Best Cabin Camping near Wapato, WA

This is one of the larger KOAs I have been to.  Plenty of room for RVs, trailers, and tents.  They also have a few cabins to stay in.  Our site was near the playground which was central to the camp ground. There is a TV/ play room that my littlesloved but not as much as the heated pool, yes, they have a heated pool! 

This site lies on the banks of the Yakima River.  My dad was able to go fly fishing and my littles were able to search for rocks and fish in the shallow areas. 

The general store has all your basic needs, but a difference from other KOAs was that they sell bee and wine! 

The hosts are great but are pretty strict with quiet hours (which I prefer with littles).

General: 20 RV sites, nine cabins, and open space for tent sites. 

Site Quality: Sites 1-13 are located closer to the road while 14-20 are tucked further back closer to the river and we did not hear any road noise in Site 15. All are level. Minimal separation/privacy. Campsites are dirt. RV sites have water and electric. 

Bath/Shower house: One single bathroom each for men and women as well as one shower each for men and women. The shower was warm but as a short person, I was not able to adjust the handheld shower nozzle, making my shower just a bit challenging. Showers and bathrooms were clean although the fan in the women’s room had accumulated quite a bit of dirt/dust so I turned it off. 

Activities/Amenities: Many games (giant chess, corn hole, etc.) sprinkled throughout the property but otherwise there was not much in the campground itself. Nearby there are hiking/mountain biking trails. Fly-fishing on the river. Recreational water activities on nearby Bumping Lake. A kids' playground within walking distance from the campground is located at Jim Sprick Community Park. There was a full kitchen with a sink, dishwashing soap, stove, fridge, and microwave. I only took advantage of the dishwashing sink. 

Be aware there are several cats roaming the property; they were not a nuisance as we like cats (they only came within view and no closer). This is also a wedding venue and a wedding was held the weekend before we arrived. We were the ONLY ones in the entire campground; the store/office was closed when arrived shortly before 6 p.m. on a Sunday after Labor Day (since our site was not assigned when we reserved, a note was left on the door) and we left before it opened the next morning. 

This kitschy old western-themed campground would be fun for a wedding or family gathering/reunion, but for us, it was a one-night stop along our route. There was zero cell coverage (Verizon) if that is important to you.

First off, my type of camping is getting as far away from other people as possible. That is absolutely not going to happen when you are at the Gorge, but that is not why you camp at the Gorge. I’m giving it 4 stars because for what it is, it was decent enough and clean.

On a whim my husband and I decided to book camping along with our concert tickets since it was being offered and was fairly inexpensive. Our motivations for doing so were 1) not having to drive to and from the venue on the day of the show and 2) it’s an experience, might as well try it at least once right?

We went with standard camping, the cheapest option.

As you arrive at the camping area a number of attendants will direct you where to go. Your car will queue up to be sniffed by some sniffer dogs and then if you get the go ahead you will be directed to your site sandwiched in between the other cars that are arriving at around the same time as you. You’ll feel a slight sense of panic and dread as you realize how tightly everyone is packed in and how tricky it will be to carefully navigate your vehicle through the narrow patch of grass that is left between the tents and vehicles if you decide to leave. You will then take a deep breath, crack open a beer, and start settling in.

We had enough room in our designated space for our “6 person” cabin tent, and for our fairly large shade tent that we set up between the tent and the back of the car. You will absolutely want to bring some sort of shade tent if you plan on hanging out in the campground before the concert. It gets uncomfortably hot very fast if you are not shielded from the sun.

We had originally planned on driving out in the morning to explore the area, maybe find some water to cool off in, but ultimately decided not to due to the previously mentioned difficulties of navigating our car out of our site and through the sea of other campers. Fortunately we had plenty of food, snacks and a cooler full of ice and beer. If you find yourself lacking these things, there is a small general store a short walk away that has some camping supplies, beer, snacks, water, that kind of thing (sold at “we’ve got you trapped here, so just suck it up and fork over the money” prices).

The toilets were porta potties but they were kept surprisingly clean and there were plenty of them. There was a sink with running water, soap, and paper towels. I only visited the station closest to our tent but I think there were a few scattered about.

There was someone blaring loud music past midnight the first night, but that was pretty much what I expected. I didn’t encounter any issues with other campers.

It’s about a mile (or maybe it just felt like it?) walk on a dusty road from standard camping to the venue. Wear good shoes and sunscreen!

Ok, that’s about it. Everything I would have liked to know in advance to be prepared. I might camp again if I see another show at the Gorge, but I’d probably upgrade to get a bit more space and wiggle room.

This is right off I90 very convenient but close to freeway so some road noise. I90 is the main east west freeway in Washington. It is right on the river and there's a pool. Rafting and fishing the Yakima river are great reasons to stay here. If you're looking for a wilderness experience this isn't the place. But for a place to stay while rafting or fishing it's great.

Park was full and office closed when we pulled in and manager Katie saw us drive through and flagged us down. She made space for us and even loaned a 30 to 50 amp adapter so we could hook up our 30 amp plug. Showers were nicer than any other on our 2800 mile trip from Arkansas (11 days on road so far) and park is quiet and shaded right by the water. We would recommend this park to anyone passing through Benton City Washington

This campground sits right off of hwy 12. The sites were a little over grown when we were there. The pit toilets were clean.

Photo updates 2020 prices. Nice little camp ground along the river. The site were clean and the park busy. Be prepared for road noise that drowns out the sound of the river.

Sites 9-12 are reservable, walk in and right against the river. The river was running high while we were there, so it drowned out most of the road noise. All four of these sites has room for 2 cars in the parking area. The hosts were super friendly and helpful and did a nice job keeping the grounds and bathrooms clean. It's windy and cooler along the river. Had we known about the wind, we'd have brought a different tent! Fishing seems like it must be decent given the number of people with poles and the number of flies we found. The sites each have a firepit and a picnic table.

Site 9 is huge with room for several tents and hammocks. There's little to no vegetation between it and site 10, but the river drowns out conversation and music noise, so it feels more private and the space between the sites allows you to create a natural open barrier between groups.

We were in site 10, which was also large. The best tree for tethering hammocks (or the dog) from had, unfortunately, been used as a toilet recently with lots of TP at its base. This also affected our tent placement... Nobody wants to sleep with their head in someone else's poop or pee. Beach access can be found down a steep-ish hill, but with the river running high, only allowed for a few rocks to sit on. When the river is running lower it looks like it would have a nice beach area. The top of the dirt is pretty soft, but a few inches down it becomes quite rocky. MSR Hedgehog stakes did OK given the sail that was our tent.

Site 11 is smaller with more foliage, so it seems somewhat more private, but lacks direct beach access. It sits highers than site 12 with trees and a downward sloap between the two.

Site 12 has the best privacy and easy, level beach access, with a large hill on one side and smaller one on the other. It sits lower than site 11 with the upward slope and foliage to create a screen. It also has a nice, flat walk in from the parking area.

Bathrooms are Porta-Potties. They were kept fairly clean while we were there. The outside two "filled" the fastest, the inner two have sinks with soap dispenser, running water activated with a foot pump. The hosts kept the soap, water and TP full the whole weekend. From sites 9 - 12, the walk to them was very short and easy so I'm not sure why someone felt like the tree was the better, easier option. People are disappointing that way.

There's no running water at this time so bring your own.

Dogs need to be leashed or tethered and cannot be barky. If your dog barks a lot and disturbs other people, you may be asked to leave. Ours is pretty quiet, so we did OK and our neighbors on either side didn't seem bothered by her friendly antics the few times she tried to say hi to them. Site 10 had a good place for a Knot-a-Hitch, if you have one. See pictures.

All and all, we'd stay here again as a basecamp for exploring the area, but only if we could be against the river and we'd definitely bring a better tent for the breezy conditions. Our preferred sites would be 9 or 12. Pro tip: hand sanitizer will remove pitch/sap from the pine trees. ;-)

We were lucky enough to get a walk in campsite. There is a giant substation in the middle of the camp ground which you can hear most places, but there was a decent sized hill between us and that. Neighbors were nice. Walked the whole campground and found many sites push up against the road, the ones on the river are decent, but many are too close together to feel like an escape.

We camped on site #42 and it was perfect location. We didn't want to be right on the water as our dogs would be in it 24/7. This site you could still see the water and hear it. We found many paths down to the water, even some places to soak if we wanted. The bathrooms (glorified outhouse) were always clean and had toilet paper. There is no running water, so we brought our own. Everyone was pretty quiet and the hosts were wonderful. We will definitely come back again. We drove into Yakima to check out WilRidge winery and go pick cherries.

We found a site right by the river. Some shaded sites are available too. Camp host was very friendly and helpful.

Large sites, some with access to the River. Highway noise was pretty loud in some of the upper sites. Bathrooms (pit toilets) were very clean and the camp host was lovely! Nice recreation area nearby.

Perfect spot for privacy and a great night’s sleep. Plenty of space. Stop soon after going through(and closing) the gate to get a level spot. Wind can be high here, but that made for nice sleeping weather in August. Bumpy road but no need to go far. Woke up to a buck grazing 30 yards away.

Great for kids, big playground and easy walk near lake.

I loved this place. we stayed during the week, so there wasn't anybody there. we really got to take it in. beautiful place, bring your kayak. really nice people runnin the show over there. no reception until you get on the lake... great place to have an office for a minute. also I've got a crew cab long bed with a 26' trailer, little tight but had a little extra room.

We stayed a couple nights in early August. We called about a week in advance and they got us a spot in their otherwise full campgrounds. Although we were next to the road (Hwy 12) we had a decent peekaboo view of the lake. Sites 2,3 and 4 are pretty tight, but we were thankful. The owners are new, but were very responsive to our calls for updates regarding nearby wildfires and general questions. Bathrooms and showers were very clean and employee 'Shirell' was so kind that each night she would stop by to pass out dog treats. I know they're putting in the work to improve the campgrounds so we'll look to book summers for kayaking and winters for snowshoeing.