clogs them up with dirt, but it makes the fabric deteriorate and creates mildew.”

A dirty tent can be put in a washing machine, but hang dry it.

If you discover that your tent is mildewy from last season, rub a gentle cleaning agent into the fabric with a rag. Even if you remove the mildew on the surface, the fabric might still stink a bit, so hang dry it, Culp said. The funk should eventually fade.

— Reporter: 541-617-7816, pmadsen@bendbulletin.com