Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Wauna, 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!

Great campground right before Olympic national park. Facilities are amazing and great dog park! Host was very friendly and took great care of us.

Spent 7 days (max) here. Camp hosts went out of their way to make it comfortable, clean and quiet. Completely dispersed tent or rv camping with a Washington Discovery Pass ($35 year) otherwise FREE for up too 7 days. Just register campsite upon arrival at front billboard or call ahead with questions or availability. First come first serve. Entire campground has decent roads but go extra extra slow in areas. Their are also couple nice campground public toilets but NO water or power. Bring sewer if able. Pet friendly but rules strictly enforced. I gave it 5 stars due to MY stay was amazing and my dog had a good time too. Thanks Margaret McKenny Camp hosts Ginny and Steve.

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!!!

Interesting the other review was for a first time out with their travel trailer!  Same for us!

We got site 106 which was the furthest one out, it was right along the river.  The site has a concrete slab and fit our Jayco 174BH perfectly.  

This site does is a back in, but the slab is at a 90 degree angle from the drive.  So you will have to back your trailer around a corner if you plan to park it on the slab.  Didn't see other sites like this.  

The campground did have a very small selection of items to buy, but mainly snacks.  They do fill propane tanks, but only during week days.

The site had water and electrical, but no sewer connections.  they do have a nice dump station.

The camp ground itself did have at least 2 pet areas neither are fenced so a leash is required, along with a playground for the kids.

We have Verizon and had no issues with cell signal at this campground.

Also, this is a private campground, so they have a guy that stands at the gate to open it when guests come arrive.

Came here as a last minute decision heading south to Mount St. Helens. Although there was plenty of spaces here, the campground seems very popular and only a few last minute spots available. Got a tent spot (#205) next to the restrooms, facilities were clean and there is a camp sink at each restroom. With that being said there isn’t much for privacy and we had pretty noisy neighbors who had a cat!!! that wandered into our campsite and tent. The lake was beautiful for being a reservoir but if your looking for solitude look further south into the woods for it.

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.

Pros: Dog-friendly, spacious sites at Staircase with close proximity to Lake Crescent and several trails (no dogs allowed).

Cons: Popular site, so may feel crowded. Closest town is Hoodsport (30min drive). Limited access for dogs on unpacked trails in ONP (but for good reason). Otherwise, no cons.

Tips: FCFS campground, so if you want to land a highly coveted creek-side site, start your hunt around 11am for campers to check out. Don’t forget to visit a pull off site on the gravel road alongside lake crescent for a beer and a swim. You can purchase most gear + bear canister in Hoodsport. Take out at the local Mexican place is alright. Be smarter than we were and don’t sit on old tree trunks or else your butt will get sapped. Hike with your dog outside ONP at Big Creek, which is 11 min drive outside Staircase.

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.