Best Cabin Camping near Packwood, WA

We picked this campsite as our last stop on a week long camping trip round Rainer and St. Helens area. Nice flat camping area, picnic bench fire pit, a bit of a mosquito challenge but not too bad. Lots of families, and maybe even groups. Has showers, which is what we mainly booked for. Small general store, basketball hoop, pizza shop, and some cabin rentals. Luckily the dance party ended just after dark, so we got plenty of sleep. Stayed only 1 night. Plus is ranger station 5 minutes from site, with maps, stickers, fridge magnets, etc. Ranger gave us detail on ape caves, and other are hikes for kids, AND ranger was cool enough to tell us all about his Bigfoot experience in the area, complete with mobile phone picture of footprint! Lots of kids and teens, but some fisherman too, who didn’t seem to mind the dance music and footballs flying around!

This was a lovely campsite. It was smaller, yet felt large enough so you had your own privacy and space. There were clean facilities available, as well as drinking water and trash bins. Our lot was spacious with a nice picnic table, fire pit, and area for our two person tent. Everyone around us was respectful of one another and wasn't too loud late at night. There are trails behind the campsite that lead down to the river, or just a short drive away is the 'beach' and bridge overlooking the lake. It is peaceful and although the highway is close by, seeing the beauty of the area makes you think and feel you are deeper in nature. I would definitely stay here again for a longer period of time!

Lucked out with a last minute Father's Day weekend reservation at this great little campground located just at the junction of Mt St Helens and Gifford Pinchot. The campground is bookable online for only $15 a night which felt like a bargain for a private campground in the area. 

There are only 10 camping sites - some are suitable for RVs. There are also very small cabins that can be rented. There is a well stocked camp store on the property which is staffed from 7am to 7pm. There is also a pizza place on the property which is visited by a lot of area day hikers, so if you want an all day quiet woodsy feel you might want a different location, but if you've been camping or hiking for days on end without any amenities, this place will feel like an oasis.

The campground was busy over the weekend, but was nearly empty and quiet by the time Sunday night rolled around. We were at campsite #9 which was right next to a basketball hoop which got plenty of use while people were waiting for pizza (and was a bit noisy). The Pizza Place is not open everyday.

Each site had a firepit with grill and a picnic table. The toilet in the camping area had cold running water and a flush toilet. The toilets closer to the camp store had hot water and an outlet. Showers are available for an additional $3 charge, and laundry facilities are available for $5 a load on certain days.

The Camp Store had lots of knowledge about local hikes and what roads were open around MSH.  We used this campground as a base to hike Ape Caves, June Lake and Ape Canyon. It was about 30 minutes of forest road driving to the trail heads.

General: Medium-sized park (100 sites plus several cabins) located on Mayfield Lake with three loops: two with hookups and one without. We stayed in the loop without hookups.

Site Quality/Facilities: The sites are very generous in size with LONG paved driveway pads. The sites on the outer side of the loops are pull-throughs and the ones on the interior are back-in. Large wooden picnic table and a fire ring complete the site (although as with the entire state, there was a burn ban in effect). The sites are all heavily wooded, providing good separation between the sites. 

Bathhouse: Small – two stalls plus two showers – and dated. No hooks or other options to store toiletries and no garbage receptacle. 50 cents for every three minutes of shower time. Didn’t use the shower so cannot comment on the quality but I have definitely seen better showers. 

Activities: Water sports. There were plenty of motorboats out on the lake (not my thing but if it is yours, this looked like a good lake for watercraft). The loops are paved and I saw many riding their bikes. There is a trail that skirts the lake– a little over a mile point to point but with many paths leading from the campground loops. Rocky with lots of tree roots but very scenic. 

Very pleasant stay here and would return.

We stayed 1 night here for the maiden voyage of our recently purchased travel trailer, which was nice since it's only about an hour away from our place near Seattle. Arrived Friday early evening and it wasn't busy at all.

The check-in process was easy, even though their reservation system was down at the time. Filled up w/ some fresh water at the dump station, which was clean and well maintained.

Campsites in the RV loop were spaced out enough with vegetation between them so as to provide some privacy. Our site had a pull-through driveway, 30amp hookup, a fire ring and picnic table. Bathrooms in that loop were pretty nice... heated and very clean.

Took a walk down to the day use area by the river, which was easy for us, but some portions of the trails closer to the river were slightly overgrown w/ a few obstacles, which could be problematic for some. Didn't see any kids play structures down there, which would be nice to have for families.

We heard a couple trains while there, but the noise wasn't too loud. Never heard the fire siren that they warned us about. Overall, it was a good camping experience for a quick trip and would return!