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dforstmann



Joined: 10 Apr 2000
Posts: 25

PostPosted: Tue Dec 31, 2013 6:45 pm    Post subject: Campgrounds Reply with quote

I'm headed to the gorge this coming summer and my in-laws will be meeting up with us in their 30' camp trailer. Any suggestions on campgrounds near Hood River are appreciated. They do not windsurf and do have a couple of young children so amenities, views, atmosphere, etc. are more important than river access. We're thinking that HR will be our home base.
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johnl



Joined: 05 Jun 1994
Posts: 1330
Location: Hood River OR

PostPosted: Tue Dec 31, 2013 10:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The closest places would be Viento (8 miles west of HR). Has beach access, showers, power etc. BUT it is located next to a train track (as is any camping spot located on either side of the Columbia river) and trains run all night AND sound their horn when at the camp.

Another choice would be Tucker Park located up in the HR heights. BUT I don't know the limitations as to size and if they have power or not. You would have to check on that.
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surfersteve



Joined: 24 Apr 2007
Posts: 203

PostPosted: Wed Jan 01, 2014 6:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There is somewhere much closer right over the bridge in Bingen, WA. I cannot remember the name, but the site is adjacent to the gas station just by the bridge. I am sure they have hookups, but do not see them listed in the yellow pages. There is a KOA in Cascade Locks as well. If you don't mind the bridge trips, I think the Bingen location is your best best.
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brettn



Joined: 22 Nov 2000
Posts: 114

PostPosted: Fri Jan 03, 2014 1:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bridge RV Park
509-493-1111
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KGB-NP



Joined: 25 Jul 2001
Posts: 2856

PostPosted: Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't stay at the campground across the bridge on the Washington side unless you don't mind the passing trains shaking your fillings loose from your teeth. The place was spotless but not my cup of tea.

Tuckers Campground is nice but about 10 -15 minutes outside of town.

Rent a house, it's well worth it.
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xxxedge



Joined: 10 Apr 2000
Posts: 27

PostPosted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 4:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tucker is by far and away the best choice. Closest to HR, and most importantly, no Train or highway noise. [/u]
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bitrexusax



Joined: 15 May 2002
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 4:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A quiet and unique place for at least a few days would be to head out to Rufus or Roosevelt . Amenities are slim (just toilets), but calm waters are nearby for swimming, desert environment and truly stunning vistas. Plus if the wind does kick your in one of the the few and best spots on earth for huge fresh water swell and steady 30-40 mph winds.
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 1:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, it's long, but so's Dean's trip, and he has a lot at stake.

One downside to using eastern Gorge sites just for camping is that it generally takes desert heat to generate those steady winds that create the best swell, and desert heat is not conducive to sleeping outdoors. A cool sunset at Roosevelt, once the summer sets in, is in the 90s, maybe 80s if we're lucky. I often commute daily to my air conditioned home 70 miles east of Roosevelt if we get two windy days back to back, simply to avoid the heat at night. A bud who sleeps there a lot told me as I arrived one dawn* that, "it cooled down just fine by bedtime last night". Fact: it was 95 degrees when he went to bed at 10 PM. (Turns out he claims his home stays cool without the AC even when the temperature is well over 100 degrees. Um, Hm ... sure it does.)

Without the heat, any wind is usually typical gusty Gorge frontal wind. With the heat, the wind that far east is usually too light for WSing. Everything has to be just right to get heat and steady strong wind. Meanwhile, because it's hot out east, the corridor -- HR -- is blowing and out east is not. It's all a crap shoot necessitating wind data and lots of informed driving.

* I get up at 3 AM and arrive at dawn in the summer to get parking. The Corps reduced parking at Roosevelt by some 30% (I forget the exact numbers) several years ago, and promised this past summer to reduce it again this summer. It gets jam packed many days beginning as early as early-mid May.

Another downside to using "out east" as a home base is the wind ya miss in the corridor. Look at last July's winds at Swell City vs Roosevelt, for example. My season ended with a knee injury on July 4, but my jaw kept dropping further as the rest of the summer unfolded and I missed very little wind out east. I'd have had to drive 150 miles each way to HR to reach most of the wind that summer ... and even that quit by August.

Your best -- possibly only -- shot at wind, camping with amenities, access to a town (real grocery shopping is a 100-mile round trip drive from Roosevelt), comfortable temps, activities, ANY restaurants, scenery (HR: green; Out East: brown) and any shopping are around HR, where I suggest Tucker Park ( http://tinyurl.com/n4ydo4f ) as a home base with day trips to the wind, wherever it may be. (I have to wear earplugs and use a white noise generator to sleep at Roosevelt, but at least the trains don't blow their horns at night like they do at Celilo, Bingen, and Viento.)

When the eastern sites such as Arlington, Roosevelt, 3-Mile Canyon, The Wall, and Rufus get strong steady wind, they are fantastic places for advanced WSing and windsurfers. The non-sailors in the group, however, had better enjoy getting wind- and/or sand-blasted and/or roasted all day and maybe all night, and must enjoy utter boondocks.

Once SUMMER sets in, I SAIL out east as often as possible but CAMP there as little as possible. In your case, much depends on your group's goals and preferences and on the length of your stay. You'll have the best of both worlds: a big box for home base and one or two separate sets of wheels for versatility. I'd take advantage of the combination to optimize each party's fun each day even if it chews up an extra dead dinosaur or two. Or you can always move the big box around with the wind and weather forecasts and hope the risks of full campsites on any given evening don't bite you.



It just dawned on me: Maryhill State Park, WA. Great compromise almost halfway between HR and way out east. Google it up. What the hell was I thinking not to mention that? 20 miles from shopping, 20 yards to 45 miles to sailing, 20 miles from The Dalles for shopping, 40 from HR, and unlike Tucker and Roosevelt, you can reserve campsites, many right on the riverbank. Start now if it interests you; it fills up early. It's still in the desert, thus can be hot, but if it's windy it's tolerable, especially for WSers. Plus it has full hookups, so you can run the AC at night via shorepower (no generators at night in any campground). If you happen to encounter a whole-Gorge heat wave, which happen periodically most summers, the only escape from triple digit heat is AC.

You'll love the Gorge. There's too much to do here not to enjoy it, wind or no wind. I'm almost numb to the scenery by now, but it's flabbergasting to first-timers, even those as traveled as you. Expect a little of everything, and you'll probably encounter it even if you come in July, the best month for corridor wind.

Try to work in a coast trip, even if only for a day or two. CT has nothing to compare to the OR coast.

Mike \m/
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cannon



Joined: 12 May 1999
Posts: 22

PostPosted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 7:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://peachbeachcamping.com/
OR
http://www.parks.wa.gov/parks/?selectedpark=Maryhill
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westender



Joined: 02 Aug 2007
Posts: 1288
Location: Portland / Gorge

PostPosted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 8:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Memaloose is a nice place and Mosier/Rowena could be good for him?

Out east might be too far from Hood River for the family.

http://www.oregonstateparks.org/index.cfm?do=parkPage.dsp_parkPage&parkId=118
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