Best Campgrounds near South Cle Elum, WA

It's $600 a month to park an RV here

Firstly, if I could bottle the camp host and have her as my permanent, everywhere camp host I’d do it in a heartbeat!

The grounds are next to the Wenatchee River between a highway and railroad tracks. None of the noise is bad at all (of you’re sound sensitive this probably isn’t your place). The sites are spread out nicely, never feeling crowded. And it’s a “tobacco free” facility. I love that! Great little spot!

We stayed here after we stayed at Cougar Rock, and it’s got a similar setup in terms of getting a spot in the off season. You talk to the ranger, but instead of assigning a spot to us, this one sent us out to look for a site we liked that had an “open” tag on it, and to be back in 15 min so she could go to lunch. Even though the size limit for vehicles is smaller than the Cougar Rock campground, the space felt bigger and more open with more light coming through, and the sites were bigger. It was also a lot more active and busy with people.

 Max length for motorhomes or buses is 32ft, and trailers/5th wheels is 27ft. It’s $20/night. No hookups or dump station, but there is a water fill station for your RV tank. Beautiful hike to Silver Falls, highly recommend, the water is this crazy cloudy blue, only about 1.5 miles from the campground. There are also hot springs at the campground, but not ones you can soak in. But they’re still neat to see. Sites come with a bear box, picnic table, and fire pit. There are trash dumpsters here and plastic, glass, and aluminum recycling. There are flush toilets and water fill stations. Zero cell reception in the campground, though there were patches of signal on the drive from Cougar Rock.

Nice campground on the SW corner of Mt Rainier NP. We were here in the off season, meaning that reservations are not taken and everything is FCFS. You stop at the ranger office at the campground entrance and you’re given a campsite. $20/night. Zero cell service in this whole area (but there was good cell reception and wifi at Paradise, and free wifi at the museum 2 miles down at Longmire). 

There are water spigots at this campground, flush toilets, no showers, trash dumpsters, and glass, plastic, and aluminum recycling. Each site has a picnic table, bear box, and fire pit. The dump station has been non operational for several years and the ranger said she doesn’t think it’ll ever be fixed. 

The length limit here is 35 ft for a motorhome, and us at 28 ft head to toe felt very big here. The Wonderland Trail hike can be accessed from this campground, just across the road. Lots of trees in this campground, and we struggled to keep our batteries charged via solar, though there looked to be enough open sky for starlink (we don’t have starlink so I can’t say). All the loops here in this campground are pretty similar in layout and landscape.

Came for the Ellensburg rodeo! Stayed here for a week, had a great time near the creek with our dogs! Attempted some fly fishing after seeing some others give it a shot with no luck. Tons of dispersed camping up and down the road! Spots are far enough away to give you good privacy.

Nice site and great view. It is hay cutting season, and semi’s are racing up and down the road 60 feet away from the front sites starting at 7:30 am and continuing until dark. Jake brakes will wake you up. Trust me. The site host was super nice, and the weather was great for the first week of April

This is a dispersed campground with a bunch of informal sites. Just find a level enough spot for you. Gorgeous natural amphitheater. There are two pit toilets. Bring your own TP (the reason for 4 stars.) Camping is free with a discover pass. Lots of climbers use the site. I love it for the arid climate and extraordinary beauty.

Very nice and quiet spot (at least while I was here mid march). Best to have high clearance as there are some good size rock outcroppings. Few people rock climbing, tall waterfall across the valley. Very quiet. Can hear birds fly by. Best to show up during daylight hours unless you have lots of Baja lights. Many sharp rock outcroppings and difficult terrain to drive over to find a spot.

Limited amount of RV parking for dry camping. Nice little lake to fish rainbow trout.

The camping is good but the owners are rude drunks I would not stay here the owners are always on site there mean to campers kids not good atmosphere

Spent overnight here. Many cars in the pkg lot—hikers & fishermen. By early evening, everyone was gone except for 3 of us campers. There is road noise which is close, but that quiets at night as well. The train is also close, but I don’t mind hearing trains. Overall, a lovely place to hang for the night and take in a hike right there at the site. Good pit toilets too!

Nice spacious sites. Lots of privacy between sites. No dog park. Great view of the lake from your door. We took a 4 mile, one-way, bike ride to the town of Vantage and then to the Ginkgo Petrified Forest. The town of vantage is very small with a lot of closed shops. Has a gas station and convenience store. That’s about it. Very scenic area and quiet and relaxing.

This is a newer campground with spacious and private sites away from the river.  Sites at riverside are narrow, long, flat, but not so private.  While the outhouses in general are pristine, by late summer those in the lower loop are usually over full, you would be better of with a bucket.  That said, we need an ADA site and the ADA and a few of the other accessible sites here are very good.  This is always on our short notice list of great places to relax.

Stayed here a few days a couple years ago and it was a great place. The campsites are nice and spacious with good privacy from other campers. The lake level was pretty low when we were there so you had to walk out a bit of distance to get to the water. But it's a nice sandy shore so great for the kids swimming and the water is so shallow for a long way out so you don't have to worry about the kids. It's a beautiful lake and nice area.

We stayed here a few days in July and loved it! The river is so beautiful with the waterfall cascading down into the river directly across from the campsite. There is a shallow part near the shoreline where the kids had a great time playing in the river. The river itself is wide and very fast moving. The campsite we stayed in was fairly close to the next one, but we were camping with friends in the next one so it was fine. But be aware, some campsites are very close together. There is some road noise, but mostly you just hear the river.

Arrived on a Sunday without reservations and had several spots to choose from for our 3 night stay. Easy Lake access. The grounds are immaculately kept up - sites are very spacious - bathrooms and showers super clean. Road our e-bikes into Vantage - only a gas station/convenience store - very expensive - but it is the only game in town as everything else is closed. Continued our e-bike ride to Ginkgo Petrified forest - nice little 3 mile hike. The town is 2.5 miles from camp and another 2 to get to the petrified forest. Would stop here again. Had a relaxing time.