Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Gifford Pinchot National Forest

Oklahoma campground is mainly a pleasant overflow area if you can't find a site at the slightly more scenic Panther Creek campground down the road. Clear and flat, Oklahoma was named for where an influx of settlers were coming from in the late 1900s. The nice features are ease of use, being next to a wonderfully wild little stream and under great tree cover. Hiking and exploration are amazing within the Gifford Pinchot National Forest area, so you're within a prime natural space here.

Moss Creek is in prime middle south territory of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest wonderland, right by the Big Lava Bed, Lil' Huckleberry Mountain, the Pacific Crest Trail, Forlorn Lakes and the Mt. Adams Ranger Station. That each site is so uniquely its own is what makes this special - the raw campsites right by the road, the dip down to #8, right by a creek, that #12 sits up with a beautiful forest view right out the door (see pic) and the very helpful/pro-active campground hosts behind. Moss Creek isn't crowded and is easy to find, right by Hwy. 14. So what if it's not spectacular scenery-wise. You just can't go wrong here.

What a great way to spend our weekend. This place was a wonderful place to stay while hiking within the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Washington offers so many hikes and beautiful places to see the best views. Mountains everywhere! This campground was great, located just off the road. It is pretty easy to find, and you dont have to go up a bad forest road to get there. The campground is great, pretty basic. Each campsite has a picnic table and fire ring. The people who must have stayed at our campsite before didnt really do a good job of cleaning. We picked up after them, which wasnt a huge deal to us. The campsites were a decent size- fit our tent, hammock and 4 people comfortably. The hiking was great. Highly recommend checking out the hiking spots nearby. The most amazing views ever!!

This is my go-to campground when visiting the Gorge area. Located in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, just north of the town of Carson. Its about a 20 minute drive to the Columbia river, and 10 minutes to the small town of Carson. Its tucked away down a beautiful Forest road. You are nestled amongst towering old growth trees, wild ferns and thimbleberries, with Panther Creek running alongside the camp. The 2018 season had excellent campground hosts, I hope they return next year! They were very friendly and had helpful tips for trails in the area.

The pit toilets were clean, though heavy smell of ammonia which is not unusual at campgrounds like this. Each site has a fire pit and picnic table. There are potable water pumps, as well as garbage and recycling. Frequented mainly by families, and some PCT hikers, as it is located just of the PCT trail. They have first come first serve as well as reservable sites. It fills up quickly on the weekends, so if you dont have a site reserved I highly recommend getting there early. Each regular site is $18 a night. Enjoy!

This is the kind of campground that we love, small, quiet and lovely. Tucked right on the banks of the East Fork of the Lewis River and on the edge of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, this is a great get away for anyone in the Vancouver / Portland area. The campsites are small with pull-through parking that could accommodate rigs up to 35’ or up to three vehicles. It’s short enough to walk it before pulling in to see if you’ve got enough room to turn around. 

The sites all have fire rings, and picnic tables and a small tent pad. The vault toilet buildings have taken the brunt of 3 decades of the Washington moss and lichen so were further along the way toward decomposition than I normally like in a bathroom building and smelly, but they were clean enough to use. The water was clean and good tasting and the campground hosts were friendly and efficient. 

The campground was pretty forested, but we were able to still charge up our solar powered system even on cloudy days in one of the less wooded sites. We didn’t even need to pull out our portable solar panel, which we often do when camping in forested areas, allowing the camper to be in the shade, keeping it cool, and being able to put the panel out in the sun. 

Nearby recreation opportunities are endless, from the world-class paddling on the Lewis River to many nearby creeks and streams. The area is a waterfall chaser’s dream, with many parks and hiking trails within 20 miles, just follow the road back downstream and stop at the many parks along the way. The road is pretty narrow and I wouldn’t recommend riding road bikes along the busy paved roads, but further into the forest the dirt road offers some great access and is perfect for gravel bikes. 

In this area you’re about 20-30 minutes from suburban Vancouver WA, where pretty much everything is available, including some pretty fabulous wineries. Check 'em out!

Mossyrock Park is one of 4 day use/campground parks run by Tacoma Power. This one sits on the southwest side of Riffe Lake just above the Mossyrock Dam. It's a really lovely park. Lots of open space, playground, disc golf, dog park, beach area, concession stand, boat ramp, and several camping loops. The campground varied greatly in types of spaces and could accommodate tents up to fairly large RVs. We had a space in the Main campground that had 30 amp and water. The spot was paved with a picnic table and fire ring with a BBQ grate and a view of the lake through the trees. It was not very level though. We have an older 5th wheel that doesn't have a fancy auto leveling system so it took quite a bit of time to get everything level side to side and front to back. At one point, we had to hook back up to our truck to raise the front landing gear and add some blocks because we couldn't get the trailer low enough in the front. The spot really was nice though with plenty of space between spots. I do think we lucked out though because this was not the case in some of the other loops. Their spaces were a bit closer together. All in all, we did enjoy our time there. Our kiddo really liked the playground and getting ice cream at the concession stand after dinner. This park is family, dog, and fishing friendly. Many folks brought their boats right along with their trailers. We would camp here again sometime.

We took our youth group on their first camping trip a few weeks ago. I rained a tad, but the kids loved it! I was very impressed with the upkeep of the camp ground. Very clean. The trash got picked up by the Rangers at least once a day, even more on the Saturday. The bath rooms were clean and had warm shower s. They were also very dog friendly, they had a pet post outside the bathrooms and poop bags available. Even though the water level of the lake is extremely low, it did not stop us from boating swimming and kayaking!

My father and I snowshoed to this yurt for my birthday in right before the corona virus outbreak. With several feet of deep snow, this 12.5 mile snow hike was no joke. Took us 8 hours to get to the yurt. Make sure you leave yourself plenty of daylight to get up there.

Pets are not allowed inside the yurt for consideration of other guests and their possible allergies. We just set up a tarp over the porch outside for our dog. Twenty feet away from the front door is the vault toilet. It’s in great condition and very clean. Warm fire place and plenty of furniture or ground space for sleeping arrangements. You can reserve the yurt to have it all to yourself at skimta.org once the virus restrictions are over.

Nice restrooms. The scenery is gorgeous and is conviently located by Packwood. Massive trees and campground is pet friendly. Also reservations are welcome. The spots are kind of close together so you will be able to see & hear your neighbors. But there is a lot to do.

I've been coming here since I was a little kid and it's still one of my favorite campgrounds (with leashed pets allowed). It's cute, wooded, with a moss covered old growth forest, fairly private camps, with one large group site available. Obviously the river spots are the prime locations but we recently had to branch out and stayed in the more wooded Loop B at site B4. We found we had plenty of space and privacy for a party of 5. At this location we had piped water between us and site B5, and we were conveniently located a short walk from restrooms and Purcell Falls. There are plenty of options to keep you busy inside the campground such as visit to one of the many rivers or creeks, the blue hole or a hike to Purcell falls.
If you choose to use the campground as a base camp your close to many other options as well; Ohanapecosh campground and amphitheater, hike naches peak loop, visit the town of Packwood or Mount Rainier National Park (no pets allowed).

Quaint little place, tucked away off the side of the road. Toutle river down below. There are RV and camp spots. You can pull in late and pay in the morning. Bonus as I often get there at midnight. Onsite bathroom; power; water at RV spots. Pets allowed. Grassy area for picnic-y stuff, play area. Horse shoes. They sell firewood...if you get there early enough. Fire rings and tables. There's parking pads and ample space to set up. It's not the greatest but we keep going back because it offers just what you need. You supply the rest. There's a restaurant next door that you can take a trail to...

Located on the Hood River, right off Highway 35 near the small town of Parkdale, this park was an unexpected pleasant find. The sites used to be reservable, but are now first come, first available. The camp host was very friendly as was the resident cat, Huck, who came right up to us and hung out for a while. The sites offer a varying amount of privacy; the East Fork loop is more of an open space, with the sites close together and closer to the road (you will hear road noise). But, the sites along the Hood River (West Fork Loop) are separated by trees and much nicer (and a little more expensive but worth it). Site 82, a sort-of pull through, is right on the river. Showers were nice with lots of hooks; restrooms were reasonably clean but only had cold water. Only negative: the dumpster was overflowing; hopefully, this was just left over from the Memorial Day weekend. Nice, large day use area with a playground. Excellent internet/cell coverage.