Ainsworth State Park Campground

As one of the closest state parks to Portland and in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge, Ainsworth can get busy during the summer months, but sometimes you can get a reservation during the week. I like to come in the off season. 

There 40 full hook-up sites, 6 walk-in tent sites and a hiker/biker campground with no reservations required. The campground itself unremarkable, with a bathroom/shower house, dump station and play ground, but it is a great jumping off point for exploring all things Columbia River Gorge.

Dump station and water available

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.

Been there many times for hiking. It's where I went to do the mystery trail. A difficult hike not for the faint of heart. A bit hard to find but very rewarding. There's a registry on the trail also. Not many trails have one. I believe it is maintained by the Mazamas.

This is an older campground, but well maintained. Play area for kids with slides and swings. Hot showers. Nice amount of room around each site.

A very nice and clean campground. Restrooms were incredibly clean and there are hot showers. It was $33 for a night at a standout site if you're from out of state. There's a railway track right next to the campground and sees a lot of use even through the night. They have five first sites that are first come first served.

Stayed for 6 days at this park and enjoyed the location

I love this park, super hot showers, the park rangers pretty much leave you alone . They are not into bugging you about any extra vehicle’s. As long as your site is paid for then you won’t see much of the rangers/ park host

I tent camped here so I only know about the C loop(make sure you watch the videos). The park is large, lots of RV spots. There are 6 tent spots that I seen. I think the area is beautiful and has a lot of interesting little critters. They have locker room like showers that get real hot. It has nice paths that lead from one section to the other and it’s easy to navigate. I would stay here again if I got the right site(again, watch the videos)

Picture a hillside with a winding road surrounded by thick green trees. Ainsworth is that place. Absolutely gorgeous. I would give this place a 5 except out Starlink only works intermittently due to the beautiful trees. Old gouge highway bike path near by.

Great pull thru site

Easy access right off Interstate 84 and the waterfalls are right up the road. I stayed in the pull through's in section B. My site wasn't level, but not a big deal. Some of the back in's in B loop looked terribly unlevel. Cell service for ATT was non existent. One night is sufficient if your stay is to see the waterfalls and historic route 30. Showers and bathrooms were clean. I enjoyed the little trail between A and B loops to walk the dog.

My first time really exploring the Gorge since the fires of 2017. Lots of signs of the burn, but the campground seems untouched. Spent one night here on a hot August day. Power and water was nice to run the AC and also dump my tanks. Showers were decent. No camp host on duty, but the rangers came through a few times. 

The sites were mostly pull through. I reserved in advance, but there are some FCFS sites. You do need a reservation to drive into this area of the Gorge and a reservation at the campground counts, so not sure how the FCFS would work. 

I would have stayed longer, but terrible cell signal.

Ainsworth is a very nice, small state park. We had two different sites due to limited availability. Book early! Our sites were asphalt and pull through with full hook ups. The park is very clean and quiet until the trains start at night. We were okay in an RV with air on. However, tent campers might be effected by the train. Bathrooms are large and spotless. Internal roads are tight but I saw larger rigs in the campground.

Your campsite fee includes a permit for the beautiful waterfall corridor and historic Columbia River highway. Take left out of the campground and stop at all as you make your way to Crown Point.

Great location for exploring Columbia River waterfall area. Clean and nicely laid out bathrooms and showers. Tent camping experience not great and we were in the tent only section. Road and railway noise. Our site smelled like urine. Lights from the info board and neighboring sites shining into our tent all night long.

Quaint little campground with decent privacy in the A loop. A bit of traffic and train noise but it didn’t bother us at all. Literally a climb to go anywhere and back. We came home with sore calves from walking the dog and going to the bathroom. The bathroom is a steep climb from either loop. Cool playground and close to all the waterfalls. Slightly narrow roads for the bigger haulers.

Very nice for tent and RV camping. Beautiful place.

Our friends highly recommended this park and we weren't disappointed. Although it rained hard for about 18 hours and our site B loop flooded we still enjoyed our two day stay. Beware of the trains and highway noise, but not too terribly bad. We hiked the great trails to two water falls and enjoyed the beautiful second generation timber. The park is very clean and the B loop sites offer greater privacy. We'll make it an annual stay!

I have Verizon and had crappy service. The campgrounds were nice and clean though. Tents are all walk-in sites. The rest are RV. I preferred the A sites to the B sites due to proximity to railroad tracks. However, I sleep with a sound machine so I couldn’t hear the train when I stayed in the B site. Overall nice facilities, and quiet. And if you’re not staying there and need to rinse, you can use the showers for $2 I think.

this place is super clean, trees all around, you really feel like you’re dee in the woods with the luxury of a full hookup campsite. Friendly host, helped with all my questions about the park and the local waterfalls

Close enough to home but far enough to be away. Great area close to another of trails. A little E close to very active train. Just make sure you look for a site away from track. Not a flat campground, electric bikes would be nice.

Our first time to Ainsworth state park. We found the(A) loop where we stayed very nice and sort of secluded with lots of trees even though you could slightly hear the HWY traffic and the occasional train without any horn. It was really not that noisy. The B loop is much closer to the noise and is more flat ground area. The only slight complaint we had is that the speed of the vehicles going down the hill road past our camp area was a little excessive. Most don’t understand what 5 MPH is and are doing 15-20 MPH. Much too fast for the small road and people. This Park is really not suitable for very large rigs as the roads are narrow and have several tight curves. We found the showers and bath rooms very nice and clean. As a matter of fact, the whole park was very clean by the attentive staff. The campground has a large play area that has a horse shoe area and they have an amphitheater area as well. A very nice place to say for only$26 a night for full hook ups.

Ainsworth State Park is a pleasurable and supportive base camp for exploring this beautiful area. It's a 30-minute drive to either Hood River or Portland, depending on what you're looking for, and it's minutes to most of the notable falls and trails in the area. As far as I can tell most of the sites provide full hookups. Spacing between sites is generous. Bathrooms and showers are clean and well run. It's an easy place to get in and out of with almost all rigs and there are many pull-through sites. My only complaint would be that it's located fairly close to the road (route 84) and an active train route, so you'll get a bit of noise throughout the day and night. As a bonus, from camp, you can hike to the lower and upper "Horsetail Falls".

Clean and well maintained. The trains run often, great back ground noise

This campground is beautiful, but busy. Family hotspot, and close knit campsites can make for a noisy stay. The train tracks close by stay busy, but that didn’t bother us. Great trails and waterfalls nearby. Within 25 minutes to Hood River is a plus for us. Great staff and clean facilities.

Nestled in the awe-inspiring Columbia River Gorge, Ainsworth is equal parts waterfall wonderland, hiker's playground and camper's delight. Situated at the eastern end of the Historic Columbia River Highway, the park also marks the eastern end of the popular "Waterfall Corridor" that begins at Crown Point and includes the majestic Multnomah Falls. Latourell, Bridal Veil, Wahkeena, and Horsetail Falls are also along this route.

This was my second camping trip in years.  The 5 or 6 spot are great.  They are somewhat secluded.  You could see you neighbors.  Would camp there again.  Very convenient for hiking and being close to the gorge to beat the crowds the following day.

I camped there in my RV several times and always tried to get slot A13. It’s all the way at the end and has a nice amount of space and only a potential neighbor on one side. I also tent camped and, after scouting the sites, chose C6. That site is a bit small but is away from the rest and above them on the slope so you don’t need your rain fly for privacy.

We stayed in the C Loop, walk-in camping, for one night in July. The C loop is great! More secluded than most state park tent camping areas. Water by the parking lot. The bathrooms are a bit of a hike away. I'd stay here more often but with the Gorge 400 trail closed due to the Eagle Creek fire and many nearby sites closed due to COVID, it isn't the best jumping off point for Gorge adventures. I still plan to come back.

It looks like site 1 and 5 in the C loop are the least secluded, but they all still have much more privacy than a normal state park site.

Ainsworth State Park is a gorgeous state park in the heart of the Gorge with great hikes and views of the Columbia river, all not far from Portland. The campsites, however, are located right next to the History Columbia River Highway, making for loud camping experience, though you are near all the great park activities. And when I say close, I mean you can see the highway from your tent.

Its location near Portland makes it very popular, and it is often full. Restrooms and showers available.

I really, really expected to love this campground. It's one of (perhaps the) closest Oregon State Campground to Portland and I'd heard great things about it. It's also in the Columbia River Gorge, which is green, great, and beautiful. But the campground itself is just so-so. Okay sites terraced on top of each other right next to the road.

Pros: Great location, plenty of trees, and good prices ($17 tents and $26 for full hookup). Also flush toilets.

Cons: Right next to the road and sites are crammed in. Nothing really to do in the campground.

Tips: The walk-in tent sites look nice. Also, book well in advance. Very popular in the summer.