Bully Creek Reservoir County Park

We have been camping at Bully Creek since 1990. This used to be a beautiful, well kept park. The goat heads have taken over the grass. Tracked goat heads into our camper each time we returned inside. No hot water in the showers or sinks. At least one was plugged up so only a trickle of water. Handicap shower faucet was broken, low shower head worked but the higher one was just a trickle, if you could manage to turn it on. Cleaning station was locked up. Noticed one door by the restrooms that is almost completely rotted away. Is the County just letting this campground deteriorate so they can close it down?

Host was helpful picking out shady spot for us. Only a handful of other campers there, so very quiet. Cash or check only. High arsenic levels on water, so you can’t drink it. Bathrooms were very run down, functional, but not nice. Lots of thorns and stickers, so had to be careful with dogs and pick thorns out of paws and shoes. Nice a quiet though, could hear doves and quail.

Host on the phone wanted to make sure we did not miss any turns, but actually navigation took us right there and signs were also helpful. It was hot and we asked for a shady spot which was delivered and very nice. Electric only, but powered our air conditioner nicely. Lots of room between sites, level gravel, grassy park like setting. Only a half dozen folks. Lake was very low.

We really liked it here and if we are every back in this area we will be staying again. We have 38’ toyhauler. There was limited spots. We called to verified they could fit that size and that we could have our dogs. Host reserved spot 36 for us for the size of 5th wheel and our 7 dogs. After arriving it is a paved handicapped spot. The office to pay your CASH ONLY is before the campground and a little confusing. The site numbers our small and hard to see.
The campground is great. Everyone is spaced really far apart. Hot showers. Women’s bathroom has 4 bathroom stalls and 1 shower. Handicapped has individual separate shower and rest room. The dogs could not be on the grass do to sticker thorns growing. Glad we had the paved area to set up corral. Our dogs were always corralled, in doors or on leash. Many other campers dogs were free to roam with some owners close by. Never seen host come through park or tend to shower or restrooms but we were gone most days until mid day. The road in was great. It’s NOT gravel. It is sealed gravel and smooth. Worth the drive into this area. Reservoir was very very low this time of the year, but it was still great to look at.

Park was very clean and easy to get to even though it was 10 miles off the highway. Staff who helped us over the phone were extremely nice and very helpful. Water levels are are sadly very low. Only downside to this park is all the arsenic in the water warnings. We didn't use any water in the park as we had plenty in our tanks for our overnight stay. Only reason we would probably not stay here again is internet is non-existent and wife works on the road. If your goal is serenity this is a great place.

We stopped here to plug in and get out of the heat. The park is well kept. Shower and bathrooms are older and in need of updating. The water was not useable at the time due to a large amount of dead fish in the water. I’m sure the heat had something to do with that as the owner told us they come out to test the water weekly. Their well water has a high arsenic content and is not drinkable. Don’t fill your tanks here. Vale is not far and has all your necessities.

We decided to try Bully Creek at the last moment and so glad we did. You can drive through the campground and select a site then register at the office. It is self serve and the sites that are available on in an envelope holder and the sites that are reserved are in another. Easy to register but you must pay cash. There is an RV dump and potable water. Flush toilets and showers, fairly level spots, fire rings and picnic tables. many sites overlook the reservoir and there is grass all around as well. So peaceful and quiet. We loved it here and think you will too. If you can’t get cell service, walk down by the boat ramp we were able to get 1 bar.

Working our way West towards CA from southern Idaho into Eastern Oregon along US-20, we had pre-planned our stay at this out-of-the-way county park. It is about 10 miles outside of the wee town of Vale, OR, so be aware that it IS a bit of a trek to get here. But we were charmed with it immediately as it is set against a reservoir and the flickering wind-blown leaves of cottonwoods.

Upon our arrival at 5:30 pm on a Wednesday in mid July, we found this park to be about half full. Maybe a little less than half, and everyone was spaced out nicely. There was a table set up outside the office where you’ll need to check in, which is located just up the road from the park itself with lots of info: a campground map (although we wish they’d point out on their map where the reservoir is located in order to choose a preferred site - we chose to go inspect the park first in order to get an ideal site, but it would have been a lot easier if they’d specified where the water was on their map), a welcome letter with park policy & procedures (which we noticed were being broken numerous times by other campers), a packet of information about the high arsenic levels in the water (do not drink it!), as well as envelopes and small forms to fill out your info and a drop box to leave your $ in. They even had a hand sanitizer station during Covid-19, nice touch, County Park folks!

We chose Site 37, which was well-shaded at the time of our arrival - as it was 95 degrees in the evening! So, it does get hot here! This site is located closer to the road, but we only saw one car during our entire 1 night stay! We were visited by two deer near our site in the evening, and this park was incredibly quiet in the morning. So nice.

I have supplied photos with Site #’s in order to see what I thought were the best sites (specifically the ones closer to the water) but some of them aren’t shaded by trees, so be aware of that! We felt that the best sites were: 37, 35, 33, 31, 29, 26, 10, 9, 8, and 7. NOTE about sites 29 & 31: they are located RIGHT next to another site, so if this place was busier, say on a weekend, we wouldn’t choose either of those sites AND those are the two sites that (while having great water views) are not shaded in any way, shape, or form. We preferred Sites 7-10, but chose 37 for more privacy away from other campers.

There was a lot of boating activity on the reservoir, such as fishing and water skiing. So be prepared for boating noise, but it didn’t bother us. It was nice to see people enjoying themselves, although reminder: there IS high levels of arsenic in that water! These folks take the watering of the lawn areas very seriously, and during our stay in July the sprinklers were on 24-7. It didn’t bother us, but others have made comments about the sprinklers hitting their rigs. We did not see this happening, but there were A LOT of sprinklers going. It was so hot, we actually enjoyed getting some sprinkler spray on us! The park notes that there is NO PARKING on the lawns. If so, there is a $500 fine!

There aren’t many choices out here for camping, so we were not only thrilled this county park was here but also the added benefit of hook-ups were fabulous considering how hot it was! We were thrilled to be able to utilize our air-conditioner. Hubby noted that the 50 amp in our site was plugged up/not usable, so not sure if it is only a 30 amp park or not (we didn’t check any of the other site hook-ups)....my advice would be to CALL AHEAD before you arrive to A) make sure they have a site open for you before you do the drive, and B) to ensure they have 50 amp should you require it. Their phone number is: 541-473-2969.

Considering there are so few camping options in this stretch of US-20, we were sure glad we had pre-planned to stay at this lovely park. But we’d by lying if we said on our drive out to it we weren’t nervous about it being full! So, in future we’d make reservations ahead of time juuuuust to be safe! We would absolutely stay here again! It was a wonderful 1 nighter!

*NOTE TO COUNTY PARK STAFF: we had read in your instructions that people, during the pandemic, were supposed to wear masks when entering, in, and exiting the bathrooms. We saw MANY people going in and out of the bathrooms NOT wearing masks and passing each other. Also, we were also met with a man in a black sedan with OR plates asking us if we wanted to purchase a puppy. We were rather horrified by the fact that this guy was trying to sell paying campers puppies in the back of his car in 95 degree heat. We informed him that millions of dogs are euthanized each year due to people not spaying/neutering their pets, and that selling unvaccinated, unfixed puppies in high heat was immoral. He sped off after some expletives, but that was something we wished we had NOT had to be witnesses of. We were thinking he was either another camper who saw us pull up that evening, or a local who’s using his dog to make money. We also noticed he had the mother of the puppies OFF LEASH for quite some time. NOT COOL.

Stayed here passing through from a central Oregon trip. We had never stayed here before so we were looking for something new. Reservations aren't necessary but where we checked in and were being assigned sites, we were told that if our site didn't work and we wanted to select another, to not pick 25 or 26 because they had campers coming in. So, sounds like they may pick a site. We were assigned 8 and were told that a camper was in there the night before but should be gone. When we drove over, that camper was still there so we had to pick another site. Evidently a lot of hunters stay here in October, and don't bother to let the office know ( which is about a quarter of a mile away, before you get to the park). No fine is assessed if they stay late without notice.

There is 30 and 50amp at all sites, but no water. A sign at the restrooms/showers indicate that arsenic in the water is high and not safe for drinking but ok to shower if you don't swallow it. We showered and it appeared to be ok. The showers were not especially clean - spiders and hair from other bathers. I sprayed out the stall before entering and used flip flops. In spite of the arsenic level warning, the water spigots throughout the park were on and I saw people using it.

Most sites looked shallow, but with nothing at the back, a longer rig like ours can hang over the grass in the back.

Verizon is null here. One bar enough to text. Note that you must stop at the office to register and it comes up fast. There is one sign announcing it, then quickly on your left another. The office is on the left going in and down a slope, but is a pull through so you pull up to the office, ring the doorbell, they answer and register you, then you pull through the other side, back up on the road and then next left is the campground.

We really enjoyed this campground. We only spent one night, as we were traveling from Northern California back home to Colorado. I could have happily spent a few nights here. We were in space #34, and it was a tad awkward backing in, since it was shaped like a half moon. The site and entire campground was clean, there was a thick pebble parking area, and there were plenty of large grassy areas. The lake was beautiful, and there is a cool little island with an isthmus connecting it to the campground. My kids had fun throwing rocks in the water and playing on the island. It was so quiet at night here that we slept great.
NOTE: This campground only takes cash or check.