Best Tent Camping near Snoqualmie Pass, WA

Campsite Review: This campground is really in a nice area of the old growth forest but it's camping amongst crowds when we went in the high season, the entire 188 sites were filled. There were very few walk-up sites and the rest of the campsites themselves are a decent size but not spaced far enough away from other campers and there is no underbrush to separate you from each other at all. We stayed at site 54 in loop A and had people constantly walking through/by both sides of our campsite to get to the toilets which were located on the next level higher than us. People literally walked right by our fire ring and through our chairs at one point to then hike up the hill instead of traversing around to the right for some stairs. If you can go off season by all means try and do it, but avoid this particular site at all costs…

The toilet facilities weren’t the nicest ones I’ve been to and could have used a little TLC. The facilities right by us were dirty and a bit rusty. They also had no soap or hand drying instrument what-so-ever (neither paper towels or hand dryer). Thankfully we had these things ourselves, but usually in NP campgrounds you don’t have to bring them yourself to the restroom.

Amenities: not sure if every site had one, but lots of bear boxes (you’re in bear and cougar (mountain lion) territory), your standard picnic tables, fire rings, plus flush toilets, potable water, & dump station for you RVers |Prohibited: pets off-leash, & firewood gathering (The camp host drives around selling wood if you haven’t already gotten some at a store) we came right during a fire ban, but as soon as it was removed they drove around letting everyone know. There then seemed to be a truck driving around with firewood for sale, I wasn’t able to confirm though as we were headed off to Paradise and then the Olympic peninsula.

Nearby Hikes: Grove of the Patriarchs, & Silver Falls and not too far from Paradise which is a must do if you happen to come in wild flower season

Gear Review: As a Ranger for The Dyrt I sometimes get the opportunity to test out products and the saving grace for this particular camp site was my testing of the Leatherman Signal (Designed for adventure!!). This is a truly fantastic Leatherman and even if you’ve had them for years you should really check out the newer lines of specialized gear. I had an old PST (pocket survival tool) as a boy scout and had upgraded to the original WAVE, but hadn’t checked them out in years as I still have them and thought what could be better than what I already have. I was wrong. This tool and many of the other lines (skateboarding, surfing, skiing, hunting) are also really worth checking out.

• This is designed specifically with camping in mind.
• Really impressed with the new ability to change out components from this and other tools are you wear them down.
• The hammer is great for knocking in tent stakes into some stubborn ground or breaking up that giant block of ice into some manageable pieces.
• Great locking functions on the blade, saw and hammer section - nothing comes loose as you’re cutting/hammering away
• It’s really all the little touches that make this an awesome tool. Like having a sharpener, a built-in fire starter and emergency whistle. These are things that might end up saving your life if you happen to get stranded while out in the woods.

I give the Leatherman Signal 4.5/5 Stars!

The Red Bridge campground is on the very scenic Mountain loop Rd in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. It's a very beautiful drive. Nestled in some great trees, there are 13 sites with shade, right along the river. The camp host was very nice and sold firewood on site. There are no hook ups, and no water spigots so be sure to plan accordingly. There are bear proof trash cans and vault toilets available. Each site has a tent pad, picnic table and fire ring. This campground provides ample hiking, fishing and I saw people kayaking plus its not far to a hike to some glacier caves! Also check out the old red trestle bridge just outside of the campground. At $15 a night you have to see this place. 
I highly recommend Red Bridge campground.

Cooper Lake is absolutely stunning and admittedly the campsites are situated pretty well for views and privacy but there are definitely Pros and Cons to this campground.

Pros:

Right on the lake and if not you get a very private site walking distance to water
Great hiking trail

Lake access 24/7

Lot's of big shade trees

No internal combustion motors 

Vault toilets in good shape

Dumpsters

Cons: 

Extremely busy (and LOUD) day use area

Steep hill and trails to all the sites - pack light and even then it is A LOT of work getting into your site

$18 for a walk in site...? eh a little steep for me

Did I mention the loud day use area with lots of screaming kids?

No bear boxes by the lake so you also have to trek your cooler/dry goods up the hill every night to not attract wildlife.

All in All this was a solid 3.5 stars.  There were pros to out weight the cons but in the end if I am going to walk that far to haul my stuff into a site I want it to be pretty remote/serene OR be a little cheaper.

This campground is better suited for tents, not RVs or camper vans. Many of the sites are small and lack privacy, especially those in the west end. We reserved on line and there was no notice that sites 30 and 31 share the vehicle space! Since we were camping in a van, we felt like we were in an ordinary parking lot and not camping. Two strange vehicles parked immediately next two us the whole time. There were some other shared parking sites too. Ok for tent camping because you can tent away from the parking area, but not ok for vehicles. 

In addition, people kept walking through our site (and we watched them walk through other occupied sites). One day, my hubby wasn't feeling well, so we took a nap only to be woken by our dog growling because a man and women were peering into the side window of our van! WTH! Numerous people walked through through our site even though the end was a restoration area clearly marked to stay off of, but people walked through it anyway. And, then there were the young men playing football in our site. Oh, and the dogs not on leashes. One knocked me over when it jumped on me from the bushes as I was heading to the restroom at night. 

The only good thing was that the vault toilet was the cleanest ever vault toilet. No odors!! Kudos to the guy who cleans it!

I’ve spent a couple of nights up here this year and I LOVE this campground. It is large, but there is plenty of separation and the sites seem to offer fairly good privacy and have a good amount of space. 

I camp in a hammock and there are a lot of sites that offer enough well spaced trees to set up hammocks.  There are nice fire rings at each of the sites, nice tables and firewood is available at the camp site.  I didn't know before I went, but dogs are allowed as long as they are on leashes, BUT they aren't allowed on most trails around the mountain.

The campground is well situated to get you close to Paradise as well as a ton of hikes nearby. 

There aren’t any showers, but the bathrooms are clean and have flush toilets.

This is a popular, reservable campground at Mt Rainier. There are 5 loops with A loop and R(Road) loops not reservable. There is a fancy electronic iron ranger at the ranger station(something the rangers want you to use even when they are in their booth and clearly able to handle reservations). I had a nifty little bridge connecting my car and the picnic table to the the tent pad. I also had kids running through the trees and the middle of my campsite from the sites behind me. Most sites had good hammocking trees, and it looked like all had picnic tables. There is an amphitheater in the campground that had a nice draw of campers for the evening program. Bathrooms were clean and well maintained, but no showers. E loop was a no generator zone, which means it was fully booked while I was there. There is a good hike to Carter Falls along the Wonderland Trail, which cuts right through the campground. You are fairly close to Paradise which has more hiking trailheads and a visitor center.