Best RV Parks & Resorts near Gates, OR

They have a hot tub, heated pool, lodge, rv hook ups, tent spaces, and rental cabins. Very nice.

Two weeks maximum stay. It is basically a Parking Lot at a fairgrounds with RV hook ups.

No shower or other facilities

We visited Mt. Hood Village RV Resort this past weekend for a two day snow outing adventure and it was the perfect stay for our family in our RV.  We started with night skiing at Mt. Hood Skibowl, and after finishing up about 10:30pm we headed a bit back down the mountain to Mt Hood Village.  Despite the snowpack on the mountain, Mt Hood Village is just 20 min away, but several thousand feet lower in elevation, so there was no snow to fight with when we arrived.  

It was late at 11pm, so what a great surprise to find a very helpful welcome with a gate attendant who had our information from our reservation printed and ready to go with a smile and good directions find our RV site.  We pulled in and plugged in within 10 minutes and got the crew ready for sleeping.  The site was level, had all the amenities for a full service hook up (although we had a full fresh water tank and relatively empty waste tanks so we didn't hook them up as I was too tired!).  

In the morning I walked through the Resort to see all of the many amenities.  We had stayed here once before in the summer when we visited the summer activities at Mt Hood Skibowl.  The kids rode their bikes then and we enjoyed an active RV resort with many overnight visitors and a lot of regular long stay neighbors.  Sites can be close together but the abundance of large trees and multiple sections of the park spreads out the large number of sites it offers for RV sites, and tiny home rentals.

Amenities are many (not all are open due to COVID) and we didn't have time to enjoy all of them, but they are here for your use.  I would call ahead to see what is open if particular amenities are important to you (fitness gym, pool, etc. to see if they are currently available or not).  There is a senior center for gathering, there is a mountain ski shuttle pick up for a ride to the slopes, also a fitness center, pool, playground, onsite convenience store, restaurant, clubhouse, etc.  

We particularly appreciated how close it was located Mt Hood.  After a solid night's rest we headed 30 min back up to the backside of the mountain to Bennett Pass.  We worked on a snow fort a friend had started and had a great experience finishing out our 24 hour mountain adventure.

Mt Hood Village resort has hundreds of RV sites, tons of amenities, and is part of the Encore RV Resort/Thousand Trails network of properties.  If you are headed to winter or summer activities at Mt Hood it is a great option for a stay that is close to the mountain, has access to all the amenities you could want, with personal service, all at a fair price.  I highly recommend this property.

Mallard Creek Golf and RV Resort is located about 3 miles from Waterloo (or 8 miles from Lebanon, Oregon and 11 miles from Sweet Home, Oregon). It is off the beat and design for those serious golfers. The RV resort is design for trailers of any size with 30 to 50 amps electric, also includes, water, sewage hook ups, cable, and a cement table. The Club House has showers, bathrooms, and laundry facility. The club house has a wonderful party space with TV, gas fireplace (no fires at sites), tables for games and social gatherings. Free WIFI, your cel phone and data plans work wonderful in this area. Dogs are allowed, but no pet area to run loose. Kids are welcome but not gear up for things to do unless they love to golf too.

Mallard Creek is gear up for the serious golfers so the summer has special packages for the RV site with golfing from Memorial day weekend to the end of September. For non-golfers the RV resort is available between October 1 to the Thursday before Memorial day.

The front of the camp ground is long term if not permanent residents.  Lots of clutter and miscellaneous items.  Looks like stuff that just doesn't fit into their trailer and made its way to their covered area (near their trailers).

Everyone kept to themselves, not much chatting going on with nearby "campers".  The level we were on, just above the level near the River wasn't terrible.  I liked it because we were a little further from the strong flowing river with our 2 little boys.  It is beautiful and sounds awesome, but just to play it safe with the young ones I would recommend the spots on the level right above the river front.

The spots near the water look really nice.  You would be able to hear the River from your camp spot.  These spots had fire pits.  Our spot looked like it was there at one point, but wasn't there any longer.

Very limited cell signal here.

Camp ground said their wifi was down, she mentioned it would be back up the next day, but it never was during or stay.  That would have made it a little better to have connection to the world (as I am working on the road).

Our spot was unique, the power and water were on the same side, if you back in they would be on the passenger side and the sewer didnt have a good connection so I located a nearby stump to weigh it down.  That was on the drivers side (again if you back into the space).

They offer a cable box at check in, which we didnt use that came with a coax cable and HDMI.  (again, wifi would have solved this instead of taking these items that look like they are in a reusable bag).

Overall, the views are awesome, being that close to the water is awesome and I didnt feel unsafe, just a little unique of a spot.  They did offer good sam and the lady was very nice to call and check on our good sam membership number. 

The common room (they call the friendship room) that looks like a living room appeared closed for now (covid) and the laundry was open, but we did not use.  The bathrooms were closed (covid).

We decided to make this RV park our maiden voyage in our new Travel Trailer. It was pretty pricey for an RV park at the time we booked (+80/night) but then again there isn't much competition that is actually up on the mountain. It's actually a pretty large park, but doesn't feel like it until you get out and explore a bit as the loops are pretty well disconnected. The sites are typically close together, but some have more separation than others. Most sites are pull through. Full hookups worked well for us. There was a group of tent campers across from us, so it seems they do allow tents in RV spots as well. The Lodge has wifi, the rest of the park does not. The Lodge area has a small store with plenty of RV parts and snacks if you happened to forget something. If you need actual supplies, head up the road a bit to the local Thriftway, a local grocery store.

The main attraction of this place is the nearby recreation. There is a path that leads to the Wildwood recreation area and within the RV park itself there is access to the Salmon River for fishing/swimming. There is easy bike riding in the RV park, and right across Hwy 26 is some of the best Mountain Biking in the country at the Sandy Ridge Trail System. Using this RV park as a jumping off point, there are endless hiking trails and lakes to paddle and explore in the Mt Hood wilderness. You will never get bored in the Mt Hood area.

Some great places to eat in the area are Koya Kitchen, that serves sushi and ramen with plenty of outdoor seating and a full bar. Also nearby and not to miss is the Skyway Bar and Grill with amazing BBQ, full bar and live music on the weekends. Of course there's always Timberline Lodge if you're looking for a bit fancier, you definitely can't go wrong there with the food or the views, or year round skiing/snowboarding.

All in all the Mt Hood RV park is in a good location, which is what you're really paying for, but not somewhere we'd stay longer term due to the cost, noise and size of the place.

We were lucky enough to get site number 1 which has a hot spring by it and it is river front (McKenzie River 🤩). They have rooms available, riverfront sites as well as another big area with cabins and for RVs. There is a tent area, we didn’t go there but we saw a bunch of people pulling a cart with their stuff to the tent area which is on the other side of the river. The property has the carts and you can just borrow. We did not have full hook up, only water and electric and that’s what we needed for one night. I am not sure they have full hook ups at the upper RV area. We loved staying there, you are literally in the forest, you can enjoy a nice walk around the park, they have a few trails or just sit by the river and relax. The lodge has two hits springs in the form of pools - we did not get in it because it was a bit crowded and we were there at the end of June, when Covid-19 was still around. The one by the reception and the River is bigger and the one is a bit smaller and gets crowded fast. They were requiring appointments for the second one in order to control the number of people in it and it looked like 25 was still too many people for such a small area. They are dog friendly and they offer breakage for lodge guests. We saw a food truck parked outside of the lodge but it was not open, unfortunately. It would have been cool to get food there. Bring food, water and anything else you need because there are no grocery stores around and they don’t have many options at their store at the lodge. We saw a few people fishing across de river from us! The property is very well taken care of. Beautiful flowers, plants, trees and lawn. There are a ton of hikes in the area. Proxy falls is not too far from this place and worth the trip. Great to go alone, as a couple or family.