Big Pines
1Heads up1 fire 35 mi away
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $15From, per site
- Sites
- 43All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
The gentle Yakima River winds for 27 miles through massive basalt cliffs and rolling desert hills between Ellensburg and Yakima, Washington. The Canyon offers excellent wildlife watching, plant viewing, fishing in a Blue Ribbon trout stream, family river rafting and camping. The Bureau of Land Management administers over 9700 acres in the Yakima River Canyon area, including five developed river access sites. An overnight and day use fee is charged and reservations are accepted through www.recreation.gov, campsites will only be held until checkout time (11am) the next day. If reservation holder doesn't show up by then, the site is released. Hookups and potable water are not provided. The recreation sites are open year round, with the largest crowds filling the sites on hot summer weekends. Keep reading
Recreation
The Yakima River Canyon is enjoyed all year, by people of all ages. Summers are crowded, with thousands of people floating the Yakima River. Visitors also enjoy camping, picnicking and motorized watercraft use in the half-mile long pool above Roza dam. During the quieter months of spring, fall and winter, popular activities include wildlife viewing, hiking, hunting and fishing.
Facilities
The Big Pines recreation site is BLM's largest recreation site in the Yakima River Canyon, and offers both overnight and day use amenities including picnic tables, fire rings, nearby dumpsters, vault toilets and a non-motorized river put in/takeout site. There are also several group campsites and several walk-in only campsites. The northern edge of the site is adjacent to undeveloped hiking trails on land managed by WA Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Natural Features
The gentle Yakima River winds for 27 miles through massive basalt cliffs and rolling desert hills in the Yakima River Canyon of central Washington. Formed from the slow carving of the Yakima River through the enormous folds (anticlines) in the otherwise nearly "flat" basalt layers of the Columbia Basin, the Yakima River Canyon shelters a range of habitats, making home to a diverse mixture of Eastern Washington flora and fauna. Bighorn sheep, elk and mule deer can often be spotted on the river’s banks, and the canyon’s sheer cliffs and crevices are home to the state’s densest concentration of nesting hawks, eagles and falcons. Over 200 species of birds use the Yakima Canyon for breeding and nesting, as a migration route or a winter residence. A thriving "Blue Ribbon" trout stream, the Yakima is managed for quality catch and release trout fishing, and anglers share the water with summer floaters and rafters. Access to the various recreation sites and river access points is easy, as State Route 821 parallels the river. This was the first highway in Washington to be designated a State Scenic Byway in 1968, and today's visitors enjoy the same scenic beauty as experienced by Native American tribes and settlers to the area.
Nearby Attractions
The State Scenic Byway of Highway 821 follows the Yakima River through the canyon running between the cities of Ellensburg and Yakima, WA. Central Washington University, and Cowiche Canyon trails are nearby. Umtanum recreation site offers a footbridge to cross the Yakima River and access to Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife Lands on the west side of the river.
What the agency tells you
Campsites will only be held until checkout time (11am) the next day. If reservation holder doesn't show up by then, the site is released.
There are no hookup services and no potable water. Cellphone coverage is limited.
Be aware of rattlesnakes, bees and poison ivy.
Everything else this campground posts · 12
Extra vehicle overnight fee: Campsite fees include parking for two vehicles at each campsite. There is a $10 per vehicle, per night fee to park an extra vehicle. Extra vehicles must be registered using the yellow day use envelopes available at the fee station at each recreation site, and must be parked at the designated campsite (if room on the parking pad), or in designated extra vehicle parking spaces in the parking lot.
The reservation system is only available from May 1 - Sept 15 of each year. After reservation season has ended, all camping and day use will need to use the self-serve fee payment station at each site.
All visitors are required to pay and display on their vehicle(s) valid permits for overnight ($15.00 per night) or day use ($5.00 per day).Washington State Discover Passes are NOT valid on BLM-managed lands.
River Safety: Motorized boats are only allowed between the Roza Ramp and the Roza Dam. (1/2 mile)
Maximum length of stay is 7 days.
Fires are only allowed in BLM-approved metal fire rings.
Fishing is catch and release only. See Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife regulations for more information.
Off-road vehicles are not allowed in the campgrounds.
Yakima River Canyon does contain private land, be aware of where you are.
Campsites are limited to 10 people and two vehicles per site.
Dogs must be on a leash.
Only one RV is allowed per site.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 43 · 3 tent-only, 3 walk-in
- Hookups
- None
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 41 of 43 campsite records
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “Hookups and potable water are not provided.”
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Birding
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Non-Motorized Boating
- Paddling
- Picnicking
- Rafting
- River Trips
- Scenic drives
- Stargazing
- Swimming
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 16:45 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
“There is a $10 per vehicle, per night fee to park an extra vehicle.” · the Bureau of Land Management’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $15 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 16:45 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
43 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 43 mapped sitesAll 43 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 40 of the 43 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Big Pines | 01 | standard nonelectric | 69 ft | 140 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 02 | standard nonelectric | 56 ft | 143 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 03 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 165 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 04 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 153 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 05 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 156 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 06 | standard nonelectric | 54 ft | 224 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 07 | standard nonelectric | 54 ft | 234 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 08 | standard nonelectric | 57 ft | 244 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 09 | standard nonelectric | 51 ft | 198 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 10 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 249 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 11 | standard nonelectric | 51 ft | 212 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 12 | standard nonelectric | 61 ft | 268 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 13 | standard nonelectric | 54 ft | 186 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 14 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 147 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 15 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 135 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 16 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 128 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 17 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 173 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 18 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 122 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 19 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 165 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 20 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 125 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 21 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 168 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 22 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 124 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 23 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 116 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 24 | tent only nonelectric | 29 ft | 292 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 25 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 234 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 26 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 244 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 27 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 286 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 28 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 261 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 29 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 305 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 30 | standard nonelectric | 76 ft | 379 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 31 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 339 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 32 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 400 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 33 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 368 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 34 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 411 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 35 | standard nonelectric | 61 ft | 365 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 36 | standard nonelectric | 67 ft | 415 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 37 | standard nonelectric | 61 ft | 338 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | 38 | standard nonelectric | 133 ft | 350 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | Campsite D | tent only nonelectric | 29 ft | 320 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | Campsite E | tent only nonelectric | 113 ft | 430 ft | $15 |
| Big Pines | Walk In A | walk to | 80 ft | 70 ft | |
| Big Pines | Walk In B | walk to | 124 ft | 94 ft | |
| Big Pines | Walk In C | walk to | 124 ft | 214 ft |
25 of 43 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Windy Point CampgroundSnoqualmie National Forest · 22 miRiders CampWenatchee National Forest · 28 mi
Cottonwood Campground - Naches River (WA)Snoqualmie National Forest · 28 mi
Taneum CabinWenatchee National Forest · 28 miFrom Seattle, take I-90 east to Ellensburg Exit 109 (Highway 821 Canyon Road). At the traffic circle, take the second exit onto South Canyon Road. Stay on the road, which will take you south through the Yakima River Canyon. Big Pines campground is located at milepost 9 on the Canyon Road.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Selah, WA
Typical weather
Typical October night 34°F, day 64°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 21°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Big Pines is in Washington’s 8th congressional district. Its representative, Kim Schrier (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →