Burnt Ranch Campground

Decent rustic place to disperse camp. The area is exposed and dirty, but that's to be expected in this part of the state. There appears to be some confusion about accessing the actual campground - there is a rough road down from the "main" gravel road. 4WD strongly recommended, however when I was there a couple 2WD vehicles had made it down. They had a very hard time getting back out, but managed after great effort. That said, one could park higher and walk down if camping without a lot of gear. Even with the ability to drive down, you will need to walk in to the campsites a short bit. I feel this is a much more peaceful and scenic alternative to the more popular Priest Hole campground, but much smaller and limited access, not to mention no RV access. There are no facilities, but f

Beautiful remote area along the John Day River with easy access if you drive up from Mitchell. Camping spots by the boat ramp are easy to reach however heading down to the beach will require a 4X4. Traveling north toward highway 218 can be tricky and interesting in the right rig.

There is two burnt ranch camp grounds. One is called the upper which is on google maps. Upper has a boat launch/ramp & a bathroom. The lower is not on google maps but coming from painted hills it's the 1st one you come across so you might mistake it for the "Burnt Ranch Campgrounds". This lower one a 4x4 is recommended to get to the camp sites. A gate closes beach access, but you can camp here. We got high centered in a toyota matrix. Thank you owner of a blue F350 who pulled us off a rock. We were stuck. Triple AAA never came. We had a flat as well. No cell service so we walked to a homestead. "Bruce" let us use his land line

Absolutely beautiful spot. Went in the middle of September on a Saturday night and there was only one other group pretty far from us. It's quite the drive down a gravel road to get there but worth it. The campsite is free, dispersed camping, and about 20 minutes up from the Painted Hills. Google maps stops a little short, but if you keep going around the corner it's obvious where to come in at. The road in and out off of the main gravel road is fairly steep and a section is rutted out pretty bad. You'll definitely want 4wd and a little clearance to get in and out without issue. But once in, you park, and pack your things down to a spot near the river which is very close. The town of Mitchel is close to get gas if needed (regular was $4/gal Sep 2019)

Had a lot of fun driving around and enjoying the views. Plenty of camp spots around the area. Found a spot with a trail right to the water! I hope someone finds out s’mores sticks! Hehe but I do also hope someone finds that lil calf out there it was all by itself. Other than that it was such a fun time and great area to get out and explore.