Tucked away in the woods along the far western tip of Lake Crescent, Fairholme offers spectacular waterfront views and top-notch PNW camping in the summer season. This popular spot can easily fill up for the weekend by noon on Fridays, but spots are usually available during the week even during peak season. It is always best to arrive early if you want a premium site. The Fairholme General Store offers a variety of good camping supplies, but was closed throughout 2020 due to COVID, despite Fairholme Campground opening mid-season. Thus the closest supply store is at Shadow Mountain RV Park, 12 miles (19km) east on Highway 101.
Speaking of which, Fairholme has a row of particularly outstanding walk-in stites that overlook the lake through a thin stand of trees, with a couple of sites boasting actual direct water access. Such sites are hard to grab even for the opportunistic, so don’t get your hopes too high. Expect these sites to be long gone by noon each day.
The adjacent boat ramp allows large craft launching and full public access even for those not staying at Fairholme, and can get busy on the weekends. Many campers use this general area for kayak and swimming access.
While you can easily dip your toes in the lake any time you like, Highway 101 is also very close-by, making road noise the only real legitimate complaint about Fairholme. Normal traffic passes the campground all day, and high-speed logging trucks fly back west in the wee hours, usually while most campers are sleeping.
