We stayed here a a couple of weeks ago for two nights. We were visiting the John Day Fossil Beds…read moreNational Monument, and we wanted somewhere out of the way. Service Creek Stage Stop fit the bill beautifully. Staying here reminds me of staying at your cool relatives' house. The house is old and quirky, which is part of its charm, as far as we're concerned. We stayed in the Thomas Condon room, which has a separate, but private, bath. (See the photos of the bathroom with the striped wallpaper and the room with king-size bed and the gigantic wood bed frame.) The cons: both our room and our bathroom could have used a bit of sweeping/vacuuming. It's dusty out there, but it seemed as if the rooms hadn't seen a vacuum in a while. Also, as one or two other reviewers noted, the floors are very squeaky. Very. We had some folks who were in the rooms above us. Nice folks, not doing anything out of the ordinary, but the squeaking was so loud that we were awake until these folks went to bed (a couple of hours after we did). The pros: very comfortable and welcoming. We had the use of the television in the living room and the entire kitchen, which was handy because we had leftovers to heat up. (The portions in the restaurant are huge.) There are porches, front and back, to sit and enjoy the breathtakingly beautiful surroundings. The owners and other folks who work here are as nice as they can be. As I mentioned, it's like staying with your cool relatives. The food is not fancy, but it is delicious and plentiful. (Three words: chicken fried steak.) The service in the restaurant is friendly and attentive. The veggie scramble for breakfast was great. M., envying my chicken fried steak for dinner the previous evening, had it for breakfast. A note on cell and internet availability: when I called to make reservations, the woman I spoke to was very clear that they have neither here, and that in fact, they had lost guests because of it. She could not have been clearer. I believe she mentioned it at least twice, and perhaps three times. They very kindly allowed us to use their land line to make calls back to civilization. (We codgers, who lived a good deal of our lives before tech took over everyone's lives, appreciated the unplugged-ness.) Service Creek isn't the Ritz, and they don't pretend to be. They do a pretty darned good job of providing comfortable lodging and great grub, though, and we intend to return.

THEY (almost) LEFT US FOR DEAD! My three daughters and I stayed 2 nights in their lodge and booked…read morethem for their shuttle service as we embarked on a 2 day paddle down the John Day River. The room we stayed in was pretty awful, AC, lights, and electric outlets were all not working. But the real kicker was the potential LIFE-THREATINING situation they put my daughters and I in as they completely FORGOT to shuttle my car to our extraction point along the J.Day River. This area is very remote. After waiting 3 hours without food or water, I decided to hike out of the area to try to find help. Fortunately after about 3 miles of walking I was able to find someone with a phone that had service, and called Service Creek Lodge. After clearly forgetting about us, they were oddly UNAPOLOGETIC about their monumental scew-up and said they'd be at our location in an hour to pick us up. They finally showed up 3 hours later. We waited 6 HOURS all together for them to pick us up. Emergency rescue services were in pursuit to rescue us after my wife reported us missing. After arriving back at the Service Creek Lodge, they were again strangely UNAPOLOGETIC when confronting their managers. In fact, the demeanor and their body language told us they did not care one bit. Very weird behavior. This completely shattered my stereotype about country folks being friendly. My daughters (two out of the three of them are African-American) started to wonder if there was some weird racial elements going on...I don't blame them, at this point it seemed like a fair inquiry. I asked for a refund, their response was "email us in a week" to ask for a refund. I emailed them a week later, and they agreed to refund us for everything (lodge, shuttle), but after 4 months I still have not received a refund or any more email responses from them....and still have not received ONE APOLOGY. Incredible.

Beautiful well kept park! Loved it. Really beautiful and fishing was fun too. Site were long enough…read morefor our 35ft rig.

You are going to get two types of reviews. For people who are frequent campers this is a five…read morestar place. Manicured lawns, sites that have hedges around them and very clean bathrooms and showers. Firewood for sale. A book exchange and a nice trail along the river. For those people it's five stars. For those who don't camp the issue is mosquitoes. There is a swampy area a nearby and if there is no breeze especially in the evening, they can be overwhelming. I am from Alaska and the mosquito is the state bird. Here they are equally impressive. If you have screens and bug dope, they are manageable because it's mainly in the evening they are a pain. If you don't, prepare it's uncomfortable and those campers would say two stars.

$25 a night. Attentive camp host. All the sites are good or excellent. Quiet. Family friendly…read more Everyone has two spots to access the river. I love this place.

Overall the grounds are well cared for and the people who are doing the work seem happy and content…read morewith their roles.

Tumalo Falls was an amazing adventure and one of the highlights of our trip. We chose the loop…read moretrail so we could see all of the waterfalls, and it was absolutely worth it. One of the most exciting parts was crossing the river several times. In some places there were bridges, and at one point we had to carefully balance across a log, which made the hike even more fun and memorable. We visited in April, and there was still a little snow on the trail. The weather was beautiful, but I would recommend bringing traction spikes if conditions are slippery and hiking poles for extra stability. The waterfalls were spectacular, and the scenery along the trail was breathtaking. It was a perfect mix of adventure and natural beauty. I'm sure I'll return one day with my kids to experience it all again.

Beautiful hike along the Decshutes River. Taking in nature, breathing, walking, and crying. I will…read morecome again.

We were driving down the 395 between John Day and Seneca checking out the beauty of the Malheur…read moreForest while searching for a place to camp for the night. We drove right past the sign for Starr and turned around to check it out...very glad we did. The Starr Campground sits right off the highway and has 11 sites set in 2 sections, an upper loop and a lower section. When we stayed last Thursday night there was only one other party camping. Our neighbors were set up in the lower section where the sites are a bit more spread out, while we opted to stay in the loop nearer the highway. Nothing at the campground is far from the highway, but we found it peaceful. Each section has a vault toilet, and the upper one was surprisingly clean, as was the campground overall. The setting is lovely, engulfed in beautiful trees...including some larches that were turning their gorgeous yellow while we were there. The sites at Starr are only $6, a tiny price to pay for a beautiful night in the Malheur Forest. Highly Recommend!

Campground is literally next to the VERY busy highway with LOUD trucks driving by ALL night long…read more No sleep to be had for tent camping. Clean facilities otherwise. Not relaxing though in a tent. Tent sites are also tiny compared to the RV sites.

We found this place as we needed a quick night stop before heading back to Portland. It was the…read moreonly place that wasn't full. Close to downtown Sisters. Nice bathrooms and camping spots with fire pits.

Cultus lake was good and fun and very cool and fun to do stuff at while it was us super cool funread more

This is one of my favorite campgrounds in the Cascade Lakes area. It is pretty far from Bend, but…read moreworth it if you have the time. The campground itself is pretty similar to what you might find at the other Hoodoo ran campgrounds, though it always feels a bit cleaner than the rest. The sites come with running water, shared bathrooms, picnic tables, fire rings, and a parking space. You will want to bring plenty of cash for the fees and if you bring more than one vehicle you will need to pay extra. This campground is right next to the lake and has an awesome trail that runs around the perimeter of the lake. There is a boat ramp at the end of the lake and if you just have paddle boards and kayaks you can just launch them right by your campsite. In addition to the boat ramp, there is a very nice shallow swim area. This has a gradual slope that allows the sun to warm the water up pretty fast. Overall I would say that this campground is slightly nicer than the other campgrounds in the Cascades, but the location is what really pull it up to five stars. When I have the time and money, this is my preferred campground.

Extremely quiet and peaceful location, especially at this time of year. The park and campground…read morewere open with only a handful of campers on the night we stayed. The reservoir was beautiful and the park grounds clean and very well-maintained. The feeling of serenity here was top-notch (although to be fair I would imagine that to be mostly due to the season, as I could see that aspect waning when the campground is busy as there isn't a lot of privacy between some sites.) We really enjoyed the night. Two notes, however. I was surprised to see the lack of a trail system in such a location. And, the camp hosts we approached for info didn't seem to be very informed. Overall a very serene International Dark Sky Park in a lovely setting.

Beautiful spot with great views and plenty of space for camping, boating, and relaxing by the…read morewater. The lake is peaceful and perfect for fishing or kayaking. Campsites were clean and well-maintained. It can get pretty hot during the day, and some areas are a bit crowded in peak season, but overall a great place to unwind and enjoy nature.

I liked this State-Run Campground. It was pretty basic, with pit-Toilets and a water pump that you…read morehad to walk to get to. But, it was very serene and private. Our camping spot was Huge! And, it had plenty of space for a car (or two) to pull into. And, then we had a separate area to set up a tent in. It was perfect for camping with our 2 dogs; we got a nice private area by the lake and the Dogs. I was able to reserve a spot online through recreation.gov and it was easy! And, Steve the camp host, was a delight! He was very approachable and friendly, it was nice interacting with him and talking to him. Overall, the spot was quiet and had beautiful scenery! And, less bugs/mosquitos then I've seen in other similar camp spots in the same geographic area for that time of year. And, also it was just a 20 minute drive to Smith Rock from this camp Site, so it was very do-able!