Amazing views
Hipcampers say this spot has amazing views.
Staff verified
Accuracy verified by Hipcamp's on-the-ground team.
Haystack Ranch is a Star Host
Star Hosts are highly rated, responsive, and committed to providing incredible experiences.
Off-leash friendly
Pets can be off-leash at this Hipcamp.
RV details
Caravans, Fifth wheels, Caravans, Camper Trailers, Motorhomes, Campervans, Motorhomes, Campervans, and Cars allowed
Vehicles under 10 meters allowed
Pull-through site
Accommodates slideouts
Surface type: grass-or-paddock
Surface levelness: requires levelling
Generators allowed
No electrical connection
No water connection
No sewage connection
No TV connection
What to expect
RV/tent site
6 guests max per site
Toilet available
Pets allowed
No campfires
Potable water available
Bins available
Picnic table present
No showers
Cooking equipment absent
No wifi
Laundry absent
Hot Tub absent
No playground
Things to know
Getting there
Check in: After 10:00 AM
Check out: Before 1:00 PM
On arrival: Meet with Host
Cancellation policy: Moderate
Minimum nights: 1 night
Accepts bookings: 18 months out
Park at listing
Wheelchair access
Max 1 vehicle
During your trip
Leave it better
Inclusion policyWe have a zero-tolerance policy against discrimination at Hipcamp. We are committed to helping our Host and Hipcamper communities be inclusive.
ExtrasAvailable at checkout
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$0.00
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experience
$50.00
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$6.50
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$3.00
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$5.00
Reviews
95% Recommend132 ratings · 110 reviews
Haystack Ranch offers a peaceful and expansive camping experience, ideal for those who enjoy a bit of solitude and natural beauty. Visitors consistently praise the clean and innovative bathroom facilities, as well as the accommodating and friendly hosts who go out of their way to ensure a pleasant stay. While some campers note the camp's somewhat remote location and the outhouse's lack of a door, the ranch's proximity to the John Day River and Fossil Beds makes it a great base for exploration. The tranquility of the site, with its opportunities for stargazing and encounters with local wildlife, remains a standout feature for many campers.
Summary AI-generated from real reviews
Recommends
· July 2025
6 m campervan · With pets
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.
A
Allison M.
11 months on Hipcamp
Recommends
· July 2025
Tent · With pets
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!
C
Callie S.
8 reviews
Recommends
· July 2025
Tent · With kids
Great property and amazing views. Also wonderful, accommodating host. Very helpful and sweet person.
S
Saraju P.
2 reviews
Recommends
· June 2025
Tent
It's a nice spot to camp. Here is an additional sentence to meet the 50 character minimum.
S
Seth N.
2 reviews
Recommends
· June 2025
6 m pop-up camper
Haystack Ranch was a nice quiet place to camp. The views were nice and birds were singing. I loved the wild turkeys roaming about.
Christopher B.
5 years on Hipcamp
Recommends
· June 2025
High Desert camping
5 m Class B · With pets
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 ❤️
L
Lori S.
2 reviews
Recommends
· June 2025
Best camp spot and hosts
6 m Class B
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 !!
B
Beverly B.
3 reviews
Mixed feelings
· June 2025
4 m toy hauler
Overall good experience! Not the easiest location to find but the host was o. The lookout and was able to get us to the site. Very quiet and had identified amenities. Spray has Ben’s Bar which is a nice place to have a cold drink!
G
Guy I.
1 year on Hipcamp
Recommends
· June 2025
Great get away
Tent
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.
J
Jyll S.
3 reviews
Recommends
· June 2025
Wonderful experience
Tent
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.
Shana H.
4 reviews
Mixed feelings
· May 2025
Great Firewood & Friendly Hosts
4 m travel trailer
While the location of the campsites is a bit hard to find, the host so kind and offered eggs as well as other items! The spot we had was perfectly shaded in the afternoon! Although, other spots might be a little warm especially mid to late in the summer. They had firewood onsight that burnt clean and smelt amazing!
Loved that it was close to the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (painted hills and sheep unit) as well as Bull Prairie Lake.
K
Kailee P.
3 reviews
Recommends
· May 2025
5 m car
Great location, friendly host and beautiful landscape! Also, the beef is delicious.
G
Grant S.
2 years on Hipcamp
Recommends
· May 2025
6 m travel trailer · With pets
Amazing and beautiful property, the host is super friendly and accommodating.
C
Carissa R.
4 months on Hipcamp
Recommends
· May 2025
Great views and big space
4 m travel trailer · With pets
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.
T
Tina B.
5 reviews
Recommends
· May 2025
Great place & had an amazing time!
Tent
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.!
K
Kennedy K.
2 months on Hipcamp
Recommends
· May 2025
5 m travel trailer · With pets
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.
L
Lisa M.
13 reviews
Recommends
· May 2025
Pretty location
Tent · With pets
We loved staying at Haystack Ranch! It was a great location for exploring the area, including John Dqy Fossil Beds NP. The site was in a beautiful spot, clean, and the hosts were friendly and helpful. We enjoyed visiting the emu's at the farm.
S
Shelby A.
2 reviews
Recommends
· April 2025
Tent
Convenient site located just up the road from the John Day visitor center and Blue Basin. Our host was very nice and provided lots of firewood for our stay. We would definitely visit again.
M
Matt D.
2 reviews
Not recommend
· April 2025
Misleading - "Outhouse" has NO DOOR
Tent · With kids
When we arrived we saw the outhouse has no door, just a curtain. I was not comfortable with that, and definitely not ok with sending my young daughter to use an outhouse in a shared campground without a door that locks. This might be fine for some people, but the host needs to be upfront about this - I specifically asked what the outhouse was like before booking, they said it is "basically a porta-potty" - I have never seen a porta-potty WITHOUT A DOOR. We left immediately and luckily found an open campsite nearby. We had booked 4 nights for $150+ dollars, the host didn't even offer a partial refund even though we could not stay there even 1 night due to misinformation from the host.
C
C A.
3 reviews
Recommends
· March 2025
Too wet to camp, but it worked!
8 m travel trailer · With pets
We booked when the area was too wet for camping, so the hosts located an alternative spot for us. Super nice host! We even got brownies and firewood! Will definitely stay at the real location next time we need a spot there. The area is beautiful!
P
Philip H.
4 months on Hipcamp
Recommends
· October 2024
5 m travel trailer · With kids
Beautiful and peaceful place to stay while visiting John Day Fossil beds. Hosts are super thoughtful and helpful. Would definitely return when visiting the area
Jia Y.
4 years on Hipcamp
Recommends
· October 2024
9 m travel trailer
Enjoyed the scenery, good level to set up the trailers. Purchased some hamburger that was raised on the ranch, and it was good.
C
Chris C.
2 reviews
Not recommend
· August 2024
Tent
It would be really helpful to have water AT the campsite and not just at the host's house. Also perhaps a PortaPotty that an be emptied and cleaned instead of an outhouse. More photos to show a realistic view of the actual area around the campsite.
K
Katrina L.
1 year on Hipcamp
Recommends
· July 2024
Starry, starry nights!
5 m pop-up camper · With pets
Large sites with newly built outhouse and small sink shared with a couple of other sites. Quiet, remote area but not too far from Painted hills and town. Host was friendly when we had to stop at house to get more info on where the sites were located and kept things well stocked. If you want to see stars at night, this is your place!
C
Catherine C.
4 reviews
Recommends
· July 2024
beautiful and peaceful
5 m car
The hosts here are so wonderful! The land and set up is calm, clean, peaceful and so beautiful.
L
Laura C.
22 reviews
Recommends
· June 2024
Tent · With kids
I loved camping at Haystack Ranch, as the view was great, and there was plenty of room at our site. The toilet is an outhouse, with a hand-washing station. The host was very responsive to situations like toilet paper outage or empty water tank for the hand-washing station.
I do wish a little more mowing had been done around the camp sites as tiny grass seeds were very poky in our socks.
Christi S.
6 years on Hipcamp
Recommends
· June 2024
Great Location For Exploring
Tent
We spent three night's at Haystack Rock and had a great time. Kelly is a gracious host and went out of her way to make sure we had what we needed. We were travelling by motorcycle so we were limited with what we could bring with us. Kelly provided us with coolers and also offered to pick up any groceries or anything else for us the next day. Kelly also supplied directions to places to swim and other local places to explore.
If you are a motorcyclist, Haystack Ranch is a great home base for exploring some of Oregon's numerous motorcycle roads. The first night we had the whole campground to ourselves, that is, if you don't count the numerous wild turkeys everywhere.
If you camp here make sure you have plenty of water as it is hot and dry. Kelly kindly filled a 5 gallon water cube for us and drove it to our campsite. It would have been a little awkward to carry it on the bike. You will also want to bring mosquito/bug repellant as the mosquitos were abundant. Also, beware if you have dogs with you as the area has an abundance of cheatgrass and those little heads work their way into everything, including a dog's paws.
The only real negative part of our experience was not something that the ranch could really control. After our first night and then the next day of riding we returned to find several other campsites occupied, most with lots of children. The kids (and most of the adults) were loud and it felt a little like camping in a regular commercial campground. Still had fun!
M
Mike H.
5 years on Hipcamp
Recommends
· June 2024
6 m campervan
We loved our stay At haystack ranch! Our only regret is that we missed our first night of our booking. Next time we're definitely staying for two so we can explore more. We camped at the back of the field under the shade of a box elder tree and it was so beautiful. The air was scented with juniper and sagebrush and even though we weren't too far from the road the site was secluded and serene.
G
Grace J.
2 reviews
Recommends
· June 2024
So quiet and relaxing!
6 m travel trailer · With pets
We camped in mid-June. The scenery is beautiful and it was so quiet - except for the rare vehicle going by on the nearby road, there was no sound except the crickets and birds. The first two nights we were the only campers, my wife and I with our dog. On the third night another solo camper and dog came but they were completely quiet and it was if they weren't even there. We spent the days exploring John Day Fossil Beds NM and I got in an evening of fishing in the beautiful nearby John Day River. We hiked a little bit around the property but the weeds were starting to dry out - foxtails unfortunately - and the seeds were getting massively stuck in our clothing and socks and dog's fur. Bring your tick puller as we got two off of our dog from that short hike. Not the hosts' fault of course and expected, but be prepared. The only criticism I have is I was looking forward to tossing my line into the pond as advertised but was it was completely inaccessible due to being thickly surrounded by reeds. We will definitely be coming back again if we decide to revisit this area!
Greg Y.
3 years on Hipcamp
Recommends
· June 2024
Tent · With pets
Had the place to ourselves! Picnic table, large tree for shade, composting toilet and sink for hand washing was close by. Pretty views. Would stay again for sure.
L
Lee H.
3 reviews
Hosted by Haystack Ranch A.
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