Steens Mountain Wilderness Resort

We camped here specifically to visit the Steens and Malhuer area and this resort works fantastic for this purpose. The spots are large and can accommodate very large rigs however can be very difficult to level as they are older gravel spaces that could use some work.

Even though the spots are kind of close together, because they are staggered on a hill you do not feel like you are on top of your neighbors. The connections (sewer, water, and electric) are all at the back of the spots and you may find you need longer hoses to reach once you finally find a level spot (I was about 10' short on sewer hose).

This area is full of natural beauty and wildlife and especially birding opportunities. There are several BLM campgrounds in the area as well that looked very nice if not small. The mosquitoes were pretty bad at night but not a problem at all during the day.

It is about a 2-3 mile drive on a bumpy gravel road but if you take your time it is not too bad but can be dusty. This is one of those places you visit for the surrounding area and for us it worked perfect to suit that need. We would definitely come back again and really enjoyed the area and owners of this resort.

I concur with the previous review and add the following safety information (especially for pets and kids). This is a rustic RV Park in the beautiful Steens Mountains. We saw five snakes on highway 205 during the last 30-40 minutes of our drive to the RV Park. We also saw one this morning on the road in the RV Park and were told a lot of the snakes in this area are harmless but there are rattle snakes in the area to beware of too. There are ticks in the area as well. We met a woman walking her dog who said she removed 6 ticks from her dog the night before. She was staying at Page Springs Campground which is very close by (approximately 1/4 mile away and on the other side of the Blitzen River).

Long pull through sites. Full hookups. Quiet campground boardering wildlife refuge and on the Steens Mt loop. Sites are on a hill so there is a step down to day use area. Sites are close together but we never had anyone on either side of us in a week. Owners do a great job of keeping buffer between campers. Small store with some basic necessities. Gravel road to campground is washboard and we had no problem with our 5th wheel- just go slow.
Tent area is shaded with grass. Bathhouse and laundry on site. We enjoyed it as our base camp for adventure. Would stay again. Only down site were the mosquitoes. Buy a LOT of 100% deet and still some Benadryl for the ones that still get you!
Sites are dusty and there is no great spot if you want to have a tent in addition to your RV- we ended up getting a 2nd tent only site.
Owners were friendly and helpful. We really enjoyed our time here- but know this spot is still quite primitive so plan accordingly.

Others have said enough about this campground. We had side by side sites. My site we actually ended up level side to side (somehow). Just had to raise our trailer nose. Most sites are no where near level. We had the option to move to some sites further up that were super long. But they had humps in the middle. Every site seems to have sewer and hookups at or near the rear. And sewer seems to be uphill for every site. The sites we were at have the fire ring and table down the hill and pretty much on top of your neighbor.

We had some trash in both our sites. Including someone had left a piece of metal probably off their rv. The road in is very washboard. Very surprising on a flat road. Apparently the county or blm doesn’t own a grader or know how to use it. As it’s common all over the area.

The location. For the steens is amazing. Couldn’t get a better spot. Tho we drove to fish lake campground and it was very pretty. But is primitive. I doubt we’d want to take our trailer in.

Our spot seemed very tight to get in. One of the campground staff saw us circle about 3 times and was like “longer ones get in”. But it looked like my wife was going to take a tree to the side of the trailer getting in. We finally backed in. Several trees in the camp need trimmed. Just driving around you will scrape on some.

We will be back. But not because of the campground. Because of the amazing area. Might try a different spot next time. Tho every site seemed to have its challenges. It all needs a dozer brought in. And the big pit run rock replaced with actually crushed rock and smoothed and leveled.

As others have said. WiFi sucked. Though it had good coverage. Speed was terrible and frequent disconnects common.

Our hotspot on TMobile wouldn’t connect to anything. Verizon was faster then the WiFi by a long shot.

The location is beautiful and thank goodness the gravel road from the main highway is only 3 miles long. It is so rough, had we not had our chairs strapped down they would've been thrown into our kitchen. We've been on FS roads that are smoother. Although this is advertised as a resort, there are no resort type amenities. No pool or hot tub, no game room. Aside from that, we liked the views and the setup of the campground. Most if not all are sites are pull through, but beware that the sewer connection is at the back of the site and the owners do not tell you that when you check in. Hence we setup and disconnected before we noticed this so the day we were leaving, we backed up to connect to the sewer in order to dump our tanks before pulling out.

Each site has a fire ring and table, but they are on your door side which is downhill. We were there late October so no one was next to us, so having a fire worked, but had there been someone there, we would've had to sit next to their rig to enjoy our fire.

Be aware that while staying out here, all points of interest are at least an hours drive - the French Round Barn, Diamond Craters, Steens Mountain, Keiger Mustand lookout, Fields Station, Malheur Wildlife Reservoir. We drove to Fields for the milkshakes - $7.50 and worth it! On our way out, we drove to the French Round barn which has plenty of parking room if you are towing - pending the time of year and visitors. We only drove part way up Steen's mountain because of snowy weather stopping us.

The office here sells items both basic and souvenirs, and lend out movies. They accept Good Sam discounts. A laundry is available, but not sure about showers. Verizon coverage is great.

Agree with all earlier comments

The only reason I gave it only three stars was the fact that this campground is certainly not a resort. We later learned that it used to be called Camping Corral who’s is more fitting. The hosts were nice and the restrooms/showers were clean. The office has a little store that is well stocked with essentials.
If you are a bird watcher this is the place you want to be. Over 90 species of birds migrate to this area. The cute little town of Frenchglen (population of 10) is just 3 miles down the road. The folks at the historic hotel serve lovely meals and will even make you a sack lunch to take with you on your birding adventures.

We stayed here for one night, check in was easy and the staff were friendly. The road in from Frenchglen is rough to say the least with lots of washboard. Very quiet campground with huge pull through sites. Site 37, I could fit two of my set ups. 25' trailer with Ram 2500. Decent Verizon service, enough to stream Netflix. The park does offer free Wifi but they are pretty tight on their bandwidth usage. Sites are gravel/rock with picnic table. Our site was level only requiring an 1" of level to one side. The sites are tiered so our picnic table was well below the level of the trailer.

This is a beautiful tranquil RV park with roomy sites in a bird watchers paradise. Exactly the kind of place we are always looking for when not boondocking. Nice owners and very pet friendly. The road in was in good shape with some washboard, just take it slow with your RV. Had no problems towing our 35ft trailer in. Our site was perfect level side-to-side and easy in/out.
AT&T was 82/18 Mbps down/up and Verizon 55/14 Mbps. No T-Mobile in the whole area except at the Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center, which is closer to Burns.
Stayed here for two weeks in June and enjoyed all our trips to the wildlife refuge, Steens Mountain, Alvord Desert and The Fields Station for milkshakes.
If we are in the area again, we will be back!