Cold Springs Cabin - Ochoco Nf (OR)

For 2023 visitors should bring twin mattress covers, mattress pads, and a fitted twin sheet along with your sleeping bag and pillows. Bring tall kitchen garbage bags and a couple of leaf bags to haul your trash home.

Be sure to drive the loop around the prairie to enjoy the varied scenery and vegetation zones. Watch for wild horses on the west side. Good picnic destinations include Allen Creek Horse Camp - go thru the camp and left down to the creek, and Deep Creek Campground. The drive to the latter is spectacular.

Cell service is spotty at best. To reach our most reliable hit, from the cabin return south to the stop sign/bridge on the paved 42 road. Turn right across the bridge and in a few hundred yards take the first left. Continue straight, past the Travel Management billboard, for 2-3 mi. When you top out at a right hand curve and can see into the next drainage to the south, you should be able to pick up one, maybe two, Verizon bars.

Our second time staying at the Cold Spring Guard Station was amazing, as expected. The setting and accommodations are spectacular.

Thank you for another wonderful experience!
--Gina

Our second time staying at the Cold Spring Guard Station was amazing, as expected. The setting and accommodations are spectacular.

Thank you for another wonderful experience!
--Gina

We stopped at both the BLM and US Forest Service offices where we purchased several maps and confirmed there were no road closures. We followed directions to the site both per the US Forest Service instructions as well as well as recreation.gov confirmation. After travelling 10 of the 19 mi on US Forest service road 42 which is paved (Stay right to merge onto Forest Service Road 42 and then travel approximately 19 more miles) there was a road closure sign directing us toward Walton Lake (a 20 mi detour) on non-maintained gravel roads. At the time it was not only dark (at 3 PM) it was storming (cautions on road flooding) and we were unable to make it to the cabin and subsequently never visited the site. Use caution and triple check with US Forest Service to confirm no road closures. (Although we did, clearly the USFS employee did not take her job seriously.) This could have been a dangerous and serious situation as the area is very remote and we saw no other vehicles along the route.

We stopped at both the BLM and US Forest Service offices where we purchased several maps and confirmed there were no road closures. We followed directions to the site both per the US Forest Service instructions as well as well as recreation.gov confirmation. After travelling 10 of the 19 mi on US Forest service road 42 which is paved (Stay right to merge onto Forest Service Road 42 and then travel approximately 19 more miles) there was a road closure sign directing us toward Walton Lake (a 20 mi detour) on non-maintained gravel roads. At the time it was not only dark (at 3 PM) it was storming (cautions on road flooding) and we were unable to make it to the cabin and subsequently never visited the site. Use caution and triple check with US Forest Service to confirm no road closures. (Although we did, clearly the USFS employee did not take her job seriously.) This could have been a dangerous and serious situation as the area is very remote and we saw no other vehicles along the route.

Nice trip after I cleaned up after the previous guests.

2 bags of paper garbage on porch including dirty food stained paper plates.

Dog food scattered in 3 areas around deck and front walk.

Liter on front porch, empty water bottles.

One of the beds appeared to have been slept on by a dog leaving dirt and hair on it.

Shower was dirty with hair in drain cover.

The worst for last, on the night of the second day a fire in the fire pit sprung back to life leaving us to dose it out with water and shovel, this during a red flag alert and no fires allowed in the Ochoco National Forest.

Overall a we enjoyed our stay in spite of what the previous guests had left us.

Nice trip after I cleaned up after the previous guests.

2 bags of paper garbage on porch including dirty food stained paper plates.

Dog food scattered in 3 areas around deck and front walk.

Liter on front porch, empty water bottles.

One of the beds appeared to have been slept on by a dog leaving dirt and hair on it.

Shower was dirty with hair in drain cover.

The worst for last, on the night of the second day a fire in the fire pit sprung back to life leaving us to dose it out with water and shovel, this during a red flag alert and no fires allowed in the Ochoco National Forest.

Overall a we enjoyed our stay in spite of what the previous guests had left us.

Early June, wildflowers in abundance. The cabin had a strong gas smell when we arrived. After much sleuthing, we determined the cooktop pilot light was out and relit it. No hot water. Very, very low water pressure.

Early June, wildflowers in abundance. The cabin had a strong gas smell when we arrived. After much sleuthing, we determined the cooktop pilot light was out and relit it. No hot water. Very, very low water pressure.

Warm days, cold nights. Many butterflies but the nighthawks have headed south. The cabin was clean and all the utilities functioned well. Heard a varmint in the attic which was not great. Two forest service workers came by to test the water. They checked the attic and found nothing. The traps in the attic were still in place. They told us the cabin will receive a new roof this year.