Best Dispersed Camping near Maple Valley, WA

Dispersed Camping Reviews near Maple Valley, WA

138 Reviews of 42 Maple Valley Campgrounds

• R

  Rich P.

  Traveler

  Sep. 7, 2021

  White River Dispersed Camping

  Riverside perfection

  Plenty of sites along the river with multiple ingress/egress options from the road. Right outside the entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park and the access road to Crystal Mountain. 

  4x4 / high clearance vehicles recommended - saw some subarus trying to navigate into a cleared area and it was pretty scrape-y. 

  Great place to stay if you can't get a spot at White River / Ohanapecosh.

  Leave no trace.

• 

  Ashley M.

  Ranger

  Dec. 5, 2020

  Dispersed near Salmon la Sac

  Dispersed near Salmon la Sac

  Single campsite off the forest service road. No porta potty, no water, no electricity. Could accommodate a group. No picnic table. Not an actual metal fire pit but someone made a rock ring. The downside is the shooting pit right below the site. When we were there a family came to shoot but they stopped by our site to let us know beforehand.

• 

  Theresa K.

  Scout

  Aug. 18, 2023

  Dispersed Camping Beckler Creek

  Repulsive

  Every dispersed campground we checked along this road (maybe five or so) was littered with human feces and toilet paper everywhere. We found a literal bucket of human waste beside the river with a soiled pool noodle nearby I can only assume was being used as a toilet seat. Please, if you care about keeping nature wild, carry out your toilet paper and dig a cathole or use the outhouse in the campground. If you don’t know what a cathole is, you should probably should not being using dispersed camping and try the campground down the road. We ended up staying at the campground because we couldn’t find dispersed camping where there wasn’t poop and had a positive experience there. Leave no trace!! 

  https://www.nps.gov/articles/leave-no-trace-seven-principles.htm

  Read More
• 

  Laura M.

  Legend

  May. 18, 2025

  Ranger Creek Airstrip Dispersed

  Not for Us, But We'd Try Again

  We had high hopes for this USFS campground, having read that it’s on an airstrip, it sounded neat. But we decided not to stay here after we checked it out. There were lots and lots of other campers there, lots of camo, lots of large pickup trucks that don’t slow down on gravel roads, lots of “don’t tread on me” flags. 

  We drove to the end where the bathroom is and decided to turn around, though it seems that the camp spots do continue after that point. This was on a Saturday, in all fairness, so the vibe might be different during the week. 

  It’s a 14 day stay limit, and other than the toilets there are no other amenities, so please pack out your trash. At the entrance it says that the following passes are honored: Annual Northwest Forest Pass, Golden Eagle Passport, and Washington and Oregon Recreation Pass. However, at the bathrooms, there’s another sign that says a $5 day use fee required. Doesn’t make sense that camping is free with certain passes but for day use it’s a $5 fee, but since we weren’t staying we didn’t look much into it. No ATV or off road riding here. 

  Cell signal was very weak for Verizon and non-existent for ATT. Giving it 4 stars instead of 3 because it wasn't so bad that I wouldn't be willing to check it out again the next time we're in the area.

  Read More
• 

  Laura M.

  Legend

  May. 18, 2025

  Ranger Creek Airstrip Dispersed

  Not for us, but we would try again.

  We had high hopes for this USFS campground, having read that it’s on an airstrip, it sounded neat. But we decided not to stay here after we checked it out. There were lots and lots of other campers there, lots of camo, lots of large pickup trucks that don’t slow down on gravel roads, lots of “don’t tread on me” flags. We drove to the end where the bathroom is and decided to turn around, though it seems that the camp spots do continue after that point. This was on a Saturday, in all fairness, so the vibe might be different during the week. 

  It’s a 14 day stay limit, and other than the toilets there are no other amenities, so please pack out your trash. At the entrance it says that the following passes are honored: Annual Northwest Forest Pass, Golden Eagle Passport, and Washington and Oregon Recreation Pass. However, at the bathrooms, there’s another sign that says a $5 day use fee required. Doesn’t make sense that camping is free with certain passes but for day use it’s a $5 fee, but since we weren’t staying we didn’t look much into it. No ATV or off road riding here. 

  Cell signal was very weak for Verizon and non-existent for ATT. Giving it 4 stars instead of 3 because it wasn't so bad that I wouldn't be willing to check it out again the next time we're in the area.

  Read More
• 

  Parker C.

  Guide

  May. 24, 2025

  South Fork Snoqualmie River Dispersed Site

  Pretty neat spot

  Access road is right off the highway and unpaved, has a TON of holes so I wouldn’t recommend driving down it without good ground clearance. There are a number of established sites where you can pull off the road and drive back into the woods a bit. And I had cell service everywhere!

• 

  Megan C.

  Ranger

  Jul. 14, 2017

  Ipsut Creek Camp — Mount Rainier National Park

  Crowded yet Cozy

  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.

  Read More
• 

  Sara J.

  Scout

  Apr. 21, 2024

  Dispersed Camping Beckler Creek

  Beckler creek riverside

  Nice large campsite near the water. There were many campsites along the road. I had to clean up a lot of trash when it got here. Please pack out your own trash and follow other leave no trace rules. The campfire was awesome

• L

  Lucas B.

  Scout

  Aug. 24, 2023

  White River Dispersed Camping

  Secluded Spot

  This road was pretty hard to find but we’ll worth it. Spot was secluded even though there seemed to be two other groups camping at the site. There was an obnoxious amount of used toilet paper in the area but it was avoidable. If you come here you must leave no trace.