Magone Lake Campground
1Heads up1 fire 27 mi away
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $13From, per site
- Sites
- 21All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Magone Lake Campground is situated along its namesake lake. Visitors enjoy fishing, canoeing, swimming, mountain biking and hiking. The campground is set in a forest of White Fir and Ponderosa Pine. Magone Lake covers about 50 acres and features both deep holes of up to 100 feet and shoals on the north side. Geologists believe Magone Lake was created by a landslide in the early 1800s. Keep reading
Recreation
The Magone Lake area offers swimming, fishing, hiking and mountain biking opportunities. The lake contains eastern brook and rainbow trout. A boat ramp is available on-site. Visitors also enjoy viewing wildflowers and interesting geology throughout the region Facilities Day use swimming area with beach Boat launch and dock Fishing pier Walking trail around the lake Potable water during summer months Mountain bike trails Reservable Group Picnic Shelter Reservable Group Campsite Nearby Attractions Middle Fork John Day River Magone Bike Trail Network Magone Lake Trail Magone Slide Trail Nipple Butte Trail 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 · 4
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.
Drinking water is available only during warmer months; water will be shut off from early October until late May (specific dates required to prevent freezing lines depend on area temperatures).
No cell phone coverage.
No trash service; Pack it in/Pack it out
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 21 · 3 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- ACCESSIBLE VAULT TOILETS on 21 of 21 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER (HAND PUMP) on 21 of 21 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Beach
- Biking
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Picnicking
- Swimming
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 15:41 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, $13 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 15:41 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
21 sites
All 21 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. 18 of the 21 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Magone | 01 | standard nonelectric | $13 |
| Magone | 02 | standard nonelectric | $13 |
| Magone | 03 | standard nonelectric | $13 |
| Magone | 04 | standard nonelectric | $13 |
| Magone | 05 | tent only nonelectric | |
| Magone | 06 | tent only nonelectric | |
| Magone | 07 | tent only nonelectric | |
| Magone | 08 | standard nonelectric | $13 |
| Magone | 09 | standard nonelectric | $13 |
| Magone | 10 | standard nonelectric | $13 |
| Magone | 11 | standard nonelectric | $13 |
| Magone | 12 | standard nonelectric | $13 |
| Magone | 13 | standard nonelectric | $13 |
| Magone | 14 | standard nonelectric | $13 |
| Magone | 15 | standard nonelectric | $13 |
| Magone | 16 | standard nonelectric | $13 |
| Magone | 17 | standard nonelectric | $13 |
| Magone | 18 | standard nonelectric | $13 |
| Magone | 19 | standard nonelectric | $13 |
| Magone | 20 | standard nonelectric | $13 |
| Magone | 21 | standard nonelectric | $13 |
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 John Day, Oregon, take U.S. Highway 26 east for approximately 9 miles. At the junction of County Road 18, travel north approximately 10 miles. At Forest Road 3620, turn west and drive approximately 1 mile to Forest Road 3618. The campground is about 1 mile from the turnoff. From Prairie City, Oregon, take U.S. Highway 26 approximately 3 miles west. At the junction of County Road 18, travel north approximately 10 miles. Turn west on Forest Road 3620 and travel approximately 1 mile to Forest Road 3618. The campground is about 1 mile from the turnoff.
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
Magone Lake 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 →