Outdoor camping is basically the main sport of Washington state; we’ll brave a few bugs and a little dirt for jaw-dropping mountain views, peaceful forests, or beachfront sites. Finding a location to throw up your tent can be tough throughout sunny summertime weekends, so follow our ideas for securing your own plot of wilderness. Or, in winter season, you can attempt the always-uncrowded world of snow camping. Whether you’re a hardy sleazebag or a camping rookie, the great outdoors is waiting.
Mountains and Forests|Lakes and Rivers|Beaches|Backpacking|Recreational vehicles
Mountains and Forests
Denny Creek Camping Area
In some cases you need an escape strategy that does not involve dark, twisty mountain roadways. Though Denny Creek is technically located in between the eastbound and westbound lanes of I-90, 50 simple highway miles from Seattle, it’s relatively peaceful and near to family-friendly routes. And there’s no shame in bailing in the middle of the night. Reserve sites ahead of time, since benefit suggests crowds.
Sol Duc Hot Springs Camping Area
Three mineral pools pumped loaded with thermal waters make Sol Duc Hot Springs the warmest overnight area in the cold Olympic National forest, although little sun makes it through each site’s mossy forest canopy.
White River Camping Site Mount Rainier’s other camping sites book up with advance bookings, however we won’t take “full” for an answer. All 112 areas at this walk-up wonderland in Mount Rainier National forest are very first come, initially served, and rangers manage home entertainment responsibilities with complimentary weekly history presentations. (Yeah, it’s on a river, however it’s entering the mountains category because the Rainier views are a huge draw.)
Cougar Rock Campground
With primo positioning between Longmire and Paradise inside Mount Rainier National Park, there’s hardly a bad area in the 178 greatly wooded campgrounds. The five group websites, particularly F1, supply sufficient parking and privacy for teams of a lots or more.
Ohanapecosh Campground
Mount Rainier National Park’s biggest camping site boasts both old-growth forests and a dry east-of-the-peak climate, and practically every website on Loop C borders a river or creek. Try the Grove of the Patriarchs trail close by; the name of this path sounds like something out of an Arthurian legend. It boasts 1,000-year-old trees and a suspension bridge, and it’s flat enough for small toddlers and nonhikers.
Twentynine Pines Camping Site
There are way more than 30 trees here in the Teanaway Neighborhood Forest north of Cle Elum and plenty of sunshine. The community forest ownership (rather than, state, a national park) implies it’s a bit more anything-goes, with lots of hunters establishing their own base camps on the forest roads around the camping site correct. Both woodsy and simple to reach, there are a lot of tracks close by from chill to a genuine workout.
Heart O’ the Hills Camping area
If you waited till a warm Friday to dust off your puppy tent, head to the big Heart O’ the Hills camping site outside Port Angeles, inside Olympic National Park. Its 105 websites take a bit longer to fill, and the absence of a flashy lake or peak helps, too. The E Loop sites reach the farthest into the old-growth forest.
Queets Camping area The primitive camping area in Olympic National forest doesn’t have potable water, paved-road gain access to, or RV connections. Or, best of all, many individuals. A walking to deserted homesteads and a 212-foot Douglas fir needs fording 2 treacherous rivers. There are only 20 sites and all are gravel; take your pick.
Staircase Campground
Call it the secret of the peninsula; the Staircase location on the southeast corner of the Olympic National Park uses relatively quiet access to the thick forests for which the park is understood. Found more inland than Lake Cushman, it’s normally less of a party scene than the lake.
Curlew Lake State Park Deep in north-central Washington, 5.5 hours from Seattle, Curlew Lake feeds both the human anglers and the bald eagles and osprey that crave fresh trout from its waters. Close-by and overseen by the larger park is Ranald MacDonald’s gravesite– but don’t mistake him for the scary clown hawking Huge Macs. MacDonald was a nineteenth-century half-Native American man from Astoria, grand son of an excellent chief, who sailed the world before deceiving his method into Imperial Japan. He taught English and befriended locals years before the closed nation opened to Westerners. Today his tomb is marked with an indication dubbing it the “tiniest state park in Washington.”
Lakes and Rivers
Lake Wenatchee State Park
All summertime, local guides lead horseback rides out of the park just east of the Cascades; views from the horseback trail reach from a green carpet of forest around the lakeshore to a sharp wall of mountains behind it. Lake Wenatchee’s activity alternatives surpass the hours in a weekend; besides the horses there are boat launches and snacks at the park store, a golf course simply outside the park limit, and bike routes through the surrounding mountains. Kayaks line the beach, ready for leasing.
Owhi Camping site Crowds almost clog the river at Salmon La Sac near Cle Elum throughout summer season. However just a few miles beyond the masses, Owhi Camping area boasts 22 walk-in tent websites– all the benefit of car outdoor camping without having to take a look at the back of your 4Runner. Every website is on peaceful Cooper Lake, warm enough for a vigorous swim and angled towards a killer mountain panorama.
Mountain Loop Scenic Byway
Campgrounds suggest firepits and picnic tables, often even flush toilets and RV connections. Dispersed outdoor camping indicates anything outside a campground, which is permitted on forest service land but not in national forests. The correct camping sites along the Mountain Loop Highway east of Granite Falls fill rapidly, however clear patches along the road make an ideal primary step into eating off a log and– gasp– using nature when nature calls. Lots of have handmade fire circles, however fire bans might apply. Search for clear spots in the trees and established camp a minimum of 100 feet from the South Fork of the Stillaguamish River.
Moran State Park
It’s not just that this hundred-year-old state park in the San Juan Islands uses campers a lake. It’s that it has one with paddleboard, paddleboat, kayak, and canoe rentals, plus Lopez Creamery ice cream for sale across the street from woodsy camping sites. Orcas Island’s view-riffic Mount Constitution (with a brand-new visitor center) simply up the roadway is a simple perk.
Colonial Creek Campground
As the only overnight alternative in the heart of North Waterfall National Park, location is reason enough to like Colonial Creek. Even better: The fairly remote website delights in more than world-class views; rangers present regular history programs, and Diablo Lake boat tours begin simply down the roadway– discover how Monkey Island got its name (yep, genuine monkeys).
Beaches
Kalaloch Campground
Of the Olympic National forest’s lots of campgrounds, Kalaloch is the only one to take bookings, though waterside disintegration has actually eliminated some coveted bluff sites. Spot D29 is, according to the Kalaloch Visitor Center, “the most popular website. Everyone desires it.” Besides a killer ocean view, it’s got an easy-to-back-into parking spot.
Fort Flagler State Park It’s all right to be bored by trees. Coastal Fort Flagler, on an island just east of Port Townsend, mixes the nature things with nineteenth-century artillery batteries, now overgrown antiques perfect for checking out. 2 camping sites, one on the lower beach and another in the upper forest, have 61 camping tent websites and 55 RV spots, and history specialists lead weekend trips of gun emplacements and a 1905 military healthcare facility. No army ever attacked Puget Noise, however you can’t say we weren’t ready.
Deceptiveness Pass State Park Thank the Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal work relief program in the 1930s, for a number of the routes, fire lookouts, and beautiful stone lodges in the country’s parks. Thank Whidbey’s Deception Pass for its stunning CCC-built bridge, charming CCC museum, and rentable Ben Ure Cabin ($91), which rests on its own island. Ideal for when you desire beaches, however forests and a splash of history too.
Picturesque Beach State Park Sporty Scenic Beach outside Bremerton features 2 volley ball courts and horseshoe pits, plus a dog-friendly beach and shellfish harvesting premises when populations are healthy. Paved trails through a scenic rhododendron garden offer wide accessibility.
Lake Ozette
Okay, technically the camping site here is on an inland lake within Olympic National forest, though it has just 15 sites; some private campsites sit simply outside the park limit. However the beach, a three-mile hike away, is among the Olympic coast’s most beautiful. A 300-year-old indigenous town was uncovered under a mudslide, and many of the artifacts sit in a museum in the Makah Reservation to the north. Overnights on the beach are allowed with a permit from the national park, but are restricted.
Backpacking
Barclay Lake
It can be terrifying to roam far from the cozy accept of the family minivan. What if you need its shelter? Its heated seats? The headlamp you forgot between backseat cushions? Placid Barclay Lake, just 2.2 fairly flat miles up from a trailhead near Highway 2, is simply far enough from civilization to count as a backpacking journey but close sufficient to make beer runs. Rather remote lakeside websites with the appetite for bigger experiences.
Indian Henry’s Searching Ground
It’s 14 miles round trip to this breathtaking alpine meadow near Longmire, so an over night stay at Pyramid Creek or Devil’s Dream Backcountry Camp is advised. A nineteenth-century Native American guide once hunted goats here, however he’s best remembered for the rumors that swarm his memory– some say he once killed a medicine male and cached taken Spanish gold on the mountain.
Summerland Camp The backcountry sites here are the park’s most popular, and not just because they sit between the charmingly called Fryingpan Glacier and Panhandle Space simply east of Rainier. A riverside ramble and a steep uphill slog cause a stone shelter built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934; the 6 campgrounds are simply beyond.
Shi Shi Beach
When Seattle seems like an average day inside a pizza oven, Shi Beach on the Pacific coast is blessedly chilled by the wind off the ocean, plus it’s the best sunset theater in the world. Headlands bookend the Olympic National forest beach, a popular backpacking location, and even on crowded summer weekends there’s room for dozens of camping tents along the bleached driftwood border. Head south past Point of the Arches for less crowds and more tide pools. Do not forget an over night license and a bear cylinder leasing at the Port Angeles Wilderness Details Center; because access is through the Makah Reservation, closures might apply.
Hoh River Trail In 2005 an acoustic ecologist declared that the quietest square inch on the planet remained in the Olympic National forest near the Hoh River Path, however that’s just when backpackers don’t decide on the hike-in websites that overlook the rocky Hoh River. If the few official clearings every few miles fill up– at some the guests are gear-hauling lamas and mules– the gravel bar on the river itself is up for grabs.
Claim It: Most websites in the first 10 miles of the flat trail are first-come, first-served, but overnighters need an authorization from the trailhead visitor station.
RV Camping
Crescent Bar Recreation Location
The small finger of land that pokes into the Columbia River simply north of I-90 consists of a campground handled by the county. The 55 recently remodeled sites boast ample distance, plainly developed by somebody who doesn’t like bumping slide outs with the neighbors. A golf course takes up much of the rest of the peninsula, though swimmers might choose the Thousand Tracks camping area simply inland, home to a pool and hot tub.
Steamboat Rock State Park
The term “rock” undersells the enormity of the basalt butte that rises out of Banks Lake in the middle of Grand Coulee. Boaters flock to the substantial camping site– with 136 full connection sites with water– that can deal with some longer Recreational vehicles. Routes trace Northrup Canyon throughout the highway, and the towering Grand Coulee Dam and its summertime laser light show is a brief drive north.
Silver Beach Resort Rimrock Lake makes a case that we should appreciate the southern half of Washington’s Cascades for more than volcanoes like Rainier. The six-mile lake west of Yakima does not look manufactured, though it was developed by damming the Tieton River. Numerous kokanee salmon produce good fishing, and Silver Beach Resort boasts its own swimming area and boat launch. Waterside sites, all non-hookup, make a case for going unplugged.
Peach Beach Recreational Vehicle Park
As at Maryhill State Park, the rolling Columbia works as this personal camping site’s piece de resistance, albeit with a bit more shade (some peach trees remain from its orchard days) and a private swimming lagoon. More than 2 lots websites abut the river. Stars and even the Milky Way pop in the night sky in these parts– thanks to a lack of city lights– particularly a few miles up Highway 97, near the freshly refurbished and public Goldendale Observatory.
Grayland Beach State Park
Prime waterside areas on the Pacific coast remain evasive, even with Washington’s ample coastline. More than a dozen pull-ins deal with the broad sandstrip south of Westport, with dozens more a brief ramble from the waves. Surfers flock to the break, and consistent winds keep kites aloft year-round.
Find more of our favorite Washington RV camping sites here.
Where to camp in the mountains, on the beach, or among the ruins of a decommissioned army base.