Gorge Base Camp – White Salmon, WA

Gorge Base Camp

Perhaps getting snowed in at La Pine was a blessing in disguise as the stay at Gorge Base Camp was not stellar.  Really not sure how this campground gets 4 stars on Google reviews and also not sure how we looked passed some of them that mentioned the noisy train that comes by frequently.  Fortunately, our stay here was brief – just two nights.  The reviews weren’t kidding about the train either.  We stayed in site 12 which is the closest to the Columbia River but it’s also closest to the train tracks and when the trains came by, they would literally shake the camper.  We have experienced our fair share of earthquakes being from California, but this was ridiculous.   Between the noise and the shaking it was very difficult to get a good nights sleep. The other scary and nerve racking thing about staying at this RV park is the very narrow bridge that you need to cross to get there.  Not so bad when you are just driving a car or truck, but when you have a camper in tow, it turns into a white knuckle experience.

There are however a couple positives to Gorge Base Camp – the grounds are incredibly clean and well kept and the bathrooms are also super clean (but they do charge for showers). The nightly rate at La Pine State Park was half the cost so it seems a bit petty that they charge for showers here. Needless to say, it is not likely we would stay here again unless we were in a pinch and had nowhere else to go. So if you are searching for a place to camp near Hood River we would recommend a hard pass on Gorge Base Camp.

Now on the the fun stuff to do around the area:

Just across the bridge and one exit west on Hwy 84 is the town of Hood River.  Small charming town with a few breweries, coffee shops and lots of retail shopping.  We had our hearts set on getting the mushroom pizza at Double Mountain Brewery but their ovens were not working that night. Since we were already in town and didn’t feel like cooking we stopped in at Full Sail Brewery. The pizza was highly recommended so we had to give Double Mountain Brewery another try – this time were in luck, the ovens were working and the pizza and beer did not disappoint!

On a recommendation from a friend, we scheduled an afternoon wine tasting at Cor Cellars in Washington just on the other side of the Colombia River and about a 25 minute drive from Hood River.  We were greeted by their friendly staff and they started us off with their sparkling chardonnay at the welcome table.  They had set us up for a private tasting in one of their yurt tents up on the hillside above the main tasting room.  It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and the view was spectacular from there.

Our host brought 5 additional wines for us to taste along with the charcuterie board we ordered which consisted of cheese, olives, crackers and salami.  We have done our fair share of wine tastings in the Napa region and the experience at Cor Cellars was certainly unique and memorable. If you are in the Hood River or White Salmon area we highly recommend making an appointment at Cor for a fun wine tasting experience.

Lastly, it wouldn’t be a complete trip to the Gorge without paying a visit to the spectacular waterfalls.  The hikes are short and the views are breathtaking.  We made our proverbial trip to Multnomah Falls which has to be one of the most majestic waterfalls in the PNW – it literally looks like it is straight from a scene from Game of Thrones.  It is certainly the most visited and photographed fall in the region as people from all over the world visit it every year.  You can literally see it from Hwy 84 but it is so worth the 5 min walk from the parking lot to see it up close and personal and take a selfie for the gram of course.