Best Tent Camping near Bennington Lake

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”.

We 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.

Terrible 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.

The campground is somewhat primitive. There are flushing toilets on the lower loop, vault toilets on the upper loop. no showers, but you can refresh in the lake. The nights get chilly, so be prepared with warm socks and a beenie, especially if you’re tent camping.

There are no power boats allowed on the lake, so it is raft, kayak paddle board friendly.

The path around the lake is an easy walk, just don’t expect to sit on a bench and enjoy the view of the lake, the trees have grown up.

We visited this KOA for several years on 4th of July to visit a concert in Walla Walla. In the early days this KOA was nothing more than dirt tent sites. Since then, it has developed into a nice campground with mature trees for shade and grass at each site. The river is easy access for launching motor boats and it is across the bridge from Palouse Falls and Lyons Ferry park for kayaking, swimming and a good picnic spot.

A group of friends and I went and tent camped in spot 14 for a couple days and had a great time. The site was fairly trashed when we got there so we did some cleanup but besides that it’s surrounded by a beautiful forest and even on a 95 degree day the shade is perfect and the water was refreshing to swim in. I liked the spot we stayed in, it was spacious enough for 3 tents (10 person, 5 person, and 2 person tents) it was shaded and fairly spaced out from other spots. The lake was pretty busy and there were lots of people but it’s easy to find places on the water to have to yourself. There was also an awesome rope swing maybe half a mile from the camp site, super fun!

My 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.

We tent camped for the weekend in mid-July. The plan was to camp at Jubilee Lake, but it was full when we arrived Friday evening. Target Meadows is just a short drive from the lake, but there were plenty of sites available. The campground is heavily wooded with beautiful evergreens. Sites are private and well spaced. This is a rustic campground, so there is no water or power. Amenities include (very clean!) pit toilets, picnic tables, and fire pits with cooking grates. There is a lot of dry timber on the ground, so it is easy to collect your own firewood. There is easy access to hiking, including Burnt Cabin trailhead. Most campsites are trailer friendly, including a few with drive-through access. We really enjoyed the area and will be back again!

This park accepts Good Sam discounts. There are a few full timers but are kept clean. The park is right on the edge of town. Nestled between a river and a horse farm he will hear a rooster everyday you will hear a donkey. There are wild turkey in the area but they're quite quiet. I paid just under $150 a week. Laundry machines work well there are two washers and two dryers buck and a quarter each. They have showers. They have a tent area for tent camping. There is usually no one on duty but they do have propane I just don't know how to use it or get it. There is a Wi-Fi password and the cell phone signal is not bad. I use T-Mobile. 5 minutes away from a decent grocery store. 30 minutes away from Miller's home improvement and Walmart. And did I mention full hookups.

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.

Excellent 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.

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.

Not a large campground, spaces are fairly close, enough to hear neighbors conversations….but generally everyone was quiet and considerate. The spot we lucked up on didn’t have much tent room, so it’s perfect for our camper van, but understandable why it was the only one left. Bathrooms are fairly clean with 1 pay shower with privacy door.

We just needed a quick tent soot on a monday night on the way to moab. better than expected. bit muddy. some shells. but lots of space. drove in to about 45.35967, -118.30846

So 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.

I 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.

We were there in mid March, the only ones there at the time. There are seven campsites total, three can be accessed with an RV, we did ok with a 27' travel trailer, but I wouldn't recommend going there with anything larger. the rest of the sites would be tent only. There is a clean outhouse, no water or garbage service.  We will stay there again.

This 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!

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.