Best Campgrounds near Mitchell, OR

Open grounds away from everything. There was a dirt square right off the dirt road we parked in. The only noise was the power-lines close by, which weren’t bad. Decent stargazing and had no issues. Just a little muddy and a little clearance on your car would be helpful. Really close to the highway. It’s all free dispersed camping so there is no development besides the dirt road

Super easy to find and nobody around. Easy to jump back on the hwy in the morning.

Love this dispersed campsite! So much wife open space. We were the only campers here last night. So quiet that you can hear a pin drop. Oh, the 360 views are fantastic! A little bumpy ride for regular cars as it is in a dirt road; an AWD preferred.

Camp host was nice, easy access to sites. Showers/bathrooms clean but dated.

We enjoyed our stay here. We had a nice space with decent trees for shade and putting up some lights. We could easily drive in to Madras...or to the Crooked River Canyon to go bungee jumping!!!!  We also took a nice drive out east in the hills. Firewood was a bit steep, at $8/bundle.

This spot is great for watching a meteor shower, gets a little windy and not too much shade during the day.

Loved this spot. Across the river we watched wild horses. In the river there were birds. During the day rafters come down.

No water available unless you boil river water.

The road down was STEEP! I really overheated my motorhome breaks. Plus a scary, low and narrow tunnel at the bottom.

Nice small quite campground. Enjoyed the miles of hiking with TH right at the campground. A very friendly deer kept visiting us during our stay. Enjoyed cooling off in the small creek that runs through the edge of campground.

This place is beautiful! Everything perfectly cared for@

One of several BLM (fee) campgrounds along the Crooked River. Post Pile is one of the smaller sites. Only 7 designated spots. I stayed here one Saturday night in June, to connect with someone cycling north along the Oregon Outback route. This area is a good place for cyclists doing that ride to camp (night 3 if you do the full ride in 5 days, Klamath Falls to Biggs Junction).

These campgrounds were full of trailer campers, most who were there for multiple days. Rocky Canyon, and the Crooked River below Prineville Reservoir and the Bowman Dam is very popular being about an hour from Bend. Because of that camp sites are hard to come by.

Mostly gravel road, high clearance is not necessary but there are some pretty big holes in the road, made it in a Toyota Corolla just fine but have gone in larger vehicles and tends to be a little less risky.

Not a ton of camping spots near the water but plenty of open spaces elsewhere. Pretty spaced out if you choose the right spot.

Getting to camp you drive into a “canyon”, switch backs most of the way down. The road is bumpy but does not require 4WD or high clearance. Once you get to the bottom of the canyon, the road will pass by a vaulted toilet. You continue down the road and a bunch of campsites pop up that line the river. Great space for big groups, dog friendly, all around great hang!

6 long level spots on the John Day. A few walk in tents spots too. 2 vault toilets No trash so pack in/pack out $5/night, self registration. Great spot in center of John Day Fossil Beds national monument. Across the way you could see the seasonal waterfall

I would recommend a rig with lots of ground clearance. The main gravel roads have been recently maintained but the last bit has deep ruts and there are rocky areas.  Our trailer had better clearance than our truck and we bumped a few rocks getting into our spot. There are a few less rocky areas, but they seem to get taken first.  More people in the off-season than I expected for such a remote area.   You need to use a fire pan for fires when allowed, so be sure to bring one.  It was our first time using a fire pan but it was better than using the ground as they are designed to allow perfect air flow.

Cute small campground on a little hill overlooking a lake.  Tent sites by the lake's edge. 
Very Clean bathrooms with code for campers. Pits for public areas. 
Since there are no RV services be prepared to hear some generators running occasionally.  Quiet hours 10PM-7AM.  Water is available but may not be close enough for a hose to your RV.  Most sites have good Starlink view of skies.

Incredible little spot. We pulled in around an hour before sunset and found a beautiful site right on the river. Doesn’t look like there are a ton of spots so make sure to get there during daylight to be safe. It was super quiet and peaceful with no noise other than the river roaring which provided a great nights sleep!

The views are also stunning both at night and in the sunlight!

We made it through all the gravel roads fine (about 7 miles total) with our van pulling a 21ft travel trailer. Just go slow and you’ll be fine!

There is one bathroom available, but we didn’t use it.

We were able to score a couple of nights here in Early May.  It's a very popular Oregon State Park and I'm sure summer requires advance planning.  The weekend we were there was pretty full and our site was at the top of the B loop.  Monday, however, the park cleared out to much fewer campers.   The lake was actually mostly full and the views were beautiful.   Some of the amenities were boating, of course, lake views from some sites, a nice dog park along with the normal state park fare.  We'll definitely make another trip!