Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Carnation, WA

Really cute camp spot and play area!! Pet friendly and dog park! Went here on our trip to Tacoma north of the city. Very nice beach and area!! There's also a light house to check out while you are here!

The prices for everything is amazing! The campsites are spacious and run along the creek! There are tent pads that make the ground not so hard under your tent. A table, grill and campfire ring at every site. The cabins are very nice! And are spacious as well. Have a porch swing, campfire ring, table and grill outside. Most cabins have an electric heater and a heat stove inside. The heat stove heats up the entire cabin very well!! They provide trash cans and bags and a broom to help keep the dirt cleaned up!

The bathrooms are very nice and clean. And they have firewood for sale on site. There is an attendant that will be there after work hours for people who are arriving late to get you checked in and answer questions you have. There are a couple of hiking trails, twin lakes, boats, canoes, and bikes to rent on site. There is also an enclosed dog park on site. There are tent sites, cabins, rv sites and even little apartments to rent for your stay. Great place and only 25 miles from town!

Silver Springs is our go-to for camping at Mt. Rainier. You get almost all the benefits of staying inside the park without most of the drawbacks (impossible reservations, permits, pet policies, etc.). Campsites are usually clean and spacious and kids feel safe riding around on their bikes and playing in the stream. Just be careful if you’re staying at one of the sites along the river during high rainfall as it can be dangerous for kids and pets.

Excellent location for those with military access to the base - active duty, retired or family. 30/50 amp hookups. Beautiful views of American Lake. Pet friendly.

This is very much an RV park and not really a campground. Seems like a clean little park, but right in the middle of Lynnwood, so if you are looking for a rural setting this isn't for you. 

They offer weekly and monthly rentals, so this is more of a long-term sort of place. 

Website: Northsound RV Park

​Requirements from their site: 

• Your travel trailer must be year 2005 or newer 
• Pet friendly(limit 2) not to exceed 25 lbs. Aggressive breed restrictions apply. 
• No conversion vehicles - sorry van and bus life people 
• No trailers larger than 35' long, ideally.

Staying two nights in the "preferred" #17 campsite. Parking was wide enough to fit my RV and my son's big Panel Truck. Pay showers ($1 for 3 minutes) and clean restroom with air dryer, pet friendly, lots of trails to hike and a beautiful beach area with a playground, seasonal/weekend snack shop, outdoor shower by the beach and full-time host. We paid $37 (+10 for extra vehicle) for one of the few "camper preferred" sites, but the normal rate is $25 (least preferred site) and $32 (average preference)and the only difference in the sites appears to be where in the campground they are located. We were at the end of the campground next to the camp host and a disabled access site, directly across from the showers. Great cell coverage for my T-Mobile plan. ***Commercial jets landing at Sea-Tac fly directly above us at a low altitude and are VERY loud and VERY frequent (every 3-5 minutes), so if you don't mind the noise, or LOVE airplanes (like we do), this is an Awesome campground!!!

The Verlot campground is in a beautiful location within the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. This small campground showed us that sometimes camping down by the river in a van isn’t really a bad life decision. The campground themselves are 2 small loops that were nicely laid out with a good number of the 26 sites being on the water. Some of the sites are more secluded than other, and a few are setup to be combined with their neighbors to accommodate large groups. Our site (#13) was one of the sites which is more separated from the neighbors on both the left and right by fairly thick underbrush and mostly shaded with the river side being left completely open. We then had a little path right down to the river. Within the site itself you get a nice decent flat area for a tent or 2 and your standard table and fire ring with a grill. There are tons of potable water spigots located throughout the campgrounds and the restroom facilities were simple but clean and fully functional. This is a great location for either just relaxing and taking in the quiet sounds of nature or as a jumping off point to explore more of the National Forest and eventually the Northern Cascades National Park.

Amenities: standard picnic tables, fire rings + grill, flush toilets, potable water

Prohibited: pets off-leash

Nearby Hikes: Lake Twenty-Two Trail, and the Heather Lake Trail

I camped here over the past weekend and had a wonderful time. There are a lot of campsites to use and they are somewhat close together but I was not disturbed by any of my neighbors near or far during my two night stay. The is a good amount of tree cover but also plenty of open spots usually around the center of each camp. At almost every location you can hear the water from the river but you can also hear the noises of cats along the highway which was the main reason I give it 4/5 stars. They have a water pump for fresh water but I would recommend having two people to operate it. Bathrooms were spartan but clean and usable. Every site that I saw (about 20) had fire pits with some type of built in grill top so if there is no ban I’d strongly recommend bring local firewood to cook your dinner and make some S’mores!

Ipsut Creek Campground is a relatively easy 5 mile trek or bike ride with a 700’ elevation gain, down a closed road (due to the road wash out about 3 miles in) to a wooded campground nestled along the Carbon River.

Located at the trailhead are two bathrooms, a covered picnic area and a handful of parking stalls with additional parking located along the road. 

The trail begins behind the closed gates into the shade of the old growth forest. The trail then alternates between the shade of the forest and sunny skys with river views and wildflowers along the way.

There are a few side trips off the main Carbon River Trail even before reaching the Ipsut Creek Camp;

1. Mini Rainforest Loop, 0.25 miles

2. Old Mine Trail, 0.6 miles round trip

3. Green Lake & Ranger Falls trail, 3.6 miles round trip

Note: Sadly, the trail to Chenuis Falls has washed out, so now there is just a log bridge into the water to nowhere.

Once you reach the campground, it has about 20 campsites with about half the sites located on the river. We were lucky enough to swoop up site number 15 though, strangely, another family decided to share it with us for our easy river front access.  Thankfully the river is pretty loud and drowned out the noise of our close campers. We did choose to camp on the high-profile weekend of the 4th of July, so all the cool campsites along the river were obviously full, which is why we think we had “friends” join us. There was a large fallen tree sort of splitting the camp site in half, so we took the left half, with the smaller 1 picnic table option, while the strangers took the right half with 2 picnic tables. 

The trees in camp are great for setting up hammocks. We set up a hammock triangle upon arrival in camp near the river for lazy afternoon naps. My siblings both slept in their hammocks fulltime, while my husband and I set up a tent in a small clearing on the opposite side of the picnic table, closer to the bear lockers (bear lockers are a huge plus, meaning a bear canister isn’t necessary if you’re not heading deeper into the backcountry). 

The campground had a decent amount of wildlife running around.  We had a number of chipmunks running around our camp cleaning up any scraps left daily; we found a live mouse chilling in a water bottle one morning upon setting up for breakfast, and deer came through the camp just about anytime it was quiet.  

The campground does have two restrooms but they smell like the bog of eternal stench, so bring strong essential oils, a scented hanky, or a shovel to dig cat tracks in the woods far from camp and water sources. 

The campground is a good base camp to explore the surrounding Carbon Glacier/ Mowich Lake area. We visited Ipsut Falls, which was less than a half mile round trip out of camp, making for a sweet little trip to break up the day in camp. 

We also chose to make the adventure up to the Suspension Bridge and to the Carbon Glacier view point. Our morning started off cool in heavy fog, which burned off throughout the day, giving way to magnificent views of the mountain and glacier. The trail was covered in wildflowers, cairns, creeks and mini waterfalls. It made for a beautiful day trip out of camp with plenty of opportunities to go further into the backcountry closer to Winthrop Glacier, out to Tolmie peak area or back out along the Wonderland Trail. Backcountry options seemed endless. 

Though the trail and camp (and site) were crowded, the hike to the glacier made the entire trip worth our cozy campsite. The Carbon Glacier is a bit dirty looking but to be standing in front of something so ancient and magnificent is truly amazing.  My husband, sister and I have now added a new item to our bucket lists and that is to see as many glaciers as we can before they melt, here’s to our first. =) 

Note: The campground is located within Mount Rainier National Park (no pets are allowed) so you’ll need to stop by the Carbonado Ranger Station for a Wilderness Permit and National Park Day Pass or Annual Permit to display for parking. No campfires within the campground.

told macdonald is super cute park and campground! they offer the typical primitive campsites with fire pits and picnic tables, as well as yurts and shipping container conversions for those who want more of a "GLAMping" outdoor experience. the campground, park and trails are very well maintained and they even provide you with garden carts to help you get your stuff across the bridge. great spot for steelhead + salmon fishing. we've fished steelhead and pinks out of the snoqualmie river in the past. it's located right smack in the middle of carnation so on a nice sunny day you could walk out of the park to get pizza, ice cream or even mexican food. the suspension bridge is pretty cool, but hold onto your phones tight because it could slip through the holes into the river below. i would rate this place as 4-5 star park / 3-4 star camping since it's not even close to roughing it. those bucolic woods are our backyard.

There are several long term campers here. The grounds are kept immaculate and they regularly update the sites.  They hang wreaths for the winter holidays. Lawns mowed weekly. 

All are level gravel. All have grass area, some with patio pad. There is a dog walk area and they are currently creating a dog fenced area at the end orf the two rows. 

A caretaker is on site and will often help guide rigs into the sites (all are back-in). 

Close to Poulsbo (a cute, Norwegian heritage town), Seattle ferry via Bainbridge Island and just over an hour to the Olympic National Park via the Hood Canal Bridge.