Established Camping
Iron Creek Campground
About
National Forest
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Overview
Iron Creek Campground sits near the confluence of Iron Creek and the Cispus River. This large campground winds through a forest of old-growth Douglas firs, cedars and hemlock. Lush vegetation and ample space between sites offers excellent privacy.
Recreation
Iron Creek provides great fishing for cutthroat trout, whitefish and rainbow trout. Visitors can stroll along the .3-mile Iron Creek Old Growth Trail and weave through the forest and along the Cispus River, or continue on a longer walk down the Iron Creek Campground Trail. This trail is barrier-free and designed to accommodate any age or skill level, with benches and plenty of places to stop along the way.
Facilities
There are 99 single and double family sites that are back-in and paved. Level spurs provide easy RV parking. Picnic tables, campfire rings and drinking water are provided.
Natural Features
Located in southwest Washington State, the Gifford Pinchot National Forest encompasses 1.3 million acres and includes the 110,000-acre Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument established by Congress in 1982. Iron Creek is part of the Cowlitz Valley Ranger District, which is located in the northernmost portion of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. This District is roughly located among three volcanic peaks: Mt. Rainier to the north, Mt. Adams to the east, and Mount St. Helens to the west.
contact_info
This location has limited staffing. Please call (360) 686-3008 for general information.
Nearby Attractions
The Woods Creek Watchable Wildlife Interpretive Site is just up Forest Road 25 toward the town of Randle. Forest Road 25 is a popular scenic drive and provides excellent views of Mount St. Helens. The Windy Ridge Viewpoint at Mount St. Helens is approximately 20 miles away.
Charges & Cancellations
Cancellations Individual Campsites: Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee.__ A visitor who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee including tax and applicable add-on for a campsite. Cancellations for a one-night reservation will forfeit the entire amount paid and will not be subject to an additional service fee. No-Shows A no-show visitor is one who does not arrive at a campground and does not cancel the reservation by check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. Staff will hold a campsite until check-out time on the day following the arrival date. No-shows are assessed $20.00 service fee and forfeit the first night's rate, taxes and applicable add-on for a campsite.____ Refunds Visitors may submit a refund request through their Recreation.gov profile within 7 days of the end date of their reservation. Refunds will not be issued after the 7 days has ended. Refunds for debit or credit card payments will be issued as a credit to the original bank or credit card used to pay. For check or cash purchases, Recreation.gov will mail a Treasury check for refunds of cash, check, or money order payments to the address associated with the reservation. Treasury check refunds may take up to 6-8 weeks to arrive.__ In the event of an emergency closure, the Recreation.gov team or facility manager will refund all fees and will attempt to notify you using the contact information within the Recreation.gov visitor profile.
Fee Info
Location
Iron Creek Campground is located in Washington
Directions
Take Highway 12 from I-5 and proceed 40 miles to Randle, turn south on Forest Road 25 and continue for 12 miles to the campground.
Address
Gifford Pinchot NF Cowlitz Valley Ranger District
Randle, WA 98377
Coordinates
46.4297222 N
121.9869444 W
Access
- Drive-InPark next to your site
- Walk-InPark in a lot, walk to your site.
- Hike-InBackcountry sites.
Stay Connected
- WiFiUnknown
- VerizonUnknown
- AT&TUnknown
- T-MobileUnknown
Site Types
- Tent Sites
- RV Sites
- Standard (Tent/RV)
- Tent Cabin
Features
For Campers
- Trash
- Picnic Table
- Firewood Available
- Phone Service
- Drinking Water
- Toilets
- Alcohol
- Pets
- Fires
For Vehicles
- Pull-Through Sites
- Big Rig Friendly
Old growth forest
We spent 2 nights here. So peaceful. The forest is so thick couldn't hear other campers. Vault toilet kept very clean and stocked. Had water a short walk away. Trees here are 600 years old. Huge. We use a solar panel to run out refrigerator. The trees were so thick we were on battery the whole time. It's 9 miles south of Randle on FS 25. Rough in spots. Our 30 ft TT filled the parking pad but we never unhooked the truck. I think a 40ft would be maximum length.
Beautiful old forest
Real winner of a site, 98 spots but still very peaceful and private. We were in loop C and just about able to see a few other sites from ours. Restrooms, water pumps and lovely camp hosts selling firewood if you’ve forgotten! The river is beautiful and lots of trails around the site. Arrived late on a Sunday (7pm) and a fair number of free spots to choice. Loops C and D are closest to the river
Beautiful old wooded campground
Almost every camping spot is private with ferns and tree's surrounding you. Wonderful old growth feeling. Ample trails surrounding the campground and along the Cispus river.
Iron Creek Campground
The campground is super quiet and allows you to get away from it all. There are no services and no cell phone reception so come expecting that. The roads are rough as you cross into the National Park so watch your speed especially with a trailer. The site has a great trail that provides access to Iron Creek from anywhere on the grounds, although B Loop seamed to be the closest to the water. The sites are not too close together and you have some privacy. This is an excelled location
- (10) View All
Beautiful base camp for Mt St Helens visit
A beautiful campground with clean vault toilet and potable water. There is a path from our campsite that join the bigger walking loop around the campground and access to the river. We were there after the July 4th holiday so it was quiet. We chose this campground as a base to explore the east side of Mt St Helens. It takes about an hour to reach the hiking trails and viewpoints for St Helens. Highly recommended.
Family of 4
2nd stop on our camping trip for Summer 2020. Large camping area with tons of family and group camping, which we don’t mind, as we got our own kid party going at our site. Picnic table, fire pit, clean toilet structure. Site managers nice enough to help us with our drive to view St. Helens, which was a personal highlight, to see St. Helen’s, Rainer, Adams and Hood, all from one spot! Firewood for sale, easy paved loops, and big river with kid friendly soaking areas, and fishing! Had a good mix of everyone.
MOSS AND FERN WONDERLAND
This lush campground is carpeted with ferns and dripping with moss. It feels like stepping back to prehistoric times. Serene and breathtaking. En route to Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.
- (5) View All
Absolutely beautiful!
The camp sites were large, and absolutely beautiful. I would love to go back again. Lots to do in the area.
Deep NW Woods Riverside Camp
Nice enough site. Pretty large, I think it’s about 100 sites across 4 loops. It’s private in terms of visual space but definitely not private enough to keep barking dogs and yelling kids from dampening the wilderness experience. 2 bathrooms per loop, no sinks. Bathrooms were clean and well maintained.
It just wasn’t really our kind of campsite, seemed more family friendly than remote or peaceful. I’d recommend the sites closest to the river as you’d fall asleep to the sound or water instead of children.
Great for large groups and families, not so much for solace seekers.
- (5) View All
Very nice place and even nicer hosts.
The hosts were very kind and helpful. I rode in on my bicycle. There are lots of sites. The sites are spaced apart from each other allowing for plenty of privacy. It is in a beautiful forest with big trees. There is a nice, short loop trail leading to the river. The washrooms are pit toilets, a little dark inside, but we'll maintained and has air fresheners so it doesn't stink. One of my favourite campgrounds I've been to.
This place was amazing
We camped here in July 2018. It was hot but thankfully the Cispus River was a short hike away and we cooled off in that. It is close to the Ape Caves at Mount St. Helens. The sites are pretty secluded. My only complaint would be the bathrooms. We don’t use the bathroom in our tent trailer so we had to use the bathrooms at the campground. They had a pretty strong ammonia smell and people didn’t put the toilet lids back down so there were flies. Great place for kids.
- (9) View All
Large, secluded, private
This is an off the beaten path campground, large and secluded. Campsites seem very private due to lots of large trees separating campsites No cell service.
- (5) View All
Large Sites
Beautiful sites and large. Heavily wooded and private. No hookups. Close to Randle and Mt. St. Helens
Lush and Beautiful
There are so many trees and plants here! I haven't been camping for very long but this has become one of my favorites. The camp sites are pretty secluded so you don't feel like everyone is watch you and the camp site that I stayed in (39 I believe) had a little trail to get to the creek nearby.
Beautiful River front
This is a larger campground great for RV, trailers and tents. There are a total of 99 sites enclosed in a circle, making a nice walk or bike ride. The campground does not have electric hook ups, though it is very camper friendly otherwise.
Sites are pretty enclosed not offering a good amount of privacy, though most are along the Cispus River. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring, with bbq grate. The site does not have showers and the toilets are the pit style.
This is a perfect getaway for people looking to unplug as no cell service (tested on sprint, verizon, and google fi) is available. There is tons of wildlife and lots of trails and riverbank to explore.
Perfect calm and peaceful
This is a great campground. It feels perfectly removed and is filled with huge old trees. Light streams throgh in morning and evening. You can hear the creek in the distance. Wonderful hiking at both Mt Adams and Mt st helens. Easy to find sites here.
Great spot with plenty of camping spots!
Iron Creek is a great camp site in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The river runs near the camp was a great spot for the kids and dogs to play. Camp sites were large spacious and private. I would highly recommend this campground!