Lower Camp Creek Campground
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 27 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $6From, per site
- Sites
- 6All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
A pleasantly small campground tucked among ponderosa pines along a forest creek. This campground is popular with hunters. Just a short drive away from the beautiful Middle Fork of the John Day River. Less than a mile away is Arch Rock Trail #258, an ash flow tuff with a scenic arch and several small rock shelters eroded into the outcrop, allowing visitors a place to see fascinating geological features. A bit further at 13 miles away is Magone Lake Campground, a great place to swim, fish or hike. Keep reading
Recreation
Visitors can enjoy easy access to the Arch Rock Trail, where eroded ash flows and rock shelters offer a chance to experience fascinating geological features up close. The Middle Fork John Day River is just a short drive away, providing scenic landscapes and additional outdoor exploration. The campground is also a popular starting point for hunters.
Facilities
Each campsite has a picnic table, fire ring, and parking for camp trailers. Accessible vault toilet is conveniently located in the middle of the campground.
Nearby Attractions
Middle Fork John Day River Magone Recreation Area Sumpter Valley Interpretative Site Davis Creek Trail Vinegar Hill Indian Rock Scenic Area Austin House Bates State Park Dewitt Museum and Depot Park Kam Wah Chung & Co. State Heritage Site Grant County Ranch and Rodeo Museum Grant County Historical Museum Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (541) 575-3000.
What the agency tells you
14 Day Stay Limit
Malheur National Forest Fire Public Use Restrictions
Malheur National Forest Alerts
Everything else this campground posts · 3
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
- 6
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…parking for camp trailers. Accessible vault toilet is conveniently located in the middle of the…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, 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 · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $6 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 · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 15:55 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
6 sites
All 6 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. 6 of the 6 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
Deerhorn 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 miFrom the town of Prairie City, OR, travel west 3 miles on US Highway 26 to the junction with County Road 18. Turn right, follow County Road 18 approximately 9 miles to the junction with Forest Road 36, turn right and follow Forest Road 36 approximately 11 miles. The camp ground will be on the left.
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
Lower Camp Creek 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 →