Rustic shoreline basecamp
Camping here is genuinely open. You can set up almost anywhere in the dunes, for free, four miles from a full-service city. The catch is that almost nothing is provided.
Grant County permits camping throughout the dunes rather than confining it to numbered sites. That freedom is the best thing about the place, and it means the good ground goes to whoever gets there first on a summer weekend.
On Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day weekends, camping is prohibited west of the third restroom building to the intersection of Sand Dunes Road and Powerline Road. That corridor stays clear so emergency vehicles can move through a crowded dune field. If those are your weekends, know the line before you unhitch.
There are no hookups and no dump station. The county's own pages do not agree with each other about restrooms, with one describing the area as having none and another referring to a third restroom building. Plan as though there are none, verify locally, and be pleasantly surprised. Bring all your drinking water.
None. Not sparse, not limited. If you are camping here between June and September you are bringing your own shade structure or you are sitting in the trailer at two in the afternoon. Anchor whatever you bring, because wind across open basin will take an unsecured canopy.
Small campfires are permitted when restrictions allow. Wood pallets are prohibited because of the nails. Check current Washington burn restrictions before you load firewood, since they change through the season and a dry August is not a wet May.
The dunes sit against a shoreline interface with Potholes Reservoir, and that proximity is part of the appeal. It is not a swimming beach. No official source establishes a designated public swimming area or permission to ride a machine down to the water, and reports of a motorized setback from the shoreline circulate without an official map behind them. Treat the water as scenery and as a hazard to supervise children around, and use verified public access points elsewhere if swimming or boating is part of the trip.
That is the real advantage of camping here. Forget something and it is a twenty minute round trip, not a lost afternoon. Fuel, groceries, ice, parts, and a hospital are all in Moses Lake, which makes this a forgiving place to camp with kids or with a first-time group.
Verify before travel. Conditions, zones, and regulations can change. Use the responsible agency's current information for final decisions.
Open Grant County's official source →