The forested landscapes surrounding Onalaska, Washington provide access to diverse camping experiences, with Mount St. Helens dispersed camping areas located approximately 40 miles to the south. This region sits strategically between Mount Rainier National Park and the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, offering both developed and primitive camping options. Dispersed sites along Forest Service roads dominate the camping landscape, particularly in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Most sites consist of simple pullouts with established fire rings and minimal amenities. Tent camping predominates in the area, though some forest roads accommodate small to medium-sized RVs and trailers where turnouts allow.
Road conditions vary significantly throughout the region, with many forest service roads requiring high clearance vehicles. As one camper noted, "The road coming in the last 10 miles is rough in many spots. It's hard to see the bumps and dips in the road in the early evening." Most dispersed sites lack facilities, though some areas like NF-52 have temporary toilets installed during peak season. Cell service is spotty throughout the region, with Verizon typically providing 1-2 bars in elevated areas. Weather patterns change rapidly, particularly near Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier, with cold nights common even during summer months. Fire restrictions frequently apply during the dry season, typically July through September.
Riverside camping spots are highly sought after and fill quickly, especially on summer weekends. According to one visitor at NF-52, "We found an awesome walk-in spot with spectacular views of Mt. Rainier, easy access down to the river, and a fire pit." Trash management remains an ongoing challenge at many sites, with several reviewers noting litter problems. The Mount St. Helens dispersed camping areas receive consistently positive reviews for their seclusion and proximity to hiking trails. One camper reported, "There were dozens of open sites that we had our pick of. A handful of cars drove by throughout the evening and night, but not an outrageous amount." Wildlife sightings are common, with elk, deer, and various small mammals frequently observed near campsites throughout the region.
"We tucked in off of Forest Road 74. Beautiful sites. No toilet. I would have given it a 5 but there was quite a bit of trash."
"Definitely best for car camping as the spots down by the river were pretty wet and muddy this time of year. The waterfall is amazing and only a 15 minute hike down!"
"The river is a walk down a very steep hill behind the pullout. No place to pitch a tent, best for car camping."
"This is a dispersed campsite near the south side of Mount St. Helens. It's free, which is always great. The drive in is just off the highway and up a little hill, but my car had no problems with it."
"This dispersed camping is free, huge bonus in my book."
$12 / night
"Simple, small, peaceful campground with pit toilets and potable water. Mid week after Labor Day, I had my choice of sites arriving in late afternoon."
"We arrived little later around 6 p.m. And being such a nice day there were only few sites left."
"In 2019, we hiked the Boundary Trail #1 to the Mount Margaret Wilderness overlooking the Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument."
"Forest Service has installed 6 temporary toilets for the third year in a row to assist with human waste issues. "
"We found an awesome walk in spot a little bit earlier on on the forest road before these actual coordinates."
"Campground Review: There are a ton of amazing places to camp around Mt. Rainier and Cora Lake did not disappoint."
"secluded lakeside camping underneath high rock. 3 mile hike to the lake, 6 round trip. Tons and tons of frogs and tadpoles which meant no bugs! beautiful area"
"Group camping with 4-5 places for tents and 2 maybe 3 spots for travel trailers but will need to back in. 2 fire pits and a few walking trails. Solar friendly and level."
"The area around mount Saint Helens is beautiful, tons of space to park any rig, tent, or vehicle. The forest has majestic trees and when it rains, it resembles a rainforest."
"It’s basically a pull off from the forest service road with a fire ring, but remote enough that you never see anyone. Going on day 3 and I’ve yet to see another car go by."
"Views are amazing Forest road for around 8 miles is a bit rough with potholes so I wouldn't recommend bringing a low car into here."
ScoutRight off the highway. Pit toilet and wooded areas. Can still hear highway from this exact GPS location, so I went further on up the road for a quieter spot. A few trucks did speed by in the middle of the night, but it was a Saturday and July 4th weekend. 5 bars of cell service.
RangerIpsut 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;
Mini Rainforest Loop, 0.25 miles
Old Mine Trail, 0.6 miles round trip
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.
GuideI have camped here twice now, once during a scouting trip in 2016 with my boys and again in September 2024 with just me and my dog :). I could pull my 17' pop-up "A" frame trailer and back into one of the two spots with no problem. Due to the narrow road, it may be a bit more snug with bigger rigs (25+ feet long and anything more than 8+ feet wide). I would scout the road and area before committing; however, there is a turnaround that you could use to maneuver the trailer to drive out. It's plenty big to accommodate a few trucks/cars and one, maybe two towable trailers. If you're going tent camping, there are about four flat places for tents. The area has no trails, so you would not have to worry about people wandering into the campsite. The Ape Caves is a small drive away. The town of Cougar, WA. is about 10 miles away if you need gas or food. There is a lot of shade, and it is not solar-friendly. The main road is about 100 feet away, relatively quiet, and very private. There was a large rock fire pit in the middle. There is no cell phone reception; however, if you drive East for a few miles, you may be able to get 2 bars with Verizon.
Per the state website, "On the southwest side of Mount St. Helens, Forest Road 81 provides an experience away from crowds. On this road, access Kalama Horse Camp, Red Rock Pass, and Forest Road 830, the road to Climber's Bivouac, and the start of the summer climbing route. From the west, the road begins on Forest Road 90, near Cougar, WA, and travels through private timberlands and state lands before entering Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. The road connects with Forest Road 83 on its east side. While mostly paved, be prepared for several miles of gravel(between Forest Road 830 and 8123) and a road that is sometimes very rough."
GuideThis was a large pull-off right off of NF-52, so there was no privacy from the hwy but at least the area was big enough to be a little distanced from traffic. The spots on the river were already occupied when I was looking late on a Sat afternoon, this is a popular dispersed area. The entire area was littered with toilet paper and discarded furniture. There was also a memorial hidden in some trees just out of sight of 52. Wouldn't have been a bad spot if people had picked up after themselves, but the trash situation was over the top. Thankful to have in a pinch but def wouldn't camp there again. (The pull off is right off the highway from what the coordinates show).
GuideThis place was beautiful!! Definitely best for car camping as the spots down by the river were pretty wet and muddy this time of year. The waterfall is amazing and only a 15 minute hike down! The only reason this place got lower than a 5 star is because of all the trash near the parking lot. Too beautiful of a place to be used as a dump!! Definitely used as a party spot but aside from this it’s worth the visit!
LegendThis is a dispersed campsite near the south side of Mount St. Helens. It's free, which is always great. The drive in is just off the highway and up a little hill, but my car had no problems with it. There's a lot of space here. From our spot, we saw at least a half a dozen fire pits, but we were the only ones there. It has some nice trees and a trail. Up the road is Lava Canyon, where there are toilets if you need. There are some decently flat spots for a tent and I felt was all around a good site.
ScoutA big pavement pull off on the ride of the road. The river is a walk down a very steep hill behind the pullout. No place to pitch a tent, best for car camping. Had some issues with people stopping and playing loud music, seems to be a hangout spot.
GuideThis dispersed camping is free, huge bonus in my book. While searching for our perfect spot we did come across a few large parties, making us apprehensive that we would experience our ideal peaceful experience, but we were wrong to be. There were dozens of open sites that we had our pick of. A handful of cars drove by throughout the evening and night, but not an outrageous amount. Pretty dang good for very accessible NF camping spots. There are a good deal of trailheads near by, meaning you're never too far from a pit toilet or a bulletin board with information.
We visited in early September and found the weather to be very pleasant. Our view of Mt. St Helen's was obscured by the tall trees that offered our site seclusion and privacy, but we relished the view of the active volcano while driving to and from our site.
RangerCampground Review:
There are a ton of amazing places to camp around Mt. Rainier and Cora Lake did not disappoint. Though it was raining on the day that we headed up we were mostly covered by a shelter of trees on the short hike in. Once you get to the lake you can walk around until you find a spot, though there are some fire pits throughout, it was a pretty fire-filled summer so there were no fires on our trip. We stayed at one of the first spots we came to because after taking a look at the other nearby spots this had the best trees for hanging our hammocks. We didn't have a ton of daylight left by the time we got there, but we also never saw another person during our trip (except a couple of forest fire fighters). Waking up the next morning directly in front of the lake in a hammock is amazing and breathtaking, I highly recommend it! If you have good hiking weather there's also a fire lookout nearby with great views.
Product Review:
As a Ranger for The Dyrt I get to review some great and often very practical products. This trip I was lucky enough to review two products from COLDPRUF.
Women's premium performance crew and Women's premium performance pant in cranberry. Camping in the late summer months is always an adventure with the threat of cold weather and rain. These base layers from Coldpruf definitely did their job of keeping me warm. I wore the top and bottoms to bed under my sweats snuggled into my sleeping bag and they were perfect. They are super breathable and soft so you never feel itchy or too warm. I left the top on the next morning for my hike back to the car, paired with my puffy vest it was just enough to keep me warm, and breathable enough that I wasn't covered in sweat when I got back to my car. The base layer is also a snug fit, so it's easy to add more layers on top in colder nights. I'd definitely recommend Coldpruf if you're looking for new, very affordable layering. They look great too and the color is perfect!
Rustic camping near Onalaska, Washington offers primitive sites and free camping options throughout the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and surrounding areas. The region sits at elevations ranging from 900 to 4,500 feet, creating significant temperature variations between day and night. Summer temperatures typically reach 75-85°F during the day but can drop below 45°F overnight, requiring proper sleeping gear even in July and August.
**Wildlife viewing: Around Mount St. Helens Dispersed Camping, elk, deer and smaller mammals are commonly spotted. "I was able to get a bar of service and found this area off 83. There's a bunch of pull offs... Great, quiet area. Clean and not much left behind. Bet it's busy in the summer but we didn't see anyone for miles in late April," reported one camper.
**Hiking to waterfalls: The Beaver Falls Trailhead area provides quick access to scenic falls. "The waterfall is amazing and only a 15 minute hike down! The only reason this place got lower than a 5 star is because of all the trash near the parking lot."
**Fishing: River access points along Forest Service roads provide fishing opportunities. At NF-52, the proximity to water is a major draw. "We found one that was covered in twigs and brambles. It was easy to get back to the site once we moved the blockage."
**Solitude and privacy: Dispersed sites on Butte Camp/Climbers Bivouac offer isolation from crowds. "The area around mount Saint Helens is beautiful, tons of space to park any rig, tent, or vehicle. The forest has majestic trees and when it rains, it resembles a rainforest."
**Riverside spots: Many campers seek out waterfront sites for the ambiance. Along National Forest 84, "multiple beautiful spots in the same area. The sound of the creek is soothing overnight."
**No reservation requirements: Most dispersed camping areas don't require advance planning. "This dispersed camping is free, huge bonus in my book. There were dozens of open sites that we had our pick of."
**Road conditions: Many access roads require high-clearance vehicles or careful driving. At Rock Candy Mountain Trailhead, "Speed limit is a maximum 15 mph. There are signs posted thinking drivers for slowing down. Mainly a logging Road... It gets pretty steep going up the road."
**Toilet availability: Most sites lack facilities, though a few have seasonal options. "Forest Service has installed 6 temporary toilets for the third year in a row to assist with human waste issues."
**Trash management: Pack-out requirements are strictly enforced but not always followed. "Many of the campers do not understand the rules and they depart with trash and litter everywhere. Volunteers continue to cleanup after these abusers as well as the Forest Service."
**Weather preparedness: Even summer nights get cold at higher elevations. "We visited in early September and found the weather to be very pleasant."
**Easier sites: For families with young children, look for pullouts closer to main roads. "Youngest was 11. Told the kids it was a 2 hour walk. Did it in under an hour. Camped on the right hand shore as it basked in the morning sun."
**Water access considerations: Kids enjoy riverside camping, but safety is essential. "We found an awesome walk in spot... While we didn't have the comfort of our car parked right next to us, we had spectacular views of Mt. Rainier, easy access down to the river, and a fire pit."
**Wildlife education: The area offers opportunities to teach children about forest ecosystems. "In the morning, there was a herd of mountain goats along the ridge to the south west looking down over us, playfully dancing along the steep walls."
**Size limitations: Most dispersed sites accommodate smaller RVs only. "Group camping with 4-5 places for tents and 2 maybe 3 spots for travel trailers but will need to back in."
**Leveling challenges: Many forest pullouts aren't perfectly flat. "Only downside is it's not perfectly flat. It wasn't too bad though. I just parked with my head pointing uphill when I go to bed, of course."
**Solar considerations: Tree cover affects solar panel effectiveness. "Solar friendly and level. No bathroom. 1-2 bars with Verizon."
**Turning radius: Consider vehicle maneuverability when selecting sites. "The dirt was solid -- I wasn't worried at all about getting stuck in the mud. Plenty of room to turn around with ease."
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular dispersed campsite near Onalaska, WA?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular dispersed campground near Onalaska, WA is FR74 dispersed with a 4-star rating from 1 review.
What is the best site to find dispersed camping near Onalaska, WA?
TheDyrt.com has all 31 dispersed camping locations near Onalaska, WA, with real photos and reviews from campers.
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