Best Campgrounds near Cowiche, WA

I’ve seen plenty of good reviews about the camp host at horseshoe lake but i will not be writing one of them. I didn’t catch her name but she drives a white nissan truck. the camp host completely ruined our weekend with her overbearing attitude, and complete lack of respect for our personal space and things. 

one of our buddies went on a beer run while we went down to the river and left our old dog calmly laying on a rug in the shade at our site. he was leashed, had water and was completely fine. he’s a senior dog who just likes to relax and even prefers sleeping outside at home. she came to our campsite while we were gone and claimed he was “scared for his life” when it reality he was probably barking because a total stranger is walking up to him. 

this part blew my mind, she wrote us a ticket for an “unattended fire” when there was NO fire burning, a fire wasn’t even started that day. but she took it upon herself to dump out our water and the dogs water (that she cared so much about) onto the fire pit, completely soaking it and making it harder for us to build a fire that night. 

on top of that, she even admitted to pretty much making herself at home and hanging out at our campsite while we were not there. she flipped over one if our chairs upside down and got it all muddy with the water she spilt everywhere, took one of our only trash bags we had that was hanging on our canopy, barely  used it, had no food in it, just some empty water bottles. 

it did not stop there, she kept hovering around our campsite constantly checking on us throughout the weekend. it honestly felt like harassment, we didn’t feel welcome or comfortable the rest of the trip. she was COMPLETELY out of line for just hanging out at our campsite while we were gone, touching,  and moving our personal belongings without invitation or permission

We have stayed a few times at Silver Springs and its one of our all time favorite . Recently stayed at site 13 and almost no one else was nearby.

Most of the sites are larger than average and mostly separated from the other sites.

There are two main loops (both close to the highway) and one dead-end loop on the southern side really close to the river.

The close access to several hiking trailheads, the White River itself, Goat Falls trailhead (almost no parking there), Crystal Mtn Ski Resort (open in the summer for Gondola rides to the top of the ridge with amazing 360 degree views and a restaurant (check for last seating times)), Sunrise Mt. Rainier entrance, and the rest of Chinook Pass, and close drives to Enumclaw, makes this a fantastic no service campground (public bathrooms with sinks on each loop). 

There is a slightly hidden trail through the middle of the northern loop that we accidentally discovered this trip - it has a large group campfire / picnic area that would is not for camping but for day/evening use for a larger group with several picnic tables and cooking spots with a nice short and beautiful walk along the small creek inside the camp loop.

We stayed in Site 11 for 2 nights at the end of June 2025.

The campground is located on the side of HWY 12 on a small rocky peninsula, this surprising spot on Rimrock Lake (reservoir created by the dams built about 100 years ago) is run by a retired couple for the last 5 years (as of summer 2025).
It offers a boat launch, 25 or so sites of mixed services (ranging from full hookup [elect/water/sewer] to basic site with picnic table and firepit), and a couple of cabins, and a bath-house on the east side (2 separate restrooms with shower stalls).

The sites are mostly back in, with a few (like site 11) that are pull-through.
The western side sites (1 - 17?) have beautiful views, but the typical afternoon/evening wind can be quite, well, windy, while the eastern side is sheltered from the wind. We hiked around the small peninsula and the wind disappeared.
The small office has a few snacks and camping items but isn't open all the time - only when the owner couple is around.
If you are going to go hiking, you only need to drive a few miles west on Hwy 12 to find several other public campgrounds and some nice scenery, while continuing west up towards the pass and ski resort area on Hwy 12 has several scenic viewpoints that you should plan to stop at for a few minutes each (Lava Falls, etc).
The lake itself is rather sparsely used (one or two boats or a jet ski way off in the distance). We had three very friendly chipmunks who visited our site often and were happy to sit on the old stump and join our camp.