Wandering and Pondering: Stevenson WA - Home Valley Park Campground

South end of the Gorge from the Washington side at a wide spot in the road

Well, I guess summertime camping in the Gorge is popular because we had a heck of a time finding a campsite. We've booked five days in Memaloose State Park starting on Sunday, but today is Friday, and we haven't found a site to book anywhere!

The options we scouted out yesterday: some DNR land off a very rutted unpaved road (I [Wendy] nixed this early on), the Skamania County Fairgrounds (there's a blues and brews festival there on Friday and Saturday...maybe go to the festival, but camp there...no), some disbursed camping near the John Day Dam, but it's farther east than we planned to go), and the Home Valley Park (that I called creepy).

Home Valley Park campground entrance

We head downhill from Timberlake to the base of the mountain and look for a spot in Home Valley Park. The campground hidden from view at the back of the park. Yesterday, it was totally empty (with the exception of the camp host in his psychedelic van and teepee). Today as we drive through to pick our site, lo and behold, there are families camping here!

We picked a spacious campsite near the entrance with a view of the Columbia River! We drag our chairs across the road to have lunch and watch the river flow by. Then we see soaring birds! Osprey! There are osprey nesting around here. One disappears from sight, then shortly reappears carrying a fish almost as large at it is. Although I tried, they were too fast, and I was never able to get a picture.

As the day wears on, we find this campground seems to be a well-kept secret for the locals as kids little league teams come out to play, families show up for picnics, and the locals fill all the campsites.

After a hard day's "work" setting up camp, we rewarded ourselves at Andrew's Pizza, half combination and half sausage, pepperoni, jalapenos, and pineapple.

The one negative turns out to be the train noise. Trains are required to blow their whistles at public intersections, and, apparently, the entrance to Home Valley Park is a public intersection. Trains run along the Columbia Gorge day and night, and boy, was it LOUD!