Planning a dispersed camping trip near The Dalles? Find everything from dispersed backcountry camping to boondocking with The Dyrt. Whether you're looking for a quiet location in the trees or wide open spaces, The Dyrt makes it easy to find the perfect dispersed campsite.
Open to the public except during commercial treaty fishing seasons
Sno Park permit required November 1 - April 30
A small, quiet campground with corrals, Bonney Meadows is adjacent to beautiful meadows lined with single track used by hikers, bikers and horseback riders. Campers can wake up and go for a stroll along Bonney Meadows Trail #471. Located on a high ridge near a lush meadow.
$10 / night
Dispersed camping, or camping outside of designated campgrounds, can be a great way to experience the forest- as long as everyone follows some rules and guidelines to protect forest wildlife, plants, water quality, and the health of others.
Dispersed camping is not for everyone- and that's fine as the Mt. Hood National Forest has over 70 designated campgrounds. Camping outside of campgrounds means no toilets, no drinking water, no metal fire rings, and no trash service. You are responsible for leaving the site cleaner than you found it and learning the skills of Leave No Trace camping before you head out.
Basic Rules & Guidance Some areas are closed to dispersed camping, such as within developed recreation sites, along certain roads, and particularly sensitive areas. Contact your local Ranger District for more information. You may camp on the forest for only 14 consecutive days. Please choose an existing site rather than create a new campsite. Camp at least 100 ft. away from streams, rivers, and lakes. If you didn't bring firewood and intend to build a campfire only collect already down wood. If your campfire is too hot to touch with bare hands- it's too hot for you to leave! Bring plenty of water and a shovel to help you put out your fire. Check in advance if there are any fire restrictions in effect. Treat or filter any stream water you collect for drinking, or bring water from home. Your group must be under 75 people. If it larger you must obtain a (usually free) permit in advance from the local Ranger District. When Nature Calls Be prepared for your own sanitation! To dispose of feces, dig a hole 6” deep at least 100 feet away from any water source. When you're done, fill the hole with the dirt you dug up and take your toilet paper with you to dispose of in a proper waste container. Never defecate or leave toilet paper on top of the ground. Animals might eat it, it could easily get into the local water source and contaminate it, and plus it's just gross. Leave No Trace Pack out everything you brought with you! Dispose of your garbage properly off the forest. Leave No Trace is a framework minimum impact practices for anyone visiting the outdoors. They apply to virtually every recreational activity and help increase your safety and enjoyment of the forest. Learn more about the 7 Principles of Leave No Trace. The Mt. Hood National Forest belongs to all Americans- including those who will come long after us. Do your part to keep the forest clean every time you visit.
Mirror Lake offers a few sites for overnight camping. The hike to the lake is one of the most popular hikes on Mt Hood. While the vast majority of hikers only visit during the day, a few primitive sites are located just above the lake.
When I refer to primitive sites, that is what they are. There are no facilities here. No picnic tables, and no toilets. A few fire pits have been fashioned out of rock and you may also find a makeshift bench. But for some this is an ideal camping experience. By day Mirror lake can get crowded. It is surrounded on three sides by mountains and it can get loud here. But at night it is as peaceful as you could ever want. Views of Mt Hood and Tom Dick and Harry Mountain are all outstanding.
Dispersed camping, or camping outside of designated campgrounds, can be a great way to experience the forest- as long as everyone follows some rules and guidelines to protect forest wildlife, plants, water quality, and the health of others.
Dispersed camping is not for everyone- and that's fine as the Mt. Hood National Forest has over 70 designated campgrounds. Camping outside of campgrounds means no toilets, no drinking water, no metal fire rings, and no trash service. You are responsible for leaving the site cleaner than you found it and learning the skills of Leave No Trace camping before you head out.
Basic Rules & Guidance Some areas are closed to dispersed camping, such as within developed recreation sites, along certain roads, and particularly sensitive areas. Contact your local Ranger District for more information. You may camp on the forest for only 14 consecutive days. Please choose an existing site rather than create a new campsite. Camp at least 100 ft. away from streams, rivers, and lakes. If you didn't bring firewood and intend to build a campfire only collect already down wood. If your campfire is too hot to touch with bare hands- it's too hot for you to leave! Bring plenty of water and a shovel to help you put out your fire. Check in advance if there are any fire restrictions in effect. Treat or filter any stream water you collect for drinking, or bring water from home. Your group must be under 75 people. If it larger you must obtain a (usually free) permit in advance from the local Ranger District. When Nature Calls Be prepared for your own sanitation! To dispose of feces, dig a hole 6” deep at least 100 feet away from any water source. When you're done, fill the hole with the dirt you dug up and take your toilet paper with you to dispose of in a proper waste container. Never defecate or leave toilet paper on top of the ground. Animals might eat it, it could easily get into the local water source and contaminate it, and plus it's just gross. Leave No Trace Pack out everything you brought with you! Dispose of your garbage properly off the forest. Leave No Trace is a framework minimum impact practices for anyone visiting the outdoors. They apply to virtually every recreational activity and help increase your safety and enjoyment of the forest. Learn more about the 7 Principles of Leave No Trace. The Mt. Hood National Forest belongs to all Americans- including those who will come long after us. Do your part to keep the forest clean every time you visit.
Camping outside campgrounds is permitted in many parts of the Mt. Hood National Forest. Camping is limited to 14 consecutive days and up to 28 days total in a calendar year. If you are uncertain whether an area is open, please contact a Forest Office.
Scout
Such an awesome find! The first campsite is small and perfect for a couple tents. The second site could easily fit 3 or 4 tents and has plenty of additional space for parking, kitchen set-up, etc… both sites also have really nice fire pits. Also don’t let the Trillium Lake camp hosts scare you. They told us the gravel road to access the sites was “rough as hell” and were completely wrong. Nothing more than a few potholes. Any vehicle could make the trek.
Scout
I mostly want to balance out these other reviews. No one said something that wasn’t true, but the weight that they seem to put on how disruptive the trains are surprising to me. You don’t just have trains passing, you have them blowing their horn multiple times a night, and they are close enough you can feel their vibration. If you are a very VERY deep sleeper, I’d say this is a 5 star stop. I wore noise canceling headphones and played a white noise machine in the background- and still had to take a sleeping pill at 3am after being woken up multiple times.
Guide
This is a large, paved parking lot with a stream nearby. Has a good view of Mt. Hood and vault toilets, so that's a positive. The downside is that it's not level. Trailers shouldn't have a problem, but even with several blocks under our tires, our 39ft Class A was still un-level.
Traveler
Maybe if you’re in a pinch this place would work for the night but definitely not somewhere I’d stay longer than that.
Traveler
A great spot with privacy ! Lots of turnouts along the road with river accesses just steps away ! Definitely recommend!
Guide
A couple spots right off the road for car camping or small campers. There was an “official” camp sight more near the Dry Creek Trail (has a bathroom). We opted to walk south along the river to try and find a space. Ended up crossing the river where there are a couple more hidden spots. We found out later that there is a trail right before you cross Trapper Creek that leads you to the spot we were at. There were a few people out and you can sometimes hear cars but overall it was an easy stay with some nice views. The river drowns out most the noise. Would definitely come back here
GuideGreat spot right on the shores of the Columbia River. There’s a pit toilet, and a garbage dumpster on-site. Over half the “sites” are right on the water, while the others are less than 50 feet away.
It is just a big gravel parking lot, so don’t expect any privacy, but it’s still a great spot with Mount Hood visible down the river.
There are train tracks and a controlled crossing right beside the campground, which means it’s loud - and even through the night, trains do blow their horns at this crossing. I’m not a light sleeper, but it even woke me up a handful of times through the night.
Aside from that, this spot is pretty fantastic though!
Traveler
Good luck. This takes you to the middle of nowhere with no camping spots. You’ll have no service.
Guide
This spot is pretty nice, feels very secluded despite White River being close enough to use the restroom if you want. Access to a stream down the hill if you need to filter water, and it sounds very pleasant at night. Lovely trees, plenty of room for a couple of small tents among the trees, plus a ton more out on the gravel. Established fire pit, for the 2-3 days a year that's legal to use.
We got in at 5pm on a Friday in summer; I think four more cars came down to see if the spot was free before 9pm.
Scout
There's lots of other pull outs on the drive into this spot which are nicer. The road is in bad shape so v slow and not really suitable for cars. Quiet and private. Some trash around
RangerThis was an awesome stay right on the creek which was secluded and nice to hear the rushing water of the creek
Traveler
There's a handful of dispersed campsites throughout NF44 and various side roads. I had several options to choose from and never saw another person. This was on a Thursday afternoon.
Guide
Ended up backpacking up here on a whim right before I headed back to Utah. I started at the Top Spur trailhead and hiked the clockwise route up to McNeil (a little longer but saved be the scramble through rocks). On my way I ended up going to Muddy Fork which added about 4 miles to my overall trek up. I ended up camping at the point rather than further down, which was a challenge to carry my pack up, but so worth it in my opinion. It’s dispersed camping so solitude is easily reachable considering not too many people stay the night. This was easily one of the top 5 most amazing sunsets I’ve ever seen. The mountain range is unbeatable and waking up to Mt. Hood as your veiw is incredible. It’s a challenge with the best reward.
ScoutI stopped for the night while traveling and found a huge dispersed camping area right off the road. Unfortunately, some disgusting, disrespectful, immature family left a ton of garbage and feces all over the site. There were three sites with piles of feces and toilet paper right on the camp site. Not 100 feet away, not buried. It was disgusting. This makes me lose faith in humans.
Guide
The campsite was nice, right off the road but there wasn’t an absurd amount of traffic to where it bothered me but you will hear the cars on the road while you sleep if you’re in a tent. If you follow the trail by foot in the back of the forest for maybe 10 minutes you will find a beautiful swimming hole and small waterfalls! I recommend blocking the entrance with your vehicles to block noise and people trying to drive in to the campsite.
ScoutPlenty of spots available. At the bottom of road coming from Carson often crowded, but if you go further you are bound to find something. Beautiful trees and foliage with obvious sites on side of road.
Guide
It’s a little busy with everyone checking out the water fall during the day . Quite at night ! Nice and chill
GuideTook a while to discover this spot, but clearly seems well used for dispersed camping. I parked nearest the access road, as my van would have hit trees to go a little further in. For smaller vehicles (e.g. roof top tents), you can get in a little further and off the access road. There was actually someone else back there, and we can't hear nor see each other.
Guide
While you can't see the mountain from the site itself.There's a great turnaround point and views on the way up and down! Past a few vans pulled over on the way up, But no one drove past me the entire night
ScoutBig paved lot with really well managed pit toilets. Short walk takes you to the White River, which was more of a creek when we were there, and a breathtaking view of Mt. Hood.
ScoutI was headed down 14 looking for somewhere to camp between the Dalles and camas. I got stuck in road construction and decided to open up the dyrt app. I clicked on one that looked closish lol I decided to take the chance and go check it out. Man I'm glad I did This is one of the best dispersed camp sites I've ever stayed at!!
GuideWe did not know what to expect when we reached this site. It is just a large parking area, we found a pretty level place for our travel trailer. Only 2 other trailers and 1 tent camper during the day. A lot of van and car campers the latter the day got. Good spot to stay when checking out the area. The view out our door was amazing, when the sun was out. We stayed 5 nights, had all types of weather on our stay, from lots of rain to sun and also snow. Would stay here again if in the area. Free to stay from May 1 to October 31.
ScoutThese coordinates get you the Kiwanis camp, other than that I wouldn't say a great dispersant camping spot, area is nice though.
LegendWe thought we'd try this out with some friends. Tucked our trailers up in the far corner with a commanding view of Mt. Hood! Well, not much view the first smokey day, but it cleared up nicely after a wind shift the following day. So much room it never felt crowded with other folks coming and going.
Paved, Pit toilets, garbage can.
Walking and hiking from here. Road noice not bad! We actually spent 3 nights and explored the area around Mt. Hood.
Just a couple hours from home, an easy get away.
ScoutCan’t beat a waterfront spot. So far no one else has shown up. It’s about 6pm but been dark for an hour and half. There is a restroom although I haven’t used it yet. I’d say there’s about 5 picnic tables but there’s probably between 7-10 spots if you really tried.
ScoutI would just like to thank whomever originally uploaded this site! We used it this weekend and it was perfect for us!! We will definitely be using it again next summer! Best camping trip of the season!
ScoutSummertime best spot with beautiful view of MT Hood. Bathroom were spotless. Lot is big and spacious. Respectful campers:)
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular dispersed campsite near The Dalles, OR?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular dispersed campground near The Dalles, OR is Avery Rec Area- Columbia River Gorge with a 3.8-star rating from 6 reviews.
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TheDyrt.com has all 36 dispersed camping locations near The Dalles, OR, with real photos and reviews from campers.
