A Campground That Really Gets You In The Mood
In our years of travel and campground stays we’ve never experienced a place quite like this.
Crystal Crane Hot Springs is in the middle of absolutely nowhere… Burns, Oregon. It’s not fancy, yet it’s beautiful and incredibly peaceful (even with the yipping of the coyotes around 6pm). There’s a swimming pool size hot spring (clothing not optional) and it’s very affordable. It pretty much sums up the kind of campgrounds we wish we could find a whole lot more of around the country (if you know of them, please let us know in the comments below).
The sunsets dazzle us in one direction and the moon seduces us in another.
Feeling meditative and romantic all at the same time, we found ourselves lost in thought, deep in conversation and overall a little gushier than normal. This is definitely a campground that will get you in the mood (bow chicka wow wow)!
We soaked ourselves until we resembled raisins and still didn’t want to leave our steamy pool of mineral rich waters. But can you blame us?
If you find yourself out in the more remote parts of Oregon (John Day Fossil Beds National Monument is out that way and well worth exploring) and want to experience this little slice of heaven for yourself…here are a few details.
Accommodations
- There’s everything from cabins to tent camping and your furry four legged friends are welcome too.
- You’ll want to stay at least two nights. We started off by just booking one night and quickly went in and paid for another.
- There isn’t a dump station and if you need full hookup, it’s a two night minimum.
- You can see the rates here for yourself (and you gotta love the dry erase board):
WIFI
There is good WiFi but it’s only in the office and not broadcast throughout the park. If you don’t need full hook ups but need WiFi, stay in site A. We were able to pick up the WiFi no problem in the RV (if you have a WiFi booster the full hookup sites will probably be fine for internet, but we stayed here before we had a good WiFi setup so we can’t say for sure).
The Springs
For anything else you want to know, like what makes the water so special, how to get out here, etc you can learn more about it on their site: cranehotsprings.com
Have you been here or found a gem like this? If so, tell us all about it in the comments below, we all want to know the scoop!
Kathy Shute
Great post guys! Really love the humor, made us laugh (chicka-pow) ! Also appreciated the tip on Site A. This place is definitely added to our list to visit.
Katrina Marshall
I learned how to swim in these hot springs! Love them! I would like to make a small, but important distinction that the springs are technically in Crane and not Burns. To the people who live/from here, this would be considered a big deal 😉 Additionally, if you are ever back in the area again, I would TOTALLY recommend checking out Summer Lake Hot Springs (actually in Paisley, OR hahaha). Summer Lake is very rustic and a popular migrational gathering area for folks coming from the north to Black Rock City… and back again. I recommend it from living there for over a year in a converted school bus as a caretaker. The bus I lived in at the time has sadly been sold, but I am getting ready to begin the adventure again. I have found your site and blog SUPER motivating and very confirming that I am ready for the traveling lifestyle once again. Thanks for the scoops on the poops with the composting toilet as well!!! We had no bathroom in our bus…. a problem I will be rectifying with the new build. Thanks so much for all the videos and for leading by example for the travel lifestyle!!! xoxoxox
Kerensa
I have to add this to our list, thanks guys! I can’t say we’ve experienced any campgrounds that put you in the mood, bu we’ll be sure to share if we do.
Mike K
Just forwarded this lovely post to my darling wife to add to our RVing bucket list. If you two get out to Pennsylvania again, you should check out Ricketts Glen in late summer/autumn. No hookups for RVers at this State Park, but beautiful hikes in three connected Glens. Twenty-some waterfalls from 9 to over 90 feet tall. Here’s info on this PA gem of a state park from the PA DCNR website. http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/findapark/rickettsglen/
or Google “Ricketts Glen” and you’ll want to see the experience for yourself.
As an aside, if you ever want to take in and experience Philly History/Art/Food+ we could discuss a boondock spot – in the city. Just did this with the Alyssa & Heath of the Hourly America Crew.
Peace to Your Mobile House!
~RoadAbode Crew
Troy MacKay
A buddy and I were òn a motorcycle trip and circumstances put us at Crystal Crane Hot Spring at closing. Dianna was able to get us the last room they had. We ended up crashing a party that turned out to be a family reunion. Great place and say hi to Dianna
Mako
How was the 4G coverage here? Considering this one for our fulltime adventures – hopefully starting next year in an Airstream!
Wife and I both love your site and all of your videos!
Nikki Wynn
honestly I don’t remember. We had great free wifi so we were happy and spent most of our time soaking and enjoying the peace and quiet.
Colleen
This will be on my “To See” list. BTW. I love your website/videos! I plan on buying a RV later this year and getting it set up to survive (in comfort) off the grid. I won’t be going full time any time soon but I love the idea of getting away, with no restrictions (more or less) on the weekends and holidays.
Nikki Wynn
It is a great lifestyle! Hope to see you out on the road one day!
S.A.McAdoo
I live in Lakeview, OR about an hour south of Burns and I did not know about this RV park. Thanks so much for the information. I will be heading there in September for sure. Here north of town we have Hunters Hot Springs. An older motel with a couple of RV hook ups, but the pool is clean and nice dressing rooms, not highly priced either.
Jason Wynn
Sounds Great, thanks for sharing SAM
Joseph
I’m going to be flying out to Las Vegas NV in Oct to rent an RV for 10 days. What are your recommendations? I plan on driving up to Carson city then over the mountains into CA. It has been years since I’ve done any camping and this trip is to see if I want to start RV’ing once I retire at the end of 2016. Still undecided on MH vs 5th Wheel. Would love to see you do a segment on that issue.
Jason Wynn
Joseph,
Have fun on your trip. You can find all our RV recommendations here: http://www.gonewiththewynns.com/category/rvin
Cherie @Technomadia
We’re actually on our way there… had spotted this even before this post. Hopefully it won’t be full up and we can still snag a spot 🙂 Sounds like exactly our kinda place.
Jason Wynn
you’re gonna love it, totally up your alley. Let us know if the WiFi Ranger works if you get one of the further away sites.
Cherie @Technomadia
By the way.. we made our reservations today (hooray for online reservations!), and the prices are now $23 – 25/night. And they offer Good Sam, Escapee’s and a 10% manager’s discount.
Still a great bargain in our opinion. Can’t wait to get there later this week!
Nikki Wynn
I figured they changed their rates regularly when they are written on a dry erase board! Have fun and do a little extra soaking for us!
Howard Weliver
Looks a great place to stop right after Burningman for a quick detox.
Nikki Wynn
yes, it would be an excellent post burn stop!
Walt
Does the RV site fee include use of the facilities, then? I assume the answer is yes, but their board didn’t quite make that clear.
Nikki Wynn
yes, it did include use of the facilities! we have visited other hot springs that allowed camping but charged an extra $15-20 for the use of the springs. so for the $18 a day we thought it was a great bargain!
Mark
Love your write-ups but pictures really are a 1000 words and make the places real so thanks for including the snaps in all your travelogues. Speaking of which I’m curious if you’re familiar with the photography technique called dodging? I remember it from my high school photography class way back when when you used actual film and chemicals and paper to create pictures and during development you moved a piece of paper or your hand back and forth (dodging) over the section of the print paper that was over exposed so you could minimize the light there and bring out the rest of the frame that needed a longer exposure on the paper to print better. Anyway, long story short since you’re all digital I wonder if you’ve ever experimented with dodging in front of the open lens when you’re doing time exposures like the night shots here so the moon or street lights don’t wash out the third of the frame where they’re located. Just wondering since I’m a very, very new digital shooter and just starting to figure out the basics.
Thanks again for the pics. I’m sure it’s a lot of work to compose the great shots you seem to find wherever you travel!
Jason Wynn
Mark,
I too have spent an extensive amount of time burning and dodging in the darkroom, it’s an art that is almost lost. The good news is you can do the same thing digitally if you capture in RAW format…so dodge away!
Joseph
So what package do you use to doge with the digital RAW form?
Jason Wynn
We use a combination of Photoshop and Lightroom. Both serve their different purposes, but I’d recommend Lightroom for starters.
Josh
Bumped into this gem last summer on our way back to Eugene after 3 weeks on the road. Let us stop and reflect on our great trip and return refreshed. The night sky was amazing!
Nikki Wynn
So glad you found it too!
Lynda
This goes on our list as we’re thinking of exploring Eastern Oregon on our return south from the Northwest.
Nikki Wynn
Definitely! It’s worth a detour!
Randy
We just stayed at the Burns RV park for one night passing through on our way to Boise. It was very nice, big sites, full hook ups, but no mineral pool.
Thanks for sharing.
Nikki Wynn
Funny how we have come to really appreciate great campgrounds and parks. When we started out we assumed all campgrounds would be nice and just like state and national parks. wow, were we wrong!
Jennie
Have you guys ever checked out Wallowa Lake State Park in northeast Oregon? Soooo pretty!!!! It is not to far from Burns.. The small artsy town of Joseph is fun too. Rode the old train rails on a bike peddle car between Joseph and Enterprise. Great fun
Nikki Wynn
We didn’t make it to that state park…we will have to check it out on our next trip that direction!
Diane Sanderbeck
Wow! That first photo blew me away when I realized those specks I was seeing were stars in the sky, not dust on my phone. I long to “get out there” in the middle of nowhere especially for the night sky. I miss seeing stars! Thanks for the article and the photos!
Jason Wynn
Our pleasure to take you outside from the convenience of your phone 🙂 If you get the chance a soak in this little hot spring is quite an escape!
RVgeeks
So glad you two loved this place as much as we did! It’s quite a find, in the absolute middle of nowhere. I think we only stayed there by chance because there’s nothing else in any direction for eons, but what a great surprise it was.
Jason Wynn
I think you guys were the ones who pointed us in the general direction, and maybe even told us of this specific place. We need to connect again, miss you guys.