The best campgrounds near John Day, Oregon with horseback riding

Near the valley of the painted hills sits the little town of John Day. Ranches line the road to town, and not long ago cattle drives were a regular event on Main Street. The town is a hub for this rural area, bringing locals to the farmer's market, small museums, and the big county fair. The Oregon town sits between two national forests: Malheur and Umatilla. They cover 3 million acres of the Blue Mountains, rolling through dessert grasslands, alpine lakes, and sage and juniper groves. Campers can choose from a half dozen campgrounds within an hour's drive. Tent camping here leans toward the rustic, with vault toilets and potable water. Clyde Holliday State Recreation Site is a better choice for amenities. Just west of town, the campground has water and electrical for RV camping, plus hot showers and a dump station. The wooded camp sits on the banks of the John Day River for fishing and swimming. The painted hills are one of Oregon's top natural wonders. Layers of colored soil give the hills a striped appearance. Visit in the late afternoon, when the colors are at their most dramatic. You can find them at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, along with a fossil bed site. If you prefer to stay in town, check out the RV park at the Grant County Fairgrounds. The park offers full hook-up sites and is close to the town swimming pool.

93% (118)

Top-rated campgrounds near John Day

Near the valley of the painted hills sits the little town of John Day. Ranches line the road to town, and not long ago cattle drives were a regular event on Main Street. The town is a hub for this rural area, bringing locals to the farmer's market, small museums, and the big county fair. The Oregon town sits between two national forests: Malheur and Umatilla. They cover 3 million acres of the Blue Mountains, rolling through dessert grasslands, alpine lakes, and sage and juniper groves. Campers can choose from a half dozen campgrounds within an hour's drive. Tent camping here leans toward the rustic, with vault toilets and potable water. Clyde Holliday State Recreation Site is a better choice for amenities. Just west of town, the campground has water and electrical for RV camping, plus hot showers and a dump station. The wooded camp sits on the banks of the John Day River for fishing and swimming. The painted hills are one of Oregon's top natural wonders. Layers of colored soil give the hills a striped appearance. Visit in the late afternoon, when the colors are at their most dramatic. You can find them at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, along with a fossil bed site. If you prefer to stay in town, check out the RV park at the Grant County Fairgrounds. The park offers full hook-up sites and is close to the town swimming pool.

93% (118)

Top-rated campgrounds near John Day

1. Haystack Ranch

94%

(142)

49mi from John Day · 17 sites · Tents, RVs

My family has owned the ranch since 1977. We bought it from my parents a few years ago to keep it in the family. We love living here, and although it is just the two of us working it, we are slowly getting it to what we want it to be. The house we live in is over 100 years old and used to be a stage coach stop back in the late 1800's to early 1900's, You can still see some of the old stage coach roads on the property, and we are trying to preserve those the best we can. Also in the early 1900's this ranch used to be the place to go on the fourth of July. People from all over would bring their prize horses to compete in a horse race for the name of the fastest horses around While others would bring picnic baskets to set back on the knoll in one of our fields to watch. Learn more about this land:We are a 500 Acre working ranch located in Beautiful East Central Oregon, We are Between The stunning Painted Hills, and Umatilla National Forest. Just a few miles away from the Gorgeous John Day River, where Rafting, Tubing, Fishing, Swimming is always a welcome retreat. A few miles above us is Bull Prairie Lake and the wonderful Umatilla National Forest where hiking, sight seeing and wildlife viewing is always available.

Pets

Toilets

Magone Lake Campground

9.3mi from John Day · 1 site · Tent, RV · in Malheur National Forest

Starr Campground

11mi from John Day · 10 sites · Tents, RVs · in Malheur National Forest

100%

(1)

Wickiup Campground

15mi from John Day · 7 sites · Tents, RVs · in Malheur National Forest

Canyon Meadows Campground

15mi from John Day · 5 sites · Tents, RVs · in Malheur National Forest

100%

(5)

Strawberry Campground

15mi from John Day · 10 sites · Tents, RVs · in Malheur National Forest

Slide Creek Campground

16mi from John Day · 3 sites · Tents, RVs · in Malheur National Forest

Slide Horse Camp

16mi from John Day · 3 sites · in Malheur National Forest

Billy Fields Forest Camp

18mi from John Day · 6 sites · in Malheur National Forest

Parish Cabin Campground

19mi from John Day · 18 sites · Tents, RVs · in Malheur National Forest

Lower Camp Creek Campground

19mi from John Day · 6 sites · Tents, RVs · in Malheur National Forest

100%

(1)

Oregon Mine Campground

20mi from John Day · 6 sites · Tents, RVs · in Malheur National Forest

We were the only people in this campground in July 2015. It was raining the whole time :(

Dixie Campground

20mi from John Day · 11 sites · Tents, RVs · in Malheur National Forest

Recent reviews from the Hipcamp community

Shane

October 2025

Tent

Weekend Trip to Haystack Ranch

The host was great, the space was great, the scenery was great and the area was great. Will definitely be staying here again.

J

John

October 2025

20 ft travel trailer

4 nights at Haystack Ranch

This was an amazing property. Big area, lots of trees. Space for an RV, but not at all the locations, mainly just one but an RV can honestly park anywhere it wants, just might not have a picnic table readily available but the hosts will get you one. There's a cool outhouse and hand wash station. The best part is its only 30 minutes from John Day Fossil Painted Hills. There's a cool bar and pizza food truck about 3 miles away and the town of Spray has the basic necessities. The hosts let you use their water hose that's at the edge of their house property on the fence next to the road so you can top off your RV when you get there and refill canisters if you run out. Overall great site, low frills, primitive location.

J

Jess

September 2025

Tent

Weekend Trip to Haystack Ranch

Super beautiful and private! Picnic tables were a fun surprise. The outhouse was clever and clean!

S

Samantha

September 2025

Tent

Weekend Trip to Haystack Ranch

Beautiful part of the state with wide open grass lands and interesting geological sites. The camp was quiet and comfortable. We had trees for shade and were an easy walk from the nicely maintained outhouse. A pump handwashing station was a nice touch. Plenty of camp site options with level ground for camper vans (or tents/RV's). Be prepared for lots of prickly bur buttercup, black medic, chickweed, and thistle.

Mary

August 2025

15 ft travel trailer

With pets

Weekend Trip to Haystack Ranch

As noted the site is a bit hard to find from the south but google maps does get you to the correct spot. Just look for the secluded picnic table. Our host was fantastic and offered us some fresh picked produce. This is a beautiful area and I will stop again.

E

Elena

August 2025

30 ft campervan

Group trip

Weekend Trip to Haystack Ranch

Tent camping was great! Had the place to ourselves out of sight from the main house. The out house and sink were amazing to have! Super kind host and got a few bars of soap which are lovely. She even sent us off with some fresh veggies! Will definitely want to stay here again.

C

Callie

July 2025

Tent

With pets

Weekend Trip to Haystack Ranch

Very relaxing place! Toilet was very clean and well taken care of. Spaces were spread far enough apart for some privacy. You get to choose the available space you want when you arrive which is nice. The house is just down the road so getting water is super convenient!

S

Saraju

July 2025

Tent

With kids

Weekend Trip to Haystack Ranch

Great property and amazing views. Also wonderful, accommodating host. Very helpful and sweet person.

A

Allison

July 2025

22 ft campervan

With pets

Weekend Trip to Haystack Ranch

Plenty of space, pretty quiet, and nice night sky views. Some spots in full sun and some in shade. Easy to find and get settled and bought some fresh eggs in the morning for breakfast from the host. At the time we were there (early July), there was a lot of foxtail grass all around, so FYI if you have a dog.

S

Seth

June 2025

Tent

Weekend Trip to Haystack Ranch

It's a nice spot to camp. Here is an additional sentence to meet the 50 character minimum.

Christopher

June 2025

20 ft pop-up camper

Weekend Trip to Haystack Ranch

Haystack Ranch was a nice quiet place to camp. The views were nice and birds were singing. I loved the wild turkeys roaming about.

L

Lori

June 2025

19 ft Class B

With pets

4 nights at Haystack Ranch

My second time at Haystack Ranch. The area is so beautiful and a great base camp for exploring the area and the John Day River. The hosts are prompt in replying, and they want to make sure your experience at their ranch is welcoming and enjoyable. The best toilet and wash basin I've ever seen. Ingenious. I love it here, see you next year ❤️

B

Beverly

June 2025

20 ft Class B

4 nights at Haystack Ranch

Wow, Kelly and Andy are running an exceptional camp experience! We stayed 4 days, visited the river and great spots, and returning to our base camp. The toilet and wash station were clean, the hosts truly great folks... Thanks for a wonderful John Day River adventure, love you guys !!

J

Jyll

June 2025

Tent

2 nights at Haystack Ranch

The area was wonderful. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get to the pond due to things being overgrown. We made the best of it and had a great time being away from everything.

G

Grant

May 2025

16 ft car

Weekend Trip to Haystack Ranch

Great location, friendly host and beautiful landscape! Also, the beef is delicious.

Shana

May 2025

Tent

Weekend Trip to Haystack Ranch

Absolutely wonderful hosts! Very off grid and quiet. Wonderful place to stargaze and just be disconnected from society for a bit. Not far away from John Day National Monument and we saw some really cool fossils. Bathroom did just have a curtain but I did feel privacy and not unsafe at all.

C

Carissa

May 2025

22 ft travel trailer

With pets

4 nights at Haystack Ranch

Amazing and beautiful property, the host is super friendly and accommodating.

K

Kennedy

May 2025

Tent

Weekend Trip to Haystack Ranch

This was a super great experience, our first time using HipCamp, so we weren’t sure what to expect but loved it! We got a more secluded site, so weren’t with lots of others around, but had a picnic table and a fire pit/grill and there was firewood at the site when we got there. Only thing is we did have to drive past it (which we didn’t know we did) and then pulled into their house where Kelly came out and let us know where to go. Downtown spray was only ~5 minutes away even though it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, and rodeo was going on while we were there and it was awesome! About an hour from Painted Hills which was a great hike, and 2 1:2 hours from bend. I have verizon and I had 1-2 bars of LTE in the site, my friends with t-mobile and at&t had no service pretty much anywhere on the site. Bathroom was great, toilet paper provided plus a little sink with soap which was awesome! No paper towels though. Overall we had a super lovely time and would absolutely love to return again.!

T

Tina

May 2025

15 ft travel trailer

With pets

3 nights at Haystack Ranch

It's open camping, so you pick your spot and there is a lot of room so we didn't feel crowded. The host setup a firepit for us which was nice to have. Beautiful views. The ground does have some holes, and uneveness to it so be prepared for that.

L

Lisa

May 2025

17 ft travel trailer

With pets

3 nights at Haystack Ranch

Good location to explore the John Day River area and fossil beds national monument. The River and local roads are beautiful. We were the only campers for our stay. Nice location. Outhouse needs some attention. Nice host & appreciated the firewood.