Best Tent Camping near Prosser, WA

This review is for the main campground, there is another group/horse campground across the highway that I did not stay in. The small campground is right off Highway 97. The first part of the campground is where the hook ups, large RV's, small trailers and tent campers are located. The spaces are very close together with very few trees separating spaces. Some spots looked barely big enough for a 2 person tent. In this same area is the only flush toilets/showers (Coin operated). Continuing past this main area and over a small hill is where the tent camping/sheep herders tents are located. Since it was located away from the main camping area it was quiet with regards to hearing fellow campers, the downside is the spaces are closer to the Highway. Day and night, semis speed past the state park on either a downhill straight away or an uphill straight away, regardless it sounds like a freight train or military landing pad all night/day long. It was so loud you had to stop talking until the semi passed. The space I was in was so small my 3 person tent only fit if one side was touching the fire ring. Luckily there was a fire ban so no fire to melt my tent. The space also had full view of the pit toilet, since it was the only toilet on that side, I saw everyone come and go. It was also super close to one of the sheep herders tent site. There were 2 sheep herder tents sites. The spots looked large and the tents looked like they would sleep at least 4-5 people. The other tent sites where much larger, but still all the sites could hear the highway. Note, be careful about leaving food out, zipping your tent up, leaving car doors open. The mice were pretty bad and came out at night driving my dog crazy. There were a bunch of trails that ran through out the park that provided a nice alternative to get to the other side of the park or climb to the top of the hill near the power lines. The camp host was also a very nice gentleman who suggested activities in the near by area. I was exploring the area cause it's new to me, but I wont return cause it's not my type of camping.

Easy to pull into tent camping spots. Recommend if traveling and need an easy sleep spot.

Not what I was expecting. Not ideal for tent camping, and the river was nowhere to be found.

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

This is NOT a secluded wilderness campround where you will have a epic back to nature experience.   Having said that, if you want a place to park your rv (they do have tent sites also), with full hook ups while you explore the local wineries,  with a pool and a shuttle van, then this place is amazing.

Short jaunt to the lake which is a popular fishing spot for those willing to carry a boat. Ample room for RVs; no tent camping unless you like sleeping on gravel. Toilet is clean and maintained. Some noise from the off-road vehicle recreation area across the road, but quieter at night. No tree cover for shade but I visited in the springtime and the weather was pleasantly cool.

I typically rate campgrounds as they fit into 1 of 5 categories. This campground will be rated as an “along the way” stay — grounds that you seek out for a night or two as a place to simply stay the night along your journey to regroup and get some sleep. Ratings for this category are based on: Cost: 4 Overall grounds: 4 Utility of sites (hookups, level ground, accessibility): 4 Noise: 5 Reservation Process/Ease of Getting a Site: 5 Layout: 4 Customer Service: 5

We only stayed at Wine Country RV Park as an overnight along our way, however, this could be a nice basecamp spot for people who love exploring wineries. The small town of Prosser has almost 30 wineries and tasting rooms in the immediate area and this park is in the midst of them all.

The staff is quite friendly and they offer tastings from local wineries in their community room frequently. It’s worth mentioning that mask-wearing seems to be finished here. To each their own, but I know it’s still very important to some.

The grounds are mostly well-kept though we did see some dog poop as we were walking around and some long term residents that took up more than their own space. The grounds are big-rig friendly and there is some grass between spaces. Premium sites have concrete pads while the lower cost sites are just gravel. The pads are mostly level, but slope upwards in some spots so unhitching can be just a little tricky. There is no privacy between sites, but the sites are wide enough for slide outs and chairs. Hookups were good, wifi was good enough for streaming (the park was only about 1/4 full while we were there). There is a pool and hot tub, both of which were closed for winter, and a small playground and basketball hoop for kids.

Price is reasonable, if a little high, for being in the middle of a bunch of wineries, and they take Good Sam and other membership discounts. The area is quaint with lots of farms (and some of the smells that go along with it). There is a cute bakery just over the bridge in the historic area of town called Jade’s. Give them a visit! Also, for runners/walkers/bikers... there is a very long path system that goes from Prosser and along the highway for miles into Sunnyside! It’s accessible about 1/2 mile from the park. Also walking distance is Vintner’s Village with a series of tasting rooms to visit.

A nice find for both passing through or staying a while longer if you’re into wines!

So my partner and I had chosen to stay here for a few nights, we didn't reserve online, when we got there the ranger allowed us to go see which spot we liked, because there was a lot open. We chose spot 64 the one way in the back for tent campsites. When we got there, there was 3 others tents up in the area, spread apart of course a good length too. I read that there was a "Homeless" problem, but I didn't see one homeless our whole stay...besides myself lol I bought a power station and had to charge it at a RV spot #15. There I charged my phone and laptop. I did leave my shampoo and conditioner in the showers and those were taken, who can blame em, they were good ones. Lol my own fault. Anywho...bring some shower sandals because the showers are dirty...but they are FREE. Bathrooms are nice and clean. We didn't get bothered once, we got left alone, and even though we looked like the crazy tweaker tent there, cuz we had tarps over our tent....but it was raining. Lol A skunk did cross our path and ran behind our tent...but that's all the action. During this time it was $25 a night for tents. It was close to town but not TOO close....BIG park. For dogs and kids...good park

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.

Stayed here a couple of nights. Our site was a tenting site, but we were in our mini Meerkat camper and we fit (our choice). Almost abandoned, probably because of huge hail storm. Friendly host “Dutch” and a few walk about simple hiking paths. Bathrooms and showers very nice (coin op on the showers). Road noise was pretty loud, especially for the campsites further into the campground. But, tall pines all around us, and very uncrowded. Wouldn’t want to come here if it were full, the sites are very close together. We were at the end of a very long trip, and we were happy to find any easy place to stay just inside WA. There are no stores nearby, so get your groceries in Goldendale!

This place is close to home for anyone in central Washington, the sites are giant and the views are amazing. Site 49 in particular has enough room for our RV, a giant tent in the grass, a picnic table and separate section to grill at. And the layout is such that it’s still pretty secluded from other campers. We absolutely love this place.

Campground Review: 5/5 Stars. Perfect Spot on Cliff Overlooking River.

This was our favorite spot on our recent central-Washington camping trip. We pulled up about 7pm and grabbed a huge spot with a peekaboo view of the river. When we were there, all spots were $30 and included water and electricity. While there's not a ton of coverage between sites (trees, etc.) the sound didn't seem to travel, so the folks happily playing board games and playing Prince didn't keep us up and in fact contributed to the overall happiness of the spots.

Clean bathrooms, soft grass, beautiful views of the river. There's a boat launch and I'm sure this is a very popular spot in the summer. As it was, it was perfect for a Spring get-away.

Tip: Visit the nearby Ginko Petrified Forest state park. Free, nice exhibits, and even some petroglyphs, which my older son especially loved.

Escape Campervan Review: 5/5 Stars. Lots of Fun!

Last summer my family won a vacation rental with Escape Campervans, so we decided to use part of our credit for a three-night trip over Spring Break. We drove up from Portland to Seattle, and while most people head west toward the lush Olympic National Forest, we wanted to try something different, and instead headed east for a loop through central Washington with stops in Snowqualmie Falls (famous for its part in Twin Peaks), Roslyn (home of Northern Exposure) and the oldest saloon in Washington with a 23-foot water spittoon, Ellensburg and the Tomahawk and Rock Ranch, Vantage and the Ginko Petrified Forest, the German-themed town of Leavenworth, and a grand finale in a 90-degree indoor swimming pool in Bothell, Washington. All-in-all, a great trip, and we'd definitely rent from Escape Campervans again. Here's some of what we learned.

Driving

Even though I'm used to driving a large-ish SUV, I was still worried that the large campervan would be a steep learning curve. It was actually quite easy right away. I fit in every parking spot on the trip that I tried, backed up easily with the help of the back-up assist (basically a beeping noise if I came too close to anything), and went through drive-throughs and moved in and out of traffic with ease. Having previously driven both a large RV and a car towing a trailer, I definitely prefer the stress-free ease of the van.

Gas

We ended up driving 500 miles total in four days, and spent almost exactly $100 on gas. Looking at our receipts, we averaged 14.5 miles per gallon driving mostly through mountains on a combination of highway and small-town roads.

Extras

When booking your Escape Campervan, you start with a base daily price that's not much more than an average car rental, but then you can add on all kinds of extras if you want, some of which can add up fast. If you're flying in from another country, this is super-convenient to be able to rent things like bedding and pillows rather than having to bring it. But since we were driving from only a few hours away, I wasn't sure which of the add-ons would be worth it. In the end, I was surprised to see what I used and what I didn't. Part of the Spring Break deal that we booked included the following:

*** Camp chairs:** Not something we used. We either stayed at campgrounds that already had picnic tables (state parks), or stayed places we didn't really want to hang out (a casino parking lot), so the chairs did not get used.

*** Bedding:** I LOVED this option. We brought along our own pillows and sleeping bags as well, but this bedding was huge, warm, soft and smelled great. I almost always am sensitive to sheets in hotels and such, and wasn't expecting much, but this was a great add-on that I'd definitely do again.

*** Extra Propane:** We only ended up cooking once the whole time, so getting a total of two propane tanks was overkill for us.

*** 100 miles per day:** This was definitely worth pre-paying for the 100/miles per day (we even went over that).

*** Heater and electrica**l: This heater and electrical is a maybe. Yes, you can have the space heater inside your van running at night safely, as long as you have an electrical hookup, and we actually even put it up in the tent for 20 minutes one night to warm it up. But you can also just run the van's heater with the engine running for 10-20 minutes before bed as well, and be just as warm, especially if you get the bedding from them.

*** Dishes:** More of a personal choice. I think next time I'd just get paper plates and such, rather than wash the dishes, but that's obviously up to each individual.

Pros: My boys had a blast riding around in a van with a couch and table, and the roof-top tent was equally fun. Being self-contained was lovely, as was the surprising ease of driving the van. We were also much warmer and more comfortable than we would have been sleeping in our tent.

Cons: The main difficulty we had was converting the van from daytime to nighttime. We brought way too much stuff, and the grounds where we were camping were often wet or snowy, so it was a bit of a logic puzzle to move everything around, convert the chairs into a bed, add all the bedding, and get even more bedding up into the rooftop tent. We got much faster the more times we did it, but it still took between a 1/2 hour and an hour each night to fully set up. I think this would be much easier in the summer (with less bedding needed), or with the slightly larger van where the bed can stay together while driving (though then you lose the cool table and couch).

Conclusion: All-in-all, definitely a fun addition to our road trip and one we'd do again in a heartbeat.

Not sure of the price for an Rv slot. Beautiful river view. Some tent pads, level area for my van to park and sleep. Great breezes today.

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.

Great huge sites with room for several big tents at almost all sits. Can be really, really windy and rowdy if groups are staging for concerts at the Gorge. Great views, good hiking and exploring nearby.

This place is pretty cool. It’s close to Yakima and great for a place to visit while you’re in “The Palm Springs of Washington”.

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.

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.

Love this campground and will come back. My husband and I usually pull our ‘68 Aristocrat Lo-Liner but on this trip we were “roughing it” with a tent and a small SUV. I was happy that not only did we get a spot on the river, but there were free, clean hot showers centrally located. The back in spots were not too close together. Some spots offer shade, others are full on sun. And the catfish were biting!