Best Campgrounds near John Day, OR

Nice area close to the road. Plenty of room for my small trailer. Though it was close to the road it wasn’t very noisy. I camped in site 9 so 1/4 mile away from the road. Only issue last role of TP.

Nice little campground right on the Middle Fork John Day River. Fairly close to the highway, so there's some road noise, but this highway doesn't have much traffic. Clean vault toilets.

What a beautiful site for camping. Saw several deer there when we arrived. It was very peaceful.

Dry camping with a put toilet, very clean. The camping sites were pretty level. Site 11 we feel was the best. Baker city was just about 20 minutes away along with the old gold mining town of Sumpter about 10 minutes away

We stayed one night as a stopover on a walkabout. The hosts were friendly and helpful. Clean restrooms and showers. 2/3 of the sites have a view of the lake. The wind often comes up in the afternoon and is there until after sunset, but the fishing looked great. Another camper offered us freshly caught trout as they had too much for their group. Lots of grass.

Just arrived today. I’ll update after our full stay. Come here to explore Sumpter and the mines. Dispersed but tables and fire rings. Some pull throughs. No hookups or trash service. Beautiful setting. 3 bars AT&T.

Sites are not level. Large rigs will be fine, ours is 30’ TT

After stay review. Had a great time. Cranes were hanging at the lake, two Bald Eagles were close by. Great location with a lot to explore.

Nice sites with lots of separation and easy access to a trailhead. Multiple vault toilets available as well as water taps that I don’t think are potable but good enough to rinse dishes. We got caught in rain, sleet, snow, and graupel all in one day but that’s hardly the campground’s fault. If you can get up the sketchy and rough road, it’s a beautiful site.

Stayed for one night, most of the sites are far enough away that it didn’t feel crowded with three other parties there, but a couple of the sites are close enough to be good for a group. Our site had a slight slant so we needed a couple of leveling blocks. Clean toilet when we were there.

This quite little gem of a camp ground is our favorite spot to get away for a weekend or longer. Beautiful old growth trees, with a stream running through it. Close to Sumpter if you forgot something, or there is always some street activity or flea market happening.

Great camp site. Electric and water hook ups, great camp hosts, close to the water.

Sweet little spot for smaller vehicles. We walked along the path to check it out before attempting it in our 26ft class c and I’m glad we did. The path was too narrow for us, and the road rose up a bit too high along the middle. A smaller vehicle shouldn’t have a problem. There’s a nice little clearing at the end of the path right along the little creek. Very peaceful and green when we came here in July. 

At the main road there IS a spot large enough for our RV (that’s where we parked when we got out to walk to the creek spot) but we decided not to stay the night there. It wasn’t flat at all and a little too noisy and close to the main road. But it would definitely do in a pinch- very easy to get to- just off the main road to the right. There’s a fire pit marking the spot. 

Zero cell reception in this entire area for verizon and ATT. No amenities here, this is a FS dispersed camping spot so please keep the area clean and pack out your waste.

Free camping in sno park parking lot in Malheur National Forest between May and October. Huge parking lot, accessible for any giant RV. Lot is flat enough, not totally flat but good enough for the night. 

There’s an accessible pit toilet here but it was locked when we stayed here in July. 

We had the whole lot to ourselves for the night. Very peaceful and quiet, very minimal traffic and road noise. Nice forest roads to walk along. Lots of green grass and trees when we came in July. 

No amenities here at all, please pack out your waste and keep it clean. Zero cell reception here in this entire area with Verizon or ATT but the lot is in a big clearing with no trees around so I’m guessing starlink would work well here.

Off the beaten path, but we'll worth it! Dropped 20 degrees from the hot valley floor. Around 8 spots, first come, but a few other spots on the way up, for dispersed. Right along strawberry creek, beautiful, quiet. Trails to explore, wildlife to see.

This is a very nice Forest Service campground along the Middle Fork of the John Day River. The sites are nicely laid out and are a fair distance from each other. Although the campground is adjacent to a paved road, there was little traffic during our two night stay.

The river is a little difficult to access because of shrubs and small trees, but this is actually good news because so much of the Middle Fork has been damaged by mining and cattle. Continuing west on the road brings you to several very interesting locations with information boards that describe the reclamation efforts of the Warm Spring Tribe on 2,000 acres of land through which the river runs.