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!

Packwood which is a small little town next to White Pass is a great place to visit if you want to get away in Washington and be outdoors. The campground was great, although we didn’t spend too much time here. We rode our mountain bikes up to Packwood lake one morning, which is 10 miles round trip. It’s a great biking trail, but can also be used as a hiking trail if you are looking for a longer day hike. The lake is gorgeous but the bugs were definitely out in full effect. Bring bug spray or you will get eaten alive. You can camp here at the lake, but make sure to comply with all LNT rules and read the signs on where you can camp. The RV campground was good, but busy. We only stayed a few nights, and then made our way down the road to White Pass. The views of Mt. Rainier are gorgeous. Bring your own water because there wasn’t any water hookups that we saw. We also did some hiking in the Packwood/white pass area.

I’m not normally the type of person that does reviews, however I feel compelled to do so this time because of the absolutely ridiculous experience I had here. This place is great - for people who have never been camping a day in their lives.

From the pictures in the gallery on their site, elk meadow appears to be a relatively small campground with some RV space and cabins. In reality: Elk Meadow is simply a large dirt lot with 0 shade or tree coverage. The tent “spots” are simply the borders around the lot which is filled by RV’s in the center. You’d literally be setting up a tent less than two feet away from strangers on either side. The cabins are also a similar story. The lack of shade makes it so intensely hot in the cabins such that we found guests cooling themselves on porches of the vacant cabins because the ones they rented were unbearable.

My father and I were so displeased we cancelled our stay, but low and behold: there are NO REFUNDS HERE. I repeat: NO REFUNDS HERE. Even after finding this out, we still left.

Fantastic little campground with unique cabins, pristine RV spots and a fantastic staff! You can see the love and pride the owner has in this property! Outstanding!!

I don't believe that Cory from Colorado was at this resort as his description does not reflect what I saw when there the middle of August 2020. Very private RV spots with thick trees around. Wonderful people working/owning this place. The cabin we also rented was just right. We'll be back!!

We stayed for three nights. Our campsite was right on the water side which made swimming and playing in the water so easy. The camp also has boats to rent. So we rented one to get a Geocache that was on an island on the lake. The lake is five miles long with lots of camping spots along the lake. They also have cabins you can rent.

Had an amazing time staying at this campground with our family. 

We brought our RV, but you can tent, or rent a Yurt or Igloo. Horses are welcome too! The new owners are doing a great job turning the property around. There is a large recent renovated cabin that fits up to 20 people you can stay as well. 

There is a bar & cafe open as well on the weekend with amazing views. Highly recommend.

Tiny little town gem. Super clean and nice full hookups including cable (I didn’t get mine to work but I’ve never tried before so that’s probably my lack of knowledge) laundry pool table video games swimming pool full bar restaurant that will deliver to your campsite! (I didn’t do it) If you’re going exploring the south side of st helens this is a great place to stay oh and they have cabins you can rent too. I recommend reservations. Cheers

They have several back-in spots, some with partial hookups and some with full hookups. Most of the spots are well-shaded from the trees. A specific area is designated for tents only, and some cabins can also be rented. It was a 5-minute walk downhill to reach the lake, which had a very long and nice boat ramp deep enough to accommodate just about any boat. Regarding cell service, I got 3 bars of LTE with my iPhone. Overall, it was a nice, quiet, shady place to visit, and I will definitely be back.

We booked a site here as a last resort, because everything else in the area was full.  It's an interesting mix of campground and kind of a trailer park, with the permanent RV residents. They tend to junk up the place a little bit.  The campground is next to the busy road, so you get some loud traffic from time to time. The bathrooms are ok. There are 2 large rooms with showers, and they had just installed 2 new rooms, with toilets and sinks only. We ended up with a great site towards the back and on the side. It was quiet and peaceful.  Although we enjoyed our stay, if the place was full, I can see it being a very different experience. We couldn't get wifi at our site, but we didn't care. The cabins looked fun.   The owners are very nice.

The perfect fisherman’s getaway!!

Camping right on the Lake. Boat rentals. Camp Store. Always windy and temps drop at night even after warm days so dress accordingly.

This is one of the best kept secrets in western WA, great forest, lots of hiking, water. This place is a great get away.

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.