Date Visited: Beginning of August 2012
Location: Columbia River Gorge between Hood River and Portland
Type of Campground: State Park
Reservations: All sites are first come first serve
Description: We were planning a trip to the Columbia River Gorge to see the waterfalls and started looking into camping. We found a limited selection of campground including Ainsworth, another state park right on I84, some county parks near Hood River, and some campgrounds in Washington. We chose Ainsworth becasue it was so conveniently located near so many of the waterfalls. The campground has mostly RV sites but off to one side there is 6 walk-in sites and they were pretty awesome. The sites are spread out and set right in the forest: really beautiful. Of course you do have to carry your gear in but there is a nice big trail that goes to each campsite. Some of the sites were huge and could fit multiple tents. It is a bit of a walk to the bathroom which are nice and have showers. The rest of the campground we didn't really check out much but they were mostly for RVS. They had some other random things like swings, tether ball, amphitheater, horseshoes, big grassy area, and trail starting right from the campground. We camped here Wed through Fri and the six sites did fill up only one of those nights. This is definitely not a remote campground so you can hear I84 in the distance and there is a train that runs by there fairly often.
Pros: Beautiful forested walk in sites, near many of the gorge waterfalls, nice facilities
Cons: Rest of the campground are RV sites, near I-84 and train tracks.
Hikes Nearby: Multnomah Falls, Latourell Falls, Horsetail Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, Wahclella Falls
