Deschutes River State Recreation Area

After driving through the Columbia River Gorge I was looking for a spot to camp for the night. I pulled into the Deschutes River State Recreation Area and was immediately impressed.

The campground has a loop for those who need hookups but I chose the "B" loop which doesn't have hookups. This is essentially a big grassy area with fire rings and picnic tables arranged in a semi circle.

My stay was on a day that the temperature reached 100°. The big trees in the campground provided a lot of shade. Enough that it was still pleasant to sit outside and read and drink an adult beverage.

There were only two downsides that I had with my stay. First, it is near a rail line and trains seem to go by every couple of hours. Second, even though the bugs didn't bother me much while I was sitting outside when I went to bed I bet I had 100 or more flitting around inside my rig. I was very careful to keep the screens closed so I'm pretty stoked about how so many got inside, although a lot of them were of the "Noseeum" variety. Even weirder they were all gone by morning. So however they got it must be the same way they got out.

Bottom line though, it was a great spot for an overnight stay and with the Deshutes River at your doorstep it would also be a great place to stay more than just one night.

A cute little campground, we were lucky to be able to snag a spot in the overflow....which was great for us. We don't need hook ups, and this location put us further away from road and train noise. In fact, we had a very peaceful quiet night. This is the starting point of the Rails to Trails bike trail along the Deschutes River. We had an enjoyable day riding the trail...32 mile round trip. Free showers to boot! Yeah!

We were fortunate enough to reserve an outside site on the A loop over Labor Day weekend in 2017. It was warm, but the park had plenty of shade from mature trees. For our 25’ trailer, I wouldn’t want to stay in anything other than the outside sites on the A loop. The inside sites are pretty tight.
We were able to get some hiking in and even took the short drive down to Maupin one day and did a rafting trip. Great way to beat the heat!!

Really debated between a 3 and 4 for the rating of this park.

If you are in an RV, you’ll probably want the A loop. If your RV is longer than 23’, you’ll probably want the outer edge of the A loop. The inside edge campsites, in the A loop are very small and very tight. The entire campground is tight.

This is a very well maintained small campground. Saw multiple rangers daily mowing and cleaning the park.

The river runs right along the campground. Unfortunately the water is very high and several on the basic tent sites ( non-hookup and not A loop) were flooded.

30 and 50 amp electric worked fine. Water good. No sewer and NO dump.

There’s a nice gravel bike trail at the entrance of the park.

Trains all night so be prepared. Guessing 3-5 trains every night and the tracks are right at the entrance. And because there is a cross road, the trains blow their horns.

With the sprinklers running almost 24 / 7 , this park could be nothing but GREEN. Very nice setting away from the main highway along a frontage road. Lots of space for me to walk the dog and even let her off leash to run a bit. Across the river there is a kayak/raft launch and the dog made good use of this area to access the river. Bathrooms and showers were clean. I had trouble getting my 30 amp to work at the pedestal, but the camp host addressed it quickly. Nice relaxing place ... just passing thru from Washington to Central Oregon.

Hi all.
Overall we really enjoyed our stay here. The A loop spots are right unless you are on outer edge ‘river side’ we were not but we managed to get our TT in after some finagling and the camp host told us to park our car on grassy area / side lawn of our site which worked perfectly because that space was pretty generous.
Our favorite things about this park:
The river is right there! Great views. Good sunsets.
Super green lawns surrounding you. Great for hanging with the dogs and paying frisbee.
Giant willow tree. I became obsessed with this one gorgeous giant willow on the lawn area. So pretty.
Campers were friendly but also at night quiet.
A loop is small so not too big of a crowd.
Private showers that are HOT!
Great trails all around. You don’t need to get in a car to explore.

The things that could be better:
Some highway noise is consistently buzzing.
You are near railroad tracks. I find it charming. But it annoyed my husband. It’s an active track so you here them choo choo’ing often. But you aren’t so close it shakes the camper :)
Finally a couple of days in the area was enough for us. I think we’d be bored if we stayed much longer.

Things we recommend doing if you stay here:
Hiking Rowena Plateau/ Tom McCall trail- great views!
Going to Maryhill Winery
Hike and mountain bike the trails around the camp

Happy travels!
Rachel and Daryl

Only 2-3 other campers here overnight. At this time of year no water, no indoor toilet, no showers, but we were prepared for that. Site length was perfect for our 40-footer + toad but seemed to be the longest site here. No pull-throughs. Nice horse trail to walk on with good views. Clean, pleasant. Trains? Yes, but not a bother for us. Able to stream video with ATT & Verizon.

Train and highway noises are pretty much inevitable along this section of the Gorge.

Sites were a mixed bag here, some very small, some very spacious. Lots of fishing, family activities, noise, etc.

That said, sites backing up to the River are pleasant.

Wish we had known there was no dump station here before we arrived.

3 or 4 days is plenty of time here, but it was a nice stopover.

Very nice park, a bit noisy due to the interstate and railroad but that’s pretty typical for the Columbia. We will definitely be back for a summer visit.

Expansive lawns watered continually in summer and fertilized by hoards of Canada geese. Really wide open grassy area next to the Deschutes River, fairly shaded. Loop A is a little tight for larger RVs. Water and electricity only. No dump station. Lots of river access, but marginal for bank fishing. Lots of open lawn to play fetch or just hang out with your dog. Ours loved it! Great for a night or two.