Best Glamping near Umatilla National Forest

We loved this little first-come, first-serve campground. It's small and squeezed in between the creek, mountain highway (only 2 lanes) and steep hillside with some grazing cattle on the other side. The cattle and road noise was okay for us at night, but if you are a light sleeper it might not be for you. There is plenty of shade with all the trees and it does get a little dark earlier because of all the shade. While the toilet facilities are a bit older, they flush and are clean where it counts. We stayed at campsite 5, which seems like an odd choice since it's right next to the welcome signage and fee drop box, but we really liked it because we were able to spread out along the side of the creek with our tent as well as our Big Agnes shade/bug screen we have as well. No fires allowed this time around, but we were fine with our camp stove on the picnic table. There were a few water spigots around and a trash can for each site. It was lovely listening to the creek all day (and waking up to it). A good number of spots in the middle of the campground seemed better suited to small-medium pull behinds since there wasn't as much separating the individual sites. The sites around the edges had a bit more privacy since they abut the edges of the creek or heavier brush. The day use area is a short 1/2 mile drive up the road or a 1 mile hike (0.5 there and 0.5 back) and we saw a few families enjoying the picnic and creek area over the weekend. We saw people using it as a one-night stopover on longer trips and a few campers stayed a few nights like we did. Besides the short hikes and a bit of splashing around in the creek in the day use area there isn't a lot to do in the area (no cell service on Verizon) besides relaxing. The creek side has been undergoing some restoration work so it's not a free-for-all access anywhere. It seems to be working since at campsite 5, being right next to the creek, we had plenty of critters - plenty of butterflies, a few more spiders than I usually notice. There were the usual gnats, mozzies, bees, wasps, and flies too, but no more than any other campground, as well as some creek specific ones since we were so close to the creek - I want to say mayflies or something similar. We also saw plenty of birds, snacking away on bugs in the trees or grass, as well as a few hummingbirds that really liked when the park ranger had put some sprinklers on to water the grass.

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.

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.