Best Tent Camping near South Cle Elum, WA

Mountain River Trails is a private members owned campground.  Located ont he river in South Cle Elum it is on leased Native land.  You must purchase a membership to camp here and with that you have your own private site.  

Most of the sites are passed down for generations or purchased after being invited by other friends.  This is a camping community as well as the perfect getaway for kids, adults, dogs and everything in between.

Good sites for tent camping but the sites aren't great for an RV.

We’ve camped here a number of times and love it. 4 kids and a dog. We’ve tent camped, stayed in the cabins and our class C RV. We’ve been in a variety of spots around the campground. Our favorite were tent camping over the river and being close to the playground & dog park on the RV. The store is the best I’ve come across at a campsite. Great kid craft activities, nice playground, yummy pancake breakfast, great access for swimming in the river. We walk to town. It’s awesome.

A friend told me to check out Leavenworth. It was cute, but every bit the touristy type of thing I’m not a fan of. The real jewel of the area are these Wenatchee National Forest campgrounds. This one is right on the river. I think I paid $22. for a walk-in tent site (but we camped in the parking lot in our rooftop tent). The best walk in tent site is right on the river. Very relaxing. Beautifully wooded sites. Beware of bear activity.

Nice spots but size limits trailer length unless you get pick of spots. Van or tent camping everywhere! Tables, rings, outhouses. Great hiking trail up Mad River trail and great bike riding up Tyee road

Pro: Great campground for convenience. Walkable to main town strip. Hot showers. Toilet paper stocked

Cons: Hours of pool/hot tub are narrow. Cost is a little high for a tent site.

nice park, close spots, very friendly host, swimming pool, fhu, fire pits, creek on back side of park. was very busy with a large group and kids riding bikes like crazy! plenty of tent sites too. $45/nite

2020 prices in the photo. Clean camp with multiple water points. There's 4 or 5 spots large enough for an RV away from the river. Several flat tent camping spots along the river.

We found the location a little noisy because HWY12 run along the north side of the park.

It’s a nice KOA but my tent site was right next to the playground so I had kids running through my site and touching my truck. But they had a dollar rib night so that was great and the staff was really nice the whole time.

Cabins with A.C. in the shade, works well for groups, but very close to each other, and for the cost, go stay at a nice hotel.

Tent camping in the field is horrible. 1 foot between our tent and neighbors. 103 degrees and not a single tree for shade.

Two of our three nights had issues with thieves taking bikes and coolers in the middle of the night.

THe river was the best place to hang for the day.

Has tents site to camp at

Wonderful place to camp during autumn. Beautiful colors. Arrived for the last weekend before gates were closed (Closed noon Monday 10/11) A lot of no show reservations, recommend coming Saturday morning and taking the pick of the crop. Very close to amazing hikes and Leavenworth. Camp hosts were helpful, bathrooms were clean and comfortable. Fires were permitted, cold at night this time of year but many sites were still tent camping.

Rolled in late at night on an audible after campground at Lake Wenatchee didn't work out. Great tent sites, with decent spacing between them. This place is big, but didn't feel too crowded - at least during off-season. Super clean facilities, warm bathrooms, good provisions at their on-site store. Beautiful river walk, good proximity to town.

T-mobile 5G: pulling down 80-100mbps consistently, video calls were a breeze. ATT LTE: similar.

Not reaaally a campsite per se, but there are a few spots that can be used for camping. Probably wouldn’t want to tent camp here, not a lot of flat cleared ground, but we found a small clearing that was perfect for a night. No amenities, so bring your own camp stove, tables, chairs, etc. It was very beautiful and private but it’s right off the high way so you can hear traffic all night. Ideal if you’re just looking for somewhere to crash before you get back on the road.

Runs along a creek that you can here from all sites. Perfect for tent camping. The site offers picnic tables & a triangle shaped fire pit. The fire pits have a grill grate over top of them that we cooked dinner on at night. The facility only offers vault toilets, they were decent. The trash pick up is at the entry which did not smell & was picked up on Friday’s.

We had a few small visitors including a chipmunk & a field mouse.

Going up the mountain we found a really cool meadow & lake.