Searching for the perfect place to pitch your tent near Lake Wallula? Find the best information on tent camping near Lake Wallula, including sites, reviews, and tips for getting the most out of your camping experience. Each tent campsite offers quick access to one or more of Lake Wallula's most popular destinations.
Camping is now 'group camping' only, and requires a permit
West Park is located within McNary Dam Wildlife Area just downstream of McNary Dam in Eastern Oregon on the Mid-Columbia River.
The park provides two softball fields and a playset for the children to enjoy the park. There is also close access to the McNary Dam Wildlife Areas and its trail system.
West Park offers two reservable picnic shelters. West Park #1 Steelhead Shelter has eight picnic tables and two fire grills and West Park #2 Coho Shelter has 10 picnic tables and two fire grills. Both shelters also offer electricity.
The park is located within the McNary Dam Wildlife Area. Day users enjoy the beautiful park with its mature shade trees.
The Pacific Salmon Visitor Center, Oregon Fish Viewing Room and the McNary Dam Wildlife Area with its beautiful natural trails are all in close proximity to West Park.
$70 / night
Guide
We stayed here in a tent site (no hookups) on our way back to Portland from Nevada. As an overnight cut-off campground, it’s lovely: Nice-sized sites set in beautiful Oregon forest (we’d been out of state for a couple weeks and REALLY appreciated the trees); clean bathrooms and showers; long “tent” sites that allowed us to back in our 18ft trailer without uncoupling for the night.
However, it’s right on the interstate. While you kind of tune it out after a while, the road noise is constant and definitely interferes with any sense of “wilderness”.
Traveler
Easy to pull into tent camping spots. Recommend if traveling and need an easy sleep spot.
RangerWe spend a night there in July on our way to Boulder Colorado. The campground is quite nice and bathrooms were clean and providing all needed functionality. Large and tall trees provided a very welcome shade during the heatwave we were going through. The only issue was that, we were tent camping and being close to the highway it was quite noisy.
Scout
This is a nice, clean park. Has tent sites, back ins, pull thrus, and has bathrooms and a laundry room onsite. Sometimes you can hear the freeway traffic but not bad. The host are super friendly and amazing. The people who live here year round are also nice.
RangerTerrible tent camping experience. This campground is TOO close to the highway and too noisy even with ear plugs or music. We could barely sleep nor have a conversation while sitting across each other for breakfast. I would advice to only stay here if you have an RV camper. The bathrooms were very clean, great trails and the interpretive center was very educational. No complaints there.
Guide
This is NOT a secluded wilderness campround where you will have a epic back to nature experience. Having said that, if you want a place to park your rv (they do have tent sites also), with full hook ups while you explore the local wineries, with a pool and a shuttle van, then this place is amazing.
ScoutMy husband and I love this campground. It's close to the mountains without being too far away - about an hour and a half from us living in Tri-cities. There are showers and water spickets, room for horses, and great hiking trails. There is room for both tent and RV camping. We have only ever gone tent camping, and the size of the campgrounds for us has been great. There is room to set up hammocks and chairs.
The only unfortunate aspect about this campground is that it is somewhat close to the highway. After the first weekend we spent there, we got somewhat used to the sound - it can sometimes be soothing. It's also a good idea to bring something to provide added shade to either the tenting area or sitting area as it gets quite sunny in the morning.
Guide
So… many… spiders! I paid 20 bucks for 1 night tent camping for me and 2 dogs. The campground is absolutely gorgeous with lots of trees and water views. A little confusing to get to since there isn’t much signage to guide you and I ended up going to wrong way the first time. They have bathrooms with showers available for use. I was very very satisfied here but once it got a little darker, all the creepy crawlers started coming out and I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many spiders in one place. In the morning, I had spiders in each of my door handles, my mirrors, when I turned on my car they started crawling out of the hood of my car, and I had spiders coming out of my trunk for a week. I am not a “beginning camper” so I’m used to bugs and spiders on my trips but I’ve never had this many in one place. There are really cute baby frogs hopping all around in the mornings though which was very cute. Just watch your step. Probably won’t be going back because of the spiders though…
Legend
General: 41 RV sites with water and electric plus 11 tent sites in a grassy common area.
Site Quality: Reasonable separation between the sites. The back-in sites are wide enough to comfortably fit a TT, 5th wheel or RV and your toad or other vehicle side-by-side. The pull-through sites are very large. All sites have gravel camper pads and most appeared very level or had a level area. Our site, along with several others, had a nice view of Lake Sacajawea.
Bath/Shower house: Clean even if a little dated. Didn’t use the shower so cannot comment on that except that the hooks are located outside of the shower stalls so even though there is a swinging door to the shower area, privacy is compromised a bit by this design.
Activities: Unless you have a boat (there is a boat launch and dock), not too much to do here except relax. There is a small swimming area but no beach to speak of (grassy and pebbly area). There is a playground and horseshoe pits but no hiking trails that I could see.
To get to this campground, you drive past many miles of apple orchards and then suddenly, you see the lake and campground. There are quite a few trees for shade. Surprisingly good cell (Verizon) given the remoteness of the campground. Be aware there are train tracks nearby and you will hear an occasional loud train. It was very quiet on the Wednesday before Labor Day, but we were told it would be completely full on the weekend.
ScoutExcellent 1/2 point between home in Idaho and the Oregon Coast. Tent and full hook ups with helpful campground hosts.
Yes, you can hear the freeway from the campground - so it may not be recommended for tent campers.
RangerWe camped here May 2016. This park we tried the tent only site and it was a bit of a walk to haul all of our stuff. The trees were in bloom and bugs hatching & swarming, so that was a huge hurdle. Fishing was great off of the docks. Showers were nice, although not located in the tent part of camp. Bathrooms were ok, but no lights at night. The beach would be nice when the water is higher, otherwise it's just muddy.
ScoutCamping here is nice on the Columbia River Washington side. Little breezy at times. $40.00 a night for RV $30.00 for veterans $20.00 for tents
Guide
Good experience camping here. Really loved watching the sunset over the water while taking a stroll by the shore. Metal fire pit made perfect for dinner, and the ground was mostly even for our tent.
Traveler
Not sure of the price for an Rv slot. Beautiful river view. Some tent pads, level area for my van to park and sleep. Great breezes today.
Scout
Great site off the freeway- but because it’s close, you’ll hear cars all night. We were the only tent campers so we had a bunch of space. Fire rings and picnic tables at every site as well as a bunch of firewood. There are 2 bathrooms and showers that look pretty new. WiFi works closer to the RVs.
Traveler
We do an annual trip here every Father’s Day weekend. Close to the river, plenty of fishing and swimming. The trees are nice. This is an Army Corp of Engineers campground so some federal rules apply: no firearms, no alcohol(at least not openly)
The only issue we have is the sprinklers come on Friday nights and wash the tents for us. it’s good and bad.
ScoutI have been going here for 20 years it's very nice clean and friendly people that run it. Great for tents or RVs. Full facilities with showers. You can watch the river traffic has a small marina by it that you can get gas at for your boat if you have those. Very busy Campground hard to get into at times.
Guide
This site was right next to Fort Walla Walla, with a park and dog park. Not much else here but weird animal statues and long-term RVers. Lots of hookups for RV and trailers. No tent or car camping. The bathrooms were still closed June 2021, need to use your own hookups.
GuideSo much history in this area. A nice little camp with full hookups, cabins and tent spots. LITERALLY right next to the freeway. Camp host was not friendly and the noise never stopped. Keep on going down the road and look for something else if you’re looking for a true outdoors experience.
Guide
This park is well kept. The grass is green and luscious in the common area near the swimming. They have a boat launch as well as a separate dock for picking up passengers. If you walk along the shore line, you can find a flat area to set up your day in the water with chairs and floats. Bring a pop-up tent to create some shade and it is a great place to hang towels.
GuideThis campground is great. We’ve stayed twice - once in a tent and once in a cabin and had a wonderful experience both times. We must have lucked out, because the nights we stayed traffic noise didn’t seem bad at all. Bathrooms are nice and clean. The surroundings are so pretty and walking through the campground is so peaceful!
ScoutWe reserved 4 nights here and left after two because we had to do everything inside our camper, otherwise there were spiders (and not the little ones) on us, on our chairs, on our everything! Black spiders, red spiders, brown spiders and spider sprays don't work. After spraying the outside of our tent trailer within minutes they were back. They were hanging from the trees! And no matter what you left out, the were webs on them the next morning! I WILL NEVER GO BACK THERE!!!!
GuideLove this campground and will come back. My husband and I usually pull our ‘68 Aristocrat Lo-Liner but on this trip we were “roughing it” with a tent and a small SUV. I was happy that not only did we get a spot on the river, but there were free, clean hot showers centrally located. The back in spots were not too close together. Some spots offer shade, others are full on sun. And the catfish were biting!
Legend
We stayed in the Wildhorse Resort Casino RV Park & Tipi Village the day we purchased our trailer. The surroundings are sparse but what it lacks in scenery they make up for in amenities. There is a pool and a shuttle service to the casino. While we didn't go to the casino, we did spend a lot if time in the pool and envied those staying in the tipis. This is a great stop if you are traveling from Western Oregon to Eastern Oregon. The grounds and restrooms where clean and we enjoyed our stay!
Scout
$12 a night for water and electricity. Clean area with grass and playground. Some areas appear to be under construction or upgrade. Dumpster and restroom available. Showers closed because of covid-19. Sights are on paved roadway with firepits and picnic tables. Easy in and out for our 32' Class A. Hermiston Oregon is 6 miles away.
RangerWe stopped for a night in a rustic camping cabin at Emigrant Springs in July of 2015. It was a welcome dose of green after a long day of brown along the interstate through Idaho and western Oregon. The cabin was rustic, the shower house was in good repair with nice hot showers. There seemed to be good space and shade around the sites offering some privacy. Great spot! Take the time to stop in Meacham on the West side of I-84 tomstop at The Oregon Trail Cafe - literally the ONLY store in this teeny town. Wonderful hospitality, the local ‘scoop’ and great breakfast.
GuideOur tire shredded on our CRV and my husband was nervous to carry our heavy load on a dummy tire so we stopped here which was the closest town. We were the only tent as this is an RV park but had an okay grass patch. One tiny tree. You can tell that there are several long-term residents due to the skirting around so many of the rv's. We were able to get a used tire from the nearby tire shop in the morning and be on our way. Thankful for this place in a time of need. 🙂
Nestled near Lake Wallula in Oregon, tent camping offers a unique blend of natural beauty and outdoor adventure. Whether you're looking for a peaceful retreat or an action-packed getaway, there are several options to explore.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Lake Wallula?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Lake Wallula is Sand Station Recreation Area with a 3-star rating from 1 review.
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TheDyrt.com has all 5 tent camping locations near Lake Wallula, with real photos and reviews from campers.
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