Viento State Park Oregon
Viento State Park is located five miles east of Hood River, Oregon in the Columbia Gorge. The campground offers river access, tent and RV sites. Unfortunately the campground is wedged between the freeway and the railroad tracks. With a crossing at the park, the trains blow their whistles twenty-four hours a day. Picking a site away from the tracks puts you closer to the freeway noise. This is unfortunate because the campground is very nice and people were very friendly. Living very close to the tracks on the other side of the river has accustomed us to the noise and we slept through all of it. From the campground you can follow the paved trail (the old hiway) to the east a mile or so to find Starvation Creek Falls and access from there to many more of the falls and sites of the gorge.
We took advantage of our dinghy and drove up to Lost Lake on Mt. Hood to check out the campground their. The campground is a first come, first serve resort. With steep windy roads to get there and very tight campsites and narrow roads, I wouldn't recomend anything bigger than a camper or small trailer. The campground has no electric or water sites, but it does feature one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. No motors are allowed on the lake and there are rentals available to venture out onto the lake. On the way back to camp we stopped into Hood River to window shop and have lunch. Overall, it was a great camp trip. It ended with us meeting some RV'rs from Arizona, who we hope to run into again sometime in the future.
