Big Pines Campground

We arrive on a October 23rd, so during the First Come First Serve. We got the site I’d had my eye or for two months. There were only about 5 other campers in the campground while we were there. Spent 3 nights there and enjoyed it very much. The train noise was minimal, with about 5 - 6 trains per day. The road noise was a bit more prevalent, but still fairly minimal. Our site would have been perfect for solar, but it was cloudy most of the time. We used our generator and quiet time is fairly liberal starting at 10pm and ending at 8am, but we only needed to use it about 2 hours each day. Could barely hear on other camper using there generator in the evening and only when standing outside. The weather wasn’t cooperative for being out in the evening. A nice close walk for wading in the river for fishing, which is why we came there in the first place. Look forward to returning, but a little earlier in the fall. T-Mobile only got one bar with 5G and nothing with 4G. They do offer a 50% discount with the America the Beautiful Senior pass.

Campers need to come prepared as there is no potable water.
We could not get a useable Verizon connection even with a booster.
There is no over the air television. We were able to pick up the Dish satellite service.
BNSF freight trains came through about every 4 hours. The train noise was not bothersome to us.
The $7.50 camp fee reflects a senior discount.
The campground is in a very scenic canyon.

Big Pines is a clean, spacious and well maintained campground. It sits right on the Yakima River and all sites have easy access to the river. I stayed in site 5 in November and I was one of 5 campers in the camp ground. The campground is first come after September and it was partially closed like many campsites during fall and winter. No hook ups provided but the sites are paved and level with fire ring and picnic table. I didn't notice road noise and we watched a late night train pass on the other side of the river from the river edge but it wasn't visible from the site, other than that didn't notice train noise during the night. The Yakima Canyon is beautiful and this was a fantastic site to explore and fish for the weekend. Stop at Red's Fly Shop a short distance away and eat at their gorgeous restaurant, Canyon River Grill, a good lunch and dinner menu and impressive wine list, they also have an espresso bar and do breakfast sandwiches.

The campground was sparsely occupied mid week in late May. We had two adjacent sites (4 and 5) which worked great for our popup camper and my brother-in-law's 27' trailer. If we hadn't been camping together, these two sites would have seemed a bit close to one another, and I would have preferred a different site on the loop. But we picked those two spots for the shade potential ("Big Pines") and they were also right next to the river. Dry camping only - no water available. Other campers were courteous.

Now, we saw the train tracks across the river, but only a few rail maintenance vehicles went by from time to time during the day, so it seemed pretty peaceful. Until. After dusk it seemed like every train in the country had to come squealing and screeching and groaning and roaring down those tracks. I mean it was LOUD. Trains were frequent, all night long, as if they had stacked them up during the day, waiting for dark to send them down the canyon. I would no sooner start to drop off when the rumbling would start up again. Maybe if we had stayed longer than two nights I would have gotten used to it (says my husband, who sleeps like the dead had had no trouble with the noise). No, probably not. Other than that, lovely canyon.

This campground is a nice quiet stay though there is the occasional train across the river. No horn tooting. The road is pretty shoulder-less getting there but the sites are roomy and clean. We had some river view and access. Not much for bike riding but the hiking trails are super with marvelous views and full cell coverage (ATT) rewarding the climb up. Both down and up were tricky and not for simple strollers. And there are rattlesnakes out this time of year so watch your step and keep your ears open.

Big Pines has four first come/first served sites, the rest can be reserved. There are a small number of sites with shade, most are out in the open and there is little privacy. It looked like a monster storm had recently taken out several large pines so that reduced the number of sites with shade. All sites are paved, mostly back-in with a few pull-throughs, and many were large enough to accommodate even the biggest rigs. There are no hookups or dump station. There are pit toilets (clean and well maintained) and garbage service.

It looks like a popular campsite for floating the Yakima River and we’d love to make a return trip to do just that. There is a small boat ramp at the campground and several more access points along WA 821. We saw bighorn sheep on the hillsides across from the campground. As noted in other reviews the train tracks are right across the river and it can be quite loud.

We had 2 bars of Verizon 3G, but it wasn’t reliable.

We stayed here because we wanted to be on the river to try and fly fish. This was one of the only places big enough for our 34’ TT. The north loop was closed and there were only a few pull through spots. Most were back in and looked slightly uphill. All were paved. No amenities, but half of the toilets were still open.
The train across the river runs often and is amazingly loud in a canyon!

We arrived after dark and it was very hard to see as there are no lights except where you self check in.