Roza Recreation Site is a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recreation site in the Yakima River Canyon towards the southern end of the canyon. A sign for the site is clearly visible from Washington State Route 821 (also called Canyon Road) and the entry drive and parking lot inside the entrance are both paved. I purchased a day use permit (good on all BLM managed lands for the day) on site. The pay area was clearly marked and the instructions for how to pay and display your day use or overnight use permit were posted by the pay drop-box and easy to follow. I did a little walking around. A map of the site is posted that provides the lay of the land. There are spots allocated for camping, picnic tables area, and a boat ramp/waterfront area. There were some grassy/treed areas one could explore past the campsites, but I stayed in closer to the parking lot on my visit. The rocks in the Yakima River Canyon are gorgeous, and the basalt cliffs on the far side of the canyon from Roza are no exception. Beautiful location to just take in the beauty of nature. It was windy the day I stopped. Hedgy the Hedgehog, my travel companion of the day, and I sat at the picnic tables and decided it was too windy and she might blow away if she sat there while eating so we stayed in the car to eat. After eating we used the restrooms and departed to explore the canyon driving north on Washington State Route 821. Restrooms at this location are pit toilets that one cannot throw trash into. I was on my period, so this mattered. The restrooms at the other BLM managed lands I stopped at along Washington State Route 821 are also pit toilets. I figured this to be the case when I stopped here (my first BLM land of the day) so adjusted accordingly. No trash in the toilets when on your period means the feminine hygiene products one is using, be it pads and/or tampons, cannot be thrown in the toilets. I bring ziplock bags on my adventures just for this reason. Wrap the pad, tampons aren't my thing, and seal it in a ziplock bag and throw it in a trash can. I find ziplock bags do a good job of lessening the blood smell. Other bags work too. If you don't want to carry the hygiene product outside of the restroom with you there are rest areas along Interstate 90 (I-90) where disposal of pads and/or tampons is simple and straight forward. On this visit, in the afternoon on Monday the 29th of June 2020, the recreation site was not very busy and the parking lot not very full. One of the perks of adventuring on a non-holiday weekday if you can! read more

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This site, like many of the Bureau of Land Management sites, is filthy. The restroom had so many flies in it you could not step in the door. The overnight fee is $15 which provides no amenities not even trash. I am disappointed that our government can not seem to do better than this. read more