Looking for the best tent campgrounds near The Dalles? The Dyrt is an easy way to find tent camping spots near The Dalles. Would you prefer a quiet dispersed site or an established camgpround with amenities? Either way, The Dyrt makes it easy to find the perfect place to pitch your tent.
Kinnikinnick Campground is a hidden gem, situated north of Mt. Hood, just outside of Parkdale, Oregon. Sitting on Laurence Lake, Kinnikinnick Campground offers beautifully landscaped campsites with views of Laurence Lake and the wide-open hills that surround the lake.
Laurence Lake allows all non-motorized water sports. There are no rental facilities on site.
Surrounded by Laurence Lake, Kinnikinnick Campground is a natural attraction all its own. With incredible lake views, regular sightings of bald eagles and rock and hill formations that surround this site, it is the perfect place to go "off the grid" and enjoy the outdoors.
Laurance Lake is great for waterplay and fishing. Kinnickinnick Campground is just a 30-minute drive to nearby ski resorts, where summer hiking and outdoor adventures await.
$30 / night
The Macks Canyon archaeological site is a large, prehistoric village locale overlooking the Deschutes River in north-central Oregon. The site is characterized by shallow, circular, semi-subterranean house depressions, surface artifacts, and riverine shell deposits. Limited excavations conducted in the late 1960's indicate that the site was the location of a winter village occupied by Sahaptin-speaking people of the Columbia Plateau. Although the main period of occupation appears to have occurred within the last 2,000 years, the site may have been occupied as early as 5,000 BC. A campground and boat ramp are situated at the end of the Access Road along the east bank of the Lower Deschutes River. The area is popular with boaters and fishermen. The route to Macks Canyon is also a National Back Country Byway. ADA Access: The archaeological site itself does not have accessible facilities. However, the nearby campground has an accessible campsite, vault toilets and parking.
$8 - $35 / night
Pebble Ford is located along a creek and shaded by large, old trees. This small campground is well designed and near the popular biking trails off of Forest Road 44. Located between Eightmile Creek and Ramsey Creek.
Located on beautiful Badger Creek, at the foot of the Badger Creek Wilderness, this popular campground appeals to those who enjoy fishing, hiking, or horseback riding. This quiet campground is located along Badger Creek at one of the portals to the Badger Creek Wildnerness. Visitors who camp at this campground can access the eastern end of the Badger Creek Trail.
$16 / night
Goose Lake Campground is situated among a mix of mature cedars and Douglas firs within the Mount Adams Ranger District of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. This spot becomes popular in late summer and early autumn, when the weather is warmer and dryer, and bald eagles and osprey can be observed hunting for fish on Goose Lake. The 58-acre lake is characterized by the somewhat haunting presence of old trees rising from its cool, clear waters. Formed abruptly when a lava flow from Big Lava Bed dammed a nearby stream, this curious sight is all that remains of the trees that were consumed by what is now Goose Lake. Natural Features: Located in southwest Washington State, the Gifford Pinchot National Forest encompasses over 1.3 million acres and includes the 110,000-acre Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, established by Congress in 1982. Mount Adams, a potentially active stratovolcano and the second-highest mountain in Washington state, is a prominent landmark in the District. Elevations in the area range between 1,200 ft. at the Wind River Work Center (12 miles north of Carson, WA), to 12,276 ft. at the summit of Mount Adams. The Mount Adams Ranger District features a great diversity of habitats, from old growth to second growth forest, wetland areas, low and high elevation meadows and lakes, as well as glaciers. Recreation: At a 3,200 foot elevation, Goose Lake is a popular spot for brook, brown and cutthroat trout fishing and offers a concrete boat ramp for launching small boats, kayaks and canoes. Big Lava Bed is located just south of the campground and offers a trail that takes hikers through a landscape marked by both pine forest and basalt lava formations. Huckleberry picking is a popular pastime through the late summer and early fall. Facilities: The campsite is accessed via 8 miles of narrow gravel road. Roadside parking is available. This facility is a tent campers dream, with 18 primitive walk-in tent sites dotting the eastern bank of the lake. These hillside sites are on level ground with immediate trail access to Goose Lake. Campsites have vault toilets, picnic tables and fire rings. Campers must bring their own drinking water and may purchase firewood on-site. Nearby Attractions: The 2,663-mile Pacific Crest Trail runs for 16.4 miles in a north-south direction through the nearby Indian Heaven Wilderness, just north of Goose Lake. Indian Heaven Wilderness is known for its abundant lakes, meadowlands and pine forests, as well as its variety of wildlife. ACTIVITIES Fishing Hiking
$55 / night
Typically open May thru Oct. depending on weather.
Badger Lake Campground is adjacent to Badger Lake and one of the major portals to the Badger Creek Wilderness. It's a rough drive to the campground, but campers are rewarded with a beautiful lake and access to the Badger Creek Wilderness with nearby access to Badger Lake Trail #479A, and Badger Creek Trail.
$10 / night
Located on Rainy Lake. Trailhead access to the Mark O Hatfield Wilderness. See also: Rainy Lake Trail 423A, Rainy Wahtum Trail #409, North Lake Trail #423
Cloud Cap Saddle is a small campground and the location of Cloud Cap - Tilly Jane North trailhead which provides access to Timberline National Historic Trail #600 and Tilly Jane Trail #600A from the north. There is CAMPGROUND HAS NO POTABLE WATER The Historic Cloud Cap Inn is just up the road from the campground and is now used by search and rescue teams on the mountain.
Traveler
This was a very last-minute stop for us & we didn’t look up the reviews first. To mirror what the other reviews have said, the trains run all throughout the night. Because of that, plus the noise from the freeway, I was surprised by the 3-star rating, so gave my rating accordingly. We’ve been on a month-long trip & would not consider this place 3 stars. The location is convenient & the campground is nestled in the trees, but it’s not enough to offset the noise. Speaking of the trains again — we’ve stayed at many campgrounds where trains can be heard, but never like this… We were woken up by blaring train horns at least 8 times in the middle of the night. So if you value sleep at all, I would say there are plenty of other options in the area to choose from
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.
Traveler
The place is clean and has a rain forest feel. Trees close in. Amazingly dark and quiet at night. A bit muddy for walking the dog.
Traveler
Short walk, or 7 miles in, start on west shoreline trail 528 on the NW parking lot past the day use area. Great mostly flat trail for backpacking or cart camping along the west shoreline of Timothy Lake in the Mt Hood National Forest. Sites are well marked and $10 per night fee. Northwest Forest Parking Pass required for overnight parking.
Traveler
Nice area to camp at, vault bathroom close by but there was no toilet paper so bring your own. Does feel like camping in a Parking lot. Trail close by.
Guide
I really wanted to give 5 stars, but they have far too many permanent residents, which makes the campground look un-kept. The grounds were ok, bathrooms were clean, price was fair, large spaces , and very good customer service.
Ranger
The river is loud you could hear it from both sides of the road. I actually looked, and there are rivers on both sides of the road. It is out of the way there is no light pollution. At night cars rarely come by. The campsite was clean and relatively level. However bring an extra block for your tongue jack. The only reason it wasn't five stars is because there's absolutely no T-Mobile cellular internet service. There is cell phone operation.
Guide
It was a 10pm arrival but thankfully we found a spot that did not disappoint. I wish we had a full weekend to stay but the overnight and breakfast on the river was a great start to our PNW visit.
Scout
If you enjoy hiking, this is a great campground with many beautiful trails to explore. The bathroom is clean and there's free hot shower. There's a country store 2 miles west of here you can get firewood and some supplies. Sites are a little less private and occasionally I heard train passing by from the nearby railway (bring ear plugs if you are a light sleeper). Check our videos for details: https://youtu.be/BrSpGhdefQ0?si=dVS7YPTZX8AplUVL
RangerFirst time here, not particularly enamored with the campground for several reasons.
Nestled in the trees and between Hwy 84 and the Union Pacific Railroad, both are busy and can be heard all day and night.
No dump station anywhere in this campground, you can dump and either campground to the west or the east but not convenient.
Spaces are tight and we would not have been able to get into our spot if the person across from us did not kindly move her vehicle. Our rig is not that large, at 26'.
The good is the river which is an easy walk or e-bike ride. Lots of trails to ride but they say no e-scooters but okay for e-bikes. This was not enforced since my brother and sister in law rode their scooters all over the place.
RV camping is separated from the tent camping which would make it nice for tent campers.
Fun to ride the paved trails, go to the Columbia River and watch the sail boarders doing their thing.
TravelerThis is a nice campground with lots of trees and shade but it sits between I-84 and the Columbia River which has a major train line so it's not necessarily a quiet campground (trains run all night). No dump station available but we had electric and water. Not much grass anywhere and things were really dusty due to dryness and heat of the summer. You can't see the river from the campground but you can walk to it (or drive to it) and there are several picnic tables near the river. There is a nature trail but it is not marked well at all to find the beginning of it. Convenient to Hood River though and an easy drive to Cascade Locks for ice cream at the local dairy dine.
Ranger
Stayed 3 nights and had a great time rafting on the river. Lots of options for RV and tent camping. Group sites are available (3). Restrooms could use an update but functional. All camp staff hosts are helpful and friendly. Will come back again. This campground is popular and books up quickly.
Guide
Nice find in the forest. Very peaceful with huge sites. There are only 3 sites for tent camping. If you have a camper or RV very large parking lot to camp in. Nice hiking trails throughout the sno-park that we took advantage of. We got up next morning and hike the falls down the Hwy. Camp sites are right off Hwy. A little Hwy. noise but at night fall only a couple of cars. We did pack out a lot of other people’s trash at both sites. Sad to see so much trash left behind when there are garbage cans right next to the pit toilets. Definitely will come back.
Traveler
A great spot with privacy ! Lots of turnouts along the road with river accesses just steps away ! Definitely recommend!
Guide
Quiet campground with clean vault toilets. Many of the sites are very close to each other and some do not accommodate even a small trailer. Small stream near by with limited access. Monte Carlo and Monte Cristo trails are close by but were under repair by WTA. There were some mountain lions near the camp while we were there, 2 separate sightings, probably moving because of the work on the nearby trails
ScoutOverall experience was great…. with a caveat. It’s a small camping park, sites are small and close to each other. However the park is clean and well maintained. Our only issue is that our first night, at about 2am, I was woken up by footsteps outside our trailer window. I looked out to see we hat appeared to be a younger adult male dressed in all black who pulled the coolers and chairs out from under our trailer and pulled two booze bottles out of the cooler and had them on the picnic table getting ready to take them. I opened the door and scared him into running by yelling at him. This is my first time, in 40+ years camping that I’ve had anything like this happen. So at 2:15 this morning, I was outside hauling all of our gear into the trailer. Joke was on him though, the bottles were filled with water to freeze and use as ice. Just beware, this is a nice little park, but don’t leave your valuables out overnight.
We reported it to the office, who told us they’ve been having the issue recently, that they think it’s local teens, but their hands were being tied by local police on how to catch the thieves. I called local non emergency and reported the incident to them in hopes they might step up patrols or something.
Guidewhole road is paved all the way up & plenty of spots to pull off plus multiple bathrooms! got super chilly even in august but was very cozy in sweats & under a few blankets in the rooftop tent. would definitely stay here again and it's a good option for vehicles w/ low clearance or non off roading folks.
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
Traveler
Wonderful little place between a park and an orchard. Camp hosts are cool, they all live in Skoolies. Right on the river. Clean facilities. One star off for the noise. There’s a highway and railroad tracks in the backyard and the same across the river. If you’re a rail-fan, you’ll dig it. But it never really quiets down, you get used to it a bit. Campers are courteous and friendly and quiet. Sites west of the entrance seem to have a bit more shade than sites to the east. The wind can be a factor. Nice place to bring the dog. This is my second time here, I’ll keep it on the list.
Scout
This is a nice little park, it’s a little misleading when you pull in as there is an Indian reservation next to it that looks like a bunch of homeless camps, so be careful where you park your rig. Also if you’re tent camping, I found out from the camp host that you may want to check with him before you set up a tent as there are automatic sprinklers that come on certain days
Scout
Stayed just one night in site 1, which was the only one available. It’s very private being far from the trail and has good access to the shore but is very shady at all times, although also sheltered from the wind. There was a fire ring (although no fires allowed) and a table. Several viable tent spots on the site. The toilets were closed and, unfortunately, previous campers weren’t so great at “leave no trace” because we found a bunch of dog and human feces around.
Traveler
Good luck. This takes you to the middle of nowhere with no camping spots. You’ll have no service.
Legend
We had no issues finding this campground(CG). We followed the instructions on our confirmation email where we got off I-84 east of the CG where there was signage to the Recreation Area and CG. We entered the park and there was no check-in gate, so we proceeded to back-in site A-27 with water and electric(50/30/20 AMP). Our nightly rate was$0 due to the Oregon Disable Veterans Pass. You do not have to be a state resident to get this pass. The back-in was fairly easy with plenty of room to maneuver. We had enough room for our 40’ fifth wheel and parking our F450 truck at an angle. The electric worked fine and the water pressure was on the low side, but fine for our overnighter. The A loop has water and electric where the other loops are dry camping with B loop able to support RVs or tents. Our site was about 50 yards from the Deschutes River and there are tie downs along the river for boats. There are a lot of mature trees in the A loop so satellite could be iffy. We did not put out Starlink for this overnighter. We got 1 to 2 bars on Verizon. There was a shower house not too far from our site. There isn’t dump station in the CG, but there’s a COE and other options near the CG. We had a nice view of the Deschutes River. There was loud train noise as they blow the horn and the trains run all night. There's an Oregon Trail and other historical memorials within the CG area that are worth checking out. The nearest gas/diesel and minor amenities are about 15 minutes away in Rufus. All in all we enjoyed our overnighter and would not hesitate coming back.
Guide
This is a decent camp spot within an hour and a half of Portland metro. It has limited services, potable water, garbage and pit toilets. The water was nice, plenty deep for paddling or wading. It is pretty small, so not too many sites.
There was a Camp Host present thankfully and daily Sheriff drive by during the weekend. This was welcome due to a few obnoxious party groups. One in particular turned the forest into a rave with lights that flashed into tents, which was irritating. I think the Sheriff spoke to them because they headed out the next day. We had a nice weekend but I probably wouldn’t stay much longer than that in the future.
ScoutDay I arrived was very windy and being a first timer I thought that was normal. Spoke with many campers who had been coming to Peach Beach for years and they said it was very unusual. Next few days, glorious. Lots of trees so shade from hot sun is plentiful. Tons of stuff to do: Maryhill Winery (ya gotta try their charcuterie board!!), Marhill Museum (better set aside at least an hour for this), Stonehenge. In July the peaches are plentiful and delicious. Camp was quiet (except for trains all day and night - bring earplugs and you'll be fine), bathrooms are extremely clean and modern. Shower did rotate from hot to cold every 30 seconds or so...not sure what that was about. Overall, had a good time with friends and will go back for sure.
Scout
A nice, woodsy campground, with lots of privacy between camp sites. Nice flat and level outlined areas for us tent campers. Only down side was that it was a bit of a hike to the restroom (the National Forest site map showed one near the entrance where there wasn't one). While I reserved, mid-week there were a number of open sites for those without reservations. Some of the sites are really large and can handle a bigger group. Some PCT hikers stayed here due trail closure further north due to forest fire. Would recommend.
TravelerRight by some really nice short trails for a good evening/morning hike. You can park by the road and set up a tent or hammock for some privacy in one of the riverside spots if you arrive early enough. We loved this place, right off the main highway through Mt Hood and close to the city but still felt quiet and private enough.
Tent camping near The Dalles, Oregon, offers a variety of scenic spots where nature lovers can unwind and enjoy the great outdoors. With options ranging from forested areas to riverside retreats, there's something for everyone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near The Dalles, OR?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near The Dalles, OR is Kinnikinnick (laurance Lake) Campground with a 4.1-star rating from 11 reviews.
What is the best site to find tent camping near The Dalles, OR?
TheDyrt.com has all 73 tent camping locations near The Dalles, OR, with real photos and reviews from campers.
