Looking for the best campgrounds near Carbonado, WA? Carbonado is filled with the activities, sights, and experiences to make everyone in your crew a happy camper. You're sure to find the perfect campground for your Carbonado camping trip.
"The lake is absolutely beautiful and there are so many different trails branching off of it."
"The sites were your standard, with a picnic table, fire ring, and plenty of trees for shade and cover. There are lots of things to do in the area."
"The road slowly meanders uphill alongside the Carbon River for 5 miles, giving campers majestic views of Mount Rainier and surrounding peaks."
"One incredible part about being here is the proximity to Mt. Rainier National Park. We did so many amazing hikes, it was unreal. The weather was perfect so Rainier was out and shinning bright!!"
"Right outside the entrance to Mt."
"If you come here you must leave no trace."
"Pit toilet that isn’t nasty and most sites give you the feeling of privacy and with the waterfall close by there is constant white noise that while not overpowering it drowns out any neighbors."
"It's a short hike from Mowich Lake, which has it's own campground, but there are only a few spots here, which makes it quiet.
On the way, you get stunning views of Mount Rainier."
"You have to hike-in to get to this campground. When we were there, the river access was washed out, so you have to hike down to get to it. Our knees were killing us by the time we got there."
"you used to be able to drive and car camp here but the carbon river keeps washing things out. "
"Campground Review:
My partner and I were hiking the Wonderland Trail (93+ miles around the base of Mount Rainier) and this was our final site on our long trek."
"Yellowstone Cliffs is located 12.4 miles from the trailhead and it is a difficult 12.4 miles. From Fire Creek, you go down, down, down, cross a river and then immediately go up, up, up."
"You can start at Granite Creek Campground and hike to Sunrise Point which is in the Wonderland trail in the Mount Rainier National Park."
"We arrived at granite creek after about 2.5 hours on the trail."
$30 - $45 / night
"The spot was clean, private, and well-maintained with everything we needed for a comfortable stay—fire pit, flat tent area, and even restrooms nearby."
"Convenient that it is so close to the entrance of Mount Rainier NP made for a few easy trips to come back and forth in between hikes."
"Backcountry permit required. This is a great campsite. You do need to get a backcountry permit, and these can be hard to come by. It's about a nine mile hike in from Sunrise visitor center."
LegendCampground Review
This campground is at the base of Mt Rainier National Park in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. To get to the campsite, you have to drive down into the ravine of where the Cowlitz River cuts through the campsite. There are many sites on the river, with the rest in the trees covering the expanse of the grounds. Large RV/ trailers can only be in the upper Loop H.
The road is a one way and for the most part, campers respect the speed limit, though there are some idiots who drive fast through.
There are no hookups, so you will be dry camping if you bring an RV. This is very close to Packwood and a great place to stay during Memorial Weekend for their annual Flea Market. There is no cell service at this site. Site claims to have flushing toilets, but those were removed a few years ago, there are only vault toilets and no showers. Depending on how the snow melt is during the spring, will dictate fishing and camping opening.
Product Review
I had the opportunity to review a GCI Outdoor Backpack Event Chair. This product is amazing for lugging around from campground to fishing and back. The chair has four different positions for reclining and hard arm supports for getting up and down. There is a large pocket on the back allowing for easy toting of items from car to wherever. The backpack straps make toting a breeze and the clip to close keeps the chair in place. It is very light and easy to transport and has a weight limit of 250, but my very large cousin (300+) was able to sit with no problem.
https://www.gcioutdoor.com/camping-chairs/backpack-event-chair/
LegendCampsite Review: This campground is really in a nice area of the old growth forest but it's camping amongst crowds when we went in the high season, the entire 188 sites were filled. There were very few walk-up sites and the rest of the campsites themselves are a decent size but not spaced far enough away from other campers and there is no underbrush to separate you from each other at all. We stayed at site 54 in loop A and had people constantly walking through/by both sides of our campsite to get to the toilets which were located on the next level higher than us. People literally walked right by our fire ring and through our chairs at one point to then hike up the hill instead of traversing around to the right for some stairs. If you can go off season by all means try and do it, but avoid this particular site at all costs…
The toilet facilities weren’t the nicest ones I’ve been to and could have used a little TLC. The facilities right by us were dirty and a bit rusty. They also had no soap or hand drying instrument what-so-ever (neither paper towels or hand dryer). Thankfully we had these things ourselves, but usually in NP campgrounds you don’t have to bring them yourself to the restroom.
Amenities: not sure if every site had one, but lots of bear boxes (you’re in bear and cougar (mountain lion) territory), your standard picnic tables, fire rings, plus flush toilets, potable water, & dump station for you RVers |Prohibited: pets off-leash, & firewood gathering (The camp host drives around selling wood if you haven’t already gotten some at a store) we came right during a fire ban, but as soon as it was removed they drove around letting everyone know. There then seemed to be a truck driving around with firewood for sale, I wasn’t able to confirm though as we were headed off to Paradise and then the Olympic peninsula.
Nearby Hikes: Grove of the Patriarchs, & Silver Falls and not too far from Paradise which is a must do if you happen to come in wild flower season
Gear Review: As a Ranger for The Dyrt I sometimes get the opportunity to test out products and the saving grace for this particular camp site was my testing of the Leatherman Signal (Designed for adventure!!). This is a truly fantastic Leatherman and even if you’ve had them for years you should really check out the newer lines of specialized gear. I had an old PST (pocket survival tool) as a boy scout and had upgraded to the original WAVE, but hadn’t checked them out in years as I still have them and thought what could be better than what I already have. I was wrong. This tool and many of the other lines (skateboarding, surfing, skiing, hunting) are also really worth checking out.
I give the Leatherman Signal 4.5/5 Stars!
GuideCooper Lake is absolutely stunning and admittedly the campsites are situated pretty well for views and privacy but there are definitely Pros and Cons to this campground.
Pros:
Right on the lake and if not you get a very private site walking distance to water
Great hiking trail
Lake access 24/7
Lot's of big shade trees
No internal combustion motors
Vault toilets in good shape
Dumpsters
Cons:
Extremely busy (and LOUD) day use area
Steep hill and trails to all the sites - pack light and even then it is A LOT of work getting into your site
$18 for a walk in site...? eh a little steep for me
Did I mention the loud day use area with lots of screaming kids?
No bear boxes by the lake so you also have to trek your cooler/dry goods up the hill every night to not attract wildlife.
All in All this was a solid 3.5 stars. There were pros to out weight the cons but in the end if I am going to walk that far to haul my stuff into a site I want it to be pretty remote/serene OR be a little cheaper.
Scoutarrived at the farm and were greeted by the owners. they got on their quads and led us down a private road through a super nice cedar gated entry and showed us our spot. they gave us a quick run down of the place and let us be. our spot was the Trillium site which has a few hundred foot hike from where you park your car and the portable toilet. the site was pretty cool and very secluded. it had a fire ring with some sawn cedar benches, a pile of firewood and a giant old spool for a table. we threw our marmot up and took a closer look. there is a camp box with info, instant coffee, guides to area sight seeing and food along with a log book to write about your stay. there were also some cool led lighting which was great at night. fire ban was on but they put a big candle on the grate of the fire pit so we had something. we kicked around on the trails which look like they are used by horses and motorcycles but not heavily. some interesting plants in the area. they were working on a new trail that is supposed to eventually lead out to the lake but it wasnt complete yet. however it was covered with wood chips and had a hand cut cedar bridge built on it. you gotta see it. sounds like they are constantly evolving the farm looked like a lot of things in the works. definitely will come back for more time here. night time got spooky with coyotes howling in the distance but the morning there were so many birds chirping and singing you couldnt hear yourself think! oh we found a corn hole game in an open area that they have several picnic tables staged at.
GuideThis place had it all; open RV camping, secluded van camping, tree canopy car/tent camping, walk-in camping, and themed safari tent camping, and one cute mini airstream.
Lake down the road. Water and electrical hookups, dump station with dump water and fresh water.
Restrooms and showers are scattered around. Showers are coin based and there is a machine to turn your dollars into coins.
GuideI’ve spent a couple of nights up here this year and I LOVE this campground. It is large, but there is plenty of separation and the sites seem to offer fairly good privacy and have a good amount of space.
I camp in a hammock and there are a lot of sites that offer enough well spaced trees to set up hammocks. There are nice fire rings at each of the sites, nice tables and firewood is available at the camp site. I didn't know before I went, but dogs are allowed as long as they are on leashes, BUT they aren't allowed on most trails around the mountain.
The campground is well situated to get you close to Paradise as well as a ton of hikes nearby.
There aren’t any showers, but the bathrooms are clean and have flush toilets.
TravelerI just completed my third stay at Dragon's Gate, and I've now stayed in each of the different sections (Moon Meadow, Giant Crystal, Jessie's Camp). Each gives a completely different but wonderous experience, either with open views of flower pastures and woods, or a more insular green surrounded by trees. Each reservable space is massive.... 4-5 times the size of most campsites. While you may reasonably run into other campers within each section if you go for a walk, you won't even know anyone is in the other sections, its so private. Sing at the top of your lungs or let your dog roam, they won't run into anyone.
Its just SO pretty. Each campsite is really well maintained- the roads and campsites are mowed, carving into the meadows. There are porta potties and access to drinking water and a great deal on both wood and eggs. Wooden picnic tables are in each site, and a well appointed fire ring. The hosts are really lovely as well, and overly accommodating. The entire site is organic, so they do ask that you participate in their policies of no charcoal usage and leave no trace.
Tenino itself is a cute little historic town, with a surprisingly well appointed supermarket and hardware store, and on Saturdays there's a farmers market.
Mostly, I love how my dog can safely roam, and how, even when I am completely by myself camping, I still feel safe.
LegendThis is a popular, reservable campground at Mt Rainier. There are 5 loops with A loop and R(Road) loops not reservable. There is a fancy electronic iron ranger at the ranger station(something the rangers want you to use even when they are in their booth and clearly able to handle reservations). I had a nifty little bridge connecting my car and the picnic table to the the tent pad. I also had kids running through the trees and the middle of my campsite from the sites behind me. Most sites had good hammocking trees, and it looked like all had picnic tables. There is an amphitheater in the campground that had a nice draw of campers for the evening program. Bathrooms were clean and well maintained, but no showers. E loop was a no generator zone, which means it was fully booked while I was there. There is a good hike to Carter Falls along the Wonderland Trail, which cuts right through the campground. You are fairly close to Paradise which has more hiking trailheads and a visitor center.
GuideWell maintained national park campground. Reserve on Recreation.gov. Sites have tables, bear boxes and fire pits. Restrooms have flush toilets and sinks for dishes. Ranger is available at the adjacent ranger station for check in or any other questions.
Its a dry site - as in no water at the campsites. There is a drinking fountain by the bathroom. The dump station was closed for 2025 season and not sure when or if it will re open.
Its only $20 in 2025.
Nestled in the stunning landscapes of Washington, Carbonado offers a variety of tent camping options that cater to outdoor enthusiasts seeking adventure and tranquility.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Carbonado, WA?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Carbonado, WA is Mowich Lake Campground — Mount Rainier National Park with a 4.1-star rating from 13 reviews.
What is the best site to find tent camping near Carbonado, WA?
TheDyrt.com has all 90 tent camping locations near Carbonado, WA, with real photos and reviews from campers.
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