roadtripper685843

We were happy to find this public dump station as we were headed NW to Cottonwood Canyon SP, where there isn't any.

It was conveniently located alongside Route 19 on the north side of town. Lots of room to maneuver our rig.

Would have been 5 stars, but there was no drinking water for our tanks.

We stayed in the first site near the vault toilet. Lots of sites available on a Saturday around 2pm...lots of them were great, but it was blowing a gale, making sitting outside too chilly. So we picked out site just off the marsh. We checked the forecast, and decided to stay another night...the wind died, and it was warmer!!

Lots of people fishing here, birds galore in the marsh off our site. I had to take photos to text my birder friend.

4 bars Verizon without a booster.

There are at least 12 sites, some can hold multiple rigs, not just the 6 shown above.

The BLM calls this a campground, but it is an short gravel road with parking areas defined by huge rocks and posts. It is locally popular, so if you want to get a site arrive early, and avoid weekends. Some parking spots are backins, most just a wedge off the road.....see Google maps.

You could get a small trailer here, most people here had tents or class B's. Larger trailers won't be able to make the right turn around at the end of the road. We left our 17 ft Bigfoot at home, and slept in our van. We got here on a Sunday and scored the huge site at the end for our van and screen shelter. Locals told us a group of 30 were in our site the previous night

I was able to meditate on the edge of the canyon, shaded by large junipers, with a soft breeze, with the Deschutes River rapids below... amazing

Vault toilet at the trailhead, no water, no trash service, no fires, no picnic tables.

We found this place through the "places to camp" provided by the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Seeing as how it is a fly in camp, with a grass strip, and a vintage hangar and my other half is a pilot, this was a no brainer.

The location was close to the Blue Basin trailhead, with the best hiking in the Sheep Rock unit of the park.
It was about 5 miles of good graded gravel road, but you need a smaller rig to access the private road into and out of the property.

You call the landline number to reserve.. you must have a reservation. We checked in at the house, and the owner led us down to our site, parallel to the green grass surrounding the hanger. There were 2 restrooms, each one was in a repurposed grain bin.(spotlessly clean) All electric on site is solar, the bins had tiny solar lights, a toilet, and a propane on demand hot water heater. (No sink) My shower was great! There was 1 other group there (in 3 vans) and they used the other grain bin.

The owner was very friendly, and let us explore the hanger.

The views of the grass strip and area were amazing...and then it got dark and the sky took our breath away.

This was a unique experience and may not be for everybody, but you betcha we'll be back!

Pictures will follow when we get a better signal..

Dump station is just past the public works at the West end of B street. When leaving there is a traffic light so you can turn left onto the highway and head north. I only have it 4 stars as there was no potable water..

Our stay was the nights of September 7 and 8. The campground host was getting ready to close on the 9th for the season. The elevation here is over 9000', so that was understandable.

The road up from the interstate was quite steep, but manageable.The water was clear, but it was too windy to take out the kayak. Our site had a small view of the lake. The Navajo Lake dump station was already closed for the season, so we used the one at Duck Creek campground instead.. The campground is larger than the sign in the photo shows, as half of it is located on the south side of the access road.

There was good hiking nearby, with access to the Virgin Rim trail. This campground would be a good choice for visiting Cedar Breaks NM, which is at an even higher elevation.

We stayed here October 22 & 23, after the water had been turned off to the upper campground, so we only had an electric and sewer hookup. Our price of $10 reflects that we had purchased the newly issued out of state annual access pass for $200, so we only had to pay the $10/night elec surcharge, instead of the normal $30/ night fee.

The new upper campground as around 15 sites, all of which are large pull thru with full hookups, and shade shelters.
The sites are wide open with very little screening. It had is own new heated restroom, with showers that was open in the winter. We got the Verizon cell coverage (no booster) from the upper campground.

The best thing about the campground is not visible on arriving....the reservoir is normally low and not very scenic, although it attracts a lot of birds. The Ash Canyon hike, that starts from the lower campground made us want to come back again and again. Given the terrain of the valley you would never suspect that this remote canyon was just over the hill.

The hike starts from a trailhead at the back of the older lower campground. This campground was open for the winter too, but the water was completely off to the sites, the restroom/shower house locked, with portapotties for winter use. But these sites we're charming, mostly backins with thoughtful mature landscaping. No one was there, so there were 33 sites there to choose from.The lower campground also had a dump station, and the sites had shade shelters also. If we hadn't already paid our elec surcharge for two nights, we would have moved there an camped for free with our pass.

We were here 9/29-10/2, and truly enjoyed our peaceful visit. The park was immaculate, and we had our choice of sites. They are pretty much in the middle of a green open field...which we found as a welcome relief, as it was extremely dry in Oregon and fires were raging back home. It also meant we had great solar. The vault toilets were the cleanest we've ever seen, and smelled of bleach every morning.

The park has several displays detailing the history of the company town and lumber mill of Bates, that used to be here. The wood was brought here via the narrow gauge Sumpter Valley Railroad. Families that grew up here still get together for reunions.

We also enjoyed the network of trails on site. We took a day trip from Bates to hike the trail to Strawberry Lake (south of Prairie City), as the road to the trailhead was not recommended for trailers.

We parked at the "Alder Flat" trailhead, and hiked the easy .9 mile trail down to the shore area. The trail was built by the job corps and is very well maintained....our 2 and 6 year old grandkids had no problem. We got there early on a hot Saturday in August, and got a parking spot. There were several cars at the trailhead, and we met some campers hiking out with their backpacks. The area is still very popular for dispersed hike in camping.

We were able to find a private spot with a suitable safe shallow area for the girls to play in, It would be a lovely spot to stay in if we were younger...

We got here on a Thursday in late September 2020, hoping to score a site. We lad lots to choose from, and picked B1.…in part because the water and electric sites were $20/night ($10 for us seniors), got more sun 🌞, and got a better cell signal with Verizon (no booster).

We were astonished to find a USFS campground, with water and electric, not to mention clean flush toilets.

The lake was way down, probably is that way every fall...helps keep the crowds down. We did enjoy hiking the trail that surrounds the lake.

It was a good base camp to explore the area; the Sumpter Valley Railroad, the Sumpter Valley Dredge state park, and the isolated village of Granite.