About this place
Big Creek is a small campground just off the Blue Mountain Scenic Byway, and it gets busier every year with OHV riders.
It also opens into the North Fork John Day Wilderness. There is ample parking at the trailhead for trucks and stock trailers.
It sits in a riparian area, so the ground around it can stay wet well into June.
There is no drinking water. Nobody collects trash here, so take everything home with you.
There are 3 campsites and an accessible vault toilet.
The trailhead in the campground leads onto Big Creek Trail #3151, heading south. North of Forest Road 52 there is access to Tower Mountain Trail #3156. That trail also runs into the wilderness, where wilderness rules apply.
Three OHV trails run into the campground: Tower Loop Trail #3040, Meadow Creek Trail #3193 and Christensen Trail #3185.
People come here to walk in the wilderness, to hunt, to fish and to ride the OHV trails.
If you would rather drive, pick up the Ukiah-Granite Roadside Geology tour brochure at the Ranger District and make a day trip to Granite.
Huckleberries are everywhere nearby in mid August.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp
- Roads around it
- Some need high clearance
- Drinking water
- No, bring your own
- Toilet
- Yes
- Type
- Specific campsite
- Managed by
- Umatilla National Forest
The roads around this place are not maintained for a regular car. That comes from the US Forest Service, who grade every road by the kind of vehicle it is looked after for. Those records cover the roads nearby. They do not cover the last stretch in to the campsite, and nobody has checked that part. Treat this as a warning. We are not promising what you will find when you get there. If you have driven it, tell us what it was like and we will say so here.
Rules and restrictions
This site sits inside the North Fork John Day Wilderness. Wilderness is a legal label with rules attached, and the main rule is that machinery stays out.
Getting there
Coordinates 45.009000, -118.618889
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
Nothing nationally famous is close. These are the landmarks nearby.
- Mount Ireland Directions
- Emigrant Springs State Heritage Area Directions
- Mount Emily Directions
- Strawberry Mountain Directions
Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.
Nearest town and supplies
- Granite, OR Directions
- La Grande, OR Directions
La Grande is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Forest Service’s own records, read in August 2026.