Ice Cap Campground

This is one of our favorite campgrounds. Nice large sites with space between sites. Campground is very quite. Plenty of hiking without having to drive to a TH. More hiking all around the area that you can drive to TH. Waterfalls are beautiful. Nice little hike down to Carmen reservoir for swimming. Super cold water but feels good on a hot day.

Ice cap campground is walking distance to Koosah falls and a short distance along the waterfall trail to Sahalie falls. It’s a great campground if you’re in the area to hike to Tamolitch falls or kayak at Clear Lake. The site itself is slanted at the picnic table and around the fire pit but it isn’t horrible. There are some rock stairs (6-7) you have to walk down to the site but they’re part of what makes it private. No cell service at all. Love it!

Off hwy 126 follow the road to the campground. Right before the campground is an area to the left that states RV parking. Just past this point you can turn right and head to Koosah Falls or turn left and head into the campground and day use area. 

The campground has variety of sites, mostly flat, with different sized parking pads for vehicles. The sites are set up so you aren’t right next to your vehicle but off a little ways. This set up is not ideal if you have a trailer or RV or even a van. The parking areas themselves are fairly smaller in size than normal. All sites had picnic tables and fire pits though fires are NOT allowed at this time. Some are more private than others. 

Pit toilets, garbage and hand pump water throughout.

$18/night

$8 day use 

Zero cell service ATT, Verizon or TMobile

Beautiful campsite. Luckily no one reserved the campsites surrounding ours as it would’ve felt really congested. The river is a tiny hike away & the blue pool or hot springs are a short drive away. Host was awesome! 10/10

This is a decent campground very clean with new tables, fire pits and newer clean vault toilets but there is not a lot of privacy between the sites!

We stayed in site 17, it’s a big site but had zero privacy. I feel 16/17 would make a great double site (see photo). “Hike in” sites seemed to be stacked on top of each other but a few did have good views of the reservoir. The Carmen reservoir is closed to the public until 2021. The campground is in a great location, has wonderful access to trails and close to Clear Lake. Trails are kid friendly and didn’t take long to see both waterfalls.

Site 20 seemed to be the best site! Site 20/21 seemed to have the most privacy. 21 has stairs down to it and is slanted, can’t fit more than a 5/6 person tent but it is right on the creek and very peaceful! Site 19 looked okay too, a little private with lots of tent space but it’s directly across from the camp host.

Friendly and knowledgeable camp hosts. Vault toilet, mix of tent sites including some walk-ins that are up against the reservoir- you can hear the peaceful running water all day and night. Brand new picnic tables, brand new fencing, and excellent trails. Perfect mix of sun and shade for many of the sites. We stayed at 15 and I can’t wait to go back. Very spacious sites can hold multiple tents of all sizes. Beautiful drive to and from campgrounds- the McKenzie River area is definitely worth exploring!

I’ll add more soon. Most sites are awesome. #17-21 are the best.

This is by far the best fishing that I have done - ever! Clean lake which the McKenzie River feeds into!

I stayed in one of the tent only sites and it was lovely, nice fire pit, newish looking table. My only complaint is that those staying in the tent only sites further back from mine seemed to think the trail was through my campsite. When I go back I will select a tent site further to the back for greater privacy and a better view. There are also sites for campers. Toilets were very clean and well maintained vault style. There are water pumps but I was not clear if that was potable water and the pumps looked difficult to operate, I carried in my own so I didn't test them out.