Big Pines Campground

This BLM campground looks terrific and is freshly paved and spruced up. It's a beautiful location along the Yakima River which is a prime spot for fishing. Some tall Ponderosas provide enough shade for probably a third of the sites which are very flat. Prime spots are right along the river which looked safe enough for average swimmers.

This park might be a little too hot in July and August. We were there a Thursday night in mid-September. This park is best for campers, vans, class B's, tent campers. The diesel-pusher motor home next to us fired up its generator for AC, which ruined the air quality for us. No electrical hookups, sewer or water services are available.

There's a lot of raft traffic that continues after dark as floaters from upriver arrive to take out their rigs. For those in sites #1 through 4, it can get a little tiresome. For those who do not enjoy freight trains, pack your ear plugs because the tracks are just on the opposite side of the river. We were told that only about four trains rattle through each day, however.

We were warned that weekends can get noisy as the parks along Hwy 821 south of Ellensburg are popular with college kids. Vault toilets could benefit from some TLC, however. Working locks and some toilet paper would be nice, too! Camp hosts appeared to be disinterested in making an effort to do their jobs.

We checked out the Umtanum CG a few miles north (also BLM) and that was much more to our liking. It wasn't paved, but has a suspension bridge with trails along the Umtanum Creek Canyon.

BLM campground, pit toilets, right on the river. Did I mention FREE from Oct to May? Cons, near the highway with large trucks hauling apples during harvest, and there are a couple of trains per night right across the river.

Nice spot, the only one of the 4 in the Yakima River Canyon Campgrounds that will hold a larger trailer. A couple pull thrus also. (31 and 37 are the largest if you are doing reservations) Roads are paved as are sites, quite level. Very quiet. Stayed September so not crowded (did get invaded 1 night with a ton of VW buses that were going to some VW rally near by). They do take reservations at the recreation.gov site so you need to look at the board when you come in to see if your site is available as long as you want to stay. We went on line and booked the extra 2 nights just to be sure we could stay. We would have stayed longer but they closed the campground (I think it was the 18-19 of September) for weed spraying. Near mile marker 10 on 821 which is a very easy road to do with a larger rig. Well marked entrance. The train does run on the other side of the river, but not bad - probably around 6 times/24 hours (yes overnight also). If you have the senior pass for national parks it is only 7.50/night. No water/electric/dump but there is a free dump at the rest area at mile marker 80 if you are leaving going south on 82.

BLM land but recently daily/nightly rates were added. $5/$15 respectfully. Trains pass by occasionally on opposite side of river. Occasional truck traffic on only road leading to campground. Camp ground hosts on site. Overall we give it 5 stars. AT&T coverage one bar. Three bars with booster.

We stayed here because we wanted to be on the river to try and fly fish. This was one of the only places big enough for our 34’ TT. The north loop was closed and there were only a few pull through spots. Most were back in and looked slightly uphill. All were paved. No amenities, but half of the toilets were still open.
The train across the river runs often and is amazingly loud in a canyon!

We arrived after dark and it was very hard to see as there are no lights except where you self check in.

Big Pines has four first come/first served sites, the rest can be reserved. There are a small number of sites with shade, most are out in the open and there is little privacy. It looked like a monster storm had recently taken out several large pines so that reduced the number of sites with shade. All sites are paved, mostly back-in with a few pull-throughs, and many were large enough to accommodate even the biggest rigs. There are no hookups or dump station. There are pit toilets (clean and well maintained) and garbage service.

It looks like a popular campsite for floating the Yakima River and we’d love to make a return trip to do just that. There is a small boat ramp at the campground and several more access points along WA 821. We saw bighorn sheep on the hillsides across from the campground. As noted in other reviews the train tracks are right across the river and it can be quite loud.

We had 2 bars of Verizon 3G, but it wasn’t reliable.

This campground is a nice quiet stay though there is the occasional train across the river. No horn tooting. The road is pretty shoulder-less getting there but the sites are roomy and clean. We had some river view and access. Not much for bike riding but the hiking trails are super with marvelous views and full cell coverage (ATT) rewarding the climb up. Both down and up were tricky and not for simple strollers. And there are rattlesnakes out this time of year so watch your step and keep your ears open.

The campground was sparsely occupied mid week in late May. We had two adjacent sites (4 and 5) which worked great for our popup camper and my brother-in-law's 27' trailer. If we hadn't been camping together, these two sites would have seemed a bit close to one another, and I would have preferred a different site on the loop. But we picked those two spots for the shade potential ("Big Pines") and they were also right next to the river. Dry camping only - no water available. Other campers were courteous.

Now, we saw the train tracks across the river, but only a few rail maintenance vehicles went by from time to time during the day, so it seemed pretty peaceful. Until. After dusk it seemed like every train in the country had to come squealing and screeching and groaning and roaring down those tracks. I mean it was LOUD. Trains were frequent, all night long, as if they had stacked them up during the day, waiting for dark to send them down the canyon. I would no sooner start to drop off when the rumbling would start up again. Maybe if we had stayed longer than two nights I would have gotten used to it (says my husband, who sleeps like the dead had had no trouble with the noise). No, probably not. Other than that, lovely canyon.

Park host and Ranger on site were very friendly and helpful. Thoroughly enjoyed our stay! Train(s) during the night but no whistles. Stars by the billions! Halfway between Yakima and Ellensburg for access to town markets and breweries! Recommend Whipsaw Brewing in Ellensburg.

Big Pines is a clean, spacious and well maintained campground. It sits right on the Yakima River and all sites have easy access to the river. I stayed in site 5 in November and I was one of 5 campers in the camp ground. The campground is first come after September and it was partially closed like many campsites during fall and winter. No hook ups provided but the sites are paved and level with fire ring and picnic table. I didn't notice road noise and we watched a late night train pass on the other side of the river from the river edge but it wasn't visible from the site, other than that didn't notice train noise during the night. The Yakima Canyon is beautiful and this was a fantastic site to explore and fish for the weekend. Stop at Red's Fly Shop a short distance away and eat at their gorgeous restaurant, Canyon River Grill, a good lunch and dinner menu and impressive wine list, they also have an espresso bar and do breakfast sandwiches.