Gifford Pinchot National Forest Cat Creek Campground

Overview

In a well-shaded location among maple trees and ferns, Blue Lake Creek Campground offers open, grassy spaces with sites that can accommodate both tents and RVs with a small brook that babbles through the campground. Both Blue Lake and the Cispus River can be reached from multi-use trails leaving the campground, making this location popular among hikers, mountain bikers and OHV riders.

Recreation

There is direct access to the Valley Trail, which is used by OHV riders, mountain bikers, hikers and horseback riders. Valley Trail offers a network of over 50 miles of OHV trails. The shorter High Log Trail is only open to foot traffic and connects with the Cispus River, where fishing and other water activities abound. Hikers looking to explore the stunning scenery of Blue Lake, can take the Valley Trail #270 to the Blue Lake Trail, which leads visitors on a trek of moderate difficulty to Blue Lake, where fishing and beautiful mountain landscapes await.

Facilities

The campground consists of 11 back in sites with paved parking spurs that vary from 20 to 30 feet in length. Due to its popularity among OHV riders, Blue Lake Creek can become noisy when trail bikes come and go. Minimal privacy is provided between sites. Hookups and drinking water are not available at this facility, however there are picnic tables, grills and vault toilets available on site.

Natural Features

Located in southwest Washington State, the Gifford Pinchot National Forest encompasses over 1.3 million acres, including the 110,000-acre Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument established by Congress in 1982. Blue Lake Creek Campground is located in the Cowlitz Valley Ranger District, which is in the northernmost portion of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. This Ranger District manages four Wilderness Areas including the Goat Rocks Wilderness, Glacier View Wilderness, Tatoosh Wilderness and William O Douglass Wilderness. The Cispus River runs nearby the campground and can be accessed via a short hike. Blue Lake, a small mountain lake with beautiful turquoise waters, can also be reached by via a trail leaving the campground.

contact_info

This location has limited staffing. Please call (360) 686-3008 for general information.

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.