Camping in the Yakima River Canyon - 07.20.07
My daughter and I planned a weekend of camping in between the two day trip to the Quilomene area with the Northwest Backroad Drivers group. As luck would have it, the camping trip did not pan out as I would have hoped for. But we still had fun.
After a late start getting out of town, we finally made Ellensburg, Washington around 8:00 PM on Friday night. Not a lot of time to find a camping site, especially on Friday night. I spotted some campgrounds on the Yakima River in the Washington Road & Recreation Atlas south of Ellensburg in the canyon, so we headed that direction.
I had always wanted to make the drive through the Yakima River canyon. This trip gave me an excuse to make the drive (at least about half of the drive). It’s a nice scenic drive and a very popular spot for fishing.
The first listed camp site we came to was the Untanum Creek site owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The site was somewhat of a disappointment (for a tent camper). The campground pretty much consisted of several sites around a gravel parking lot. It wouldn’t be that bad if you had an RV, not great for a tent. It didn’t matter though because there were no sites available anyway. So on to the next site.
The next campground we found was the Lmuma Creek Recreation Site (formally known as Squaw Creek but in order to be politically correct was changed to Lmuma which also means “Squaw”). This site was a little nicer than the first site we visited, but still most of the campsites were around the perimeter of a gravel parking lot. When we arrived, there was only one site left, and the only place to pitch a tent was in loose gravel. It was getting late and the chances of finding another site were slim so we took this spot. At least it was right next to the river. If only we had a roof-top tent.
After getting set up for the evening, it wasn’t long before we headed to the tent to go to bed. Unfortunately, some of our neighbors were there to enjoy their Friday night. They were whooping and hollering with their music cranked until at least 2:00 AM. I guess I’m getting old.
You can view a few more photos of Lmuma Creek Recreation Area at Camping in the Yakima River Canyon.
Tags: backroads, blm, camp, campground, camping, ellensburg, lmuma creek, northwest, quilomene, river, squaw creek, untanum creek, washington, yakima