Camping near Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area

Herman Creek Campground is currently closed indefinitely. The roads to the campground are blocked by barrels and logs. The website states that the campground had to be closed due to laminated root rot after the Eagle Creek Fire. If you park at the trail head during day use hours, you can still walk around the old campground, but most of it is already overgrown, and the outhouse has been permanently locked. The website states that this campground is currently being redesigned by the Forest Service, so maybe it will open again someday, but it's closed indefinitely at this time. There are still a few picnic tables set up in the parking area overlooking the Gorge although they are largely blocked by trees. The PCT has an auxiliary trail from Herman Creek to Cascade Locks which takes you right by Dry Creek Falls. Day use parking costs $5 or is free with a qualifying pass.

We recently camped here this past weekend, which was the last weekend of June. The sites here are very spacious compared to the campgrounds were used to in California. This is a very small campground with only 13 regular sites and a few group sites. Regular sites are only $20 and you can get half off with a pass. Unfortunately there is no shower, but the bathrooms were very clean and well stocked. The camp host was very friendly and knowledgeable about the area. She answered all of our questions about the Columbia River Gorge and even recommended some great spots to eat nearby in Cascade Locks. Unfortunately we did notice that some teenagers from one of the group sites dumped an entire bucket of refuse from their RV all over the women's handicapped stall after the police came to their site to ask them to pick up their mess and quit making so much noise, which led to that stall being closed for the rest of the weekend. Other than that, the rest of our neighbors were great. We loved the hike to the little waterfall right behind the campground. The same trail leads to the Gorge Trail 400, which leads to the PCT. Overall we're so glad we stumbled upon this gem of a campground in the Gorge and would definitely camp here again.

Nice RV park, close enough to Portland to work for us. We don’t have a tow car so we relied on public transportation to get to downtown, which was great (though it is a 1 mile walk to the bus stop). There are many long-termers here, but due to their 10 or 15 year RV rule, all the RVs here were really nice and fancy. There’s a little area with a free table, a book exchange, some workout equipment, a kitchen, laundry, and showers. The laundry room had a designated pet washer and dryer, which I always love, so we washed all of our dog bedding here. Showers were really really nice, super hot, good pressure, clean, free. Staff was nice as well. Free wifi that worked pretty well. There’s a small neighborhood dog park right across the street.

This is one of those interesting RV parks/ campgrounds that’s attached to a city park and to boat ramps/ fishing, so you have a lot of day use activity going on, which can be nice or not, depending on what you’re looking for. 

We just needed a place to stay on our way to Portland, so this was a good place for us for the night. At $50/night it felt too pricey but that’s the norm. The sites are mostly pull through, some back in sites along the back, and come with E/W hookups. There’s a dump station at the entrance that’s $10 (pay with credit card), but it’s supposed to be free if you’re camping here. It looks like they’re working on some waterfront sites that’re going to be $60/night. If you’re a resident of a certain portion of the city it’s $30/night. It looked like there were some down on their luck people staying here, as well as regular travelers just enjoying life. There is a host on site.

Overall, wonderful campground. The camp hosts were fantastic, and the grounds and bathrooms were kept extremely clean. We stayed in site #11, which I would ONLY recommend if you are part of a group camping at group site#12. These two sites are way too close for comfort, especially when one is meant for a large group. We walked around the campground and found that most other sites were large and relatively private, so we were just unlucky with our selection. As others have stated, the bees can be pretty aggressive, but we had a canopy with a mesh screen, so we weren't bothered. Plenty of stuff to do in the area...ice caves, natural bridges, lakes for fishing, and just general exploring. We will be back!

This site is very nice but be warned you need a vehicle with GOOD CLEARANCE I was able to make it out in a Subaru WRX but not without talking a few hard hits. This camp sight is currently as of 6/30/2025 not being taken over by ARM Alaska recreation management inc. several nice sights right next to the old Barlow bridge. and quite a few campsites along the road. Make sure to mark the road into your site to let people know it’s being occupied. We had a few people drive right up to our camp site at night looking for there party. We marked ours with chem lights a crossed the entrance with 550 cord letting people know it’s occupied. All the sites I seen do have fire pits and picnic tables except for one. Would bring a rake to help keep the camp sites clean of twigs.