Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Yakima, WA

Eastern Washington near the water is my favorite type of landscape.  It's a hot, windy, and a true desert climate.  When you get near a body of water like you do along the Yakima River, the diversity of life expands and makes for great wildlife watching.

Umtanum Recreation Site is part of several BLM campgrounds lumped together along the Yakima River known as the Yakima River Canyon Campgrounds.  All can be reserved ahead of time via the reservation.gov website:  https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/250985.  Standard for most BLM camping in Washington, sites are very basic.  Gravel parking, pit toilets, and a picnic table.  This place does have a dumpster for trash, not all do.  There are no hook ups, no drinking water, and in our case, very little shade.  Neighbors are close and there is not a lot of privacy.  The day use area is right there too, close to camping and can be loud.  It is heavily patrolled by the wonderful BLM folks to keep everything clean and the people orderly.  They also give out tickets if you don't mind the warnings for correct passes or day use fees.

The campground itself is one little loop with six sites.  The loop is an offshoot of a very large gravel parking area for day use.  Mostly boat launching and hiking access to Umtanum Creek and Umtaum Ridge trails.   You can check the Information Board for rules on day use and camping fees, passes, and how to check to see if a site is reserved. 

We arrived on July 3rd in the afternoon.  The campground was very quiet and all the sites were reserved.  The morning of July 4th, the recreation site turned into a total madhouse.  BLM Rangers, Law Enforcement, making constant rounds to patrol the never ending hoards of people coming to park and float the river. There was a lot of noise, dust, drunk and rowdy folks.  Friday was calm again until afternoon, Saturday was not as bad as the 4th but still pretty crazy.  It was also hot!  No shade to be had in our site.  After hiking in the morning, we spent a lot of time across the bridge, in it's shadow, in the river.  

If you are using this spot as a base to do some hiking, fishing, or floating it's very convenient.  I am sure in Spring and Fall when river floating is not at it's peak, it's gorgeous and peaceful.  The raptors and songbirds are splendid.  We saw Bighorn sheep on the hill, big rock squirrels, wild turkeys with babies, and fish.  No rattlesnakes or ticks, but this is prime territory.  Hiking down the Umtanum Creek trail, over the suspension bridge, is one of my favorite hikes ever.

So I tried booking a spot through this app, and then cashapp was pending the purchase. I ended up calling the campground and they never received my booking. So I waited about 10 min and then I seen that my money was refunded. I ended up calling the camp back and booking it through over the phone. Same price....so I don't see what discount might have done. And also this campground or the lady who answered the phone had never heard of this APP...and named a few partners they work with....this app not being one of them...so...I don't know... ANYWHO.....

Stayed one night, the site 204 was a little difficult to find. The on-site store was pretty good size, from what I saw they had camping gear and regular convenience store stuff. When we got there there was only 1 other tent/ family set up a space away. The site was In a good place, just a walk away from the river. We did have like 2 hornets make their way into our tent. I used the showers behind the dog park, which had 2 shower stalls. And was empty. Hot water instantly, cute lil set up. The campground it self was pretty big...like it was a little town...big play area for kids, lake looked big, same with dog park. Then I took a walk around on the path, and followed the river (as in picture). Quiet time at 10....woke up early and packed up...felt safe, didn't get bothered..no trouble checking In...loved it...

I've been coming here since I was a little kid and it's still one of my favorite campgrounds (with leashed pets allowed). It's cute, wooded, with a moss covered old growth forest, fairly private camps, with one large group site available. Obviously the river spots are the prime locations but we recently had to branch out and stayed in the more wooded Loop B at site B4. We found we had plenty of space and privacy for a party of 5. At this location we had piped water between us and site B5, and we were conveniently located a short walk from restrooms and Purcell Falls. There are plenty of options to keep you busy inside the campground such as visit to one of the many rivers or creeks, the blue hole or a hike to Purcell falls.
If you choose to use the campground as a base camp your close to many other options as well; Ohanapecosh campground and amphitheater, hike naches peak loop, visit the town of Packwood or Mount Rainier National Park (no pets allowed).

1. http://www/yakimarv.com
2. My wife and I started full timing in our RV three years ago and have stayed at many RV parks during that time. Yakima River RV Park is one that is special to us. It's located on the Yakima River near Ellensburg Washington. It is a small privately owned park in a beautiful valley. The park is great for self-contained RV's and it does offer some dry camping sites. Due to the park being on a flood-plain there are limited FHU sites available for a minimum 2 day stay. WiFi is free and relatively strong. The grounds are carefully maintained with grass and trees between the spacious sites. Sites can accommodate RV's up to 60ft. and are pull through. Overflow parking is available for your toad or cargo trailer. If you are looking for a quiet overnight stay or longer, this is for you. Oh, you may occasionally hear the baying of the rodeo bulls in the pasture next to the park

My 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!!)