About this place
Quartzville Creek is quiet water, cascading through old-growth forest. You can walk, camp and fish here, or just watch it go by.
The creek is named after the quartz mined in the area. It is also named after a ghost town, the center of two brief gold rushes in the late 1800s.
The free camping is at marked sites along the road. They begin at milepost 17.2, and each is marked by an iron fire ring. Whoever arrives first gets the site. You may only camp at those.
Recreational mining is allowed along the BLM part of the byway, and people still pan for gold in this creek.
Keep any fire inside a steel ring or grill that is already there. Do not collect firewood at the developed campgrounds.
At the undeveloped sites, take home everything you bring.
The Quartzville Back Country Byway follows the river, past old-growth forest and wildlife, with picnic and camping spots along the way.
The facts
- Cost
- Camping fee not confirmed
- Stay limit
- 14 days
- Type
- Set campsites only. Camping is limited to those
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Getting there
From Sweet Home, go east on U.S. Highway 20. About a mile out of town, turn left onto the Quartzville Access Road, signed for Green Peter Reservoir and Quartzville Creek. Old Miners Meadow is about 25 miles up that road on the right, a mile past the Yellowbottom Recreation Site.
Coordinates 44.5864, -122.39757
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
There is another spot of ours within reach, and some better-known places further out.
- Quartzville Back Country Byway Directions
- Keel Mountain Directions
- Santiam State Forest Directions
- Detroit Lake Directions
- Mount Jefferson 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
- Gates, OR Directions
- Mill City, OR Directions
Mill City 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.
Why “at least”: this route is hard to measure. We worked the drive out twice, with two separate mapping tools, and they gave different answers. That usually means there is no road close to the campsite, so the drive doubles back a long way. The figure above is the longer of the two. The real drive could be further still, so check the route before you set off.
Why the drive to town is usually twice what the map says — what we found measuring every campsite in this guide.
When it’s time to move on
You can camp here for 14 days. After that you have to move on, and the Bureau of Land Management usually wants you at least 25 to 30 miles away. So the free campsites closest to you are the ones you cannot use.
Two in this guide sit inside that 25 miles. The nearest one you could move to is Sisters Cow Camp Horse Camp, Oregon — 44 miles in a straight line, but at least a 69 mile drive.
Why “at least”: there is no road right at this campsite, so the drive is hard to measure and the real one could be further. Check the route before you set off.
This guide covers five states and does not list every free campsite, so there may be something closer that we do not hold. Check this site’s own rule before you rely on it.
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 Bureau of Land Management’s own records, read in August 2026.