Best Glamping near Index, WA

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.

This is our second time going to Kanaskat Palmer Park and we decided to enjoy four nights in there yurts between the fall and winter transition season. I must say I was very impressed to see that the bathrooms and showers were still very clean ever since the pandemic and that it was quite a nice place to stay during the weekdays if you wanted a quietly stay in the woods with the sounds of the flowing river. We will definitely be back again next year!

What a beautiful place! The campground is in 500+ acre Tolt-McDonald Park, far enough away from any busy road so that there is no traffic noise, just the sound of the Tolt River rapids. All the RV sites are drive-through, with water and 20, 30, and 50-Amp service. (There is a privately-run RV dump on the way to the park.) The sites are wide because of the driveway. No trees between sites, but some bushes between sites offer some privacy for the back half of the sites. The 17 RV sites are around a huge lawn, with the restroom building at one end, and a path down the middle that is part of a long, level, paved bike/walking trail. There is a shower in each restroom, so the whole building is heated (which was really nice, since the lows were in the 30s in April, 2022) Access to both rivers is at the South end of the RV loop. There are tent-only sites to the North, and also yurts and more tent sites across a picturesque foot bridge over the Snoqualmie River. There are carts available to roll your stuff over the footbridge.

General: 50-site campground (including six yurts) plus a group campground. The campground is in two loops: one with electric hookups and one without. 

Site Quality: All sites are level and are a mix of back-in and pull-through. Site 24 was a pull-thru. Sites in the tent (no hookup) section are gravel while sites with electricity have paved camper pads. ADA-accessible sites (one in each loop) are completely paved. Heavily wooded sites afford good privacy between sites. 

Bath/Shower house: one building between the two loops with six all-in-one (toilet, sink, shower) units. They were clean. At first glance, it appears you need tokens for the shower but upon closer inspection, it did look like they were free. However, you were asked to conserve water and that the hot water was turned off at night due to vandalism.

Activities: Several trails that are open until dusk. Several places to put in and take out boats but you are warned that some sections of the Green River are Class III or IV and where you should take out if you are not a highly experienced boater. We also saw some people fishing.

This was our final stop on our North Cascades loop trip. The campground is located about an hour outside of Seattle yet it was very quiet (except for several trains throughout the day and night). Surprisingly we had zero cell coverage(Verizon).

Do not believe the cautions about the worst road in Washington; there road is paved and beautiful.

I love this area and would have given 5 stars but for two things. The website says water is available - the water pump worked once in three days. I only saw one set of restrooms (vault) they were... unusable.

Maybe I will try again later in the season, when the summer campers put their tents away.

I was a volunteer camp host for this park for a month. It’s a busy place on the weekends especially. The system in Washington is sometimes showing how overwhelmed and understaffed they are, and this park is so severely understaffed it’s sad. Many folks do not understand how to cleanup and leave no trace. As volunteers, we learned a lot about the area, the fight with the Tulalip Tribe to have the land, the desecration of indian burial grounds, the full sale of the land by a private owner to the state because of a haunting and a family curse... there’s a ton of local drama in these lands. If you’re a ghost nut, this place is for you - ask the campground staff for the history.

My family stayed here for a night when we went out to Washington a few months ago. It was a nice little place. Mostly we stayed here because of how close it was to seattle, so we were't at the campground very much. It does have a pretty good amount of sites. It's got showers and bathrooms which is always nice at a campground. It does have a lot of activities because of how close it is to the water. We saw people fishing, diving, sailing, etc. The only thing I didn't like about it was that building wood fires isn't allowed in the campground. 

The seattle area has all kinds of things to do. My family went to Pike Place Market which was awesome to see. We saw a Mariners game, the space needle, and went on some awesome hikes around the area. 

Overall the campground was a pretty nice place to stay, especially if you are trying to visit the seattle area for a couple of nights. Great place!

Private group campground with 7 sites. River access. Vault toilet, no water. Road noise during busy times can be a bit much. Beautiful views from camp. No cell service!

Campground Review:

This park is big, beautiful, and very family friendly. I've been camping in this park a few times and the only complaint I have during a high traffic weekend (like a music festival - TimberFest happens here yearly) is that there are not enough rest rooms! There are plenty of huge camping spots that include fire pits, picnic tables, and room for your car. There are also spots with RV hookups if you roll like that. If you venture across the Shakey bridge there are hiking trails, access to the water, and plenty of trees to hang your hammock in. There are also additional more remote camping spots on the other side of the bridge. You can access the water from both sides of the bridge so don't fret! This park is super close to downtown Redmond so if you are looking for an easy trip, or something a little more remote on the other side of the bridge, this is the spot for you.

Product Review:

As a Ranger for The Dyrt I get the opportunity to test awesome products! At Told MacDonald Park I tested out my Belmont Blanket. I've had the opportunity to use my Belmont Blanket Hella Good blanket a couple of times now and it has been a great addition to my trips. The soft side is super soft (and baby friendly) and the waterproof side is great to put down on the grass (or facing up in your hammock) to keep any condensation off of you. The blanket also has a great rustic look to it that all my friends loved. I leave it in the back seat of my car all the time in case I want to go hang out in the sand or grass, or need some emergency warmth. I've owned a couple of other adventure blankets and now that I have this one it has become my go-to blanket. Sleeping in my hammock with it was awesome for an extra layer of warmth - underquilt on the bottom, Belmont Blanket on top! Overall I would highly recommend this blanket to adventurers, campers, and casual picnickers alike. You don't have to be a nomad to enjoy a nice cuddle in this blanket.

Overall we had a good time here, river is close by for water playing, and there is a playground for kids in the park. Grocery store is only two minutes away which makes it super convenient. However, the tent campsites have no shades, so on a sunny day it can get really hot. It's not a place where you can spend much time at the campsite during the day in my opinion.