Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Peshastin, WA

So I tried booking a spot through this app, and then cashapp was pending the purchase. I ended up calling the campground and they never received my booking. So I waited about 10 min and then I seen that my money was refunded. I ended up calling the camp back and booking it through over the phone. Same price....so I don't see what discount might have done. And also this campground or the lady who answered the phone had never heard of this APP...and named a few partners they work with....this app not being one of them...so...I don't know... ANYWHO.....

Stayed one night, the site 204 was a little difficult to find. The on-site store was pretty good size, from what I saw they had camping gear and regular convenience store stuff. When we got there there was only 1 other tent/ family set up a space away. The site was In a good place, just a walk away from the river. We did have like 2 hornets make their way into our tent. I used the showers behind the dog park, which had 2 shower stalls. And was empty. Hot water instantly, cute lil set up. The campground it self was pretty big...like it was a little town...big play area for kids, lake looked big, same with dog park. Then I took a walk around on the path, and followed the river (as in picture). Quiet time at 10....woke up early and packed up...felt safe, didn't get bothered..no trouble checking In...loved it...

Eastern Washington near the water is my favorite type of landscape.  It's a hot, windy, and a true desert climate.  When you get near a body of water like you do along the Yakima River, the diversity of life expands and makes for great wildlife watching.

Umtanum Recreation Site is part of several BLM campgrounds lumped together along the Yakima River known as the Yakima River Canyon Campgrounds.  All can be reserved ahead of time via the reservation.gov website:  https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/250985.  Standard for most BLM camping in Washington, sites are very basic.  Gravel parking, pit toilets, and a picnic table.  This place does have a dumpster for trash, not all do.  There are no hook ups, no drinking water, and in our case, very little shade.  Neighbors are close and there is not a lot of privacy.  The day use area is right there too, close to camping and can be loud.  It is heavily patrolled by the wonderful BLM folks to keep everything clean and the people orderly.  They also give out tickets if you don't mind the warnings for correct passes or day use fees.

The campground itself is one little loop with six sites.  The loop is an offshoot of a very large gravel parking area for day use.  Mostly boat launching and hiking access to Umtanum Creek and Umtaum Ridge trails.   You can check the Information Board for rules on day use and camping fees, passes, and how to check to see if a site is reserved. 

We arrived on July 3rd in the afternoon.  The campground was very quiet and all the sites were reserved.  The morning of July 4th, the recreation site turned into a total madhouse.  BLM Rangers, Law Enforcement, making constant rounds to patrol the never ending hoards of people coming to park and float the river. There was a lot of noise, dust, drunk and rowdy folks.  Friday was calm again until afternoon, Saturday was not as bad as the 4th but still pretty crazy.  It was also hot!  No shade to be had in our site.  After hiking in the morning, we spent a lot of time across the bridge, in it's shadow, in the river.  

If you are using this spot as a base to do some hiking, fishing, or floating it's very convenient.  I am sure in Spring and Fall when river floating is not at it's peak, it's gorgeous and peaceful.  The raptors and songbirds are splendid.  We saw Bighorn sheep on the hill, big rock squirrels, wild turkeys with babies, and fish.  No rattlesnakes or ticks, but this is prime territory.  Hiking down the Umtanum Creek trail, over the suspension bridge, is one of my favorite hikes ever.

It's been our favorite campground for years, but recently last year, the park removed all the flushing toilets, and replaced with vaulted toilets! 

Pros

- Close to Seattle about 1.5 hr - 2 hrs away depending on traffic.

- It has numbers of walk-in sites with great access to the lake.

- Lots of loop for kids to ride bike and explore.

- Great access to many hiking trail near by like Pacific Crest Trail(PCT) can be accessed near the campground and Racheal Lake trail head is only 15 mins drive away. 

- Great for kayak, canoe, paddle board, or just chill and swim in the lake. 

- Friendly rangers and comp hosts. 

- Campground is always clean. 

- Most campsites have great privacy, you are not right on top of your neighbor. 

- Most loops within a walking distance to lake access except Beargrass loop.

- Hardly cell phone service is a plus for us, unless you are at the beach or boat launches. 

Cons

- Vaulted toilets ... (we don't mind vaulted toilets, but it used to have flushing toilets until 2017). 

- Very busy, hard to make get a reservation. Most walk-in campsites will be filled up by Friday morning. 

- In 2018, camp hosts no longer sell firewood (not sure if this still the case). We used to be able to get firewoods on the way in, but the last 2 times we went there this year, no one is selling firewood outside of the campground either. We had to drive to Easton to get firewood.

- Dogs are not allow at the main beach (most campgrounds now have this rules but there aren't many off to the side area where dogs can hang out and you can watch your kids at the same time). Although some camp hosts do not enforce this rule, until the beach gets really busy.

Within the almost 4 million acres of the Okanogan Wenatchee National Forest, lie countless locations for dispersed camping. This area of the southeast corner of the NF has very little traffic compared to others, we saw only one ATV for the whole time we were there. This area lies along the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route between the Cashmere and Chelan sections along NF-7400. Obviously, this is a 4X4 road and I wouldn't suggest it in anything less. Incredible sunset views of the valley in front of Chumstick Mountain, it gets pretty windy at night but there are treelines you can position against. This particular spot photographed is just up the hill off the roadside in a nice grassy clearing. More spots were just up the hill around the bend as well.

Pete Lake is a bustling, dusty trail covered in berry bushes and beautiful blooms. We encountered tons of people, dogs and horses making their way to the lake on a sunny afternoon.

Pete Lake is a relatively short drive from Seattle. The trail-head is located just past Lake Cle Elum and the Salmon La Sac campground. The hike is an easy 4.5 miles of gradual up and down but you won't gain more than 600 feet of elevation at any time. 

My rag-tag group of four hiked out midday on a Saturday and were lucky enough to snag a nice lake side camp. We all chose to hammock camp and, to our surprise, found quite a few spots that would accommodate us.

We found after choosing our camp that we were located close to one of the two toilets posted on the lake.  "Ours" was located up a hill so get a head start if you need to use it. As always, we appreciate the topless toilet with a nice forest view and this one appeared to be almost brand new. Youcould still smell the fresh cedar!

There was a nice creek to pump water from a bit farther down the trail from our camp, but we awkwardly had to cut through other folks' camps (apologizing all the way) to get there. 

The bugs ate us alive, so we were really happy for our Repel candles and bug spray, otherwise they may have carried us away to feed off of later.

Be warned; the lake edges are really mucky unless you happen to be on one of the nice rocky sides. 

Your shoes may or may not be sucked off your feet; continue on at your own risk.

All in all is was a great one**-**night backpacking trip away from the city tucked in on the beautiful Pete lake, even with the bugs.

Great little campground. Along a little river but not right at campsites. Crawdad along banks at night. Lots of bats at night. Right off of highway. Restroom with fresh water access. No electricity, no on site manager/ranger. No cell reception for t-mobile customers. Burn bans in effect typically in the late spring to early fall dependant of course on the amount of annual moisture in the region. Sold out prebooked for most major holidays. Good idea to book ahead of time by calling the local ranger station. High cougar population so keeping an eye on pet's and smaller children a must especially around dusk and after dark. Also bear area. But our family has never had any problems nor seen any large predators when we do our annual family camping trip there. Also be sure to do any last min. Shopping in cle elum because there is nothing as far as retail grocery stores past this point and it's about a 45 min drive each ways to cle elum. There is a final gas station about 10 mins drive from the campground that has basic camp supplies and ice. High prices for the convenience. And they close at 9pm if my memory serves me correctly. Beautiful area. Very peaceful.

Great little place to camp at if you just want to get away and get your fish on! They also have cabins for rent, but we've never gotten around to trying those out. The campground is fairly well maintained with a decent buffer zone between sites, so your neighbor isn't all up in your business like with most WA state run campgrounds. There are toilets, showers and a well stocked general store if you forgot anything. I mean anything! From danishes, to paper towels, to fishing poles and licenses. You can launch your own boat, rent a boat or fish off their dock (small admission fee) and are almost guaranteed to catch something.The trout are always hungry! They even have a fish cleaning station if you decide to keep your catch. Oh and there are semi-friendly resident raccoons. I wouldn't recommend petting them, but they are very photogenic and may pay you a visit so lock up your camp kitchen stuff!