Are you in need of a campground near Thorp, WA? Discover secluded campsites where you can reconnect with nature. Or maybe you like to bring your family and friends along. Either way, there are Thorp campgrounds just for you. Search nearby campsites and find top-rated spots from other campers.
"This is a great place to camp and ride ORVs they have a beginners loop trailhead attached to this site as well as a trail head to a larger trail system."
"Right outside the entrance to Mt."
"If you come here you must leave no trace."
$10 - $25 / night
"This campsite is hike-in only. It is located near Leavenworth, WA. It is a popular location, so permits are hard to come by."
"I would suggest 6 to 8 hours to hike in, sight see around the lake and hike out. Moderate to heavy traffic. Get to the parking lot early or no parking."
"This is a well-known primitive camping area for rock climbers and other outdoor recreation folks (there are also hiking, biking and boating opportunities in the Frenchman Coulee recreation area)."
"Plenty of car camping and is a popular spot for rock climbing. There's a trail down to the waterfall and one toilet but no tp so be prepared."
LegendWe stayed here 2 nights and will definitely be coming back. Tons of open sites to choose from right along the river. Designated fire rings but currently there's a burn ban. No vault toilets or picnic tables. Pack it in, pack it out! When we first arrived we spent about 20 minutes cleaning the site we chose after the people whom were here before us. Not such a big deal just a little saddening. #1 rule is to leave no trace. Extremely grateful we get to explore and camp on land that is free. We should all do our part and take care of it.
A little surprising that we had cell phone reception with sprint!
Near this area there are a lot or activities. Biking, hiking, swimming, fishing, kayaking.. to name a few!
GuideThis campground seems almost brand new. There are no hookups and no water on site, though there are several vault toilets.
Each site has a picnic table, fire ring, tent pad, and path down to a rocky beach on the Columbia. The sites are definitely not large enough for most RVs, so I'd consider this tent or van camping only.
There's not much shade at the sites, but you can get out of the sun near the river.
The biggest drawback to this spot is that it's just of the highway. You can and will hear air brakes all night. For me, staying on the Columbia was worth it.
LegendCampsite 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.
I give the Leatherman Signal 4.5/5 Stars!
GuideThis is a great state park to set up camp. It is always very busy. The sites are relatively spread out. There are two different sections for camping: an upper and lower. To me, the lower section doesn’t seem as nice. It has more trees, but the camp spots seem to be closer together. Likewise, the lower section just feels a little more rough than the upper section. The views are spectacular. There is a boat launch, and a swimming area. Furthermore, there is also a small store, and a mini-mart across the street. What makes this place great is the actual camp sites. They are huge. What makes it difficult for tent camping is there are a ton of sprinklers that turn on frequently. It is important to watch where you stake down your tent. For this trip, we brought our RV and a tent. During the summer, the temperatures during the daytime are hot! Luckily each site is equipped with water and electricity. There is no WiFi, but the cell service is outstanding.
GuideCooper 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.
TravelerWe didn't get to camp right next to the water (unfortunately) as all of those spaces were full (for obvious reason). We were able to find a spot just on the other side of the bridge, which was a short walk to the creek. We ended up unhooking our tent-trailer to fit in the site, but there was lots of room and level ground to have set-up a tent elsewhere on the site (it just wasn't accessible with our tent trailer). Gorgeous surroundings, the sound of the rushing water lulled us right to sleep at night.
Vault toilet and potable water.
ScoutThis 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!
LegendWe 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.
LegendEastern Washington near the water is my favorite type of landscape. It's a hot, windy, and a true desert climate. When you get near a body of water like you do along the Yakima River, the diversity of life expands and makes for great wildlife watching.
Umtanum Recreation Site is part of several BLM campgrounds lumped together along the Yakima River known as the Yakima River Canyon Campgrounds. All can be reserved ahead of time via the reservation.gov website: https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/250985. Standard for most BLM camping in Washington, sites are very basic. Gravel parking, pit toilets, and a picnic table. This place does have a dumpster for trash, not all do. There are no hook ups, no drinking water, and in our case, very little shade. Neighbors are close and there is not a lot of privacy. The day use area is right there too, close to camping and can be loud. It is heavily patrolled by the wonderful BLM folks to keep everything clean and the people orderly. They also give out tickets if you don't mind the warnings for correct passes or day use fees.
The campground itself is one little loop with six sites. The loop is an offshoot of a very large gravel parking area for day use. Mostly boat launching and hiking access to Umtanum Creek and Umtaum Ridge trails. You can check the Information Board for rules on day use and camping fees, passes, and how to check to see if a site is reserved.
We arrived on July 3rd in the afternoon. The campground was very quiet and all the sites were reserved. The morning of July 4th, the recreation site turned into a total madhouse. BLM Rangers, Law Enforcement, making constant rounds to patrol the never ending hoards of people coming to park and float the river. There was a lot of noise, dust, drunk and rowdy folks. Friday was calm again until afternoon, Saturday was not as bad as the 4th but still pretty crazy. It was also hot! No shade to be had in our site. After hiking in the morning, we spent a lot of time across the bridge, in it's shadow, in the river.
If you are using this spot as a base to do some hiking, fishing, or floating it's very convenient. I am sure in Spring and Fall when river floating is not at it's peak, it's gorgeous and peaceful. The raptors and songbirds are splendid. We saw Bighorn sheep on the hill, big rock squirrels, wild turkeys with babies, and fish. No rattlesnakes or ticks, but this is prime territory. Hiking down the Umtanum Creek trail, over the suspension bridge, is one of my favorite hikes ever.
Tent camping near Thorp, Washington offers a serene escape into nature, with various campgrounds that cater to outdoor enthusiasts looking for a peaceful retreat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Thorp, WA?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Thorp, WA is Riders Camp Campground with a 5-star rating from 1 review.
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