Maryhill State Park — Attraction in Goldendale

This is a great campground. Sites are very nice with I believe, 15/30/50 amp service with water AND sewer. There are a bunch of the pullthrough sites that are just Teeny distance from the Columbia River access, and the others are meer steps further. It's really nice. The restrooms are also maintained well, and the yards are watered daily, so the grass is lush and green even in the heat of the summer. I only take off one star because they have posted they don't want your dogs down at the beach ... It's NOT really a "beach" it's a rockyside of the Columbia River. Nowhere neer is there sand for a "beach" I don't like that in such Condition that they have issues with my dog down by the water. We did it anyway!! It was triple digits and my dog deserves to cool off just as much as other people; no park rangers came to say anything about the few of us that had our dogs there; just keep your pets under control and don't let them make a mess that you don't clean up and you should be fine. Another frown_ the drive thru the park is EXTREMLY narrow_as in about 7' and 8' at thr MAX my dually truck is 8' wide at the hips and as I'm driving down the road very extra cautiously I'm looking in the side rear view mirrors and seeing my rear dually tires rolling over the exact edge of the roadways on both sides. god forbid if ANYONE ends up leaving their vehicle sticking into the main roadway any. We revisited for the weekend of 8/11/23 this time we had the ADA site. It's a big, deep site with a paved area. You are able to use the firepits for a fire, though the rest of the stste is in a burn ban. We arrived and emediately were greeted by hornet bees that had taken over the picnic table, and you could see them all coming in and out of the table framing. I called over a park ranger who got help, and the entire weekend they spent trying g to sprey and get rid of the wasps. They claimed they were done sometime Saturday by spraying it with water then RE_taping the tube parts BUT as I was cleaning up on Sunday morning I could STILL see bees coming in and out of the little holes and ends of the table. We never did use the table or much of the area anyways. It was blazen hot, so a campfire or hanging out in direct sun wasn't a favorite anyway. I told the helpers they should just take the whole table down and dunk it in the Columbia River; promise bees will be gone then!. But no; so the bees win the...

Maryhill State Park is a beautiful park at the beginning of the Columbia River Gorge. We enjoyed it very much and plan on many more visits.

The campsites are very good and level with good markings and are not stacked on top of each other like in private parks. There are lots of places to walk and enjoy the gorgeous views.

The check-in staff were friendly, but it would have been nice to have been given a map of the campground and park for exploring.

There were many warning signs about an unleashed dog emphasis with fines if you were found to have an unleashed dog. We've never seen anything like that in a Washington State Park before and it was a bit off-putting. We were seemingly scrutinized by a park ranger who stopped his truck about 50 yards ahead on a cross street and saw our dog circling my wife and I about 6 feet from us while my wife took a photo.

At any rate there are large grassy areas for kids (and should be for dogs who behave, too) to play and relax.

Be advised there is an active rail line right next to the park and trains rumble through day and night. There were no train horns, and it didn't bother us, but some light sleepers might not like the rumble of the trains.

There are some fabulous wineries nearby and the Stonehenge World War I memorial is nearby with gorgeous views of the Columbia River Gorge.

In all we will definitely be returning to this beautiful park...

We camped here for two nights (a Thursday and a Friday) in mid-July. We had our 8-month-old with us. We were attracted to this site because of the Maryhill Museum, monument, and the Goldendale Observatory.

Pros: It's very clean and well kept-up. The little waterfront areas are nice and decent for swimming. The tent sites are gravel, so nice and flat. The landscape is pretty, with a nice mix of trees and other plants.

Cons: It's extremely NOISY -- not only because there's very little privacy (few trees between the campsites) but because there is both train and truck traffic on both sides of the river. On the north side is Highway 97, which is on a steep hill, so trucks are using their compression brakes. It's especially noisy at night when there's a lot of train traffic. Very little privacy between campsites Some mosquitoes and other bugs. Definitely bring bug spray! If you're using this as a base for going to the Goldendale Observatory, note that the campground closes at 10pm. The programs at the observatory go until 11pm, so it's a little confusing -- you would think that since they are both state parks they would coordinate this better.

Overall, a fine, clean campground, but not recommended for a...