Best Dispersed Camping near St. John, WA

This is a great mostly unknown little campground. Fun fact: This is the least used campsite maintained by the Lower Granite Natural Resources Management team. 

Let’s get to the bad/good, depending on how you look at it. 

1. There is NO running water available, unless you want to get some from the river(NOT suggested)

2. Absolutely no electricity here, not even for park lights. This makes for AMAZING star gazing. 

3. ZERO cell service at the campsite. You can get service if you absolutely need it at the top of Hammer Grade road, it’s steep. 

4. Limited sites have shade all day. Get there early to get one of these prime spots. 

5.Summer time is HOT here but, you have the river right there to cool off. 

6. There is a boat launch here though it is not maintained, use at your own discretion. 

7. There are fire/BBQ pits at each site as well as a picnic table. Wood fires are NOT allowed from June 10th through October 10th. It gets very dry out here. 

8. Bring bug spray! Day time the bugs aren’t bad but, when the sun starts going down, the mosquitoes are coming out. Also, spring into early summer, there are ticks. Summer through the rest of the year you should be tick free. 

9. This campsite is open year round and it’s FREE!

10. There are no trash cans or dumpsters. So keep that in mind and take out EVERYTHING you bring in. 

11. No dumpsites nearby. Closest I found is right off highway 395 at the rest area. 

12. You can cross the dam Monday-Thursday excluding holidays and only during daytime hours. 

13. Your trailer, tow vehicle and anything in the bed is going to get dusty getting here and leaving. It’s a decent trek down a gravel road. Speed limit is 45MPH. Good luck to you if you try to go that fast. 

14. Come prepared for the whole trip. Washtucna is the closest town and they have limited supplies. No alcohol is available at the “Store” there. 

15. If hunting season is coming up, get there as early as possible. 

We stayed here in the most shaded part of the campground with our Travel Trailer with a 50 gallon fresh water tank. It lasted the 4 of us the 5 day weekend. It was a hot weekend and we did end up having to run the generator for a few hours during the day to keep the newborn cool. 

I followed my GPS which took me off of Highway 26 and onto Old Highway 26. DON’T do this. Take Hay rd. Old HWY 26 will take you onto Hammer Grade Rd. This is NOT a fun road with a trailer. It has some very steep grades and you’ll be HAMMERING the brakes or exhaust brake. 

All in all, this was a GREAT trip at a great, hidden and secluded area.  We will definitely be revisiting this site.

The campground itself is on BLM land and is primitive.  There is a pit toilet, picnic tables, fire rings, corrals and horse water.  The camping itself is on the primitive side, but the scenery it magnificent!  The last two miles driving in is a rough dirt road, and a vehicle with ground clearance is highly desirable. A three mile hike/horseback ride takes you through Washington's Channeled Scablands to Towell Falls through spectacular buttes and meadows along the creek.  The best time to visit is in the spring when the wildflowers are in bloom and before the RATTLESNAKES get populous.  The night skies are particularly dark because you're a long way from any civilization.  It's also interesting exploring the old ranch building that remain on the site. The area is popular with horsemen and trail groups up to a bit of "roughing it." It also can be a great day trip from the Spokane Washington area.

BLM land was easy to find right off the highway. Rough gravel road easily traveled in a truck, low clearance vehicle may have trouble. There were a few people with campers at the end of the road. A lot of dispersed sites, some close to the road, a few very private. Two nice lakes.. at the end of the road you cross to state park land which does not allow camping but is very well marked with a gate and signs. There was a fe portapottys scatter along the road. Light freeway noise, did hear one night train, but for free and a beautiful landscape not too bad.

The drive was mostly dirt roads. I managed just fine in a Subaru for context. The hike itself was incredible and a bit primitive at points. Bring bug spray and maybe a machete lol. I was getting close to where one of the waterfalls was and ran into a Coyote who would not budge. That pretty much ended the hike as I could hear others howling nearby.

The hike back was even amazing with the Sunset and landscape making me feel like I was on another planet. The best part was pure luck as I setup camp on the road back during a new moon which was perfect for star gazing and astro photography. I’m an amateur and took my time to learn my camera a bit. This little adventure was my favorite thus far this year.

Nice little place. The road gets a bit rough. I personally would not want to drive anything bigger than a camper van down there but there are quite a few bug turnaround spots and some nice big sites. Be careful going into the sites as there is a dip. My Kia seemed to think I was just nose diving into a crevice as I was getting across with all its sensors screaming at me. Some coyotes came through camp at some point during the night. I heard them howling from a distance but only knew they came into camp because they left footprints in the frost. Only one other person was out there so nice and quiet