Hilgard Junction State Park Campground

Hilgard junction is a small 18 site campground just below highway 84  west of La Grande.  It is right on the grande ronde river which was cool and peaceful when we were there.  I am not sure many people know about this spot, I didn't and I have been driving by for 6 years now.   Even if you are traveling through the day use area is a great place to stop and stretch your legs.  Even though the freeway is about 60 yards away and up the hill the traffic noise was muted.  

Wow what a surprise

There is the Grande Ronde river right there, BBQ pits and plenty of space! Restrooms and fresh water are available.

Very accessible and family friendly

Hilgard Junction is a small, Riverside day use area, travel rest-stop and campground at the junction of I-84 and Highway 244 on the Grande Ronde river at the base of Mt. Emily. 

This park is near La Grande, Oregon so if you are not just resting on your trip, you can run into a cute little university town to explore the Eastern Oregon local life. 

Crystal clear water runs this high in the Grande Ronde, making for fun swimming and water play.  Make sure to bring your gold pan to this shallow river bed, as it has been historically found all along this river. The RV park has no connections so bring your generator and solar panels with you. This is self contained type of camp, that provides two bathrooms and firewood. 

It is an ADA friendly area with paved rv spots and designated well kept tent spots. Keep in mind this park is directly off of the interstate so there are a lot of random travelers coming and going at all hours of the day and night. One minor bit of awkwardness is that there is a youth correctional facility less than a mile up the road. So your traveling children maybe curious and ask odd questions if they see it. 

Neat, Convenient, Busy

Some road noise but the campsites are along the river. There was trash service, toilets and water that you can fill up water jugs with. There is a trail if you head North that winds up and puts you on the Oregon trail, I biked it on my ebike, it is pretty strenuous and bumpy. There is also a trail on the other side of the river you can walk/bike. For some reason the app says there's rv dumps here when there isn't any.

Nice for a quick stop

This is a nice small campground right on the river. The traffic from the freeway can be a little loud but it is clean and has flush toilets that are clean 

Very easy to get to

Hilgard has around 18 camp sites that you can pull into or back into. Each site has a fire pit, is close to a water spigot, is close to a garbage can, is close to a water dumping unit, and is close to the water. The base price of the park is $10 a night, they honor the veterans pass. There are two restrooms with separate male and female rooms and both have running water. 
I stayed here in July, even though the surrounding area was hot, the camp area stayed several degrees cooler and had a gentle breeze.