Middle Fork Campground
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 8 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $8From, per site
- Sites
- 10All 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 along the Scenic Middle Fork of the John Day River set back amongst beautiful ponderosa pine trees is a great spot for fishing and viewing spawning steelhead in the fall. The campground is a good starting point for hunters, hikers and those wishing to see beautiful scenery, wildlife and wildflowers. The campground sets just off of the county road allowing for easy access to all variety of vehicles and bicycles. Keep reading
Recreation
This campground offers excellent fishing access along the Middle Fork John Day River, along with a unique chance to view spawning steelhead during the fall months. Visitors can enjoy nearby hikes and wildlife and wildflower viewing. It also provides a great base camp for hunters.
Facilities
Each campsite has a picnic table, fire ring and parking for camp trailers. Accessible vault toilets are conveniently located in the middle of the campground.
Natural Features
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
No cell phone coverage.
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 trash service; Pack it in/Pack it out
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 10
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…parking for camp trailers. Accessible vault toilets are conveniently located in the middle of the…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Water access
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
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, $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 · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
10 sites
All 10 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. 10 of the 10 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Middle Fork | 1 | standard nonelectric | $8 |
| Middle Fork | 10 | standard nonelectric | $8 |
| Middle Fork | 2 | standard nonelectric | $8 |
| Middle Fork | 3 | standard nonelectric | $8 |
| Middle Fork | 4 | standard nonelectric | $8 |
| Middle Fork | 5 | standard nonelectric | $8 |
| Middle Fork | 6 | standard nonelectric | $8 |
| Middle Fork | 7 | standard nonelectric | $8 |
| Middle Fork | 8 | standard nonelectric | $8 |
| Middle Fork | 9 | standard nonelectric | $8 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Sunshine Guard StationMalheur National Forest · 5.3 miDixie CampgroundMalheur National Forest · 6.6 miHead O' Boulder Forest CampMalheur National Forest · 9.6 miLower Camp Creek CampgroundMalheur National Forest · 10 mi
Olive Lake Campground (OR)Umatilla National Forest · 11 miFrom the town of Prairie City, OR, travel east on US Highway 26 approximately 11 miles to the junction of US Highway 7, follow US Highway 7 for approximately 1 mile to the junction with County Road 20, junction will be on the left. Follow County Road 20 for approximately 5 miles, the campground will be on the left.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Greenhorn, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 28°F, day 59°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 15°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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Middle Fork 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 →