Deschutes River State Recreation Area Campground

We prefer more secluded and primitive camping, albeit still car camping, but when we wanted to get out of town at the start of June this year, the weather was going to be dreary and rainy within 2 hours of Portland, except past Hood River so we took a chance at Deschutes River Recreation Area. We stayed Sunday-Wednesday, so we can't speak to the weekend capacity, but this met our need (mostly). It is basically one big open field in the tent loop of 10 sites. There is zero privacy. There is a tree by each site, but nothing for privacy or even shade. We stayed at the middle (and best) spot on the edge by the river and only a couple people came and went over the three days, and none were disruptive. The fire ban was scheduled for July 1, but was put in effect early on June 1 so we only had one camp fire. Watch out for the rangers who are constantly watering the giant lawn, and potentially getting your gear/car wet.

We still had a great time and very much enjoyed hiking all over the hills. If we were more adventurous and cold-loving people, we would have enjoyed the swimming hole, but it was still too brisk for us. I did enjoy going about knee deep and the dog discovered that the cool water helped him cool down from the hot weather.

We did pick several ticks off him after trekking through the tall grasses, so be careful! Thankfully we were wearing long pants and did not suffer any ticks on ourselves.

Overall, in a pinch it worked for us. If you like the camping with strangers and maybe making some friends, it would be nice for you. There was also an area for RVs (that we didn't visit), and I think it had showers.

Oh, and be prepared for trains all day and night. It's just off I-84 and two rails I think, so we heard trains all the time and freeway traffic. It was not enough to drive us crazy when we were enjoying the hot weather, but if it were between this and another location, we'd pass on this one.