Best Tent Camping near Startup, WA

Half way along the mountain loop highway you encounter numerous spacious tent sites with fire rings and gorgeous river & Mountain View camp grounds.

The campsites are nice, large and separated. A tent pad, table, and grill is provided at the tent sites. Our house near sites. Plenty to do at jim creek while you are there!

Decent, but the facilities are a bit rundown and there were three tent sites 5 feet from my door. Staff was friendly enough and 20 mins into Seattle.

The tent sites are all walk in on a big lawn by the river. Sites are nicely spaced between one another. Each site has a fire pit and picnic table. There are some nice trees spaced in the lawn so you get shade.

It's one of my favorite spots because of the fishing access. The tent sites are right on the waterfront behind a row of foliage. The Skagit is a fishable river and spectacular when the salmon pinks run every other year. You can hear them jumping and splashing from your camp site. It's amazing.

And on your way home you have to stop by the 4B's Cafe in Concrete. Is a from scratch bakery and amazing!!!

This campground was alright to stay in. The highway right next to the KOA was very busy and noisy all night long, bring earplugs. The tent sites were a joke. You get a small square in a grid of 16 or so squares. Our 10x10 tent took up more than half of the tent site. The neighbor’s tent was 4 feet from ours, offering little to no privacy. The WiFi barely worked, but the showers were nice. The back showers are private rooms which are really nice, especially when camping with little ones to keep them contained. There’s no water or electric hookups for tent campers in the little squares, I had to fill my jug up from a hose on the side of the main building. To access the WiFi you have to make an account, which was annoying also.

Stayed in the tent sites ONLY area. Lunch green grass with a fire pit. Shared shelter if needed due to weather with 2 grills for use. Great trees to hang the hammock!

Absolutely beautiful sites both near and almost at the beach. Some say that the beachside sites can be windy. We had a beachside RV site without any issues. The tent sites are tucked into the woods.

The hike and Bike area is not easily located because it is set apart from the other campsites.  Showers are included in the fee and restrooms are clean. Tent site includes a table and fire pit.  Campground is right on the water with a convenience store about a quarter mile away. Seems to be popular with day visitors.

There are several pullout towards the end of the Middle Fork Road that offer access to the river and dispersed tent campsites. These are in National Forest Land NOT in DNR land where dispersed camping has different regulations.

Great views of the river and the mountains above. No facilities and no cell-reception.

This campground is beautiful! We had a site on the Mountain Loop Hwy side, so the road noise was kind of bothersome. If you’re lucky enough to get a site along the river, I don’t think the road noise would be a problem. The campground has beach access, fishing access, running water, and indoor plumbing (no showers, but sinks and toilets). It was a little stressful watching people trying to get their RV’s through the tight loop of the roadway lined with trees. We were tent camping though, so we didn’t have that issue personally. Would definitely return to this campground.

Great spot for living by the water for a few days. Plenty to do as long as you're into beach-combing, hiking, crabbing, fishing, kayaking, or just watching the water. There's a sweet spot late summer when you can add berry-picking to the activities list. It gets quite busy, but not as overrun as other parks in the islands. This place is ideal for tent camping and hiking around the green trails with pretty awesome views of the sound. If you'd rather go RV/cabin experience, you might be better off down the road at Cama (?) I think.

Overall we had a good time here, river is close by for water playing, and there is a playground for kids in the park. Grocery store is only two minutes away which makes it super convenient. However, the tent campsites have no shades, so on a sunny day it can get really hot. It's not a place where you can spend much time at the campsite during the day in my opinion.

Nestled along a creek, close to popular Lake Wenatchee, this is a great place to camp if you want to spend time at the Lake, but do not want to deal with the "loop crowds".

Sites have picnic tables, firepits, and grills.

Tip: Tent Sites 52-56 are the best (along the creek, a little spaced out) 50-51 are close to each other. Half of the campsites are now reservation and half are first come first serve. It is also a seasonal campground, so check before you go to make sure it's open.

Utility site #1 flanks the beach and is probably best in the place. #2, #3, #4 are IMO best after that as they move away from the beach and then curve around in ascending order.

Some neighbor noise, sites are close, but was not busy. Plenty of first come first serve spots available in off-season. Tent sites are up on the hill shrowded in trees, so more shelter but fewer views. Depends on what you're after.

• T-mobile 5G: solid, 3bars, 50-80mbps

• ATT LTE: similar.

Listen for owls, watch for fishermen crawlers in the AM.

Howard Miller Steelhead is luxury camping. Lots of spots for RV's, but not a lot of trees. Paved roads everywhere. There are only a few tent sites, but they are right along a beautiful river. Again, no trees between sites though. When looking for a site in the dark, I definitely stumbled across a few other people's spots. I'm more of a rustic person, so this campsite wasn't for me. But it's location is great - it's right along the North Cascades Highway. The backdrop of the mountains is beautiful. Sorry no pictures. I was on my way to a rustic backpacking trip before sunrise.

It’s 9:30, and the full hookup sites are blaring “how to save a life” by the fray, two sites down there’s an odd couple with a trailer arguing over the generator. I can hear the crowd in the little cabins on the other side of the campground. There’s no privacy here. The sites are all right on top of each other. Just hope you get a day when the crowd is good. On the bright side, the rest of the sites are being considerate, it’s open in winter, they have showers, and there are three tent sites for $20/night. Ear plugs are of good use here. We are using it as a stop over on our way out to the other side of the peninsula.

I have camped here twice, once on upper campgrounds and most recently the lower loop. We stayed in #83 in the lower loop and loved it. Nice spacious site with our trailer and slightly wooded for privacy with a view of the water. The bathroom and shower facilities are clean and warm. Nice playground for kids and beaches to explore. Tons of old war bunkers as well. About 35 minutes to port Townsend for a good meal and shopping. Highly recommend this campground. Books up fast! Caution with the upper campground. We did tent camping in the summer and our site was completely dirt. We ended up very dusty and dirty and it was a little out of control and we just succumbed to being dirty and dusty. Not all sites are that way but if we had it to do over we would be more careful.

The prices for everything is amazing! The campsites are spacious and run along the creek! There are tent pads that make the ground not so hard under your tent. A table, grill and campfire ring at every site. The cabins are very nice! And are spacious as well. Have a porch swing, campfire ring, table and grill outside. Most cabins have an electric heater and a heat stove inside. The heat stove heats up the entire cabin very well!! They provide trash cans and bags and a broom to help keep the dirt cleaned up!

The bathrooms are very nice and clean. And they have firewood for sale on site. There is an attendant that will be there after work hours for people who are arriving late to get you checked in and answer questions you have. There are a couple of hiking trails, twin lakes, boats, canoes, and bikes to rent on site. There is also an enclosed dog park on site. There are tent sites, cabins, rv sites and even little apartments to rent for your stay. Great place and only 25 miles from town!