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  • Hood Park COE, WA

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    Hood Park is located just outside Pasco WA on the south bank of the Snake River near its entrance into the Columbia. This area is actually considered part of Lake Wallula, formed by the McNary Dam on the OR/WA border. .

    509-547-2048

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    We arrived on the Tuesday before Memorial Day, thinking it would be best to find a spot to stay through the weekend. Fortunately the COE allots 40% of sites for first-come/first-served folks like us. We had a number of sites to choose from, deciding on site 3.

    Date of visit: May 2008

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    For the second half of stay at Hood Park, we decided to move to site 6, a little closer to the river. At first I pulled frontwards into the back-in site so the door would be facing the river, but I was quickly asked to back-in, "for safety reasons."

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    From our new home, we had a great view of activity on the river, such as this small container barge and tug heading downstream.

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    Right across the river from us was a fairly busy oil transfer facility, with lots of barge traffic, double-bottom tanker trucks, and an occasional train.

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    Site 7 in the left foreground. During the week one has to contend with sprinklers; fortunately the staff places them so occupied sites stay dry.

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    Site 16 on the left, 17 and 18 on the right. As you can see, the campground has lots of well-maintained grass and shade trees.

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    Site 28 is a nice shaded site overlooking a small pond.

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    There are quite a few pull-through sites, such as 39 and 41 shown here.

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    Sites 63 and 65 are also nice river-front sites.

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    The bathhouse is located in the middle of the campground and has free hot showers. The only drawback we saw was that the showers did not have private dressing areas.

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    Being a popular spot close to town, Hood Park often fills the campground. Thus it offers an over-flow area with no hookups.

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    The day-use area and the swimming beach are located adjacent to the campground.

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    There's a boat launch facility in the park. The bridge in the background carries WA-12 across the Snake River into Pasco.

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    Now this must be the ultimate camper's grill!

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    Every evening we enjoyed colorful sunsets.

    Amenities

    Dump station available

    Verizon Broadband Access service

    Rates: $18-$20 (50% off with Golden Age Pass)

    $8 for overflow

    69 sites with E(30A) Water fill station is available

    Coord: 46.212428 N, 119.012976 W

    Activities/Nearby Attractions

    Ice Harbor Dam and Lock

    Boating and fishing

    Pacific Salmon Visitor Center (McNary Dam)

    Columbia River Exhibition of History, Science and Technology

    Franklin County Historical Museum

     

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