Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 29 of the next 30 nights read 16:31 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Ditch Creek Guard Station, located about 27 miles southeast of Heppner, Oregon, is a comfortable little cabin that accommodates six overnight guests, with additional space for tent camping outside. Equestrian campers are welcome and a corral with trough is provided. The guard station was originally built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the mid-1930s. It is a classic example of forest structures of that era and is eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. It was used by forest fireguards who would ride their horses deep into the forest’s interior to look for wisps of smoke from lightning strikes or to check on communications lines along Forest Service roads. It became a recreation rental in 1997. Keep reading
Recreation
The route to the cabin is located off the Blue Mountain Scenic Byway, which boasts incredible views. Over 26 miles of hiking and horseback riding trails, ranging between 4,100 and 5,300 feet in elevation, traverse forests and meadows throughout the Heppner Ranger District. Fishing opportunities abound in nearby streams, Penland Lake, and Bull Prairie Lake. Other activities include hunting for deer and elk, mushroom and berry picking, wildlife viewing, and enjoying the scenic landscape.
Facilities
The cabin is a one-story building containing a bedroom, living room, kitchen with nook, and a bathroom. The cabin does not meet accessibility standards due to narrow doorways and halls. A picnic table, campfire ring and a 20' X 20' horse corral with water trough are located outside. Guests may pitch tents in the yard for additional sleeping options. The bedroom contains two bunk beds, a dresser, and a chair, and the living room is furnished with a futon, loveseat, side table, a dining table with four chairs, and a heating stove. A cook stove, fire extinguisher, cookware, silverware, and dishes are included in the kitchen. All appliances and lighting are propane, which is provided by the Forest Service. Potable water is available. Guests must bring food, bedding, toiletries, matches, flashlights, first aid kits, and any other camping gear. Cleaning supplies are provided in a closet by the door and guests are expected to clean the cabin before they leave.
Natural Features
The cabin sits near Ditch Creek on a large, flat lawn surrounded by a dense pine forest at an elevation of 4,800 feet. The creek is one of numerous small perennial streams that flow south into the North Fork John Day River. There is a small pond adjacent that is also stocked with fish. Deer and elk are likely to be seen in the area, and as evening falls, guests can watch bats flit and swoop above the yard. Contact Info For local information, please call (541) 676-9187 or call (541) 676-2155 for general information.
Nearby Attractions
The nearest town with a general store is Heppner, a 27 mile, 40-minute drive away, although ice and some food options are available at the Morrow County OHV park 30 miles or 37 minutes away.
What the agency tells you
We apologize, There is currently no water to the cabin. Updates will posted.
There is no camping allowed on the upper section of the property near or around the pumphouse.
Entry to the cabin is by combination lock. The combination will be provided on the reservation confirmation letter.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Check in 2:00 PM Check out 11:00 AM
To check on weather conditions and road access prior to arrival, please call the Heppner Ranger District at (541) 676-9187.
Please bring garbage bags; this is a 'pack in-pack out' facility.
Parking is limited; please minimize the number of RVs and vehicles at the cabin.
Hay brought to this facility must be certified weed-free.
Use of the outside fire ring may be restricted due to fire conditions. For current fire restrictions and closures, call the Ranger Station or click here .
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.
The maximum stay limit is 14 consecutive nights.
For additional information and road conditions please contact the Recreation Department at the Heppner Ranger District (541-676-2155).
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- FLUSH TOILETS on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Store
- Nearby
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Meadow
- Berry Picking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Mushroom Picking
- Wildlife viewing
Full this Saturdayread 16:31 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
1 campground has sites open within 30 miles, read 16:43 UTC. See them
OpenBookedClosed
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Tue, Oct 20. read 16:31 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
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 · 12
What you actually pay
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 · 5
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 1
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:43 UTC
- Bull Prairie Campground (OR)Umatilla National Forest · 19 mi · 22 of 36 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:31 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 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. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA DITCH CREEK GUARD STATION CAB | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 246 ft | $50 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Bull Prairie Campground (OR)Umatilla National Forest · 19 miFairview CampgroundUmatilla National Forest · 21 miFrom Lexington, OR, take Highway 74/207 east to Heppner. At the junction just outside the southern edge of Heppner, take a left (east) on paved Willow Creek Road. Travel 23 miles past Willow Creek Lake, Cutsforth County Park and up Coalmine Hill. At the top of the hill, take a right (west) on Forest Service Road 21 (a gravel road) and travel 3.5 miles. The cabin is located on a hill on the north side of the road and is accessed by two short entrance roads (Forest Service Road 050 and 051).
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Heppner, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 33°F, day 62°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 22°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 Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send
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
Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab 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 →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyCliff BentzU.S. Representative · Oregon’s 2nd district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJeff MerkleyU.S. Senator · Oregon
- Your senator, on the same appropriationRon WydenU.S. Senator · Oregon
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab, Umatilla National Forest, Oregon
Dear Cliff Bentz, I’m a constituent in Oregon’s 2nd district. I tried to camp at Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab, Umatilla National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab (Umatilla National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab, Umatilla National Forest, Oregon
Dear Jeff Merkley, I’m a constituent in Oregon. I tried to camp at Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab, Umatilla National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab (Umatilla National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab, Umatilla National Forest, Oregon
Dear Ron Wyden, I’m a constituent in Oregon. I tried to camp at Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab, Umatilla National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab (Umatilla National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com