Dalles Campground

This is a NFS campground on the famous-for-fishing Rock Creek. We couldn't stay there because it was closed in September '21, along with the other RC NFS campgrounds nearby, Norton, Harry's Flats and Granite Creek. Their closure was disappointing to us since we had come a long way to stay and fish there. Our understanding was that these campgrounds would close on Oct 1 but that was not the case.

The northern entrance to Rock Creek road warns RV's and trailers to stay out because of the rough road. That is indeed the case, and even with a stout 4wd truck, it was a miserable 15 miles each way at <5mph with big potholes and washboards. In retrospect, I won't drive it again with my rig.

Nice campground; all sites are FF. We showed up on a Sunday around noon and had no problem getting 2 sites. We stayed 3 nights and at any given time, only4 other sites were occupied.

A few of things (not negatives…more awareness):
1. The campground sits about 20 feet above river level. The only way down is a steep bank.
2. Dust: the main road in is gravel and as cars go by (regularly), the dust makes its way into the campground. Trees along the road are brown from the dust.
3. There are 2 vault toilets. I’d suggest the ones behind site 9/10 vs. the ones on the hill.
4. The road in is rough…all gravel and at times, narrow.

At night, the sound of the river is all you hear. Great natural white noise. Rumor has it, there are trout in the river. Can’t say for sure, as we didn’t catch any in the area. There was an eagle flying along the river in the morning and a few deer visiting in the evening.

Beware: the flies were pretty brutal and annoying. On the plus side, no bears. And no cell service of any kind.