Are you planning a tent camping trip to Stehekin? We've got you covered. The Dyrt is an easy way to find tent camping spots near Stehekin. Whether you're looking for a quiet, dispersed site or an established camgpround with amenities, The Dyrt makes it easy to find the perfect place to pitch your tent.
Campgrounds in Lake Chelan National Recreation Area are walk-in sites located in the Stehekin Valley at the head of Lake Chelan. Purple Point Campground is an approximatly eight minute walk from the boat dock at Stehekin Landing along a paved road. Most sites are located very near the road. Stehekin is a remote community with limited facilities and is only accessible by foot, boat, or plane.
Visitors can access several trails from near the campground, such the Imus Trail, the Purple Creek Trail, and the Lakeshore Trail. Other trails trails further up the valley can be reached by via foot, bike, or shuttle bus. Many of the trails from Stehekin provide the opportunity for longer wilderness backpacks. A backcountry permit is required for overnight stays in the backcountry. Visitors can boat, fish, and swim (although the water is a chilly 45 degrees) in Lake Chelan. Bears do inhabit the area, so care should be taken when hiking, picnicking, or camping.
For facility specific information, please call (360) 854-7200.
Stehekin is a gateway into the east side of the North Cascades National Park Service Complex. Many short to multi-day backpacking trips begin in the Stehekin area. Other attractions in the area are the historic Buckner Orchard, where visitors can pick apples in the fall, and Rainbow Falls, a 312-foot waterfall near the Stehekin Valley Road.
SPECIAL NOTICE: Crews from the Forest Service and the Washington Conservation Corps will pull and hand-spray Crupina, a noxious weed, in this area through the month of May. The crews will be camping at Moore Point campground May 4 – May 11 and May 18 – 25, 2017. The campground will be open to the public during these dates. However, available camping sites will be limited and the campground will be more crowded. This boat-in campground offers a picnic shelter and a fixed dock with a three boat capacity. There are four tent sites with a lot of room for additional dispersed camping, four picnic tables, four fire rings and two vault toilets available.
This boat-in campground offers a dock with a three boat capacity. There is one shelter, four tent sites, four tables, four fire rings, and two toilets. This site is accessible year-round. Good protection from down lake winds but no protection from up-lake winds. Located close to the old Lucerne Ranger Station.
The Cascade Creek campground is a hike-in campground located near the Lakeshore Trail #1247 between Prince Creek campground and Moore Point campground. There is no boat dock at this lakeside site but it offers two tent sites, 1 picnic table, 1 fire ring and 1 Wallowa toilet. There is not a bear proof communal food storage locker so you’ll need to bring some rope to hang your food.
Along the way, the Bridge Creek Trail provides access to the McAlester Lake, Dagger Lake, Rainbow Lake, and North Fork trails. At Bridge Creek Camp, which makes an excellent base for exploration, trails radiate east and west and link up to many more options.
Located on the south shore of Lake Wenatchee. This campground also offers 16 walk-in sites located on the lakeshore.
Sahale Glacier Camp is a collection of flat spots ringed with rocks piled up against the wind. Camping in the Sahale Glacier Camp requires a backcountry permit, available on a first-come, first-served basis at the ranger station in Marblemount.
Antilon Lake camping area is a dispersed camping area great for large groups and accessible to small RV's. Antilon Lake is open to fishing, and non-motorized or electric-motor boats. Not recommended for swimming. During the summer this camping area can be hot, dry and one of the first areas to close to campfires. Spring and Fall are much more pleasant.
Guide
What else can I say than we truly loved Chelan! We fell in love with this campsite last summer and already have our reservation confirmed for this summer!
This RV and tent campground is huge and we got a spot right on the lake, which was unforgettable! We made fires by the lake and had a very private tent site. The restrooms were quiet and clean, and there is so much to do in the nearby surrounding area! Highly highly recommend!
Guide
If you’re backpacking in the southern part of the North Cascades, you’ll probably wander right through this campground. Because of this, it can get a bit crowded in the middle of summer. But if you go earlier or later in the season, it’s lovely. Designated fire areas, near boxes, and you can camp right next to the creek. It’s only 3 miles from Stehekin so it’s nice for a quick overnight trip.
Guide
Has tent camping and bathhouse
Guide
Tent camped here by myself with 3 kids. It was super easy, nice showers, very close to town!
Legend
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.
Scout
Walk in spots for tent camping you have to walk a half mile to camp from your car. Rv spots are nice but close to other ppl.
Guide
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
Legend
Half way along the mountain loop highway you encounter numerous spacious tent sites with fire rings and gorgeous river & Mountain View camp grounds.
Legend
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!!!
ScoutPro: 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.
Traveler
The owners are great people and the Resort is very well kept. The have cabins and RV sites as well as tent sites. There is fishing right from the dock or you can rent a boat or a pontoon boat
Traveler
We had a tent site up on the hill that was semi-private with beautiful views. Plenty of birds to wake you with the sunrise. I could see how the lake could be busy in peak months but it wasn’t while we were here.
TravelerWe used a tent site which was in excellent shape. The views from our site were of the North Cascades. Only a short block walk into the heart of Winthrop which has all amenities, restaurants, micro brews, shopping etc. Very clean restrooms, ( $1.00 for a 2 minute shower) laundry available
TravelerCabins 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.
Traveler
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.
Guide
We stayed in a tiny house at this campsite, and had a great time exploring the local area. The campground also offers plenty of RV and tent sites. There are quite a few amenities as well including a pool and WiFi.
About 30 minutes from Leavenworth, this campground is a great launchpad for some unforgettable adventures. We look forward to coming back to explore even more!
Legend
We were surprisingly pleased with this campground. Our site was was a tent site only. The sites are spread out and do offer a little privacy. The sites have a picnic table, fire pit and a bear box. The restrooms a bit dated and you could defiantly tell they need to be updated. Diablo lake is beautiful and plenty of hiking trails to keep you busy. We will be back.
Legend
I’m not from here, so the scenery around every turn was AWESOME! There are so many roadside campgrounds all through this area and several of, not all are first come sites. Which can be frustrating during the busy season. If you like tent camping and know how to camp in wildlife areas YOU WILL LOVE this area. So many trails and things to see. Find a spot, take care of your fee and then go explore. Check out Manzana down the road. Stores , food and trailhead.
Scout
This is one of the most amazing campgrounds I’ve ever visited. It doesn’t look like much but it boasts waterfront tent camping and the showers and bathrooms are always clean and stocked. Sites are relatively small but big enough for two tents, their picnic table, fire pit, and some camping chairs. With two docks for fishing and floating as well as the adjascent boat launch, you’ll be able to play with all your water toys on Wapato Lake! I would highly recommend staying here if you want to visit the Chelan area without camping in downtown proper.
GuideWhat can I say that others haven't!? Some of the best car camping in the Cascades. The lake is shockingly blue and COLD, but after a sweaty day of hiking is the ultimate in refreshment! Camp sites are close but feel secluded enough. If you walk into the tent sites on the north side of the campground you have some better options if you want to lug all of your gear with you.
GuideRolled 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.
Ranger
Neve Camp is another far off adventure that is totally worth taking; located in the North Cascades not too deep off the thickly forested Thunder Creek Trail.
When planning our trip, we read reviews on other sites where folks thought the trail was boring, but we disagree. It is thickly forested but we were still able to glimpse the icy blue creek through the trees here and there and there was so much more to see! We found snails, mushrooms, wild flowers, all kinds of edible wild berries, trees large enough to stand inside, a rock cave in the hillside, and, of course, the sweet wooden foot bridge leading across Thunder Creek right into the first camp of the trail, Thunder Creek Camp . We bypassed this camp for two main reasons; 1) it’s located uncomfortably close to the trail, and 2) it’s only 1.5 miles into the trail (though not a bad spot if you got a late start and wanted to skip spending the night at Colonial Creek campground at the trail-head) and we wanted to see what lay ahead. We trekked another easy 1 mile before finding signs to Neve Camp. We wandered the nicely spread out campsites until settling on the dope site with the awesome river views from the fire pit/cook area. The tent sites for this camp are located on a small side trail up the hill a bit. They even have a nice pit toilet which isn’t enclosed so you can enjoy the surrounding forest while there. We had originally planned to head out the next morning, heading further up the trail but at breakfast our group of four decided we weren’t going anywhere as we were all in love with Neve Camp! We had an amazing view and sounds of the river to help lull us to sleep at night. During the day we watched all kinds of birds use the river as a freeway to head up or downstream. We saw many osprey, herons, a few formations of Canadian geese, a family of woodpeckers and more small birds we didn’t have names for. Did I mention the berries? The boys wandered the forest collecting all kinds of berries; blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, salal berry, salmon berry, and strawberry. We assume all those berries is why we found fresh bear scat on the trail, and spotted a black bear across the creek from us on our last morning in camp.
This location could be used as a mini base camp to hike up or down the trail a bit more. Neve Camp is also located very near the trail fork leading to Fourth of July Pass.
Really the only remotely negative thing I can say about this spot was that the tent sites were a bit small. We rock a Marmot Limelight 2P and we hardly had enough room to set up our tent! Once we jammed it in the tent site, however, we were good to go and the tent site size no longer mattered.
TravelerAlta Lake is a nice, clean park with decent tent sites. We had a site in Loop 2 on the right (on the lake side). It was away from the main area, parking lots, boat launch or store, so pretty quiet. Our site was sweet, it had a trail down to a small open sandy stretch of beach that was basically our own private beach. Took the cooler and a pop up tent and enjoyed the beach all day. We went in August and it was hot, the lake was super refreshing! (photo from WA State Parks & Rec commission)
GuideWe stayed at Lake Chelan State Patk and had a wonderful experience. We rode our bicycles, but admittedly not a lot of options away from the road. However, we did a lot of kayaking early and later in the day and had a wonderful time. The water was calm like glass and so clear. We stayed in a tent site which was perfect for our campervan. Although we were next to the boat trailer parking lot, really didn't notice the traffic. Friendly staff and clean restrooms.
Legend
General: A variety of different campsites in two sections ranging from economy to basic to popular, with and without hookups, and priced according to peak or non-peak season. There are also three cabins and two group camp areas.
Site Quality: We are happy we were able to book a basic tent site with our campervan (there were more than a few others with RVs in these sites). Parking was on grass and not completely level, but we made it work. Each site had a picnic table and fire ring (although there was a fire ban in effect when we were there). The sites with utilities had paved camper pads.
Bath/Shower house: Clean with soap and air dryers. The showers are free but you are asked to not use more than three button pushes. My shower in the afternoon was completely COLD and I am not sure if it was the time of day, the particular shower, or user error. My husband’s shower got hot midway through.
Activities/Amenities: All things water-based including jet skis, water skiing, kayaking, SUP, and fishing. There is also a boat wash. There are also numerous trails used for hiking, running, and mountain biking. Other activities include volleyball and horseshoes.
Despite my cold shower and the fact that state parks are becoming increasingly pricy (with reservation and out-of-state fees, we paid $ 77 for two nights for a tent site), we enjoyed our stay here.
Ranger
Stopped to check out Goose Creek Campground which was pretty much empty when we got there, but had loads of trash left behind by previous campers. The waterfront sites were awesome and you had your pick between tent sites right at the creek's edge or some more spacious sites that could accommodate RVs and trailers up higher overlooking the water. IMO the creekside sites are the better ones if you can score them since passing cars would kick up the fine dust in the dirt lot RV/trailer sites.
RangerNestled 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.
Nestled in the stunning North Cascades, Stehekin, Washington, offers a variety of tent camping options that immerse you in nature's beauty. From serene lakeside spots to secluded forest retreats, there's something for every outdoor enthusiast.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Stehekin, WA?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Stehekin, WA is Purple Point Campground — Lake Chelan National Recreation Area with a 3.8-star rating from 4 reviews.
What is the best site to find tent camping near Stehekin, WA?
TheDyrt.com has all 126 tent camping locations near Stehekin, WA, with real photos and reviews from campers.
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