Big Pines Recreation Site — Hotel in Selah

Bathrooms are nice pit toilets. Absolutely no running water, so bring your own. You can drive in to Ellensburg for shopping and a variety of fast food (McDs, subway, Carls Jr, taco bell, Burger King, teriyaki, Mexican...). Trees are sparce so if you have a canopy, that helps. Ground is hard and rocky so bring a good sleeping pad. Wind can make it tough to light your stove, so have sandwich fixin's just in case. Beautiful area, lots of stars. Train track across the river, train pases a couple times each day. We didn't see many bugs at all, probably due to the wind. Most people were there to float, taking all kinds of tubes, large party floating things, and inflatable kayaks. Have a paddle! The campground has nice smooth pavement and a marked off shoulder for kids to ride/walk around. We have camped here many summers. Sometimes it gets up to 107F, and it's not worth it then! But in the 70-85 is the perfect temps. We float here every summer in August. On weekends, however, there can be too many drunk groups floating down the river and hanging out by the shore, and walking through campsites without the common courtesy. IMO if you can't get a site #1-5 (in the trees along the river), it's not worth it. Too much hot sun and no shade otherwise. Reservations are open 6 months ahead of each week, so set your calendar for January to reserve, if you want a weekend shady spot.

Floating Umtanum to Big Pines is about 1:40, to Roza add another :40. Pay $5 to park and leave the car there. Launch spot at Umtanum is small and water is swift. You can also drive north of there to mile 19 or 20, park on the side of the road and drop in. Or drive north all the way to Bighorn campground. From mile marker 19 to Big Pines it's a 2:05 float. Bighorn to Roza is 4 hrs (a very, VERY long float...). You could also do just Bighorn to Umtanum for almost 1.5 hrs floating, but it would be hard to get out quickly. I recommend getting out either at Big Pines or Roza because there are signs warning you 1/4 mile beforehand, to move to the left side of the river and be prepared to exit. Roza, by far, is the easiest...

I went in early June to avoid the rain falling everywhere else. Pretty nice camp site, although not much privacy due to a lack of foliage/ trees. My group went mid-week, so we got a great campsite- but be warned that many of the other campsites are small and don't look like nearly as much fun.

Our campsite had a nice sandy area where we could play sports, with easy access to the river. There was no shade to be found however, so bringing our own would have been nice.

There are some hikes in the area, but I think river floating and fishing are the best sources of entertainment from here. Bringing two cars and floating the river all day would have been great (..had we thought of that).

Just be aware that this campsite is in the desert. It is hot during the day and very cold at night. The wind could be a little much at times, but was not entirely unmanageable, and we had a kite and made the most of it anyways. Also a loud train rumbles by the campsite every 12 hours or so.

Would I return? Yes- but only to avoid the rain. I personally would prefer a campsite closer to...

If you're looking for a winter vehicle campsite in the Yakima area, this is one of the few that's open (no reservations needed, and it seemed like spots were readily available in November—only three were occupied the day we arrived)! It offers little more than a place to park your van or RV overnight, river access, and a vault toilet, but all were clean (and the toilet had motion-activated lights, which was a perk). Plus, with an America the Beautiful (interagency) pass, a night's stay cost us $8. Can't be beat! Note that there's no running water and cell reception at this location is poor, though it's better a little up and down the road. There's a train that rumbles down the tracks nearby a few times a day, FYI.

The real bonus for us was the proximity to some great hiking in the Yakima River Canyon. I'm excited to return in the summer to do some floating...