Northend Campground — Moran State Park

Moran State park in one of my favorite places on Earth. And camping here is just icing on the cake. There are multiple campgrounds in the park, so this review is about the Northend Campground specifically.

I've camped here many times over the years, and have never been disappointed with the campsite. I find them reasonably spaced apart, if not much privacy. The campground is a bit hilly, so not ideal for little kids to ride bikes around. There are better campgrounds in WA for bike riding, like Birch Bay.

But it's hard to top Moran State park for hiking, swimming, fishing, canoeing/row boating. The trails are well maintained and take you to beautiful sites, like Twin Lakes, or the falls (Cascade Falls?), or the wooden bridge by the lagoon (fun to jump off!)

The bathrooms have showers, and have always been kept clean. There are garbage cans and access to potable water, too.

We've never had an issue with bugs or critters either. One year some owls kept us awake with all their hooting, but that was only one time.

Decent campsites located right after the entrance to Moran State Park. Directly across the street from the day use area with beach, kayak/canoe/SUP rentals, fishing dock, and snack shack (which sells bag ice). Beach is great for kids - warm (enough) water, sandy bottom, and gradual depth change. Sites are on a hillside so not a great spot for kids to ride bikes. One bathhouse with toilets and pay showers ($.50 for 3 minutes). Not the cleanest bathrooms and men’s shower was just a trickle of cold water, but wife said women’s shower was warm and good enough. Site 85 is split level site big enough for two tents (see pic) and right next to bathhouse. Convenient location and still decent privacy as it is elevated above trail between house and other sItes. Sites closer to road have quite a bit of road noise but those on second and third loops are more private. Firewood available on honor system at camp host’s trailer ($6/bundle). No cell service (Verizon) which really helps you disconnect from work. Overall a good campground - would likely have given five stars if bathhouse was in better condition but still a “will return to” place.

There are 4 main camgrounds at Moran. Northend is close to the public beach, which has a sandy swimming area, snack bar, and boat rentals. The site is at a trailhead to walk around Cascade Lake or down to Rosario. All the sites are on a hill with very little privacy. More families here than the midway sites, I think because of the proximity to the beach. We stayed at midway site 65 and it was fine. It is close to a boat launch and small beach access good for kids to throw rocks. There are some sites on the water there with no privacy and they are all pretty small and next to the busy road. None of the ones on the other side of the road have good privacy either, but this camground seemed quieter than the northend. The Southend is totally the way to go as it is smaller and at two trailheads leading to most things you would want to hike to, and almost all the sites have their own private beach access for swimming/launching boats, and also has newer bathrooms. The Mountain Lake Campground is small, on the water, and also has no privacy, but would be fun to do with a big group (they have group sites up there not on the lake too.) You can also rent boats to use up at mountain lake. The trail there is excellent!