Memaloose State Park

This is a great campground if you pick the right site- and if you don't mind a little train noise. The campground is squeezed onto a piece of land between the highway and the Columbia River Gorge. This means that some sites (A1-A15) are right along the highway and get constant highway noise. It also means that the sites with water views (A27-A47 odd numbers only, and B37-47 odd numbers only) receive lots of noise from the trains that go by. The good thing is that the trains do not blow their horns so they are not as noisy as they could be. By the third day into our week-long stay we had gotten used to the train noise and were not bothered by it at all. We stayed in site #47, a no hook-ups site with a water views. The sites were all large, with lots of trees and even though we had no hook-ups most of the dry camping sites have a water spigot. Memaloose is typical of other Oregon state parks with nice restrooms, free showers, recycling and lots of camp hosts who are constantly emptying the trash, raking and keeping the place tidy. There is no water access from the campground since you would have to cross the train tracks to get there, but the town of Hood River with a very nice waterfront is only a ten minute drive away. We loved our stay at Memaloose and would definitely stay there again.

Memaloose is a lovely park, thoughtfully laid out with great amenities and lots of elbow room. Lots of big shade trees, the Columbia River to the north and the Gorge on the other three sides. It was recommended to us by some seasoned RVers who said it was their favorite park in the whole USA. Since we live only an hour to the west near Portland but had never heard of it, we thought we'd check it out. We had forgotten to note their caveat "If you're train lovers like us..."

We scored a perfect spot on the northwest corner, #A41 noting the fact that there were train tracks just 70 ft or so away, in between us and the mighty Columbia River. Within a half an hour, the first of what would become dozens of trains whizzed by, heading east, a thrilling experience at such close proximity. We time them and found that on average, there was one an hour, each taking 2 minutes to pass, with 100 cars. Just to be clear, that's 24/7. Additionally, corresponding trains on the Washington side of the Columbia headed west just about as often. It IS really kind of cool, and like the other review, you do learn to tune it out by the second day, even at night. That being said, we were glad to be away from the just-as-noisey-in-a-different-way Interstate 84 traffic to the south.

If you love trains, check it out! Great access to Hood River, nearby hikes, scenic Columbia River Gorge. Dry and potentially very windy. Dog friendly.

This is probably the best (i.e., least bad) place to stay when visiting the Columbia River Gorge near Hood River, or The Dalles in Oregon. As other reviewers have indicated, this park is sandwiched in between the interstate (I-84) and the Columbia River and has a busy train track between the campground and the river itself. Unfortunately, this arrangement is pretty typical for this area since the topography of the Gorge has forced virtually all human development and the abundant transportation infrastructure (i.e., highways and rail lines) to be sandwiched along the Columbia River. It's the price we pay to visit this area. Having said this, Memaloose SP is probably the least bad of the various campground in the area for minimizing road and train noise.

We selected a non-serviced site (a tent site in Oregon State Park lingo) which was plenty big to accommodate our 27 foot Airstream and our 22 foot tow vehicle. Don't let the "tent site" designation deter you from picking one of these sites if you don't need full hookups or if the full hookup sites are not available. There are a number of full service sites but this was a busy time of the year (and there was an Airstream caravan staying here for part of our time here) so we could not snag a full service site for the duration of our stay Avoid the sites closets to the interstate even though they are full service (A1 through A15.) We selected a tent site near the river but across the campground road from the direct water-view sites. We still had great water views (especially when the sites across the road were empty) but we were back far enough from the rail line which runs below the campground that the train noise was somewhat muted (but hard to overlook.) If you've ever been in the New York City subway and heard the trains go by with the wheels screeching on the tracks, you get the idea. The highway noise was always present but sometimes masked by the incredible winds in the Gorge but when it was calm, the road noise was always in the background and began to be annoying after a few days.

The entrance to the campground is via a highway rest area off of I-84 which is kind of unusual. This means that every time you want to leave the premises you must get in your car and get on the interstate. There is no practical way to bike or walk out of the campground. There are no hiking trails from this campground or any other items of interest to visit or occupy your time while camping here. This is strictly a "jumping off point" to visit the Hood River and The Dalles which are each about 15 to 20 minutes away on the expressway.

The campground was very well maintained and the campground hosts and the ranger we met (Steve) were all very friendly and helpful.

Bonus: being close to the highway means that cell service and internet are excellent!

Mellow on the weekdays with mostly RV folk, and full on summer weekends with overnighters and tent campers, but quiet in the evenings. The hosts and rangers were super attentive and friendly during our stay and the bathrooms and showers were spotless. There aren’t any trails or activities inside the park, so plan on unhitching and driving. Like most camping spots in the Gorge, you're between the train tracks and the freeway, but the river views and location make up for it.

This is a very pretty campground that is also very noisy. The road noise is so loud we didn't have to feel bad about running our generator as we couldn't even hear it! It did quiet a bit at night, though. All the sites and roads are asphalt and in good shape. Ours was fairly level. The "tent" sites are plenty long for an RV, our site was occupied by an 38 foot fifth wheel before us. The tent sites have a water hookup. The flush toilets were very clean. It's a good place to stay to explore, but I wouldn't want to hang out at the campground.

Pretty state park, with nice views of the Columbia River—however (as others have mentioned) there is a bit of highway traffic and train noise in this state park.
Even with the noise, which we found tolerable, we would consider returning the next time we visit the Hood River area. The highway traffic noise is noticeable through-out the park, with the sites directly along the highway experiencing the most traffic noise but conversely the least train noise (i.e., the screeching sound that occurs when a train rounds a track bend, but thankfully no train whistles). As would be expected, the train noise is more easily heard the further back in the park you stay.
I do not consider this state park big rig friendly, but big rig possible. The outer loop around the park (less so the inner road) had trees trimmed high enough for us to drive down the road, but long RVs do need to watch as they go around curves in the road to clear branches on both sides of the road. Many of the sites did not have branches trimmed high enough for us, but many RVers with shorter in height RVs should be ok. The larger issue for longer RVs is the needed swing room to back into some of the sites. If the park is fairly empty, longer RVs would likely be ok, but if the park is full then those with RVs our total length would have a challenge backing into many of the sites. The widest road in the park parallels the highway and is in front of sites A3-A14. That road provides plenty of room to back into a site, however these sites are a little short for bigger rigs. A park ranger nicely moved us to one of the sites along the highway, which we could just squeeze into, after our reserved site B41 did not work for us due to low tree branches.

First I want to say the noise level was not bad at all you could hardly notice the trains especially you cant hear the freeway . It was a nice small campground with beautiful sights to see. Was sad we had no access to the water :( but it was beautiful to look at . Only real bad issue was GPS and the damn exit . The exit says rest area not Memaloose campground so we missed it the first time around but flipped around and got it the second time . My kids and family got what we needed out of this night and that was family time ...

PS yes very very windy but not bad

The restrooms are clean, the views are pretty, and there's a small playground. Other than that, not much else to get excited about. This campground is located in-between an interstate and a busy railroad. Despite being right next to the Columbia, there's no way to cross over the tracks (legally) to get to the water. In addition, if you want to head West into Hood River, you're going to have a heck of a time getting back because this campsite has only a Westbound entrance from the freeway. So you have to go all the way back East to The Dalles and come back to access it.

If you *do* choose to stay here, try to get a site on the East side of the park where it's less windy. We were on the NW corner and caught the brunt of the wind coming off the river.

Memaloose is a nice campground, but don’t expect river access or quiet. Nestled between I84 and the Union Pacific RR tracks, the park has both full hook-up sites (sewer, 30-amp electric and water) and tent sites. We were in site # A-12 which is close to the freeway and the road noise was constant. Maybe it’s better further from the road, but then you’d be closer to the train tracks.

The campground has lots of mature trees for shade and each site has a picnic table and fire ring. All sites are paved and back-in. There are restrooms, showers and a dump station.

The views of the Columbia are excellent, but we didn’t see any hiking, biking or other recreational activities at the campground. As others have noted, the campground is accessed through the westbound rest stop. If you’re going east, you have to go past it to the next exit (#76) and then come back three miles.

We had 3 bars of Verizon 4G.

I should have really read the other reviews. This campground is in a great location (between Hood River and The Dalles), but oh my goodness our site was so noisy from highway noise it kept us up at night. We were in A6 which is perpendicular to the hwy which is up a small bank- but there are no mature trees to help deaden the sound. The big rigs would go by and our 5'er would shake. We didn't select our site- the Oregon State Campground Operator did! we had no idea or would have changed it. We had booked 5 days and it was a long 5 days. We walked around the campground and there are better sites (some with a view, some with train noise and all could hear the highway.)
I guess it would be OK for an overnighter, but 5 nights is a long time. We usually like to sit outside and play games in the evening- but it was so noisy that it wasn't enjoyable.
Like other reviewers have said- getting here is a challenge (it's weird driving through a rest stop to the entrance) and it would have been worth it if not for the noise issue. I cannot reiterate enough- the highway noise is BAD!
I spoke to a very sweet ranger on day 3 and she stated that I could have asked them if there was another site available and we may have been able to move (which is a huge hassle) and I said we noticed that all the non reserved sites are marked "open for one night only" and she said that is not always true. Ugh.
We did have great Verizon coverage so that was nice and we had a decent amount of TV channels come in on our antenna.
Regardless, we did not like our site and will not likely return to this campground unless desperate for an overnight stop.