Miners Retreat
3Heads up3 fires, nearest 6 mi
Reservable everywhere but bookable nowhere.Ask the agency →
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 1None on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Miner's Retreat is an old Forest Service cabin that allows guests to relax in the outdoors and also step back in time to when the cabin was used during the bygone gold mining days. Miner's Retreat is part of the Fremont Powerhouse complex, a hub for mining built in the early 1900s. It is one of four cabins located at the site near the town of Granite, and provides great flexibility for larger groups. The surrounding valleys once teemed with mining activity, primarily gold. The Fremont Powerhouse was built in 1908 as an economical method for mining. Keep reading
Two dams were constructed at Olive Lake, and water from the lake was piped through an 8-mile wood and steel pipeline to the powerhouse to generate electricity. Homes were constructed to shelter workers who monitored the pipeline. Today, these same shelters are where visitors can stay overnight. The cabin is uphill from the Fremont Powerhouse, flanked by Caretakers Cabin and Hilltop Hideaway. Winter access may require skis, snowshoes or snowmobiles. Click here for a virtual tour of the area.
Recreation
Guests can hike on trails into the North Fork John Day Wilderness or go mountain biking on forest roads. A drive along the Blue Mountain Scenic Byway is a treat, as are other activities like huckleberry and mushroom picking, bird watching, wildlife viewing and photographing the vast landscape. Nearby Olive Lake offers boating, fishing and swimming.
Facilities
This cozy little cabin offers a covered front porch and features two bedrooms, a full bath with hot and cold running water (during the summer months only) and a kitchen and living room. The cabin has electric lights throughout and is heated with electric wall heaters. The cabin sleeps up to six and is fully furnished with beds, a couch and a table with chairs. The kitchen is equipped with an electric stove and oven, refrigerator and a variety of utensils, such as skillets, a coffee pot, glasses, cups, dishes and silverware. Cleaning supplies are also provided. Guests must bring sleeping bags or bedding, a flashlight, first aid kit, washcloths, towels and dish soap, among other general camping supplies. Click here for more cabin details.
Natural Features
The cabin sits at an elevation of about 5,000 feet, on a hillside overlooking the expansive Umatilla National Forest near the North Fork John Day Wilderness. A grassy lawn in front leads to the other three cabins in the area. The forest lies in the Blue Mountains and is home to Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir. Birds in the area include the black-backed woodpecker, American kestrel and the Boreal owl. Black bear, elk and deer are among the native land mammals. Click here to learn about bear safety.
Nearby Attractions
The cabin is located less than 6 miles from Granite, Oregon, a ghost town that once bustled with prospectors and pioneers. The town provides groceries and fuel.
What the agency tells you
Entry to the cabin is by combination lock. Your cabin code is located at the bottom of this email.
FS Road 52 is not maintained in the winter, so from October through May access is only available from Baker City. Do not attempt to cross Forest Road 52 during those months without calling the District to confirm it is passable. Many people have gotten stuck in snow drifts they thought they could push through and this area is remote and there is no cell phone coverage.
Please bring garbage bags; this is a 'pack in-pack out' facility
Everything else this campground posts · 8
No smoking allowed
No drinking water or plumbing from October to May
For current fire restrictions click here or call ranger district
Pets are welcome, but no horses or livestock allowed
If bringing small children, be cautious around the small pond next to the cabin
There is additional space for tent camping
The maximum stay is 14 consecutive nights
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- FLUSH TOILETS (SEASONAL) on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Showers
- Seasonal Showers
- SHOWERS (SEASONAL) on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER (PEAK SEASON) on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Berry Picking
- Birding
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
Nothing on the booking system
recreation.gov lists none of the 1 campsites the agency files here. Whatever these sites are, a reservation isn’t how you get one.
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.
Every line of the receipt · 9
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 · 4
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · record Aug 23, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
| AREA MINERS RETREAT | 001 | type not stated | 297 ft |
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
Caretakers CabinUmatilla National Forest · 0.0 mi
Congo GulchUmatilla National Forest · 0.0 mi
Hilltop Hideaway - Umatilla NF (OR)Umatilla National Forest · 0.0 mi
Olive Lake Campground (OR)Umatilla National Forest · 4.9 mi
North Fork John Day Campground (OR)Umatilla National Forest · 9.4 miHead O' Boulder Forest CampMalheur National Forest · 10 miFrom Pendleton, Oregon: Travel south on Highway 395 for 50 miles to the Ukiah exit. Turn left on Highway 244 to Ukiah. Turn right (south) just before the city park; this road becomes Forest Service Road (FSR) 52 at the Forest boundary. Travel 50 miles to the small town of Granite. From Granite go west on County Road 24 for approximately 6 miles. The main road veers left along the creek bed. At this junction turn right (uphill) on FSR 10 and follow the signs to the Fremont Powerhouse, towards Fremont Congo Gulch Cabin. Do not use between October and June without confirming this route is open with the Ranger District.
From Baker City, Oregon: Travel west on Highway 7 and continue 20 miles to the junction with FSR 73. Proceed north through Sumpter and another 17 miles to the small town of Granite. From Granite go west on County Road 24 for approximately 6 miles. The main road veers left along the creek bed. At this junction turn right (uphill) on FSR 10 and follow the signs to the Fremont Powerhouse, towards Fremont Congo Gulch Cabin. This route is plowed in the winter and provides the only winter access.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Granite, 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 · a letter you can send
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Miners Retreat 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
The agency’s own record marks Miners Retreat reservable, and recreation.gov lists none of its campsites. The draft asks why, and what it would take to fix it.
- 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
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Miners Retreat is reservable and not bookable
Dear Cliff Bentz, I’m a constituent in Oregon’s 2nd district. Miners Retreat, Umatilla National Forest, Oregon is a federal campground the U.S. Forest Service records as reservable, and recreation.gov lists none of its 1 campsites, in any month asked. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why isn’t Miners Retreat on the booking system, and what would it take to put it there? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Miners Retreat (Umatilla National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Miners Retreat is reservable and not bookable
Dear Jeff Merkley, I’m a constituent in Oregon. Miners Retreat, Umatilla National Forest, Oregon is a federal campground the U.S. Forest Service records as reservable, and recreation.gov lists none of its 1 campsites, in any month asked. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why isn’t Miners Retreat on the booking system, and what would it take to put it there? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Miners Retreat (Umatilla National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Miners Retreat is reservable and not bookable
Dear Ron Wyden, I’m a constituent in Oregon. Miners Retreat, Umatilla National Forest, Oregon is a federal campground the U.S. Forest Service records as reservable, and recreation.gov lists none of its 1 campsites, in any month asked. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why isn’t Miners Retreat on the booking system, and what would it take to put it there? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Miners Retreat (Umatilla National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com