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Yakima Sportsman State Park is, literally, an oasis in the desert.
Located near the urban amenities of Yakima in arid eastern Washington, this park attracts local picnickers, out-of-town visitors and road-trippers passing through.
Birds flock to Yakima Sportsman, and so do birders, their binoculars and field guides in hand. The Yakima River flood plain sustains a natural wetland of marshes, grasses and ponds, welcoming habitat for 140 bird species. Wood ducks are the stars of the show, but dramatic red-winged blackbirds, herons and hawks make their home near the park's juvenile fishing pond, which is stocked with rainbow trout and open to young anglers.
The gentle trails come alive in season. The trees turn red, orange and yellow in fall, and spring brings a riot of lilies, chokecherry, dogwood and blossoming catalpa trees. Green lawns and tree shade make this a lovely camping or picnic spot in summer.
PARK FEATURES Yakima Sportsman State Park is a 266-acre camping park originally created by the Yakima Sportsman's Association to promote game management and the preservation of natural resources. The park is an irrigated green zone in an otherwise desert area and has a variety of deciduous trees in the camping and picnic areas.
More than 130 species of bird make wildlife watching a delight. The campground is a stay-over place for events at the Yakima Sun-Dome and fairgrounds.
The park has 37 standard campsites, 37 full-hookup sites, one dump station, two restrooms (both ADA) and four showers (all ADA). Hookup sites 1 - 16 are 60 feet long, and sites 17 - 36 are back-in sites. Site HC is an ADA-hookup site, and site 52 is an ADA-standard site. Sites 37, 39, 41, 43, 45, 47 and 49 are near the creek.
Yakima River RV Park! Your Gateway to the Yakima River Canyon Corridor. We are located in Ellensburg in the heart of beautiful Washington State! This area boasts some of the best fly-fishing for Rainbow Trout, along with unlimited possibilities for outdoor recreation. Besides fly-fishing, river rafting, hiking, biking, horseback riding, wildlife photography, bird watching and water sports, the main attraction to Ellensburg is the warm weather and sunshine. Ellensburg has a full range of art galleries, restaurants, wineries, breweries and is home to the Kittitas County Barn Quilt self-guided tour. Bring your family and pet. Vacation in your recreation vehicle. Camp in this quiet, peaceful RV Park in the country, away from freeway noise. Wake up hearing the birds singing and watch the fantastic sunsets in the evening. Yakima River RV Park is a beautiful campground, just minutes south of Ellensburg, on the majestic Yakima River! The RV sites are spacious and pull-through with 30 and 50 amp power, with beautiful lush grass for tent sites. Check-in hours are between 1:00 p.m. and dark. Reservations may be made ahead.
$15 - $42 / night
Legend
T mobile 5G. Dead fish and algae in the lake- green speckles. The water is green. The picnic tables are partially buried in the sand. The discovery pass including the processing fee was $13. The sites are big and well spaced along the reservoir shoreline. Saw about 3 Pit toilets equally spaced along the shore line. Nice old trees providing shade. Nice breeze to close the day. Can't see any flies.
Scout
FYI, the website it not available and I the reservation line has been disconnected.
Traveler
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
TravelerPros: good fishing, good amenities (shower, bathroom, etc), price, cleanliness, availability. Cons: Typical designated camping stacked right next to each other so barking dogs, crying kids, or drunks are highly likely to be a nuisance. Overall it's really well maintained and accessible. There's a little grocery store/market/gas across from the park on 262 if you need anything.
ScoutThey have great bathrooms and showers picnic and covered areas, great play set for kids. Clean water electricity dump area and full hookup pull through areas
ScoutWe had 2 opportunities to stay at this campground in the fall of 2023. This is a very picturesque location and very quiet. Full hookups are available as well as pull through sites.
ScoutI visited with friends from Victoria BC. It's our tradition to rent an RV and drive down to Washington at least once every few years. This Spring we did just this, getting to the Yakima Sportsman State Park with little hiccups. The site was average, but not clean and our neighbors looked like the greasy type. We still had a blast because instead if renting an RV we bought a used cheap one and got it cleaned from Auto Detailing Victoria before hitting the road. Most of our camping was done on the road, so this campsite was actually a relief to us even if it wasn't great. Better than camping in a parking lot!
TravelerI would not return unless many changes were made- my first time here and probably my last
RangerPerfect in every way. Close to a major town, store and restaurant across the road, giant sites with a good layout to still feel somewhat secluded and if you’re an angler, you’re 100 yards away from the boat launch.
RangerWell maintained with lots of trees which is not typical for the surrounding area. Had full services which was nice because it was warm and the air conditioning was appreciated.
GuideFire pits were nice plus a park bench each. Bathrooms clean, showers were still winterised sadly (cold only). Trains were slightly noisy during the night.
Very nice place to stay, helpful staff 👍
ScoutUnable to access due to park entrance gate closed.
ScoutWe stayed for two nights at the end of April ‘22. Passing thru on a coast to coast trip. A typical state park facility and the staff was attentive to the campers. Bathrooms were the usual. There were some sketchy younger folks who looked a bit questionable, but I probably did when I camped in college. My partner found one guy staring at our sewer hose. I don’t remember doing that myself…. It’s on the north side of the valley, so you have to get back on the interstate if you are there to visit wineries. Walmart and Target nearby. April was in the low 50s, but we came back for a picnic in July and it was 102. Lots of shade available.
GuidePros:: The park itself is pretty and green. The bathrooms are clean and well kept with free showers. The campsite are spacious but there is no privacy. The kids loved the playground and there are community volleyball nets that are nice. There’s a nice hiking trail nearby although be cautious of snakes, we came across a very large gopher snake on the trail.
Cons:: we thought the kids would be able to swim but there’s not really any good place to do it here. Definitely caters more to the fishing and boating crowd.
There was also a large group of maybe 100+ people having an annual gathering that had personal volleyball nets up in the middle of fields throughout the park and they would assemble to play right behind our site and leave trash all over the place. When we were asked by the ranger to turn our music off at 8:59pm we mentioned it and he told us they come every year and he knows they will pick it up before they leave. Then they were extremely loud and disruptive all night.
And last but not least, beware of TICKS. We found a lot on our dogs and even some crawling on us. Apparently it’s common on that side of the Cascades but I wasn’t aware so come prepared for those.
GuideThis park is very well taken care of being a state park. However, the infrastructure is old. My RV surge protector indicated an open ground on both our sites. When we asked about it, the rangers just told us it's an outdated system, but there shouldn't be much to worry about.
ScoutNice
TravelerMy son and I are from the area and have been Boondocking all around Washington State for over a year now in our old RV's. My son purchased a panel truck to convert, and my shower is on the fritz, so we decided to give Yakima Sportsman Campground a try. We needed the advertised shower facilities as my son had court in Yakima the following day. Not ONE of the FOUR showers worked!! The camp host was a pleasant enough man, but had no idea (apparently) about the shower issues, and the Ranger wasn't due back until Wednesday. This was on Monday...the week before LABOR DAY! The campground loses at LEAST one star for being located in YAKIMA... I've been living in Parker since 2011, but my mother is from Parker, and the house I lived in has belonged to my family since she was a child (she passed last year at 78 years old), so I believe I've earned the right to say Yakima is the LAST place on the planet that I would bring my family for vacation. It's safer in COMPTON, California. I was raised in the East Bay, near Oakland, and used to travel frequently to the LA area for work, so I have a reference point for comparison. In fact, I'm Boondocking in preparation for a move back to California next month. Besides the dangerous location and the non-working showers, this would have been a 4 star visit, the sites had power and water, we're level and adequately spaced apart, and mine was the only "sketchy" looking vehicle around.... Which is appropriate, since I'm a little "sketchy" myself... Lol! (Blame it on the RAP... WEST SIIIIIIDE!!)
ScoutCame in for an over night. Quick check in and friendly staff. Loved the picturesque view of the hills and enjoyed watching the cows and bulls .
GuideGreat campground. It was very quiet. Sites had plenty of space between them. Great location. Even had WiFi. Not great WiFi but still. It was a nice place.
GuideLast visited in 2020. New is Wi-Fi. I did remote work off and on. Used to come every year in late summer when water level is low and there are more sand dunes. There's 6 circular FHU loops (back in only), a group camp and cabin loop. In the main campground campsites are well spaced with room in the middle of each loop to park boats or extra cars. There are token operated showers, boat trailer parking and fish cleaning stations. Our kids would bike, scooter and use the playground. We boat out to the dunes, spend the day on a dune and fish and do water sports from there. The swimming area is hit and miss depending on the water level. Be aware of lots of vegetation in the water near the shore. Sometimes swimming is prohibited when there is a toxic algae break out. So check ahead. Also, when tenting during the week (M-Th), pitch tents on tent pad, not the grass (read the signs posted). Sprinklers run regularly. At night you can hear the coyotes. Boat launch area was rebuilt and can get busy. It's our fam fav.
GuideThis is a good place to camp, but.
While we did have good coverage for our Verizon phones. We got site 98 which backs up to the lake. Great idea, but due to people having no manners, we had people walking through our campsite to get to the water to fish constantly.
This was also the first time we experienced animal problems on a camping trip. Normally, we move all our food under our awning to a small table we keep beside the TT for cooking. This trip, there were racoons that liked our food more than we did. First night, we lost a half gallon glass jar of dog food. It had a lid on it, and it took me until the second night to figure it out. I thought we had just misplaced it since nothing else was missing. But after the activities on the second night we knew where the dog food went. Ended up loosing a box of graham crackers, bag of marshmallows, and a bag of burger buns.
Other than the animal issue(self induced). The camp site was fine. I do find the placement of the large boulders to be odd! We had to back our TT all the way into the camp site due to they line each side of the camp sites with huge boulders. I am talking big ones, they are at least half the size of the picnic tables. This would be fine, but they put one on each side of the entrance to the camp site which does make it a bit concerning to back in. And once in, you have to make sure you place your TT in the right place so you don't have one in front of your door.
There was no hookups at this site, it was fairly flat, but it was VERY dust! There was very little grass, odd for end of April, so the site was mainly just a dirt patch which was dry enough it was pretty much just dust.
Another observation was that while they did have a couple water taps (dish washing station) on this loop, they were both on the other side of the loop, so we would have to either walk through others camp sites or walk around the entire loop.
With the issues with animals, I would suggest you dump your trash nightly, but there was no dumpsters on this loop. The closest was about half way back to the check-in booth, in the boat ramp parking lot. This was about 1/2 mile from our camp site.
GuideWe didn’t get to fish but we spent the night here on our way home from Seattle. Great park. Nice views. A fair amount of space between the camp spots. WiFi also.
GuideEasy to self check in and nice pond and picnic areas.
GuideAs others have said, this campground is on the reservoir at Moses Lake, but it is maybe 20-30 minutes from town. There are really several sections to this campground and they each have a different feel. I am not much of a fisherman, and have always stopped here while traveling, but I have always found it relaxing. If you are a fisherman, you will probably love this campground. Otherwise it would be a nice place to spend a weekend relaxing with friends.
The RV sites are separated into groups of circles where the sites radiate off like spokes on a wheel. Tall poplars surround these groups to break up the wind that can really get blowing in this area of the state. The sites themselves are gravel driveways in a grass field. There are trees within each group but there is very little privacy, even though the sites are quite large. These sites have access to a single restroom with flush toilets and showers. However, the restroom is starting to show its age quite badly.
The tent sites are in two loops amongst some trees. These are definitely my favorites spots in the campground. The sites are gravel/dirt driveways in a more rustic and less grassy setting. These sites are not level, so any RV will require some effort if you care about that. Privacy is still not great but it is better than the RV sites. The biggest issue with the tent sites is that the restrooms are pit toilets (I believe, but I didn’t go in).
GuideI was so impressed with the organized check-in process, efficient simple paperwork, and welcoming feeling I got when we rolled up without a reservation. We were even "escorted" to our spot! There are lots of trees, cows and horses near by and it's super quiet, oh, except for the numerous freight trains than ran through the night. Bring ear plugs, problem solved. The grounds are immaculate; you can tell these people really care about this place. There's a gate to enter and exit so we felt very safe and there weren't random vehicles driving around. Beautiful rolling hills and open wheat fields made for a lovely bike ride. Definitely recommend this place!
Scout
GuideThis 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”.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near Royal City, WA?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near Royal City, WA is Potholes State Park Campground with a 4.3-star rating from 19 reviews.
What is the best site to find equestrian camping near Royal City, WA?
TheDyrt.com has all 3 equestrian camping locations near Royal City, WA, with real photos and reviews from campers.
