Ellensburg KOA

Area has several no services campgrounds (county, state, federal) but few full service options. My visit being in February was due to the wish (need) for 120VAC power and wi-fi. However, I could have just parked the trailer and rented a motel room for the same price. Park has no off-season pricing and no back-in vs. pull-through pricing difference.

As seems to be the tend - - high percentage of monthly/year-long residents with the mess/junk that brings with it.

Television is limited . . 'cable' is just the local OTA stations. Wi-Fi was good. Staff was friendly & professional. Sites are typical or less-than-typical KOA.

Except for price, okay for an overnight stop, would not stay for a "vacation".

I read the reviews here and on Google maps, thought meh it’s fine for an overnight. I wish I hadn’t.

It’s $77. I expected a lot for $77. Resort experience. This was an average KOA where the price should have been $40 at best.

I’m not sensitive to loud road noise and I expect it right off the highway. But this- was obnoxious. Also trains.

They recently oiled the sites and road ways with tar of some sort that has a horrific smell. So I guess that will solve for the dust issue mentioned in reviews. But omg I feel like I’m getting high off the fumes and I’m terrified to have my dog walk on it.

Between the smell and sound I couldn’t sit outside - it was just too much. The place is beautiful but all of that was soiled by the site and smell. $77 and couldn’t even sit outside.

Speaking of dog. Great dog off leash areas. BUT they have cottonwood trees that release buds that are covered in sap. Paw full of sap. It’s painful to pick off the buds and then have to use peanut butter and wash the paws to get the sap off. They should remove those trees!

They are making improvements to the park. So I think the concerns on reviews are being addressed. Super friendly people.

Beware the river front sites. They alternate back-in and nose-in. Your neighbor will be all but touching you back to back. You have nice space on your coach door side but the other side is awful. As such picnic tables for the most part are either in front of or behind your rig. They also would not let you reserve a patio site if your rig is under 30’. Even though at the time of this review (April) the park was 95% empty including 100% of the patio sites. Not sure why that rule exists.

All sites are gravel (mind you with oil).
They have activities and community meals. A nice community patio area by the office. Lovely playground areas. River is off limits to any fun- very clear you are not allowed in it. Didn’t use facilities. They offer propane for sale.

Verizon 2 bars. 3.96 down 0.48 up
ATT 5.25 down 1.36 up
WiFi- 13.1 down 10.5 up (I was in a site very close to the office, site 3, nose in by the river)

We stayed here last minute and got a great spot under a tree with a little deck off our front door. This place has many different ways to camp with cabins, RV spots, tents and you can even rent a TeePee to camp (how cool is that). On top of this some of the sites have view of the Yakima River. And kids were have a blast all around with the pool access and playgrounds, horseshoes and basketball all on site. The only slight thing i would say is watch getting a spot close to the road overpass that goes through the Teepee section and the tent section. Worked out good for our overnight. If you would like to see a full site by site review of the campground you can find it on our Youtube Channel. - Unique Adventurez.

We stayed here on night while making our way to Seattle. We stayed in site 37 in a row of pull-through sites where each pair of sites share a power pole and water station, so our neighbor was parked facing the opposite direction. Our site was fairly level, with a gravel pad and shade from a large willow tree on our right: most sites receive shade from the trees planted between sites. The spacing between sites is typical for a KOA.

The office is on your right as you enter the campground, and all of the RV sites are on the left. Most of the recreational facilities - the volleyball court, the horseshoe pits, the swimming pool, and the main playground area - are clustered around the office. I assume this is also the area where they show movies on Saturday nights. The campground is bordered on the south by the Yakima River. There are about 19 RV sites that back up to the river on the east end, while the west end is populated with tent sites, a few of them being actual tepees. Catch-and-release fishing is allowed, but I didn’t see an obvious public access point to the edge of the river (swimming is not allowed, probably due to the current). The tent sites extend under the overpass next to the campground, and there is a fenced-in dog park back in that area.

The other enclosed dog park is next to the free standing bathhouse located in the middle of the pull-through sites, and there is a small playground with a swing set on the other side of that dog park.

Most of the speed tests I performed using my Verizon Jetpack with MIMO antenna showed very low speeds - 2Mbps down and 4 up - but given how well I was able to stream video, the one reading I got with 14Mbps down and 8 up seemed to be more accurate. The one speed test I did with my AT&T phone showed 15Mbps down and 1 up, but my wife’s AT&T phone had terrible signal. We tried the “high speed WiFi” (described as such by the person at the desk) and I got 1Mbps down and 4 up with that.

We would stay here again if we were in the area.

Family friendly park. There are teepees, cabins, tent sites and tree covered sites on the river. They offer free Sunday pancake breakfast, an outdoor pool, two big dog runs, lawn games and advertised a Saturday outdoor movie. I wanted to love it, but this park is twice the cost of most with pretty sad sites. We had no grass at our site. When we made our reservations we were told we were in a tree covered, shady site. We had no trees and had to share a pedestal with the neighbors. The power went out several times while we were there - often late at night. A spot across from us had no power and they rented a temporary power supply yet didn’t comp or reduce the visitor’s fees. Sounded risky for their trailer setup. There was no movie Saturday after all as they overbooked so the lawn was filled with tents. Sounds like overbooking is common and guests are often turned away. This park is struggling under the new ownership. Again, we wanted to love this park, but until some changes are made - we won’t be back.

I normally do National campgrounds but it got hot and I wanted a/c. This KOA had electric with sites right on the Yakima River. The place was clean, showers were hot, people working there were nice. Ellensburg is a great small down with many parks and lakes. My dog and I loved swimming at the off leash dog park. A trip to Yakima Canyon with Kayak was fantastic. 5 stars.

We stayed here over a July weekend to perform a shakedown cruise in our new motorhome. We stayed in site 90, which is back-in site along the far end of the park. It was a good spot with decent spacing between our neighbors, an isolated fire pit area behind the front of the site (as opposed to on the side), and some shade provided by the green space behind the park. Grab one of these sites if you can.

Pretty typical KOA set up - nice, small pool, good camp store. The park was completely packed with families and kids over a hot July weekend.

Staff was great. Helpful and not overbearing. They politely asked campers to follow rules like shutting down wood fires during a burn ban. They picked up trash site by site every morning. Best part of this park.

The park is along I-90 but it sits down in a bit of a low spot near the Yakima River and is separated from the freeway by a high berm, so the freeway noise is kept in check.

Lots of services just across the freeway, less than a mile away, including two truck stops in the form of a Pilot and Love's. The town of Ellensburg is a short drive away and has some good eateries, art shops and boutiques with proximity to Central Washington University. A college town with a rodeo background - cool combo!

Poor AT&T cell service. Typical poor KOA wifi.