Best RV Parks & Resorts near Paradise, WA

My wife and I have been living in our camper for a few years staying at upwards of around 20 different RV parks from coast to coast. Lake Sawyer RV resort has placed #1 on the worst parks we’ve encountered list. There’s actually no other parks in it’s class!

The manager is running the place in such a shady manner that one of the front desk ladies told me even she doesn’t agree with their business practices. It was a nightmare right out of the gate but luckily I have a backbone and don’t let people dig into my wallet or jerk me around so they figured out the hard way you can’t steal from everybody.

Watch for them to drag their feet on your long stay application so they can charge you a ridiculous nightly rate for their “deluxe site” which had broken electrical receptacles and cracked water pipes.

As soon as they do approve you, they’ll ask you to move to a different site. If you confront them about why they would put you in a daily site when they knew your intentions were to stay long term their excuse will be, “there was a mix up between different departments”. Departments 😂 it’s just 3 ladies working there!

They also tried to start my time the day before I got there and will write down your CC info without your consent.

They are one of the only rv parks in the greater Seattle area with vacancy and now you know why.

This was a very nice Thousand Trails. We stay two nights from September 13th through September 16, 2019, in campsite 187, the stay was free due to our Thousand Trails membership. Our site had electricity and water hook up. 

The site was level and backed up to a creek that was down below the site. The stay site was quiet, no one camping on our driver side did have a neighbor on the passenger side. The campground is at an elevation of 125 ft. Access to the campground was right off hwy 12, our 28 ft travel trailer easily fit with room to spare in our site. Once we entering the campground, the pavement turns to hard-packed gravel as we circled around a couple of times to find our campsite. 

The weather was high overcast in the mid 60's, the nights low 50s. It did rain hard on Sunday morning from 2am to 10am. This is a very quiet campground, activities we found at the campground to keep busy was shuffleboard which we enjoyed for the first time. The Billards table was in really good shape too. A musician name Dr A played music Saturday night in the lodge. The campground has clean free showers, plenty of hot water and not more than a 5 minute walk from our campsite. Since we arrived on a Friday school day, the campgrounds were not full, there was no waiting for showers. 

My wife and I enjoyed the campground, we will be back the next time we want to hike at Mt. St. Helens.

If you just need a place to sleep, then it will do. Set up, do your thing, and move on. They will squeeze you into any corner left - literally.

But to stay, no way. The place is too muddy, the laundry room and showers are little better than free public sites. If you have to be in Seattle there are not many options. That's how they get away with such dingy offerings. They just want your money: charge a lot for sites, hope you will buy something in the boutique, and they do not spend any of it on basic structure (like fixing broken roads)

The bird sanctuary adjacent is also a bug factory. One person claimed 'this is not camping'. That's right. It's a cheap way to travel. And for some migrant workers, a cheaper way to live. The park is full of old RV's, permanently parked.

The staff is annoyed to deal with customers.

If anyone should be able to set up a new RV park, customers would flock to it! They'd leave this dump in a heart beat!!

As my grandma used to say, 'all dressed up with a dirty neck'. In other words, first clean yourself up. The dress nicely. This place dresses up with cute signs - but underneath its falling apart.

Fix the roads and learn that your customers are your best asset. Be happy to greet them and care for them. That is the secret to a long term business.

Called and talked to the team at midway today inquiring about guests coming into town. They’re a long term only location with 6 months or more as the minimum stay. They recommend angle lake RV down the street which I’ll add to the app next. Nice staff at Midway if you need long term!

Good little camp ground on post with almost everything you need. It is in the wilderness, on the lake, but it is also fairly close to stores and gas stations. Long term max is 28 days per spot. All hookups available trash laundry showers bathrooms fire pits as well as grills all in each spot

Very private full hook ups. Long deep sites and very private. Great lake view.

My wife and I stayed in a full hook-up spot (#12) with our travel trailer. The site was clean, close to the lake, and had an additional spot to put a tent if needed. It’s pretty close to the freeway (there was a lot of car noise), but I would definitely return again! Cellphone signal (with Verizon) worked well, but there was no tv antenna reception if that’s something you need!

We stayed here during a couple of days of high heat and needed to plug in and replenish water. We have a 16ft Airstream and stayed in RV site 2. The site was too small for our trailer and the picnic table was wedged between a fire pit and two huge rocks so unusable. There was a total fire ban and the fire pit was not in use but was full of cigarette butts. For $70 per night I would expect a cleaner and better site. We had full hook ups which was nice but no privacy and no shade. It feels like the RV sites are an afterthought here. I wouldn’t recommend. The WiFi was “free” but unreliable and every single time I logged in I had to go through a Free Trial log in. It was really annoying. Access to the Naches River was easy and the fly fishing was glorious and the swimming was great!!

I travel in my rv to get away from the city life. Most KOAs are pretty cool. This one has to be the worst KOA I’ve ever stayed in. Packed in trailers like sardines. Your view is your neighbors sewer line. Run down spots, dead grass, mole hills, bathrooms are unclean. Right on a busy highway and you can hear it. I bought the “deluxe site” for 65$ a night!! No WiFi, no cable, nothing worked!! It is a nightmare of an RV park. I had originally booked for 6 nights and stayed for 1 and left because it was depressing.

I live 5 miles from this park and am here all the time, just not for camping. I came for one night to do a shakeout in my new to me trailer. My husband came to be my second set of eyes as I set up camp and to entertain our kiddo while I made dinner. Then we drove him home since he had to work in the morning. Several reviews complain about the airplane noise overhead, but I live in Federal Way and cargo planes from JBLM often fly over my house so some commercial airlines don't bother me one bit. I was in a pull-through full hook-up site. I did not hook up the sewer hose however because the lid was broken and I would have had to find a large rock to hold my elbow in place. All in all, it's a nice campground and was quiet. I didn't even hear the cars on road.

With an Amazon fulfillment center across the street, this is more of an RV Park than a campground. My mind may change tomorrow, but the AC blasting barely drowns out the road noise from 212th. I never lock my trailer doors at a KOA but I feel it’s a necessity here. Maybe the spots further off the road are better but the front row is certainly not top shelf. The gals at the front desk were lovely, but I’m afraid this place has seen better days. Husband says that they are expanding. I sure hope so.

This is a great base camp for exploring the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

The campground and facilities is very clean and well maintained. Most sites are in a wooded area with good shade. 

The day use area is along the river with boat ramp and dock. However, THERE ARE NO FALLS. The other reviewer's photos are not from here. There is a damn downstream which creates a slow moving river good for boating. The river is very cloudy murky green a result of ash and sediment runoff from the Mt St Helens eruption. 

Loops:

A-Loop: water & electric. A mix of shaded and open grassy sites. Outer are pull through, inner are back in. You will find the most private sites in this loop. 

B-Loop: no utilities, possibly tents only. These are the only sites which are not paved. Many are right next each other. It's like they had it laid out well but then jammed in a few more as an afterthought. 

C-Loop: Group RV water & electric. This loop is interesting. It’s a paved circle with a treed center with group tables and firepit. Circle your RVs like a wagon train.

D-Loop: water & electric. This is an RV neighborhood where everyone has a "Welcome to our campsite" sign and there's a common covered area with tables. Sites have the table to rear of site.

We stayed in Site # 77 it is a pull through with Full hook up, big & semi private. The lake is across t he street which the parking area can fill up quick. The boat launch is a zoo on the weekends there's is a long line to launch & take you boat out. During the week not so bad.  We had cell service yet some WIFI (which is in the truck) so when the truck was running we had Wifi.  We had a few baby deer in the campground always a pleasure. 

The camp hosts sell firewood

The lake is big & beautiful with great views of Mt Rainier. Good fishing and we found a lot of Lures on old tree stumps and along the shore while kayaking. There are a lot of motorboats with them pulling tubes and some that don't care if they swamp you or not. We saw several folks launch their boat & primitive camp. 

Mt. Rainier is amazing we enjoyed going into the park many times checking it all out. On the way to Mt. Rainier you pass a places called Ex-Nihilo Metal Sculpture Park which the guy dose a great job on big sculptures.  Donations welcome keeps him building more. 

We went to the grove of the Patriarchs with trees over 1000 years old. Big Pines, cedars & Dougless firs. 

Beautiful area, nice campground.