Best Glamping near La Grande, OR

A medium sized lake with plenty of access, camping, hiking and day use. Plenty of secluded spots with picnic tables next to the lake, kid and pet friendly. Only about 10 minutes from La Grande. In the spring, there are lots of black eyed Susan's (flowers).

Approach the park from the La Grand/Baker Highway. One we arrived, we found the folks very nice. There were very few frees so shade is lacking. Ice is available at the park. The pool was open and refreshing. Full hooks available

We've been here several times and will continue to visit. About a hundred pull through spots, full hookup. Relaxing informal campground with gravel roads and grass strips between sites. Level w easy entry/exit. Hot spring on site in wildlife preserve across the road. Many trains pass by about a quarter mile away and we didn't mind the relatively low noise trains. Interesting college town la grande nearby. Grand ronde River and Morgan lake are interesting

Wallowa-Whitman NF

NF 21 

aka Spring Creek Campground 

La Grande, OR

45.2125.6N, 118.1843.3W (Campground)

45.3679N, 118.2972W (signboard)

45.36944, -118.29997 (2nd spot)

14 Day limit

V 4g/2-3b, ATT 4g/1-2b (no booster)

Dirt & grass

Campground:

Not for bigger rigs. 4 spots fairly close together, picnic tables, pit toilets.  Loop in is tight, and while we are only 34' long, we're 13.8 on truck and had to do some creative maneuvering to get ourselves back out. Cell signal here was almost non existent, and fairly dense tree cover if using solar.

There was one spot on the left before getting to the Campground we could have fit into, but again, dense tree cover. Didn't check cell signal here.

There is supposed to be more spots past the campground,  but we haven't taken the bikes out yet to explore. 

Signboard:

Easily found a spot, even on Labor Day weekend (Friday).  This area could handle 4 or 5 rigs. Cell signal better, but still bounced in/out a bit. We stayed here 2nts to get past the holiday weekend.  Picked up a lot of micro trash, spent shells, and broken bottles. This is also the area where a lot of a sxs park for Day Use. VERY dusty area.

2nd Spot:

WOW what a difference.  After we decided to hang out in the area for a bit longer, we knew we had to move off the main road as the dust was making our solar pout. As you come in, just before the signboard there is a road going up a hill to the right. It looks intimidating,  but can be done going slow in 4wd. We found 3 great spots up there without going back very far. 

There are spots further back, as we saw people pulling trailers out, but we haven't explored them yet. We chose the 1st spot on the left for the full solar and gorgeous view of the meadow, tree line, and mountains in the distance. Cell signal comes in stronger on this ridge, but still a little fickle without a booster... note to self, get booster. Picked up medium sized and micro trash here, as well as bullet casings and broken bottles... and a special thanks to whomever left a bag of rotting frozen chicken wings...that was fun, but the view is worth it, and SO MUCH LESS dust.

There is a spot across (right side of road) where we've had over nights pull in late, but they left by 9am and both were very quiet setting up. Other than them, and the people from further back pulling out after the weekend, we've been alone up here.

There is a GORGEOUS spot further up on the right, but I couldn't get any signal.

From all but the campground,  you will hear road noise. I84 is just beyond the trees. I pretend it's waves (don't judge), my husband uses ear plugs. We've both had no issues sleeping.  

If we had only had the 1st 2nts experience I would say we would only be back as a last minute overnight, having discovered this other area, yep we'd be back no problem. 

As with all boondocking,  scouting out is the key.

We stopped by Anthony Lakes on our way back to the Willamette Valley from Baker City. The campsite is on a property that becomes a ski resort in the winter (it's at over ~7000 ft). The campground was immaculately maintained and had lots of recreation options. On weekends in the summer, the ski lift becomes a mountain biking lift, there are hiking trails, and of course lakes. The lakes themselves are pretty small, but big enough for some kayak adventuring and swimming. We got caught in a summer thunderstorm, so we were glad we had a shelter to pop up.

Our site was private with access to the lake trail. Pit toilets, but everything was very clean. There are also walk-up sites around the back of the lake which had more mosquitos, but were very spacious.  It looks like there is one yurt on top of the mountain. The mountain bike path goes by it, and it looks like it has great views.

This was an easy drive from Baker City, a little far from Portland unless you're going to make a multi-day vacation out of it. On the way through the mountains, there's plenty of gold mining history, a historical dredge, and some ghost towns to stop by. 

Lots of chipmunks, so watch what you leave out (even momentarily).

We stopped for a night in a rustic camping cabin at Emigrant Springs in July of 2015. It was a welcome dose of green after a long day of brown along the interstate through Idaho and western Oregon. The cabin was rustic, the shower house was in good repair with nice hot showers. There seemed to be good space and shade around the sites offering some privacy. Great spot! Take the time to stop in Meacham on the West side of I-84 tomstop at The Oregon Trail Cafe - literally the ONLY store in this teeny town. Wonderful hospitality, the local ‘scoop’ and great breakfast.

Oregon always has beautiful state parks. This one is no different. It is close to Hwy 84, so there is road noise. The campsites don't seem to be as on top of each other as some places.

Excellent 1/2 point between home in Idaho and the Oregon Coast. Tent and full hook ups with helpful campground hosts.

Yes, you can hear the freeway from the campground - so it may not be recommended for tent campers.

This has been a historic place to stop on the way through the Blue Mountains since the Oregon Trail. It has a fair amount of freeway noise these days, though. Reasonably private sites with good shade. I would recommend it as a traveler's stop, but probably not as a multi-day vacation destination.

We have stayed here many times. 10 years ago was one of our favorites. Our families came from all over Oregon and Washington, even California. We came from Missouri. What an amazing family reunion. The park rangers were so nice. They had informed classes about animals in the forest. The Jr rangers program for the children was wonderful and hands on.

We stayed here in a tent site (no hookups) on our way back to Portland from Nevada. As an overnight cut-off campground, it’s lovely: Nice-sized sites set in beautiful Oregon forest (we’d been out of state for a couple weeks and REALLY appreciated the trees); clean bathrooms and showers; long “tent” sites that allowed us to back in our 18ft trailer without uncoupling for the night.

However, it’s right on the interstate. While you kind of tune it out after a while, the road noise is constant and definitely interferes with any sense of “wilderness”.

We stayed at Grande Hot Springs RV Resort in June and September 2021. We really enjoyed our stay at this park. We stayed in site 2 which was a large pull-thru site for our fifth wheel. Sites are long, flat, and level with 50 amp, water and sewer hookups. We enjoyed the great walking paths around the perimeter of the park to walk our dogs. The pool and hot tub are heated geothermally and are warm, soothing, and oh, so relaxing. We can’t say enough about the professional staff, who were warm, friendly, and helpful. We even had some packages delivered here, which was a big bonus for us. We a lot of other friendly campers here. The WiFi is top-notch. This is our favorite Oregon campground and we highly recommend a stay here. For videos on the campground, visit YouTube: Jeff & Steff’s Excellent Adventure.

We headed this way to get away from smoke caused by the 2020 Central Oregon fires.  It was a great choice.  Still hazy long distance views but had great views of the stars at night.  Peaceful and lovely spot.  We paddled on the lake, hiked around it, drove up to the top of the ski area for the view and part of our group hiked down from there.  We were able to drive through the campground with the 27' trailer we had rented but none of the spaces would have accommodated us (that we could see). We were lucky, though, they let us stay in the group camp since there were no reservations for a few days.  It was a little snug, but worked out beautifully.    The campground proper looked very pretty as well.

But can be windy. Small lake just outside LaGrande. Bumpy road in, and fairly busy during the day but quieted down at night. Gravel, some tables, pit toilet. Plenty of room for kids to run and a dock to swim off, but there are weeds and lake vegetation so keep a close watch. Buggy, but very nice. Free.

Very nice facility. We stayed in a tent, the tent sites are away from the RVs. Nice setting across a creek and in the trees. Beautiful starry sky at night, and we woke up to an impressive amount of birds singing. Take bug spray!! Mosquitoes were awful in the evening before we got spray on.

The bathrooms and showers are clean and nice. They have a pool and soaking tubs from the natural hot springs (unfortunately we didn't get time to check these out thoroughly, they look nice though!) Bit of a walk to the restroom from the tent sites, but there is a portapotty closer if you prefer.

Tent camping is away from the RVs at this site. Comfortable, clean grounds with included hot springs pool access, indoor store, and full bathroom facilities. We loved it so much that we stayed here two nights. Beware of ticks near the grass area. Cool off with ice cream and cold drinks at the store. Everyone was wonderful to work with and speak to.