This campground, a few miles west of Cascade Locks and run by the US Forest Service, opened in 1916. It was originally intended for car camping so the sites are small and there are no services except for water, trash dumpster and a vault toilet. (Warning: Never take anything into a vault toilet that can fall in.) We had no problem fitting our Plateau XLTS into the small spot but leveling was a challenge.

Campsites are well separated and the area is heavily forested. Each site is paved and has a nice picnic table. Our site overlooked the Columbia River Gorge although that came with some traffic noise.

We planned to stay one night and arrived without a reservation so we selected from the available sites. While there are only 14 sites in total, we did not have a problem finding an open campsite in late June. We did, however, have difficulty paying for the site, or rather, not over-paying for the site.

The US Forest Service announced in 2023 that it was moving to Scan and Pay where one scans a QR coded to pay rather than fill out a registration envelope, add the fee and shove the envelope into the locked fee box, which is the brown rectangle in the center of the photo above. We’ve been spoiled by Scan and Pay at other federal campgrounds (so easy!) and weren’t expecting to have to pay with cash.

The cost of a site is $14. Because we are seniors, we have the Senior America the Beautiful Pass. This pass provides us a 50% discount on camping fees at National Park, BLM and Forest Service campgrounds. This pass has saved us many times more than the $80 it originally cost to purchase it. (Or in Sue’s case, her thoughtful work colleagues purchased the Lifetime Pass as a retirement gift. Great idea and greatly appreciated!)

The site should have cost us $7. Unfortunately, Scan and Pay had not yet reached Eagle Creek so we were forced to pay cash. All we had were $20 bills and two ones. Faced with an ethical dilemma-under or over pay- we decided the right thing was to pay $20 for the $7 site. Ouch!

In addition to the great views and forested campsite, there are numerous hiking trails. We highly recommend Eagle Creek Campground. Remember to reserve a site ahead of time via Recreation.gov, or bring small bills. Next time, we will stay a few extra nights and explore the area.