Deerhorn Campground
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 27 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $8From, per site
- Sites
- 5All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
This small campground offers fishing, exploring, nature watching and hunting opportunities in the Middle Fork John Day River State Scenic Waterway. The campground is busiest during late summer and hunting season. Keep reading
Recreation
Visitors can enjoy abundant recreation, from fishing the Middle Fork John Day River to exploring the surrounding forested landscape. This area also provides convenient access to hunting terrain.
Facilities
Each campsite has a picnic table, fire ring, and parking for camp trailers. Accessible vault toilet is conveniently located in the campground.
Natural Features
Borders Middle Fork John Day River Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (541) 575-3000.
Nearby Attractions
Davis Creek Trail Vinegar Hill Indian Rock Scenic Area Tempest Mine Trail Sunrise Butte Trail Princess Trail Bates State Park Austin House
What the agency tells you
First come, first serve
Malheur National Forest Fire Information
Malheur National Forest Alerts
Everything else this campground posts · 4
14 day stay limit
Don't Move Firewood: Please protect Pacific Northwest forests by preventing the spread of invasive species. Firewood can carry insects and diseases that can threaten the health of our western forests. You can make a difference by obtaining and burning your firewood near your camping destination. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
No cell phone coverage.
No trash service; Pack it in/Pack it out
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 5
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…parking for camp trailers. Accessible vault toilet is conveniently located in the campground. Natural…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Water access
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 15:55 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 13
What you actually pay
“Single site: $8/night additional vehicle fee: $4 per vehicle per day” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own fee record
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $8 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 15:55 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
5 sites
All 5 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 5 of the 5 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Buck Spring CampgroundMalheur National Forest · 0.0 mi
Dixie CampgroundMalheur National Forest · 0.0 mi
Falls Campground (Malheur National Forest)Malheur National Forest · 0.0 mi
Idlewild CampgroundMalheur National Forest · 0.0 mi
Joaquin Miller Horse CampMalheur National Forest · 0.0 miLittle Crane CampgroundMalheur National Forest · 0.0 miFrom Prairie City, OR., travel east on Highway 26 approximately 13 miles to the junction of Highway 26 and Highway 7. Turn onto Highway 7 for approximately 1/8th of a mile to the junction with County Road 20, turn onto County Road 20. On County Road 20 travel approximately 4 miles, the campground will be on your left. The turn for the campground is on a corner, the entrance is marked with a small green sign.
The agency publishes this point for 18 campgrounds; it’s likely a district office, not the campground. Use the agency’s own page for directions.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Prairie City, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 21°F, day 60°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 11°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Deerhorn Campground is in Oregon’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Cliff Bentz (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →