Rufus Landing Recreation Area

We stayed here in January, 2020. Our original plan was to stay at Giles French Park (see our review), but moved here as it is just down the river road so there was no need to get back on I-84.

The area is large enough to put some space between you and the highway. Trains travel on both sides of the Columbia, but no horns were heard, so noise isn't much of an issue. The surface is hard gravel, and is somewhat uneven, so you may need to move around to find a level spot. It can get windy (explains the numerous wind generators); park with your rig facing southwest to minimize the impact.

Overall, this is a very good spot for an overnight or just to enjoy the river in this semi-desert setting.

Verizon - 13.5 Mbps down, 5.5 Mbps up (cell phone)
AT&T - 17 Mbps down, 1.8 Mbps up (MoFi router with roof mounted antenna)

This is an easy to access, near to attractions, dispersed site with a view! No more than a big parking lot next to the river really, but for free.... it can not be beat! Primitive camping with no amenities other than a vault toilet= no frills, but no fees(as of Feb 2018)! It could be windy and it could get very busy so keep those negatives in mind, however check out the positives! A nice waterfront view with lots of solar potential!

Well packed gravel area. Super large and easy for any rig. We were here in October and did not encounter any winds. Easy access!

Go to Stonehenge across the river in Maryhill on a clear day, early in the morning. The views were amazing! Our day was cloudy and it was still awesome.

The frontage road between Celilo and Rufus is very nice. Gets you away from the freeway bustle plus the bonus of a little different vantage point and views. Good 2 lane road.

There were a lot of trains that go by both on the Oregon and Washington side, but it was not necessarily unpleasant. Road noise also, but not bad.

I always like to start with the negatives cause that’s what I wanna know of first. If you have SMALL travel trailers or rigs 17-23 foot I would recommend the lower smaller spot behind the small hill that was man made to cover the wind. This time of year is beautiful but you are battling 20 mph winds on a constant with gusts up to 35-40 mph. Beautiful place was fun to walk around. Sinclair has .5 miles away with a couple of diners nearby as well! Safeway and Fred Meyer (frys food store/Ralph’s if you’re from AZ or SoCA) we are traveling Washington and Oregon look out for our posts we want to give more honest feedback for people!

Pros: 3 very clean vault bathroom with hand sanitizer
River stone everywhere easy to level, walk on and drive on.
Easy access
Beautiful views
People who maintain this place come once a day on patrol and another to clean bathroom or restock

We loved staying here! Easy access, lots of open and level areas to set up with nice views. It was so fun to watch the kite surfers during the day and watch a gorgeous sunset in the evening. There were trains running nearby but they didn’t bother us at all. The only other thing we didn’t love was that it got a little crowded on the weekend but it was all families enjoying themselves, no real issues.

We didn’t use the bathrooms often but the one time we did go in they were stocked with tp and had clean floors.

A very nice spot, right on the river, I saw lots of people fishing; it was pretty windy, but I understand that is normal. There are numerous places to park; and there is a geocache in the area as well as back up at the turn off to the road. The gas is horrendous all over, but the Sinclair gas station at the exit does have propane, air and water.

The “first” area was paved, but a little small; the rest on the other side of the rock pile was gravelly / rocky, but I was able to pull in with a 38’ class a, with a toad. There is also a pit ? toilet on the rocky/gravelly side.

This was a great overnight stop right on the river after a long drive day. Easy access and plenty of space to park. There were a couple vault toilets, but we didn’t use them. We’d definitely stop again if we were passing through. You can hear a train and passing cars as it’s pretty close to both, but it didn’t bother us. Both ATT and Verizon worked well.