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Overview: Located below the east face of Steens Mountain, Mann Lake attracts anglers as much for its remote, rugged splendor as for its abundant Lahontan cutthroat trout. These trout are supremely adapted to survive alkaline desert waters and without them fisheries like Mann Lake could not exist. The lake was named for an early rancher and has satisfied fishers for over forty years. Anglers converge as early as March and into October. Shallow throughout its 200 acres, the lake features extensive weed beds and great shorelines for wading. Know Before You Go: Aside from two vault restrooms, Mann Lake offers no amenities. Bring your own shade, shelter and water and tie everything down. Swift winds are common, and weather conditions are often unpredictable. Two, eight-inch minimum length trout per day limit; artificial flies and lures only. Point of Interest: Aside from fishing, visitors enjoy camping, hiking, viewing wildlife such as pronghorn antelope, quail and chukar, and rock hounding for thunder eggs and agates in the area. Mann Lake Brochure
Jackman Park Campground is located on the flanks of Steens Mountain, within the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protective Area (CMPA). This area encompasses an extraordinary landscape with deep glacier carved-gorges, stunning scenery, wilderness, wild rivers, a rich diversity of plant and animal species, and a way of life for all who live there. At 7,800-foot elevation and set among aspen stands, Jackson Park Campground offers some of the best fall color viewing on Steens Mountain. Know Before You Go: Open Season Jackman Park Campground is open mid-June through October. High clearance vehicles recommended on some portions of the Steens Mountain Loop. 6 Campsites with picnic tables and fire grates; first come, first serve. Universal Access Restroom available. Please pack out your trash. Mountain weather can be unpredictable and change suddenly. Ticks, mosquitos, and rattlesnakes may be present during summer months. The nearest services are in the communities of Fields, Frenchglen, Crane, or Narrows, Oregon.
The Jackman Park Campground is located near the Kiger Gorge Overlook with views of the Gorges glacially-carved, U-shaped valley and, if you are lucky, its famous herd of wild horses.
Camp Sites 40 for 2 people $15 per extra people 8 Camp Sites Available Soaking & Private Road Access to Desert are both including in camping rates. Dogs are welcome on leash in the campgrounds. They are not allowed at the soaking pools. Soaking - $10 per person per visit Children under 12 and ALL US Military (former and active) w/ID - Soak Free Private Road Access to the Desert - $10 per vehicle per day You can call the office for further information or to make a reservation. Please let us know if you have any further questions. (541) 589-2282 or (541) 589-2123 If you prefer you can now make your reservations online.
$5 - $30 / night
Guide
Free camping with sunshade and a fire ring. Pit toilets that are stocked and clean. Night sky as dark as the mummies thomb and quiet. Sunstones are everywhere but mostly small with the occasional large one. Be advised there is about 30 miles of dirt road to reach the site. Well maintained but some washboard.
Legend
Free BLM camping. Camped here on Oct 1, 2024. About 10 campsites scattered about the area. Some with metal firerings, others with rock firerings. One vault toilet; clean & supplied with tp, but full of flies. Sites are level and have a dirt surface; can get muddy & slippery when wet. Access from Fields-Folly Farm Rd not too bad. Very quiet. Coyotes crying at night. Sites appear to be level; large. One site had a picnic table. No cell service. Set well off of Fields-Folly Farm Rd; no road noise. Lake is full of waterfowl. Good overnight stop. Would stay here again. Bird photographers would enjoy this location.
Legend
Normally don't stay in RV parks while traveling in our camper van, but we needed to do laundry, take showers, replenish our water supply, and recharge our power storage units after days of dispersed & primitive camping. We really liked this RV park. Tina, who checked us in, was fantastic - very friendly and welcoming. She even gave our dog treats! She put us in site #39 which was not next to big rigs. We used the water & electric at the site. Reasonably priced. The park was very clean. The laundry room and restroom/shower rooms were also clean. The meals at the cafe were good, along with good service. We weren't enthusiastic about staying at an RV park, but we were glad we did. Fit our needs for an overnight stay.
Legend
Syayed here on Oct 2. Paid $8 with senior pass. Nice campground. Level sites. Can accommodate all sorts of rigs, except big bus campers & long travel trailers. Trash service. Water. Clean vault toilets with tp. 2G T-Mobile service. Most sites are open with partial shade. No privacy between most sites. A few sites may accommodate hammock campers. Tent camping possible. Steens Mountain Loop Rd closed at the campground entrance.
Scout
There is no reservation system at Page Springs Campground. Any reference to that is in errror. It is all first come first served.
Traveler
A short rough road takes you a few hundred yards of the main gravel road to the top of a ridge. Nice views , but also seclusion due to junipers. Not trailer or RV friendly.
Scout
pretty cool site in the desert with mountain ranges surrounding you. the drive in goes from pavement, to gravel, to dirt roads with some gnarly trenches at the end but it’s not too bad and definitely worth it
Ranger
After seeing the eclipse earlier that morning, I set out to find THIS well-known camping/hot spring area. A beautiful drive through Plush OR, then up, up, and away onto the Hart Mountain Plateau. The overview of Warner Valley is epic. Follow the easy 'dyrt' road through the Refuge Headquarters and continue on the well-marked Hot Springs Rd. You will arrive at a parking area with an information kiosk. Camping is split into a north & south area. There are some walk-in tenting spots to the north. The spots are well-marked and fairly large. A family kindly allowed me to share one with them. I was able to find 3 hot springs, one sheltered and 'developed' by a stone wall, concrete, and a ladder into the deep warm water (98-100 degrees?) The other two are completely natural and easy to find on the short trail between the camping areas. These are shallow, but warmer (102-104?). Do not be surprised if people are enjoying the springs 'au natural'. A ranger did swing by to verify that all campers were in designated spots. No camping in the parking lot. Night skies were pitch black without the Moon.
Overall, a wonderful spot to escape to :-)
TravelerGreat 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.
Scout
We had RV spot #20 in the newer section and away from the lodging area. I think we would choose one closer to the pond next time so that we can get in more often! The pond is beautifully landscaped and clean, and everything is very clean. There are quite a few "rules", and the texts seemed a bit rude....but all of that resulted in a quiet, pleasant stay. A few up charges to watch for: $20 per extra guest $2 towel rental $10 per person early arrival charge. Great place. We'll stay again next year!
GuideCrane hot springs is beautiful and has a lovely soaking “pond. The campground isn’t fancy, but the spots are close to the water and campers have 24 hour access to the pond.
LegendGeneral: To say there are not many choices to camp around here would be an understatement! Fortunately, our stay turned out to be decent. We were greeted cheerfully by Tina (she and her husband Scott own the park). This place mainly attracts birders in the spring, hunters in the fall, and people passing through (this was us). There is a mix of back-in and pull-through sites. The back-in sites are along the east and north sides of the property with the pull-throughs in the center. There is a coin-operated laundry, store/gift shop, and restaurant. We didn’t eat in the restaurant but did indulge in Tina’s delicious homemade fruit turnovers!
Site Quality: All sites are level on gravel. Each site has a nice patio with a plastic picnic table, fire ring, and bbq platform. There are some trees scattered throughout but when we were there, they had not quite bloomed yet. Our site (34) was at the end of the row which gave us privacy on one side. Backs up to a fence and you will hear some road noise from the road behind it, but it is minimal.
Bathhouse: Three all-in-one units with a code to enter. Entering was a little tricky until we got the hang of it but once in, the units were clean. Showers take quarters.
Activities: Not much for us as we were passing through but a nice haven for birders (the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is close by) and convenient for hunters. Note that on GPS it looks like Mudd Lake is fairly close by, but the lake has been dry for at least 10 years according to Tina! Again, this was a pleasant stay for us as we were traveling through.
ScoutWonderful hot springs! Included in camping fee. We are dry camping but the do have full hookups. Beautiful night sky.
Scout
The camp ground was great. It has the basic needs for most camper trailers. There are a few sites there with shore power but I didn’t see any water hook ups. There is water there if you need to fill up jugs, tanks or water bottles. There is a single flushing toilet that is available for overnighters as well as small store with food and drinks for sale. The staff was very nice and helpful. Be aware of the wind! Our first night in our teardrop was pretty rocky. Almost lost our awning because the gusts were at or above 60mph. We talked to the staff and they said to orient the trailer front towards the mountains. It seriously helped a lot. If you tent camp, I would recommend some sort of windscreen or just use your vehicle to block it somehow. Overall the scenery is majestic and is worth the drive out there. 10/10
Legend
We camped 3 nights with a group, with our hot air balloons. But a great time! Flew balloons and a drone, road ATV's, watched a plane fly in and flip over on landing (a bunch tipped it back over and off he flew) and, OH, the stars!
Hot in the summer, beware of the mud after a rainstorm, but otherwise an amazing experience!
Legend
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.
Scout
Chalk one up for private enterprise: The Alvord Ranch (which also owns the Alvord Hot Springs) is charging $60/night to camp at Pike Creek with no amenities other than open-air vault toilets (be sure to bring your own toilet paper!) I like the idea of paying for a campsite on private land to show the owners that there is intrinsic value in land in its natural state and that you can make money off your land without exploiting it. However, this land owner is trying to have it both ways, because the cows are not fenced out of the campground land (there was cow manure in our campsite.) Also, if you are going to charge for camping, you need to do some work on the land to make it into a campground and maintain it, such as: make it clear where the campsites are (there are no signs or markers), block off unnecessary side roads causing devegetation and erosion, make it clear where day-use hikers should park (they parked in our campsite), fix the road (2WD low clearance vehicles would have difficulty), provide level areas for tents (I saw only 2 places), provide picnic tables (there are none), and pick up litter (there was used toilet paper in our campsite.) The camping fee includes access to the hotspring, but when we drove there, both pools were totally full of people so we didn’t go in. We would rather have the option of paying less just for the campsite, or else let us reserve a time to use the hotspring and set a reasonable limit on the number of people in the pools at one time. The camping fee also includes access to the Indian Creek Canyon trail, but hiking the Pike Creek trail takes all day so we didn’t have time for another hike. The camping fee also includes the use of their private road to the playa, but you can drive onto it for free at Frog Springs just down the road, which is where we camped the night before. The gate to the campground is supposed to be locked, but both times we drove up, the lock was open. There are 2 locks on the chain and they only give you the combination to one of them, so whoever is using the other lock could accidentally lock you in or out. The Pike Creek trail is great and we enjoyed listening to the creek gurgling, the crickets singing, and the coyotes howling.
TravelerA lovely spread out BALM campground. I've never seenit full. Enjoy the Malheur Wildlife Refuge and Stevens Mt for a few days. Just watch out for mosquitoes in the early summer.
Scout
Great campspot. Came here 4th of July weekend and camped in Alvord first night and decided to camp somewhere else the next night. 70-80% of the campsites were open. Large campsites and private. It was a great find.
ScoutChoose tent wisely. A late night sandstorm came through and ripped our rainfly and tent was covered in sand. Had to sleep in car. I should have brought the smaller backpack tent. Beautiful place though. One night was enough.
ScoutExcellent 'dry camping' .. not crowded .. exceptionally good natural hot mineral water in a large pond that varies in depth to about 5 feet .. clothing required .. family friendly .. tipis, cabins, and suites also available for lodging .. clean .. no food nearby so bring food .. shared camp available for preparing meals .. hot mineral water pond open at night for those staying overnight .. day use welcome from 7am to 10pm ..
TravelerI’ve camped here twice in the last couple years. The hot spring is incredible. 24/7 access to the spring and no extra fee (comes with your camping fee) they’ve got all sorts of lodging accommodations. First time I was car camping, second time I brought a camper. Both times it’s been lovely and I always recommend it to friends
TravelerGenerator quit working so we couldn’t boondock. Way too hot outside. Checked in on a day they were closed so the only signs of life we saw were the people who live here full time. Most sites are 30 amp. The ones with 50 amp were not marked at all and there was no information in the welcome email indicating what site we needed to look for so after driving five hours with four children and a dog, we had to go site by site to look for the proper hook ups in 100° weather. Was not very thrilled about that. Good stop over spot in a pinch. Served us well for what we needed it for
GuideBasic campsites, but some are very private. Either sides of camp offer amazing longer hikes to gorges coming off the steens mountain range. Fall colors were amazing, and still some water from the little Indian and blitzen rivers. Coyotes at night, pit toilets, solitude, plenty of trees. Is hot and dry in summer, but the exploration around it is breathtaking. Long dusty road but worth it. Wild horses and scenic
GuideTo truly feel the awe of this place it is best done driving out onto the lake bed and sleeping in the wild. You need to bring everything you’ll need. And very important: tag or mark your spot with gps if planning time leave playa to come back. The desert plays tricks on your eyes. The stunning steens mountain range and quiet are unmatched. Hot springs and good hikes and milkshakes nearby. Treat yourself
TravelerThis place is unbelievable! The pictures and descriptions can not fully explain the feeling of the Alvord Desert Playa. You should know you have to drive very far on dirt roads to get there. They are a little rough but not terrible. You will want to go slow. I recommend entering through the Alvord Hot Springs. They do charge but their entrance is much better than the Frog Spring entrance, which is very rough and not well maintained. The staff at the Alvord Hot Springs is also very knowledgeable on the area. You cannot have fires on the playa and there is no water so plan accordingly. Also the closest gas station is in Fields and the gas is very expensive. If you are thinking about going here just go. We had a camper van so we were not concerned about the elements. Do your research before you go and it will be an experience you will never forget. I can't wait to go back!
TravelerThis camp ground and hot springs is the perfect entrance to the Alvord desert. There are sites with and without electricity as well as bunkers if you don't want to camp. We were in a van and opted for a site with electricity. The staff was very helpful and knowledgeable about the area. Even if you don't stay here I would recommend using this paid entrance to the Alvord desert. They also have a small shop with food and camping supplies if needed. There is a rustic hot springs spot, which is very lovely. We used it twice during our one night stay. The second night we camped on the playa. I would highly recommend visiting the Alvord desert and at least stopping by this spot if you want to enter the playa.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Frenchglen, OR?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Frenchglen, OR is Mann Lake Recreation Site with a 3.6-star rating from 5 reviews.
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TheDyrt.com has all 5 tent camping locations near Frenchglen, OR, with real photos and reviews from campers.
