Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Frenchglen, OR

Great location for doing the Steens Mtn Loop and checking out Frenchglen. Best option with a Travel trailer. Couple miles on good, but dusty gravel road. Immaculate bathrooms.

We stayed here on our way to camping on the Alvord.  Very convenient spot from which to explore Steens Mountain , French Glen and the Malheur Wildlife refuge.  

Campground was well maintained.  Friends had trouble with the washboard road knocking their medicine cabinet off the wall, but we took the road more slowly and had not trouble.  The very next morning the road had been graded, so going back to French Glen was no issue.  Sites were fine.  Sanitary dump was uphill so we used their communal dump on the way out.  All was well.  We did check out a little late and there was an extra fee, but we were fine with that!

We'd stay again.

This private campground is more in line with an Oregon State Park than most private campgrounds. Pull through spots for RV/trailers, green grass for tents, and cabins. Mosquitoes were heavy during the beginning of July.

If you are in Eastern Oregon, exploring the Steens, Hart Mountain, or the dessert, Page Springs is the perfect place to land for day trips. Closr to French Glenn, a lovely, mostly treed spaces, campground right on the Donner und Blitzen River.

Spend your morning exploring the area and your afternoon in the river! We will be back for sure - next time in the fall.

Visiting the Alvord Desert Campground is a must in Eastern Oregon.  If you book a campsite, you have private access to drive out on the desert playa, and that also includes access to the hot springs.  Well worth it.  The stars out there are incredible.  Be sure to check the weather before heading out on the playa, because if it has been raining it will be incredibly muddy and very easy to get your car stuck in.

The Campground: Oregon Sunstone Collection Area

Sunstones are the Oregon state gemstone, and out in the middle of the Oregon desert the Bureau of Land Management has set aside an amazing area where you can camp and rockhound for free. There's shade areas covering picnic tables, a pit toilet (filled with black widow spiders), and large camp sites with level gravel tent pads.

The campsite is amazing, yet remote. If it weren't for the black widow spiders in the pit toilet and lack of water, this site would easily rate a 5. As it was, we had an amazing time staying here for two nights, picking up sunstones everywhere as well as visiting a local "fee" mine called Pana Mine. Smallish sunstones are everywhere right on the surface. If you want to find larger sunstones or ones with unusual colors, local mines have several pricing options.

Tips:

1. Bring lots of water and everything you'll need for camping since the nearest town is about 25 miles away on rough dirt roads (food, sunscreen, extensive first-aid kits including snake bite kits). You'll also need to pack everything out, including your trash.
2. Bring at least one very good spare tire and preferably two, or a spare plus a can of fix-a-flat.
3. I had very limited cell phone service with Sprint. Other locations had a bit of service with Verizon, but definitely don't count on being able to get in touch with anyone.
4. Print out a map of the area and directions from BLM before you go.
5. In case of a medical emergency, most of the "fee mines" scattered throughout the area have good first-aid kits and ways to reach emergency personnel.
6. There's no limit that I know of to the amount of sunstones you can pick up the in public collection area, but they can only be used for personal use (you can't sell or trade them).

Ranger Review: Oofos OOlala Sandal - Cloud White

I've been wearing my Oofos Flip Flops (OOlala Sandal - Cloud White) for several weeks now and I have nothing but good things to say about them. As a dyrt ranger, I was given a pair to review for free, and I was quite excited having heard such great things beforehand from other rangers. They definitely lived up to the hype. Super-comfy, thick soles that held up well even to rocks and hiking, and the ability to send them through the wash are all huge pluses in my book.

To truly put them to the test, however, I brought them with me to the suntone collection area near Plush, Oregon--an area in the middle of the Oregon desert literally covered with sharp glass-like rocks. I knew none of the other sandals or water shoes I had would hold up to all those rocks, and I was also dubious with the Oofos. After all, other flip-flops I've had in the past would always get rocks and thorns stuck in the bottom that would tear holes in them. After three days out in the desert however, I was thrilled to have my Oofos including the sole still looking like new. Definitely a 5/5 star review for my favorite new shoes.

Check out the video review to hear my sizing tips and the one suggestion I have to make them better.

The sunstone is Oregon’s State rock. HERE AT THIS LOCATION YOU CAN COLLECT THEM FREE OF CHARGE - but don’t be greedy! They come in all shapes and sizes, but most are the size of a fingernail or baby’s tooth. You will need to drive out 45-90minutes on a gravel road to reach this location and it is truly out in Oregon’s Outback and will take a full day to reach your destination. FYI DO NOT PICK SUNSTONES UNTIL YOU REACH END-POINT. The surrounding land is not for public use. You will know you’re good to go and at the end-point when you see the photos below with the sign and camp site. It would be safer to Camp in an RV or car because of rattlesnakes and heat-exposure. We did not stay because of the poor air quality from summer fires nearby. There are wild antelope and rabbits in the area. Keep on the look out for wildlife on your drive! No shade is available except for the covered Camp spots. You will see the MANY Sunstones laying out on the ground, sparking in the sun, no need for digging which is quite fun. Sunstones are made from the minerals in the dried up/preserved lake in this area. Lake county is full of seasonal lakes is what we discovered on our road trip this summer...Good luck and have fun!

This place is really in the middle of nowhere and so quiet. Pit toilet was clean and well stocked. There were 5 or 6 other campers spaced out so that you could hardly see most of them. Best of all sunstones littered the ground everywhere. Out in the northwest corner of the area is the best gathering, bring something to sieve with and plop yourself down and just pick them up. If it wasn’t for our kids being bored to tears we may still be there… This is a part of Oregon that not many people take the time to see. It’s definitely worth it.

Good campground with flush toilets, clean showers and a small store. Electric, water, sewer at all RV sites. All sites are pull thru....some are not totally level and/or rocky. Campground is generally a little dusty and the 3 mile road coming in is washboard. Tent sites with grass and some small cabins available

Must see the Steens Loop - a geological wonder. We’ll worth the 4 hours of washboard roads!

Camped late Early October nights dipped into 20s, pretty crisp For tent camping, but days were in 60s. Beautiful blitzen right there, birds, deer, raccoons, hiking and wilderness exploration nearby.

This is one of our favorite campgrounds. The location is near the refuge and Steen Mountain recreation area. The sites are spacious and far apart for privacy. Most sites have trees usually willow for shade. There are several vault toilets, fresh potable water from pump spigots, garbage cans, and recycling cans for glass and aluminum. There is usually a camp host to provide firewood and assistance. It is usually full on weekends when the refuge has bird migrations. Deer can be pests as they wander the campground at will. The graded gravel road in can be rough washboard at times. Sites are large enough for the bigger RVs. If you have a tents, you can stay right next to wetlands or the Blitzen River.

Great little spot at the start of the Steens Mountain loop. A bunch of open spots on a Wednesday evening. Some nice shaded spots or full sun, your choice. Clean and well maintained. They did up the price to $16 a night in April. Plenty of mosquitoes so bring your spray.

There is no reservation system at Page Springs Campground. Any reference to that is in errror. It is all first come first served.