Washington State Parks Headquarters

With no state income taxes, I guess you get what you pay for...or don't pay for, Washington. Oregon State Parks are so much nicer and run extremely well when compared to Washington. Oregon State Parks are supported by state taxes and lotto money.nnDespite the nightly rate costing twice what it would cost you in Oregon, I made a reservation in July for the weekend of Sept 18-20, 2020 for two sites at Maryhill State Park along the Columbia River. It was for my wife's birthday. Washington State Park's website stated, due to COVID, they were waiving their complicated and heavy handed reservation cancelation fees until 16 Sept. 2020. I thought, that's nice of them I guess. Camping in nice parks and campgrounds in this day an age can only be done be done via the internet and by those who can and do make plans months in advance. Spur of the moment people or for those of us who are first responders and can't plan out vacations or even short trips months in advance, but can only grab time off when it presents itself, are out of luck in this modern ear of camping.nnThen came the devastating fires up and down the Cascades and California. Then came the lingering, toxic, thick smoke blanketing the entire region. Not wanting to subject my wife, mother and father-in-law, and my 2 year old daughter to the intense smoke, I was forced to cancel my reservation. But of course Washington State Parks did not honor their website statement and they still charged us fees and penalties for the two sites. I would have thought given the region wide disaster they would have been a little bit more understanding as to why people wouldn't want to go camping in smoke that had visibilities down to below an eighth of a mile, but to them it's all about the money and not the people.nnLastly, I live across the Columbia from Washington and they charged me an extra $5 surcharge for making the reservation in their state and not being a resident. However, if someone wants to make a non-resident reservation in Oregon, there is no such fee.

I love Conconully and made our reservation in December. Before you go into the park now, there is a sign that says a full park will be a closed park. No one was wearing a mask when in close contact anywhere in Conconully. And the park was overly full. No ranger was seen, ever! A large group moved in with about 10 dogs between them and would not put any on a leash or tie out. Harassing my dogs to the point that we decided to leave a day early. Park hosts were very old and could hardly walk! I have been coming there since I was a kid and have never seen such lax rules!

Best scenery I have seen since Lake Tahoe and the Colorado Rockies. Too expensive for condition/age of facilities. Not patrolled as well as some other states I have camped in.

Ok so the hook ups are old,. BUT they are also dangerous electrical almost caught our RV on fire. BurntABurnt thelthe prong right out of our plug! 3 other RVers had the exact same issue, & when brought to the rangers attention we were lied to. We were the head ranger would come the next day to address things, A ranger literally drove in & right back out. Camphost,?y they were out of sight all day. Shame on you Washington State. What if it had caught fire the RV next to us that had a downs child in it? Shame on you Washington & Rangers that knew of the problem.

$8 for out of state on-line registration on top of $50+ a night. Wow!