Toll Bridge Park Campground

Our next-stay plans changed while we were en route, so we pulled over and used Campendium's "near me" map feature and found this gem of a campground just 20 minutes from where we were. We only planned to stay two nights, but loved it so much we stayed five. This is a lovely county park in the shadow of Mt Hood with spacious sites and partial hookups. Riverside RV sites are $35 and all other RV sites are $30. Tents have their own loop and I believe those are $18-20. Ours isn't a riverside site, but we can hear the water at night and there's a small trail out our door that leads to the river—about a 4 minute walk. We got here on Labor Day and have had most of the park to ourselves. Hard to beat!

We decided to check out this campsite to see if they had any availability after striking out on a few other campgrounds that were full on a Saturday evening. This campsite is completely first come first serve, however, there were plenty of open sites available when we arrived on a weekend evening. You can check on the county park’s website to see what percentage of the campgrounds sites are taken, which I realized after the fact. We ended up staying here an extra 2 nights after enjoying our overnight stay so much. During the three nights we were there, we enjoyed the nice quiet atmosphere and close proximity to some great hikes, along with a riverside trail within the campground itself. Make sure to bring quarters if you plan to use the showers. The campground hosts were super friendly and awesome and recommended a great hike for us and our pup! We will definitely be staying here again when we visit Oregon in the future!

We have been coming to Toll Bridge Park for about 20 years. While the park itself is fine, the riverfront sites are what keep bringing us back. The sound of the rushing water is great — and it drowns out what little campground noise there might otherwise be.

All sites in the park are first come, first served, making it tricky to land one of the handful of riverfront sites. The park’s website does show the overall percentage of sites occupied, and it appears to be fairly accurate and updated at least daily.

Checkout time is noon, so we arrived at about 11:30 on a Sunday morning, hoping to catch some weekenders pulling out of a riverfront site, and did just that.

The park is forested, and sites are of widely varying lengths. RV sites have partial hookups (water, 30A electrical, no sewer). There is a free dump station in Hood River at the water treatment plant, but none in the park.

Our site (63) was a bit below the road, so it was a bit tricky to back our 30’ fifth wheel into without the underside of the front of the trailer hitting the truck. We managed, and it appears that most other sites are more level.

There’s one bathroom building in the campground area. It’s small and basic, but with hot (okay, warm) coin-operated showers — bring quarters! There’s another in the park’s nice playground/ picnic area (not close to much of the campground). The bathrooms are clean and functional (soap, paper towels, TP,, cold running water) but not what we’d call nice.

For us, the riverside sites are the reason to be here, but the park’s proximity to Parkdale, Hood River, and Mt. Hood are great as well. All in all, it’s a quiet, forested, simple little park in a nice location.

We didn't have any issues getting our 42' 5th wheel down the west and east forks. We ultimately decided to stay on the west fork at site 67 which is right on the river. We had no issues backing into the site, but we definitely couldn't use the fire pit as the back of our camper was over it.

We had a water and electric site and since it's on the river, it was $35/night instead of $30. It was a pretty secluded site with a fire pit and picnic table. Someone made a little pool out of rocks in the river which was awesome for sitting in. The showers were clean, but cost about a quarter a minute and cost $0.75 to start. The bathrooms were flush style and very clean. The park offers some hiking along the river, but the trail is poorly marked. There is a large picnic area at the entrance of the park with a large field and several picnic tables.

This is a first come first serve campground and you pay via a kiosk at the entrance. You can purchase up to seven nights at once. You can renew your site starting at 9:00am the day of departure. Check out is at noon.

There is NOT a dump station around and the closest one we could find was in Hood River at the water treatment plant, but it was free. We had great Verizon and ATT service that was capable of two people taking video calls. The park hosts were kind and informative.

I initially stayed at site 36 which was fairly private with bushes along the driver's side and a large grass area on the passenger side of this long and fairly level back in site. 36 is very exposed with no shade. I moved to 62 a couple days later and it was absolutely wonderful. 62 has two private river access trails. It is very shaded with great trees to hang hammocks. This back-in site is very level and private with no one on your passenger side.
Not all sites are very level. Some are way out.

The restrooms and showers were all clean and we'll maintained.

I was able to stream HD movies with AT&T at both sites.

This is a FCFS campground - no reservations. Sites renew at 9am the morning of departure.

There is a grocery store and BBQ restaurant 5 mins away.

SUMMARY: Toll Bridge Park Campground sits along the fruit loop in Hood River. The campground offers a loud, rushing stream and sits under towering Mt. Hood. The RV loop offers FHUs for $30/night. Partial hook ups along the river can also accommodate most rigs, however sites are rather unlevel. The park is a ~20 minute drive to downtown Hood River, ~40 minute drive to Mt. Hood, and offers lots of hiking, biking, and beautiful driving nearby.

THE GOOD: This is the nicest county park we have stayed in on the road. The hosts, while short staffed, kept the grounds in good order. It was over 100 degrees during our time in Hood River, therefore electric was a necessity for us and our dog. While there are great Harvest Hosts and free camping in the area, we opted to pay the $30/night for A/C. The rushing stream offered a wonderful place to relax and cool off on the hot days.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT: We visited over labor day weekend, therefore the park was VERY full. However, we stayed through Tuesday until the RV loop was shut down for sewer maintenance. By the last day, it was just us and 4000 rivets enjoying the quiet campground. We were also there when the Columbia River Gorge fires broke out, causing for extreme smoke and raining ash. While this is rare, the area is known for fires and can be smokey in the summer. We recommend reviewing an Oregon fire map and smoke report. before heading to the area

WHAT TO DO: There are no shortage of activities while in Hood River. We explored the fruit loop in the early season to pick apples. Hiked to Tamanawas Falls (short, easy hike, but a rock scramble at the end). Mountain biked in Family Man MTB Park (trails for all skill levels). Explored many of the breweries downtown. Took in amazing views of Mt. Hood. And on the smokiest day, played with goats at Draper Girls Country Farm.

CONNECTIVITY: 3 bars of LTE Verizon and 2 bars of LTE AT&T. No issues connecting into our VPNs to work when using our booster.

SITE RECOMMENDATIONS: RV Loop: Sites 6 & 8. West Loop: Any site along the river. The spots at the end of the west loop have paths to more private parts of the river.

I fell in love with this place on the drive down from Hood River, where you head straight towards Mt. Hood! (Turn around for the view of Mt. Adams!)
The campground itself is wooded, a beautiful river runs alongside it (it is kind of loud this time of year the people camped close to it said, but we were a few sites away and didn't hear it), large sites, clean, many are private, quiet, decent (not fabulous) bathrooms...but the best thing, for us, about it was the location! It's in a perfect spot to expore the gorge and the city of Hood River and the mountains! Just beautiful everywhere you turn!
We drove to Lost Lake one evening, hiked to Dry Creek Falls one morning, spent an afternoon watching wind surfers on the river and enjoyed a couple of local breweries! We are going back!

Great park for an overnight stay or a week! Quiet, set along the East Fork of the Hood River. Very LITTLE river access unless you are in one of the few 'river-sties'. Rigs 40'+ will have a difficult time, but it is do-able. Most sites are back in (some pull thru). LOTS of trees, so very hard to use satellite (if you have one). Cell service is just okay. NO WIFI.

Toll Bridge campground is a Hood River county park located in the southern part of the county. The campground has three loops. The RV loop has electrical and water hookups. All of the loops have large trees.

The west loop has several sites along the Hood River. A few of the west loop sites have names rather than numbers. Our favorite sites in the west loop are Hood, Rogue, Columbia, Crooked, 55,57 and 62. The named sites are directly on the river with Hood and Rogue having the best view of the river.

The east loop site quality is not as good as the west loop or the RV loop. This loop is best for smaller rigs.

The RV loop has paved and mostly level sites with water and electrical hookups. There is a reasonable amount of space between sites. Our favorite sites in the RV loop are 4, 8, 9, 14, 17 and 18.

The biggest negative about this campground is the proximity to the highway. There is frequent road noise in the RV loop. The sites along the river would not hear the road noise.

Verizon cell service is spotty in this area. The best data service we had was 1X, even with a booster and external antenna. Sometimes there was no data service at all. Phone service and text messaging always worked.