Sherwood Campground - Mount Hood, Oregon

Sherwood Campground is located off of Highway 35 on Mt. Hood roughly an hour and a half from Portland and just a 20 minute drive from Hood River.  The campground is relatively small with just 14 sites – all of which are first come, first served.  When driving down Highway 35 you cannot miss this campground as it is literally adjacent to the highway with some sites looking as if they are an extension of the shoulder of the road.  If you are looking for peace an quiet, you may want to keep driving.

Campsites in Sherwood Campground come equipped with vault toilets, picnic tables, fire pits and a few sites with access to the east fork of Hood River.  There is minimal privacy in this campground as it sits under large trees with little brush to distinguish boundaries between sites.  The nearby river helps to drown out some of the highway noise however you can still loudly hear trucks and cars barreling past and at night expect your site to be lit up by the headlights of passing vehicles.

Perhaps the only real attractive aspect of Sherwood Campground is its adjacent location to Hood River and easy access to the Tamanawas Falls hiking trail.  The campground is also a short drive to many trailheads on Mt. Hood and close to town for those looking for a quick getaway.

Overall we can confidently say that Sherwood Campground is close to the bottom of our list of places to camp on Mt. Hood or in all of Oregon for that matter.  The campground location really was not thought out – though perhaps it was created when Highway 35 was just a narrow and winding road with few cars on it.  If there weren’t campsites just feet from the shoulder of the road this could be a decent place to spend a night or two.  Our suggestion is to keep driving… you will find better campgrounds (see: Nottingham Campground).

Reservations for Sherwood Campground can be made online at recreation.gov and the camp host for this campground is located at Nottingham Campground.