SP Campground Review – Memaloose State Park, Mosier, OR
A lovely campground with many water-front sites in a perfect location to explore Hood River and the Columbia River Gorge.
Link to campground here: Memaloose State Park, Mosier, OR
Link to map location here: Memaloose State Park, Mosier, OR
- Site Quality = 4/5
Very nice sites here with just a few dings. All sites are large paved back-in (mostly flat although a few are uneven), spacious “sitting areas” with picnic table & fire-pit, generally good separation with a selection of full hookup (40 sites total -> 30 Amp/water/sewer) or tent/primitive (66 sites -> all have water spigots). Lots and lots of green grass/lawn and shade trees. The “prime” sites here are the waterfront sites (odd-numbered sites A37-57 (non-hookup) plus B27, B33 (hookup)) which sit above an enormous green lawn with full views of the Columbia River. These are outstanding! The least desirable sites are the sites nearest I-84 (A1-A15(hookup)) which are closer together and have the highway literally right above the sites (way too noisy). The remaining sites are very nice and spacious with good separation and lots of green grass views, but no water views. - Facilities = 3.5/5
Basic, good facilities here. Large warm, showers and toilets all kept spotlessly clean. Biggest ding is showers have those annoying spray-heads and timer-buttons. Green picnic area and lawn on-site plus on-site dump. - Location = 4.5/5
Fabulous location here. You are just east of the lovely town of Hood River with easy access to windsurfing, day-hiking, the “Fruit Loop” and the road to Mt.Hood. You’re also only ~35 miles from the waterfalls. Plus if you get a waterfront site you are right on the river. The dings? You have I-84 on the back-side of the campground and railroad tracks on the front (river) side. The trains don’t “honk”, but both the highway and the trains do give some noise when they come through. Also Memaloose is only directly accessible coming from the east. If you drive from the west you have to go 3 miles past the campground to exit 76, turn around and drive 3 miles back. A bit annoying on day-trips. - Pet Friendliness = 5/5
Great doggie site. There are no “official” trails in the park, but there is a huge, green lawn in the front, a large, green day-use area and an “unofficial” trail from the front right-side of the campground along the train-tracks. Also, lots of space to hang-out in camp plus TONS of squirrels to keep doggie interested.
Overall Rating = 4.25
BONUS ALERT = Camp with a view of the Columbia River Gorge!
Summary: What a fabulous spot to explore the Columbia River Gorge! This campground sits just east of the lovely city of Hood River and has an open, green feel with lots of space, separation, lawn and shade-trees. The huge attraction to this campground are the waterfront sites (mostly non-hookup) which sit above a large green lawn under lovely shade trees with full Columbia River views. These are fabulous and well worth the effort to get. Most of the other sites are very green and lovely, but just don’t have the water views. The biggest issues are the fact that the campground is only directly accessible from the east (coming from the west you need to drive 3 miles past, turn around and drive 3 miles back to get camp), plus there is road-noise (mostly in the back sites) and train track noise (in the front sites). Road/train noise is pretty much the norm anywhere on the Gorge and we (personally) found watching the trains pretty fun from our water-site so these are minor inconveniences in my mind for the fabulous location and views. It’s the perfect spot to explore everything in the Gorge, especially around Hood River, and is only ~35 miles from the waterfalls in the west end (Ainsworth State Park is closer to the falls, but not nearly as nice). We loved our site & location so much we extended our stay and would most definitely come back again.
Extra Info: 4 bars of solid Verizon 4G LTE. Sites cost $24/night for full hookups (40 sites -> 30 Amp/water/sewer), $19 for tent sites (66 sites -> no hookups, but water spigot at almost every site) in summer season, all reservable on-line. On-site dump station.
NOTE/ You can see a picture of each and every campsite at Memaloose State Park on campsitephoto.com.
I feel you getting closer if you can ever tear yourself away from the Gorge. 😀
Excellent park to keep in the memory banks for future reference! Thanks!
Oregon is so beautiful. That one of the first states I’ll choose to go explore when we hit the road to RV. You give such detailed descriptions, along with your photos. Thank you. Any update on RVSue and her blog being reinstated? Sure do miss her.
Last I heard she’s still working it. If you check the comments on her blog you’ll see some recent ones from her there.
Nina
Thanks for mentioning CampsitePhotos.com. That’s the first I’ve heard of it. I took a look. It will be very helpful in choosing a campsite in an unfamiliar park.
They’re slowly building up their list of campgrounds. I’ve used them whenever we’ve been a spot they’ve covered. A great site!
NIna
We’ve found CampsitePhotos.com invaluable for pre-selecting a site since we prefer to reserve ahead. We stay in each location at least several days so we’re interested in view and privacy of the site. The photos at state and national parks show exactly what you’ll see when you arrive. The photos for private parks seem to be more promotional photos for the parks overall, rather than individual sites.
Good point about the source of the photos. We use it exclusively for state parks, so I haven’t spent any time looking at the private park shots on there. I DO really like having the shots of each site when we book. They still don’t have too many parks on there, but it’s expanding slowly but surely.
Nina
Thanks for the photos and information on hookups as well as the campsitephotos.com link!
The first picture – very clever. Nicely done. Great review. As a matter of fact they all are imo… thanks.
When you say on site dump is that a separate charge from a non-hookup site? Or is it included.
In the state parks, as long as you camp there the dump is always free. So it’s included in the charge.
Thank you for sharing your review of this campground. We are heading for Oregon in a couple of weeks and we will be looking for a campground in that area. I can’t wait! 🙂
This is a wonderful place to stay. There are also several nice campgrounds on the WA side (see my last post and the comments underneath it). ENJOY the area. It’s fabulous!
Nina
We just left Memaloose State Park after spending a wonderful week there. Your review was spot on! Thanks again for the recommendation! 🙂
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed it as much as we did!
Nina
A great review as always. Thanks for doing.
Thanks to you for the excellent write up about Memaloose. We recently stayed 3 nigts a site A57 and thoroughly enjoyed the view of the river from our spot. Loved the many shade trees throughout!
Oh excellent! So glad you enjoyed the park and the site!
Nina
We need to be fairly close to the Portland airport but all I am reading about is train noise and I can’t sleep thru the train whistles – is it loud here at night? THANKS!!
I honestly didn’t find the train noise that big a problem. Don’t even remember hearing it at night? However you’re not really close to Portland airport here. You might want to look at Columbia River RV park in the city. It’s a private park, so not nearly as pretty but very close to the airport. That’s where we stay if one of us is flying out.
Nina