Columbia Hills Historical State Park Campground

**The Good: **This is an absolutely beautiful park surrounded by a lake with lots of nearby opportunities for short hikes with amazing views of the mountains and water.  The lake is great for canoeing or paddle boarding.  The campsite hosts were welcoming and provided local firewood for a small fee. (There were no fire bans in effect at the time we camped.) It felt very safe.

I typically prefer roughing-it on a dispersed camping site.  This is definitely not that.  For camping at a site with bathrooms, this is the way to do it!  The facilities were some of the best I've seen - super clean with running water and flushing toilets.  There were even indoor and outdoor showers and 2 single occupant bathrooms which is great for privacy, and for folks who may not feel comfortable using a gender-specific bathroom.  

The Bad: The site had said it was good for an RV or 2 tents.  It is basically a large parking spot on gravel and our tent space was sandwiched in between 2 RVs in a long line of RVs.  The camp area is also on the most open and least scenic part of the site.  _So - not really good for a tent.  We actually drove past our site twice because we were convinced it couldn't possibly be the correct camp site. _Really- it is like camping in a parking lot at a rest stop or maybe like a tailgate party at a college football game.

The RV campers told us they were also super disappointed in the site as there is no privacy whatsoever.  I don't usually chat with other campers, but it was a bit like a big family as we were practically sharing one campsite.  And happily, we had good neighbors.  

We moved our tent slightly off our spot next to a bush so we could have a bit more privacy.  There appeared to be a few tent only sites that were on the grass - I would only stay here again if I could reserve one of those sites.  I found the site arrangement strange as the park area is huge and there is ample opportunity to have the sites distanced apart and bordering the lake rather than a dusty open field.  

OTHER THINGS TO KNOW: It is windy!  I love the wind so I found it invigorating - but it was even a bit too much for me at times.  Winds hit 29 MPH at some points of our stay.  Make sure you plan accordingly and have a tent that can withstand winds and look for heavy rocks to weigh down your ground stakes.  I'd recommend loading up your tent with packs etc to keep it from blowing away.  If you have a canvas tent, that would probably fair better in the wind and dust.  There are not trees near the camp sites so there is no shelter from the wind.

Bonus - with all that wind, I didn't hear, see, or feel one mosquito or no-see-um! 

There is a train nearby and you can hear the horn.  Personally, I found it haunting and a bit romantic - I enjoyed hearing the train as it went by.  If you're sensitive to noise or a light sleeper, it may be something to consider. 

At night it is incredibly dark.  This was the best part!  You can almost forget that there is an RV 5' away.  Open sky and the stars are beautiful!

Final Thoughts: I like to visit the gorge and might consider staying here again only if the tent site at the far end of the campsite is available.  I would definitely come here for a day trip.

This small state park is tucked alongside the Columbia River and Horsethief Lake. The campground is not large with only 4 regular campsites, 4 walk in sites, 8 partial hookups, a Teepee and 2 platform tents. The grounds surrounding the campground and alongside the lake are large, green grass areas with picnic tables everywhere. There are also archaeological sites with artifacts and pictographs within walking distance of the campground. There was a small kayak/canoe rental place that is run by the super friendly camp host.

I reserved the Teepee. I arrived a dusk during what would be a very strong wind storm that would last all night and all the next day. When I first went into the Teepee I noticed the canvas at the bottom was so rotten and the inside flap was secured to nothing so every time the wind blew the inside flap would fill up over half the inside and dirt would swirl everywhere. The front door flap was also very rotten and would not secure, so every time the wind blew, the door would fly open and let in more dirt. Needless to say my dog and I lasted about 5 minutes.

After talking to camp host I was able to get into one of the platform "tents". I later learned from the Park Ranger that stopped by that the canvas on the tents had rotted out in May so he had built what I would call plywood cabins with canvas roofs. There were 2 cabins, each one had 2 windows, 2 sets of bunk beds, a weak light, and a latch secured door. The cabin let in not one bit of wind which was nice, but also got very hot even though it was a cool evening and I had the window open all night. The next day the wind continued, not a big fan of strong sustained wind, but I figured out that when the door was open it created an arc of no wind right in front of the cabin which was nice to sit, watch, and relax. Please note, the cabin is not sealed to the creatures, on the second morning my dog woke me up to a bat that got stuck inside the cabin and was trying to get out, I was able to get the door open and it flew out.

The downside to the platform cabin is the lack of air flow, which in the summer could be rough. Also the only bathroom was a bit of a walk, but was kept clean and had showers. Also the parking was far away, so again a lot of walking. I was also informed by the Park Ranger that the Teepee would be taken down at the end of the 2018 season with no plans to bring it back.

Overall it as a good state park if you don't mind the wind and just want to relax. I'm not sure if I would go back but would recommend it to others.