Best Glamping near Roslyn, WA

told macdonald is super cute park and campground! they offer the typical primitive campsites with fire pits and picnic tables, as well as yurts and shipping container conversions for those who want more of a "GLAMping" outdoor experience. the campground, park and trails are very well maintained and they even provide you with garden carts to help you get your stuff across the bridge. great spot for steelhead + salmon fishing. we've fished steelhead and pinks out of the snoqualmie river in the past. it's located right smack in the middle of carnation so on a nice sunny day you could walk out of the park to get pizza, ice cream or even mexican food. the suspension bridge is pretty cool, but hold onto your phones tight because it could slip through the holes into the river below. i would rate this place as 4-5 star park / 3-4 star camping since it's not even close to roughing it. those bucolic woods are our backyard.

This is a standard state park with separate loops for tents and RVs. There is actually quite a distance between the two types of camping with a nice day use area in between. The campsites are nice with good distance between them and good privacy. The bathrooms are very clean and well maintained. There are hiking trails, kayaking, mountain biking, and even basketball courts and play areas. 

An additional benefit is that it’s close to the Palouse to Cascades gravel trail. 

We enjoy this park as an early season trip because it’s so close to the Seattle/Tacoma area. We enjoy trips to Roslyn to eat out and occasionally mountain biking.

This is our second time going to Kanaskat Palmer Park and we decided to enjoy four nights in there yurts between the fall and winter transition season. I must say I was very impressed to see that the bathrooms and showers were still very clean ever since the pandemic and that it was quite a nice place to stay during the weekdays if you wanted a quietly stay in the woods with the sounds of the flowing river. We will definitely be back again next year!

What a beautiful place! The campground is in 500+ acre Tolt-McDonald Park, far enough away from any busy road so that there is no traffic noise, just the sound of the Tolt River rapids. All the RV sites are drive-through, with water and 20, 30, and 50-Amp service. (There is a privately-run RV dump on the way to the park.) The sites are wide because of the driveway. No trees between sites, but some bushes between sites offer some privacy for the back half of the sites. The 17 RV sites are around a huge lawn, with the restroom building at one end, and a path down the middle that is part of a long, level, paved bike/walking trail. There is a shower in each restroom, so the whole building is heated (which was really nice, since the lows were in the 30s in April, 2022) Access to both rivers is at the South end of the RV loop. There are tent-only sites to the North, and also yurts and more tent sites across a picturesque foot bridge over the Snoqualmie River. There are carts available to roll your stuff over the footbridge.

This campground is very clean with beautiful, new shower and bathroom facilities. The individual campsites are well-maintained and free of garbage or damage. The staff are friendly and helpful. Everyone that we met, including campers, were considerate families that had brought along bikes for their children. Apparently this is THE place to bring the 4-10 year old group for bike riding. They are all over the place! Dogs abound, but are on leash and seemed well behaved. While at Lake Easton, I rode bikes with my six year-old, hiked, did all of the other regular camp activities, and ventured out to nearby Cle Elum and Roslyn for day trips. We were able to leave our tent up and our gear seemed secure in our absence.

Here was the only drawback: the upper loop of campsites is very near to I-90, and because of that, pretty noisy. Nobody’s kids seemed to mind; I discussed it with other parents, but I had to buy some ear plugs to get to sleep. Seriously great place to camp, but bring earplugs if you have a spot reserved on the upper loop. According to camp staff, the lower loop is MUCH quieter.

Overall, a great destination for families who want an easy spot for camping with kids and bikes, but also might want to try a variety of activities, and take in some other sights.

General: 50-site campground (including six yurts) plus a group campground. The campground is in two loops: one with electric hookups and one without. 

Site Quality: All sites are level and are a mix of back-in and pull-through. Site 24 was a pull-thru. Sites in the tent (no hookup) section are gravel while sites with electricity have paved camper pads. ADA-accessible sites (one in each loop) are completely paved. Heavily wooded sites afford good privacy between sites. 

Bath/Shower house: one building between the two loops with six all-in-one (toilet, sink, shower) units. They were clean. At first glance, it appears you need tokens for the shower but upon closer inspection, it did look like they were free. However, you were asked to conserve water and that the hot water was turned off at night due to vandalism.

Activities: Several trails that are open until dusk. Several places to put in and take out boats but you are warned that some sections of the Green River are Class III or IV and where you should take out if you are not a highly experienced boater. We also saw some people fishing.

This was our final stop on our North Cascades loop trip. The campground is located about an hour outside of Seattle yet it was very quiet (except for several trains throughout the day and night). Surprisingly we had zero cell coverage(Verizon).

Do not believe the cautions about the worst road in Washington; there road is paved and beautiful.

I love this area and would have given 5 stars but for two things. The website says water is available - the water pump worked once in three days. I only saw one set of restrooms (vault) they were... unusable.

Maybe I will try again later in the season, when the summer campers put their tents away.

If you like hot dry weather, tall pine trees and not much grass this is a great spot.  It is between a river and the freeway, so you get a lot of freeway noise but I thought the spaces were fairly far apart and spacious.  Lots of pull through spots too.  It's a big campground but super quiet.  The store has a lot of camping stuff, but not much food.  Easy to pop into Cle Elem or surrounding area to explore.  I needed an Eastern Washington fix so I really enjoyed it.

Crossing through the dry and rugged terrain of the eastern most portion of Washington, the pleasant surprise of the forest campground of Swauk could not have come at a better time.   Just after the rolling hills met the forested tree line this quaint campground welcomed me to the Washington I had wished to find on my adventures.   It was a first taste of the glory of the Pacific Northwest and a perfect way to find the solitude and beauty of the land during late fall.

Pulling into Swauk you first will find a recreation area where cross country skiing is permitted during the winter months and during summer months families can enjoy horse shoe pits, picnic and barbecue areas.    Parking here is plentiful and invites you to enjoy the land in its entirety.    

I noticed a small trail behind a shelter area and followed it to the gentle moving stream which passed throughout the back of not only the recreation area but also the camp.    Here you could truly get a glimpse of the beauty and wonder of the trees opening up and increasing in size, the ferns growing wild and abundantly and the pine needles lining the forest floor creating a barrier which seems to trap sound and create a hush over the entire area.

The shelter when I had passed housed a large fire place and additional picnic tables making this a perfect location for those chilly nights you find in the forest.

Just beyond the recreation area the campground welcomes campers with large sites and plenty of room to spread out and enjoy a day, a weekend or a week.    A self service pay station is located at the entrance to this portion.    Single sites are $18 while doubles are $36, envelops are available alongside other rules and regulations for the campground.

Once you have secured your campsite at this location you will place your tag on the site itself in a small plastic placard located at the entrance of each site to signify it is taken.   this allows you to navigate away from the campground to explore the forest and the many areas of interest near the Cascade Loop or the Gingko Forest.   

Vault toilets can be found in two locations, one at the mid point of camp and the other at the entrance and provide facilities, however no running water is available at these sites.  Running water can be found in the recreation area however if it is needed.    You will want to make sure you are able to sustain without power however because that is not available at any portion of the campground.

This site overall is a great way to enjoy Washington  and I found that visiting was an unexpected treat.    To visit the facilities make sure you understand that this is not a State facility thus the Discover Pass is not accepted.  Instead you will want to make sure you display a National Park Pass, as this is a site maintained by the Forest Service, though I will say no one was there to check it and there was no clear signage to mark this.

Tips:

* Bring your own firewood.   There are signs posted throughout camp mentioning that you cannot cut trees in the area for any reason.    There is no firewood station at this campground either so if you are planning on having a fire make sure you come prepared.

* Because this site is a part of the Forest Service there are also signs posted about saving the vegetation.   This means you will want to park only in the areas that are marked clearly.   If you have a rig which does not fit within the bounds, consider another site at the campground.

* If you need supplies you will want to find them in the larger cities or towns along the way.   When I was here I noticed there are very few stops which provide basic essentials for many miles.

We went here as a spur of the moment thing we found one spot and there was black ants all over the place so we moved and then the people next-door said that there was a black bear that stole their peanut butter and bread and then came back and was wandering around their campsite I was more worried about the ants and all of the spiders in the bushes

Camped here on August 28-30, 2020 on warm sunny days with my boyfriend. The campground is well-spaced between each other allowing for privacy. Our campsite was number 7 and it can fit about 3-5 tents in it which is pretty big for a campsite. I loved it. There is plenty of mosquitoes so be prepared with your repellents. Also, on our first night, a bear passed by one of our neighbor's site so make sure you clean up after yourselves and don't leave food out at night. There is also a bear cage with a trap since the bear seems to linger and wander around (although it isn't aggressive and seems friendly). There is no water and the toilet is a honey bucket. This campground needs some extra maintenance because the porta potties needed to be serviced as it was getting quite full during our stay. The lake is walking distance and provides plenty of space for everyone to splish and splash around although the water is quite cold but wonderful. There is a day use area too for picknicking and the likes. We went on a first-come first-served basis on a friday morning and there was plenty of spots to choose from, but come night time and the lot was full. There is also about 2-4 two-family campsites that can fit about 4 vehicles in and is ideal for groups and is located along the entrance of the campground. The mini grocery store is located about less than half a mile if you are needing supplies such as ice or firewood. However, be wary if there is a burn ban. Overall, great place with no reception except out on the lake.

Noisy, noisy, noisy, and noisy. From the sound of the highway to the insurmountable number of inconsiderate neighbors... forget getting any sleep. If you have a large family style tent it won't fit on the wood plank outlined tent pad. The grounds are fairly well maintained and the park and lakeshore are nice. It's great for family camping with the kids, but bring ear plugs!

We've been here a few times only because it has such a nice beach for little kids to swim and play in the sand. They also have a nice playground for kids there too. Worth the trip for day use if you don't want to camp. The camground itself is just okay, as we like more privacy than is afforded in the hookup/west side campground. The north side/tent camground is a good walk to the beach and makes it not so convenient with little kids, but the sites are nice there and more private. Also, nothing like hearing I5 when you are out sleeping in nature 😜. The bathrooms are very clean.

This park was awesome! We went for the 4th of July. The park offers hiking trails, lots of day use picinic areas, and of course the lake!