Ainsworth State Park

On our way to the Oregon coast, we needed to stop for the night. Given our last name, Ainsworth State Park seemed appropriate. Our pull-through site looked like it might be a leveling challenge, but we were able to find a position that worked. Unfortunately, it left us with a long run to the sewer connection which was slightly uphill. With plenty of room in our black tank, we elected to go with water and power only.

We love Oregon State parks, and this was typically well-kept. There is some highway and railroad noise, but nothing that disturbed us overnight. But then, it was raining, so we spent most of our time inside.
We make the trek to the coast fairly often, so I’m sure we’ll be back. It’s a perfect place for an overnight stop.

Like our use of other Columbia Gorge Oregon State Park campgrounds, we utilized this park as a stopover in transit to other destinations and as a jumping off point to explore the sights along the timed entry section of Historic Hwy 30. The campground has two "loops", A and B. The A sites are all full hookup pull-thrus and are on the uppermost side of the park. The B sites are on the lower leg of the campground and are a mix of back ins and arc style pull-thrus, again most with full hookups.

The campground also has some hiker/biker sites and car camper tent sites.

Between the upper A sites and the lower B sites is a very steep greenspace area, mostly natural, with asphalt pathways between the upper and lower loops, and the location of the two shower houses. The two restroom/shower houses in this campground are identical and typical of Oregon State Parks. Men's facilities on one side of the building, women's on the other. Restrooms are separated from the shower area. Each shower is in a separate stall with a small changing area with stool. The facilities always looked to be kept up and reasonably clean at all hours. Typical Oregon state parks, the orange and brown color pallet they use in their restroom facilities is always reminiscent of 70s or early 80s color trends and feels quite dated; could use a refresh.

There is a day use picnic area at Ainsworth that is on the far west side of the park. A rudimentary playground is located at the day use area, along with picnic tables. This area isn't accessible by vehicle from within the park, only directly from Hwy 30, but is accessible by foot/bike from inside the park. The park is also connected to the rest of the parks and waterfalls along Hwy 30 via Trail 400. Trail 400 can be strenuous in places, so be advised, and the trail is not paved. My daughter didn't really enjoy the playground, which is a bit of an oddity. That says something about the facilities at the playground.

Our site was generally level, but did require enough side to side leveling to make the last step out of our rig a doozy. There was a fire ban in place so we were unable to have a real fire in the fire pit. The picnic table was just outside our rig door, but was located on a dirt patch. Very little grass at any of the camp sites, and where you might expect grass, it has been trampled down and killed by overuse. Campsites in the A section were not particularly wide. You have your RV pad, and a rather small area next to it. I couldn't imaging trying to set up a tent in any of the sites in the A section as there was not enough space to the side of the vehicle pad, and the underlying dirt was very hard pan.

The hookups were about the nicest I've seen in a state park. The power pedestal and water service were integrated into the same pole, and the water valve had a permanently attached backflow prevention valve in place. The electrical panel had 20, 30, and 50 amps and the breakers were tight and not worn out. The plug ins were sufficiently tight and also not overly worn. The sewer port was located close by to the power pedestal, but far enough away that you weren't tripping over it dealing with your other utilities. I did not encounter any tremendous under voltage situation while there and we ran our A/C most of the time we were plugged in, as did most of our neighbors. You'll note a lot of notices on power pedestals and at campground kiosks about not dumping full tanks at the full hookup sites if you drive in with full tanks and to use the dump station before hooking up. Apparently there are flow or volume considerations that the park is trying to keep under control. We arrived with empty tanks and dumped at our site before we left and had no issues with the dump process.

Cellular service was essentially non-existent. While my phone told me I had one bar of AT&T 4GLTE, there was no service, I could not make calls, and could rarely get a text through, to say nothing for any type of data use. So, I have to vote that we had no service.

This is a nice campground to kick up your heels and rest for a day or two. It is a great jumping off place for exploring Hwy 30 and the Gorge waterfalls. It is not a destination in and of itself.

Park is inside the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. You do not need a federal timed entry pass to get to the campground. At the Gorge timed entry check point, just tell them you have a camping reservation at Ainsworth, they will let you in. Once you are in, you can access the entire gorge via the Historic Columbia River Highway without a timed entry pass. No hang tags issued, ranger came around once to make sure we were in the right spot. Campground is on the side of a hill, but the upper pull through sites are pretty level. Bathrooms and showers were adequate.

No annoying noise that we noticed, just a few trains in the distance. Lots of hiking in the area, including access to Gorge Trail 400 from the campground.

AT&T cell service was marginal, about 2-3 bars of 4G, but the WeBoost saved the day, allowed us to stream easily. Local HDTV stations come in well.

How can you beat a pull-thru site with full hookups for $28 a night in the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area?!?! You can't! Easy off/on I-84 right in the waterfall corridor. Be sure to validate the need for a corridor pass during your stay. It's just $2 on recreation.gov. The campground is built on a fairly steep hill. The A section sites are tiered. The B section is flat and are a mix of curved pull-thrus and back-ins. While there are 2 hosts sites, no one was there. The ranger came around every once in a while. Firewood is available for sale. There is a dump station immediate to the right when entering the A section. It's heavily wooded. You will hear freeway and train noise 24/7, but nothing that kept us awake at night.

Nice little campground that was easy to get into and back onto the highway. We stayed 1 night on our trip out to the west coast and then again as a last minute decision on the way back. All sites seemed to have 50 & 30 amp electricity even though the park website only mentions 50. Both the pull-through and back-in sites were easy enough to get into with our 21 ft trailer. Water and sewer hookups all worked easily. Shower and restrooms were clean with good water pressure and hot water. As many others have mentioned, the trains are non-stop but it wasn't too loud for us- but this was not a destination, just a quick stop. I think if I'd planned to stay in the area over several days it probably would have been bothersome but since we just needed a quick, safe, clean place, this was perfect. The campground is very clean and the rangers were very nice. There was a short trail to walk the dog on - nothing for any real exercise but a nice place for sniffing after spending the day in the vehicle.

Our first time to Ainsworth state park. We found the (A) loop where we stayed very nice and sort of secluded with lots of trees even though you could slightly hear the HWY traffic and the occasional train without any horn. It was really not that noisy. The B loop is much closer to the noise and is more flat ground area. The only slight complaint we had is that the speed of the vehicles going down the hill road past our camp area was a little excessive. Most don’t understand what 5 MPH is and are doing 15-20 MPH. Much too fast for the small road and people. This Park is really not suitable for very large rigs as the roads are narrow and have several tight curves. We found the showers and bath rooms very nice and clean. As a matter of fact, the whole park was very clean by the attentive staff. The campground has a large play area that has a horse shoe area and they have an amphitheater area as well. A very nice place to say for only $26 a night for full hook ups.

I was skeptical about camping here because of the size of our trailer; 43' 5th wheel. We navigated the roads just fine. The only issue was low branches which we pushed up with a pole to drive under. (13' 6" tall).

The staff walk the grounds regularly and are extremely helpful with anything needed. There is a trail connected to the park that connects you to other trails throughout the area. We had three spaces (A05. A06, and A07) for our group. One of the members in our group got sick and had to leave early. When one of the staff walked by I saw them write down that they had left. I let him know they got sick and had to leave early. He made sure were were issued a refund for the unused days which was nice.

Cell coverage was barely 1 bar with AT&T and FirstNet at times. I saw many with WeBoost cell antennas, including the hosts. So I'm sure they help.

If you're biking in, they have bicycle repair stations at the bike camp sites which I thought were really cool.

Our trailer is 43' long and 13'6" to the top of the A/C units. We had a pull through site, but I chose to back out of it as I did not think I would make the turn leaving. There were several branches that were about 12' 6" low that I had to push up with a special branch push rod I made. There was also another 5th wheel the same size as mine in the park. I mention this for those with large trailers as I was nervous about driving in the first time.