Best Dispersed Camping near Malheur National Forest

Boondocking is easy with a camper van or tent setup in this national forest area, but it’s hard to make a generalization that covers this vast collection of campgrounds and areas. It earns a good review at the end of the day for being conveniently located and hassle free; you can always find a decent spot up around the bend and it’s the right mix of privacy and tranquility while being reasonable close to civilization if calamity strikes.

There are a few spots and spurs off NF-6510 that would make for good boondocking. Might be hard to get level, but other than that it’s pretty nice. The spot on the map has a stone fire ring. There are a few spots before and after that would be suitable to setup camp as well.

I got to the spot marked on the map in my extended Transit, but I’m sure road conditions may change with the seasons, storms; etc. Depending on your comfort, you may only want to head this way with high-clearance vehicle.

Passed it at first, and then was greeted by a pretty rough road (doable in AWD RAV4). HOWEVER it is very worth it for the beautiful views of the hills and river.

No amenities, but a couple of makeshift fire pits. Plenty of space, should have no problem finding a spot.

Part of the road was flooded by the river but there was still plenty of room!

Never found any “hot springs” lol

This place is on private property and has gates all around the area. Maybe it was once a campground but surely not anymore.

Getting there from the coordinates on this app was easy, although maps said I would have to walk I was easily able to drive a small trailer in all the way back. Nice open spot with lots of places to park, was a bit worried how open it was but there were a few other campers all spread out so it just felt homey.

I don't know about the pass but took to turn off and proceeded down the road to the first set of trees off the road. Ther e are driveways among the trees that will allow small to medium vehicles. There's an open field (with plenty of rocks and boulders-not for driving on) that affords a view to the northeast. It is hot here now, 90s to 100.

Great little dispersed spot with a clean outhouse.

There looks to be 4 sites in the trees, but if you keep driving down it’ll take you towards the lake, which is where I camped. Wide open, great sunset views! The lake is dammed, so I assume the water levels vary, but when I was there, there was room for a few more vehicles down by the water. Careful going too far, as some tire tracks looked to have maybe gotten stuck in mud by venturing too far out. 😂

Great spot, would definitely return!

We ended up at this spot after finding roads closed by snow farther up the hill. It had plenty of fairly flat ground for our 26” skoolie. There was a fire ring, but we didn’t use. It got very cold at night. We were fine in our bus, but our traveling partner had his water bottle freeze in his tent. It’s a bit of an uphill drive off 15, but it’s a pretty good gravel road. There was a fair amount of litter from what looked like a hunting group when we arrived, but we took it with us.