Best Dispersed Camping near Goldendale, WA

There are several places along FR 2730 where you can pull off and camp. The road was very accessible, high clearance not required. We found a large pull off with several established fire pits. It's absolutely perfect for a group campsite. I imagine it will be a busier spot in the summer, but we couldn't find a single other person within miles of us in early May. To get up to the group camp site, you may need higher clearance (most SUVs should be fine) and 4wd/AWD, as there is a short rocky section that might cause some issues for FWD/RWD.

Got a little chilly at night with winds whipping down through the area we were in, but overall very peaceful. You can see Mt Hood from the campsite through the trees, albeit it is decently far away and is subject to the visibility at the time you visit. We were able to see Mt Hood just before sunset, but couldn't see her at all the following morning.

This area of Gifford Pinchot National Forest has lots of dispersed camping spots but this area was a gem. To access it, as you are driving on NF 65 you will see a small road to the right just a bit before you see the parking for Panther Creek Falls also on the right. If you are at the parking area for Panther Creek Falls and look up you will see a huge wall of rock…the area is up there and you need to turn on the road before the parking area to access it. There are actually 3 areas where you could camp: As you drive up the small road, you will notice the first, pretty large area for camping straight ahead. It looks like a road continues up toward the right but that is actually blocked. If you go to the left you will see the road continues (and you might not think there is anything up there) and you will see one more spot straight ahead and then if you continue up toward the right (hitting some branches along the way) you will come up to a large, wide open area with tons of space for camping. We were pretty excited when we saw it!

We spent one night in that huge open area and it was beautiful - the stars were amazing. During the day we would go peek over the edge and could see people parking to go to the falls. You could hear a tiny bit of road noise from up there but it was very light. You can also hear the noise of the waterfall from up on the ridge. The only downfall about this spot is that there is no shade and it was very hot, so hot that we couldn't have a fire. The second night we spent in the spot just down a tad so that we could have some shade and a fire.

The hike down to Panther Creek Falls is literally right across the road and I think these falls may be the most beautiful falls I've seen in OR or WA. It's a short mile or so hike but really pretty scenery.

We stayed in the large open area at the top of the rock outcrop above the trailhead parking area and it was perfect. Like someone else said, you take the road on the right just before the parking lot and then there are a few spots just up the road which are all pretty private. These are walking distance to the waterfall which is awesome, but there are about 10 additional spots with existing fire pits on the road up there. Most of them sit right up against the river under tree cover which would be ideal on hot days. It was cold and rainy so we didn’t have any issues being out in the open.

Great 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!

No mosquitos up here! We didn't camp at the very top of Big Huckleberry Mountain because there were already a couple other parties, so we decided to camp at the base of the last ascent to the top. I'm glad we did because the grass was lush from having rain a couple days before and we had clear blue skies that gave a beautiful, uninterrupted view of Mt. Adams.

We met some PCT hikers along the way; some were heading towards the Crest Camp Trailhead. This was the trail we followed: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/washington/big-huckleberry-mountain-via-pacific-crest-trail

Bring your trowel and TP to stay at these dispersed sites. There are two main water sources on the trail so be sure to stop at one before you arrive. We brought a 6L and filtered it before getting to the top and it was enough to last us for our group only 1 night. The first water source is a PVC pipe that trickles water out; making it easy to fill up your filtered water bottle or a small camelbak. The other is a stream (you'll see a sign made of wood with the word "WATER" and an arrow carved into it) that you'll have to stick your filter bag into. The water is cold; I think it may be snow melt.

The night was peaceful; I bet you could see stars but we camped close to a full moon so it didn't get very dark. I would definitely come back here again.

This was very pretty, down the road from some wineries, and right on the river. Only thing was that the recreation area had a sign that said it was closed for camping and only usable for day use because of covid. There seemed to be some people possibly camping, but I hate to break the rules so we left. There was another road that took you down along the train tracks to a tree lined area, on the river, but we weren’t sure if it counted as the day use only. Very pretty, and lovely views, just be aware and mindful of covid closures, would hate to direct someone to the wrong area!