Rufus Landing Recreation Area

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.

It’s definitely a popular spot, lots of other rvs around. But it’s still very beautiful. We had an uninterrupted view of the beautiful river. We watched the wind surfers glide across the water while enjoyed the breeze. It does get a bit windy, but we loved that. It kept it from getting too warm. We live in a van and only have fans to cool it down, so extra beeeze is always welcome. there are toilets on site but that’s about it. Definitely would stay here again.

Ok, mostly just a gravel and river rock parking area. We were able to tuck in about 40 feet from the water with an unobstructed view.

No hookups, no water, no trash and only pit toilets.

Right off of highway 84. Easy on and easy off.

We watched the windsurfing and fishermen. At night, they light up the dam in red, white and blue.

If you need to dump, there is a great free dump in The Dalles - on Campendium.

We stopped here on Thursday night and there is so much room to find a spot away from others. There were about 30 RV's of every size when we arrived.
Clean pit toilets, beautiful view but windy!
There are trains that run all night and the wind was very strong and didn't die down until 3:30 am.
Easy to locate with the coordinates above.
Even though I did not sleep well, I loved the price. Free!

Probably the best boondocking in the USA, or at least in Oregon. The views of the Columbia River Gorge is spectacular. The wind surfers, the river boats, the Ospreys snatching fish out the water! And it's all free, right on the water!

We got here in April just as the salmon started returning. We watched Indian tribes casting fishing lines and reeling in humongous Chinook.

You can run your generators here, no problem, but we got plenty of electricity through full sun on our solar. The only amenities is a restroom on site, and dumpsters at nearby Giles French Park.

No dump station here. However, there is a dump station at Le Page Park, about 5 miles east along the I-84, with drinkable water, for $5.00. Despite what others say about the Sinclair Gas Station in Rufus having a dump station with water, that water IS NOT drinkable. I verified this with the station manager. I certainly hope the other reviewers here did not put that water in their tanks!

Noise from the I-84 is audible, but low enough that your ears will tune it out. The train does go by every hour, but even that gets tuned out.

It does get very windy here.

There are signs against open fires, but you can have fires in a metal container such as a washing machine tub.

The other campers here seem very respectful. I felt safe unhitching my trailer and leaving it unattended to go into town.

Verizon 4G came in at 3/5 bars.

Location is great, you can park right along The Columbia River! There's a Sinclair Gas Station with mini mart just off the hwy right before you enter the park. They also have a dump and water fill station but we didn't not use it, so not sure how much it is. Further down about 4miles away off Hwy 84 is another Market called Dinty's, they have a decent selection of wine, beer and fishing tackle gear and prices are fair. Also have a great ice cream shop! At that same area you'll access the bridge to cross The Columbia River to head to Washington. Along that side there are many beautiful wineries to visit. Our favorite wine was Maryhill Winery.
Site Location: you do have to search for some level spots but even with our big footprint of a rig we did not have any issues with access or leveling. When you arrive about a mile in there's a turn out to the right that you can park, we opted to continue on after the restroom and onto the where the road ends and becomes gravel because it was a big crowded on the first pads. We found a perfect spot with just two other neighbors by the river. We had a view of Mt. Hood in front of us and the Dam to the rear. At night the dam is lit up in the America beautiful Red, White & Blue.
We didn't buy a license to fish but we did make friends with local fisherman who hung out by our rig and we chattted about the hopeful catch of a Salmon.. On our last day the river was calm as could be and fisherman were all over the river.
We loved this boondocking site and would highly recommend it! The ONLY....drawback was the WIND! We experienced about 20-30 mile gusts during our 3 day stay. We heard it can get up to a 40 mile wind speed. We realized that when we noticed the wind turbine mills all dotted along the hills across the river on the Washington side. Yup, it's windy! On the bright side it was fun seeing all the windsurfers surf the river.
Aside from the wind the trains can be a bit noisy. If you're a light sleeper it may be bothersome as there are railroad tracks to the North and to the South of the site.
Overall it was a great boondocking site, we felt safe and the views were perfect.