Best RV Parks & Resorts near Fossil, OR

Fossil is an awesome little town near the Clarno Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds. The Wheeler County Fairgrounds RV Park is super clean, with full hookups and decent size sites. There's a wonderful little trail right nearby the takes you up to the city water tank and 360 view of the town and area. Fossil also has the best grocery store in the area so stock up on fresh produce. Movie rentals too!!! Only downside is that there's no connectivity in town. No phone, no wifi, no cable, no nothing. Bring lots of books or have your iTunes downloads ready to go....or just enjoy the peace and quiet.

Had a quick overnight here.  Easy back in and lovely grassy area.  Full hook ups allowed us to "refresh"!

I'd definitely stay here again when in the area.

The park is operated by a friendly and helpful couple. The ground and facilities are clean and well supplied. Dayville is a delightful small town with chickens and goats and horses as neighbors to the RV park. The proprietors clearly value hospitality and are very welcoming.

I don't know about everything the site says it has but here is my experience. 

Great spots on the river. Kinda limited shade. A hand pump potable water source. It's dry camping so no dump on site, no electricity so bring a generator if you're rv camping. We went in June and it was in the high 90s.

Let's start with the positive folks. This site as an amazing parking area that is large enough for rvs and horse trailers to be able to turn around without any issues. There's a wooden pin to be able to keep horses safe and secure over night. Almost all campsites are shaded. There is a trail for either a long hike or a short one. With two littles, we did the short on which around trip was under 3 miles. It looks like if we would have kept going there is definitely an uphill climb to continue the treck, but I'm sure the few is gorgeous on top! Now is time for the negatives that really just makes this place not that great. The campsites are very close together. The ground isn't very level, so tent camping would be bumpy and on an incline. There's also little tree trunk scattered out through out the whole place so it is kinda dangerous for kids to ran around a play. Mosquitos can be murdereres so lots of bug spray! Last thing, it is rather close to the main highway so lots of noise from the traffic.

amazingly clean. fresh water, bike repair supplies, covered picknic area with grills, happy bike camping. quiet space. separate rv camping, pit toilets near camp sites and full bathrooms near the visiting center. cleanest bathrooms I’ve ever visited at a state park. trail up the John day river is maintained and flat. good for bikes and walking.

Date Stayed: July 11th 2019 Campsite:#18 needed 1 inch lift to level left side. Price:$10 no electricity Dump Station: No Altitude: 577 ft Camp Host: Didn't meet Ease of Access: Right off hwy 206, our 28 ft travel trailer easily fit with room to spare. Entry to park is level and paved. Once entering campsite area pavement turns to gravel. Weather: Days sunny upper 80's nights low 60's. Very breezy during the day, once the sun went down, the breeze stopped. Noise: None, far enough from hwy, no noise, a very quiet park. Activities: Geocaching cache five within a couple of miles. Park provided free single gear mountain bikes to use, wife and I went for an evening bike ride. Many trails to walk around the park and along the John Day river. Free showers too, good hot water, showers are a 5 minute walk from the campground. Wife and I enjoyed the campground, we stayed one night as we traveled home from John Day Fossil Beds.

We stayed here in April and got lucky with beautiful 70° weather. It's a great spot- easy to get to from Hwy 216. There are some gravel roads but they are well kept. I don't think you would need a 4x4 car. We tent camped but other spots had camping trailers. There weren't hookups but there was a clean pit toilet (stocked with TP 👏). The river seemed accessible from most camping spots, if not all. Each site had a table and fire pit. These are first come first serve and there is a fee, so bring cash. We got their Friday evening and the only spot left was the group spot which was $25 a night in the off season (more during the summer). The spot was away from others so we had privacy, which was great and worth the extra cost. One thing to note is that there are ticks. We didn't get any on us but our dogs did. Thankfully they are on medicine for that so it wasn't too bad. I definitely recommend this campground. Everyone was fishing and kayaking and it is absolutely beautiful there!

Location at fairgrounds in Fossil sounded a little iffy, but we agree with the previous review. Nice enough for a stopover, although it could feel sardine-ish if super busy. We had the place to ourselves. Easy back-in sites, hookups all good, but showers were closed probably due to covid. We hiked the short trail, wandered the streets and found the town oddly intriguing on a quiet Sunday. We'll come back again to check out the museum and Paleo Lands Institute.

Flush toilets (across the street), water, swing sets and plushy grass for your tent, all for $10. They even have an RV area (more of a parking lot) with water and electric hookups. If you're in the John Day area and all the other campgrounds and booked, this is a decent place to spend a few hours and sleep. There's absolutely no privacy since you're right on the road, but at least it's a bit of a drop down to the grass. You can tell the town is trying, and there's some funky/fun play structures scattered about, though you feel kind of like you're camping in someone's front yard. Mitchell Oregon has some restaurants and antique stores that looked fun but they were all closed by the time we got there. At a minimum, this is a good place to stop, stretch your legs, use the restroom and play a bit, and okay if you need a place to sleep before heading somewhere else and the state park up the road is booked.

Pros: Cheap ($10), decent facilities (watered grass, covered eating area).

Cons: Bathroom across the dusty road. Right in the middle of town/wide open area.

Started our recent road trip with 3 nights at Cottonwood Canyon State Park in the Lone Tree Campground. Best time to be here! So much green and great weather. A bit of rain but plenty of pleasant sunshine! Large sites, generously spaced. Would perhaps prefer the sites around the perimeter but all we’re fine. No hookups. They have cabins as well. There were several possible walks and hikes at varying levels of difficulty. Lots of stars at night. Great area and reservable!

Loved this spot. Across the river we watched wild horses. In the river there were birds. During the day rafters come down.

No water available unless you boil river water.

The road down was STEEP! I really overheated my motorhome breaks. Plus a scary, low and narrow tunnel at the bottom.

We enjoyed a return to this campground and found it less populated in April than it had been when we were here during late summer a few years ago. It's located right along the Deschutes River with a landing used by rafters and fishers. There are lots of trails and roads to walk on, so it would be easy to spend a few nights here. You can't make reservations, although when we found it full last time we were able to share one of the larger sites with a guy who had somehow fit his Class A motor home through the very small tunnel you have to fit through to get here. There's no drinking water, so make sure to bring your own, or be prepared to purify the river water. There's a fair amount of ground cover, so you feel like there's a little privacy between sites. This site will stay on our list of easy favorites in Central Oregon.

I would recommend a rig with lots of ground clearance. The main gravel roads have been recently maintained but the last bit has deep ruts and there are rocky areas.  Our trailer had better clearance than our truck and we bumped a few rocks getting into our spot. There are a few less rocky areas, but they seem to get taken first.  More people in the off-season than I expected for such a remote area.   You need to use a fire pan for fires when allowed, so be sure to bring one.  It was our first time using a fire pan but it was better than using the ground as they are designed to allow perfect air flow.