With thousands of acres of public land, there’s no better place to spend time in the great outdoors than Grant County. And if you’re looking for a place to camp, you’ll find plenty of places to choose from, with amenities ranging from RV hookups to no-frills dry camping. Turn the page for a complete listing of campgrounds in Grant County. But first, keep reading for some other options.

Clyde Holliday State Park

Sitting next to the John Day River only an hour away from some of Oregon’s most pristine wilderness areas, Clyde Holliday State Park offers camping beneath towering cottonwood trees. Visitors to the 43-acre park may spot elk and mule deer grazing nearby or steelhead rushing upriver to spawn.

Campground facilities include 31 reservable electrical sites with water and two reservable tepees for rent from March 1-Nov. 30, a hiker/biker camp, hot showers and flush toilets, firewood and ice for sale, an RV dump station, horseshoe pits and an outdoor amphitheater with summer interpretive programs. Reservations can be made online up to six months in advance at https://tinyurl.com/kw3xsanz.

Clyde Holliday State Park is located on Highway 26 a mile east of Mt. Vernon and 8 miles west of John Day.

Bates State Park

Once the site of a thriving lumber mill and company town that operated from 1917 to 1975, the 131-acre Bates State Park lies along the Middle Fork John Day River and Bridge and Clear creeks. The park features 4 miles of hiking trails and an old mill pond where visitors often spot beavers and otters.

Campground facilities include 28 primitive sites for rent for tent camping or self-contained RVs, vault toilets, potable water, and a hiker/biker camp with six sites and electric plug-ins. Three campsites are accessible to campers with disabilities. Camping is first-come, first-served from May 1 to Nov. 1. A day-use area contains facilities for picnicking.

Bates State Park is located about 17 miles east of Prairie City on County Road 20 about a mile from the junction of Highway 26 and Highway 7.

For more information, visit oregonstateparks.org.

Rustic cabins

On the Malheur National Forest about 20 miles from John Day, Fall Mountain Lookout allows visitors to spend the night in a former fire lookout atop an 18-foot tower. A catwalk encircles the structure, providing 360-degree views of the surrounding areas, including the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness, Seneca and Mt. Vernon. The lookout can only accommodate two people and provides few amenities.

The Sunshine, Short Creek, Deer Creek and Murderers Creek guard stations — former outposts for firefighters — can also be rented.

Although most of the national forest campgrounds are first-come, first-served, the tower and guard stations can be reserved online. For reservations and more information, visit recreation.gov.