Ditch Creek Guard Station Cab

Decent cabin, good furniture in living room, good propane stove and refrigerator. No running water so bringing your own water is essential. If the water source/piping or whatever was fixed so the sink and toilet had water I would give it 5 stars. Oh, one other downside is the critters in the walls or ceilings (rats?) that make scratching and digging noises at night. Bunk beds with good sized mattresses but all in common bedroom. I brought my own pad to go on top.

The cabin was great, perfect for a getaway. Super quiet, lots of good spots for night sky watching and places to hang your hammock. Looking forward to running water next year but plenty of local springs to fill up from so not a big deal, just bring a couple of 5 gallon water totes and you'll be fine. Plenty of roads and trails for walking and if you're lucky the local Elk herd will stop by for a morning drink at the pond. The town of Heppner is not too far away and has a full service grocery store, ranger station with maps and a coffee shop/pharmacy/ liquor store.

Wonderful cabin. Checked out Bull Prairie Reservoir and Penland Lake. Explored many back roads amd walked along some closed roads. It was very nice to have e a propane cooking stove and refrigerator. The water system was down, but we filled up containers with water from the spring up the road. We could not figure out how to get the heating stove to light, so we lit all the propane lights and they put off some heat and warmed thecabin!

We absolutely love this cabin and will definitely go again.
I would recommend bringing some bug spray if you plan on sitting outside. There are lots of flies, wasps, and mosquitoes.
This is such a beautiful place rich with history and nature.
Would definitely recommend!

Loved the solitude of the cabin. It is very rustic, which enhances the old-time feel of the area. The little pond had little fish in it, providing hours of fun for catch and release fishing. The off-shoot gravel road that abuts the property is a dead end at about a mile and is great for walking without worrying about vehicles. Cabin was stocked with all necessary dishes and utensils, was able to still use the toilet even without running water (manually add water to tank), propane fireplace kept the place warm when it snowed (in June!), beds were comfortable, and still received radio reception (no cell service). Penland lake is about a 10 minute drive away. Just an overall quaint, quiet, simple place for getting away and enjoying the forest.

1. There are large beautiful meadows, several, within walking distance of the cabin..

A very nice location but it was supposed to have drinking water, toilet, shower, and a kitchen sink, but I had none of that on my last two days. Somewhat of an inconvenience.

This wasn't my first time at the GS, and won't be my last. Ditch Creek GS is a great place to kick back and relax. Not much to do there, unless you have, heaven forbid, an atv. Great pond for swimming (at least my dog loves it).

We have stayed at this cabin for several years. The carpenter ants are still around, but not as bad as past years. Having running water back was really nice. Real hassle running up to the spring to get water like we had to do last year. Having a fold out bed instead of the old futon was a blessing. Need ladders for the top bunks as getting up and down is difficult. There were not kitchen eating knives in the utensil drawer this time. Don't know why someone would take those. A curtains would be nice on the windows. We found that the moon shining in was like have a street light outside of the cabin. Suggest you bring a towel or two to use as temp curtains and a few clothes pins as there are not many up there to hold them in place. Overall, a very nice stay. Also suggest bringing an alternate light source as the wall gas lamps do not provide much light for reading or playing games. The carbon monoxide alarm was going dead and needed new batteries which we did not have so consider replacing those. It was just lying around as someone must have removed it from its original location.

Cabin was really dirty upon. arrival. I emptied at least 5 dustpans sweeping it out. Spent an hour cleaning while my spouse drove to the campground for water to flush toilets. We rented this for the running water and propane appliances. Disappointed that there was no water, but the campground host up the road states it is a regular occurrence over the past few years. We were warned a few days prior to arrival, but wouldn't have rented if we'd known this wouldn't have water. The shower obviously hadn't been used in quite some time (years?). Lots of bird activity, so that was nice. We did enjoy the solitude.