Best Tent Camping near Oxbow, OR

We were able to find an available spot on Labor Day weekend 2021. Most campsites between the town of Lostine and Irondyke campground were taken by 7pm on Friday. The access road was narrow and in pretty rough shape, lots of horse trailers hauling livestock up and down the road. The road remained busy until late at night and during the weekend with other campers and day hikers… we stayed in a tent camp site that allowed horses, so it was ample with a clearing that provided sunny areas. Picnic table and rock fire pit were available at the site. A toilet is Located on the opposite side of road and shares with other 4 or 5 sites. If you want a quiet, peaceful camping spot, this is not for you!

Good views of the mountains. Beautiful lake. Impressive marina for those who are trailing boats. Emphasis on RV camping rather than secluded tent camping and I prefer tent camping. Bathrooms clean.

Stayed a few nights while exploring area. Camp hosts do a great job keeping the camp facilities very clean.  Our site a bit noisy in the evening (tent camping) due to periodic logging trucks rolling by, but not bad. Overall great facility

My only complaint is that you can’t reserve tent sites in advance. Otherwise it is quiet and has some good places to stretch your legs. On the snake River which is nice.

I have stayed here on a few occasions. The tent sites are great and separate from the RVs. Bathrooms were super clean. It was in the fall, so there weren't a ton of other visitors. Definitely recommend!

I came here during the summer of 2020 with my family. We had a great time. It was relaxing and beautiful to be outside. The sunsets were nice it was clean and quiet during the duration of our stay. The campsites themselves can be a little cramped and we were tent camping. Other than that, it was great with easy access to the water.

Rates went up in 2018 :(

Ponderosa has 2 parts to it. Their main area located next to town is good if you have an rv or like a lot of people. It gets very crowded and can be noisy at night. But water access is pretty easy, along with biking & hiking.

Their other area of tent camping is a little more quiet. Fcfs with 0 hook ups but is basic.

this campground was always my favorite growing up and it still is today! they have very spacious camp sites, lots of variety (ie tent sites and full hook up sites) that would fit anyone’s needs! There are very helpful hosts onsite campfire you can buy and a jr ranger program my kids love! They also have a playground for the kids in the heart of the park! Wallowa is well worth the trip!

This little gem of a campground is worth the effort to find. We drove past the sites along the road to find this one. It was right off the road. You will see the sign and the pit toilet. The sites are accross the road and behind the building. There are only two tent sites that are available. You can probably find more spaces for more than two tents.

Parking is available close to the sites but you will have to carry gear to the site. Worth it!

Living in Idaho near the border of Idaho, I was looking for a great catfishing spot on the Snake River. I found this campground along the Snake just on the other side of the border - eastern Oregon. The campgrounds are AWESOME!!! The have all the amenities for RV camping. They do have tent camping sites as well. There is some great history of the area and we were appreciative of how the State Park system displayed it. Great fishing for the shore angler as well as boat anglers. I fished from my kayak and caught crappie and catfish as well as some smallmouth bass. I would definitely camp here again. They do have a dump station for RVs as well as restrooms. Each site has a fire pit and picnic table.

Ponderosa in McCall is a massive state park complex. There are hundreds of trailer and tent camping sites. The main campground to the right of the main gate is very busy but is very close to the day use beach. the beach and day use area is great and the views of payette lake are worth it. follow the roads or hiking trails up toward the north end of the lake and there are awesome cliffs to look over the entire area as well as some really good huckleberry picking, if you know where to go.

We tent camped here in July 2018. Sugarloaf is off by itself at the end of the lake, so it’s a little more laid back there. Our group simply set our in the morning and camped out on the beach with our gear. we had paddle boards, a canoe, and a floatie and spent the entire day out there. there was some nice sand for the kids to build with. We also went fishing in a different spot and watched the most beautiful sunset. The birds we saw here wwre absolutely amazing. we saw multiple ospreys, pelicans, and mountain bludbirds. I would go back to camp here any time.

As hard as they tried, it seemed park staff could not keep enough water on the campground grass to keep it green. It was 100+ both nights we were there. Our RV A/C never turned off! The water level was so low, the river didn’t even look inviting. The only folks we ever saw were park staff and the poor soles that were tent camping. RVers were all inside with AC. We’d consider staying here again... at a cooler time... for one night while passing through.
No AT&T service.
We saw snakes, lizards, squirrels, rabbits, frogs, an owl, and lots of geese out on the water.

This is a nice little RV park that is close to most things in the Joseph area.  There are several RV sites as well as tent sites.  There are also several sites that look like full time RVer's that live in the park.  The sites were a little close together, but they were able to move us after the first night so we had a little more privacy.  The bathrooms and showers were clean.  The campground was very quiet with great views of the mountains.  There is a little store onsite that also has games and books to barrow.

We spent Memorial Day weekend at this park. It was fun, the kids rode bikes, we rented a row boat (they have kayaks, SUP's, etc). The town of Joseph is about 10 minutes with a cute main street area. We stayed in A25 and I think it is the smallest tent site in the whole park (the reason it got 3 of 5 stars). We had a small creek that backed the spot that limited tent placement to one slightly sloped spot squeezed between the road and the picnic table. It was nicely treed by the picnic table which was nice. If we go back, the spot to the right of us (A26) was a really good one (would've been a five star for sure) - spacious, multi tents, etc. This end of the campground was the closest to the lake access, store and docks.

I want to start off saying that this is a park type camping site. So most things are kept up really well. The grass is well maintained and green. There's an area for day picnic use and then another area for camping. There's areas for you to park rv and vehicles and tent camping. I dont RV so I'm unsure on hook up use. This site is close to the main road so must watch kiddos and dogs at all times. It is also close to the river, so watch those kiddos. There's a wonderful trail with a wooden bridge to start off. This area is heavily used, so if you like to be alone, might not be your thing, but the site is very well taken care of and is a beautiful place to check out of the modern world and enter God's country.

On Oregon Highway 86 in Hell's Canyon at Oxbow, across from an Idaho Power Station (and managed by Idaho Power), this was a handy place to stay to be close to a boat launch for a rafting trip we had booked. 

There are tiny campsites (maybe the smallest I've seen) and lovely large campsites here. We lucked out and had reserved a big one on the lawn instead of a little one against the rock wall. We were near the power station but we didn't notice it much due to the trees and stream.

There is shade! This was nice considering it gets hot in Hell's Canyon. Even being next to the river and in a rare shady spot in the canyon, the after-dark temperature was in the upper 80's when we stayed here in early August 2020. They water the lawn at night to keep it green, so heed those "sprinkler - do not camp past this point" signs. The bathrooms look nice online (inc. showers), but we camped here during 2020, so we had a row of sunbaked port-o-potties to contend with.

The location was super practical for our needs, our spot was spacious,  and the canyon is beautiful, but due to the heat I probably would pick a place higher up on the canyon rim or closer to Halfway, OR to camp if camping were the main goal (especially in August).

Fair amount of bugs, but that's not specific to this campground. 

Some stats, according to the Idaho Power website: Day use in the park is free. 59 RV sites with water and electric hookups(30-amp); 10 tent sites with shared water; Picnic area with tables Fire rings; Additional vehicle and boat trailer parking available; Public pay phone (phone card required for non-local calls); Boat launch and docks located approximately one-half mile downstream of the park, on Homestead Road

Copperfield was a mining town known as “the rowdiest town in Oregon” in the early 1900s. Fire destroyed the town in August 1915. The park was built in 1965 on the old town site of Copperfield, Oregon. (https://www.idahopower.com/community-recreation/recreation/parks-and-campgrounds/copperfield-park/)

I went to book this for a weekend for a family trip in the summer.. They do not have any tent spots. She was OK with our motorhome and one tent but the minute I said we had two kids and two small tents. She immediately informed me that she would not be renting to us. 

Clean campsite right on the river which has access for boat put in/wade access. Perfect for fishing the St. Joe. Large campsites as well (able to fit multiple tents)

This small campground has it all. Sand area for tents, showers and rent boat, canoe and kayaks at the small marina

This campground costs $10 a night, for a tent spot. Nice creek running by the campground. Plenty of spots to choose from. Does not get heavily used.

There is great hiking from the campground. Close to McCall!