Best Glamping near Tumwater, WA

I have camped here a number of times over the years. This is a nice woodsy campground just south of Olympia, WA located on Deep lake. It has a very old growth forest feel to it. This campground offers many activities: hiking trails, fitness trails,fishing, boat rental, and even a concession stand. The fishing is good for trout,bass, and sun fish. This park offers both hookup and non utility tent sites as well as glamping tents.

Cons: most of the hookup sites are in a field with zero privacy but there are a few that are much better like the last spot I stayed at.

The primitive sites are better but the roads are quite narrow with limited access for RV's.

The "Glamping tents"are very nice but crazy expensive at over $300 a night. Like most of the State Parks reservations book up quickly so it pays to plan ahead

Pros: fishing is pretty good even from shore. The day use area is great but pretty rustic. Lots of trails to hike but not as well marked as I would expect. Really close to Seattle so it is ideal for a weekend getaway Friday after work.

Beautiful spot, though tightly packed and crowded/noisy. We stayed in spot 59 on a Saturday night. It was rainy and the fire pit area had plenty of puddles. Lots of folks came in later in the evening with multiple cars and sat out talking; plenty of them packed up and left before 8 am. We walked the fen trail, which was spooky and different from our home of Colorado! Reservations needed. There are also glamping cabins. Nice clean bathrooms with flush toilets, water available at multiple locations, showers available with tokens.

This is a very nice, typical Washington state park with plenty of trees, greenery, hiking, pathways and even a lake. There's a camp store along with several large outdoor kitchens that would be good to use for groups. Many of the structures like the kitchens and even bathrooms were built back in the 1930s by the CCC, which is pretty cool. It's just far enough off I-5 to not have the freeway noise, but close enough to be convenient. It's also nearby to Great Wolf Lodge if you're looking for a place to stay near there.

On the other hand, the RV sites especially are basically in a big field with a cement road going around it. The sites have tables and fire pits, but no privacy what-so-ever. The tent sites are slightly better, with more trees, but still very close to one another.

The campground also has glamping available (canvas permanent tents) that looked cool.

They have glamping! Or as the campground calls it: pampered camping. This is a beautiful park located on Deep Lake just outside of Olympia.  The park itself is huge offering lots of options for campers.  Super easy to get our trailer in and out of the spaces and there was lots of extra parking for our larger group.  A quick walk around the grounds offered a nice hike and showed us some pretty awesome sites Id like to stay at in the future.  They are on a progressive price, meaning depending on the site is what your price will be.

The canvas tent option was one I didn’t know about until I got there.  The tents are cabin shaped and have a few chairs and BBQ grill outside it.  Great option for families.

The park also offers a cottage right next to the lake.  This is a nice alternative to traditional camping.  One thing that was great about the park was the various kitchens around the grounds.  This offers a great way for larger groups to have a set space for meals.

Great PNW experience minutes from Olympia!

Campground review: First off this is not a primitive experience by any means. However this is a really interesting state park that has something for EVERYONE. The campground itself is separated into 3 separate sections. There is a larger trailer loop down by the main entrance, standard tent camping and lastly "glamping" and yes you heard me right. This campground also boasts a beer garden AND a boat house with kayak and canoe rentals. If this is all sounding a little much I understand. Surprisely though the campground was almost completely filled when we were there and do to it being densely vegetated and how it's laid out. Our campsite was very private and spacious. The campground itself was very clean and well kept and rangers were on regular patrol. It was a great fun local escape for us and our kids loved it!! They also have a few trails but we did not check them out this visit. My only complaint would be the restrooms are few and far between for how large the campground is just know this before your visit. Happy Adventuring!

Gear Review:

HellaGood Belmont Blanket

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I occasionally get products to test- today I am testing the HellaGood Belmont Blanket. Right away I was surprised by how light weight and extra durable this blanket was. Easy to pack in a backpack and bring to the water front with us and made a great blanket to cozy up under after a few hours of paddling. It was also a great additional play space for our kids at our camp site. The bottom is waterproof and the top is a soft fleece like material so I didn't have to worry about washing it when we got home. In the past we have just brought a beach blanket camping but this is for sure our new go to! www.belmontblanket.com

This campground is about 20 minutes away from my parents place in Longview Wa. About 5 miles off of the freeway next to Silver Lake and the Mt Rainier Visitor Center. The campground is on the other side of the highway and you will need to drive to get to either location.

This is a pretty large campground, with spaces for RVs/ Trailers, tents and a loop of yurts called Yurt village. There are a few bathrooms and showers, all are ADA friendly.

My kids loved the addition of a playground. Many parks dont have this and it kept them entertained for hours. There is a bathroom and extra parking right next to the playground. They also host junior ranger programs during the summer. There are tons of trees reminiscent of Endor ;) and tons of places to hike. Trail entrances are clearly marked.

The yurt village was my favorite part about this campground. If you are camping with a large family this would be a perfect spot to try and rent all the spaces. you would essentially have your own bathroom, outdoor play area and there is a camp host dedicated solely to the yurts.

Bring bug spray, they werent too bad, but I am prone to mosquito bites and got hit.

I love Seaquest for their beautiful campsites and the proximity to a wonderful forest to bathe in. But don't go for the RV sites, which are laid out in a parking lot setting with no real distance from neighbors and not surrounded by trees. Unless that's your jam. It was definitely not ours, tent camping alongside some friends with a trailer who liked nothing more than to hang out at said trailer, and walk through the campground to look at other.. trailers. I don't think they even stepped foot in the 7+ miles of forest trails which is a few steps away. If you can step away from the hookups and get a real campsite off the RV pad, it is a stunning experience. Each site is surrounded by trees, creating privacy and serenity.  Another great option is the yurts. We stayed in Yurt 2 (the only pet friendly yurt) and loved it. 

For those with RV's, trailers, campers - look into the regular sites because I think some of them even have hookups and can accommodate most sizes. Just steer clear of RV sites T1-T16.

Love this Park! Under 2 hr drive from Portland. Big campground with large private sites. Also has yurt village separated from campground by day use area. Great place for families! Always quiet clean and family friendly!

Millersylvania is located South of Olympia on Deep Lake. The campsites are nice, they have both RV, Yurts, and Tent sites. The RV loop does pack you in their like sardines. Deep Lake is a murky lake but is stocked with fish and has designated swim area.

If you are in Tacoma and dont have a chance to get to the East side or the coast, head to Dash Point. Just twenty minutes from Tacoma, Dash Point has a great camp ground and yurts a plenty for a quick getaway. Easy water access and lots of trails to explore make it very family friendly.

This is a great campground for families. They have bathroom facilities and an old school playground. We stayed in the yurt village, which was outstanding. The park staff works hard to keep this place clean. The Mt. St. Helens visitors center is a 10 minute walk from the campground. There is a wonderful ADA accessible 1 mile trail that goes through the wetlands.

Coho Campground sits on the Wynoochee Lake at the Wynoochee Dam. Lush forest, tall trees, and moss make this place so beautiful and a magical campground for kids to play in! Campsites are private and shady. In spring, piles of wood are stacked in piles all over, from those which fell in winter. The lake has a great day use area and the campground also has yurts, with a lake view.

It's a really pretty park. Very family friendly. The day use area is huge with a playground. Dry wooded sites. Stayed in a hookup spot with power and water. Pretty large spot and well kept. The full hookup spot are just a field. I hate that type spot, I prefer more privacy when I camp and the site I was in was really nice. The park is well laid out with a good mix of RV and tent sites plus yurts and a couple walkin sites. The restrooms are clean. They have pay showers. Over all it's a very nice place to camp and I would recommend it.

Just 20 minutes south of Olympia, WA you can pull off I-5 and pitch a tent beneath towering old growth Douglas Fir and Hemlock trees. This stunning state park reminds us both of the kinds of campgrounds we frequented as kids. 

Most of the campsites in the forest loops are small with limited parking and the narrow roads would not serve larger camper rigs. Our little 15 foot travel trailer made it in without any problem. The feeling of camping under the old-growth canopy is so classic Washington, but the solar gain is pretty minimal. Ironically, the electrical hookup sites, which more easily accommodate the big rigs, are out in a more cleared area where there would be solar gain for days. 

We camped on the closest loop to the full-hook up RV area and were able to get our solar suitcase out into the sunshine on its extension cord for a few hours. The bathrooms in the forest loops are pretty simple ranging from pit toilets to flush varieties with showers. There is a more modern bathroom facility with nicely clean and refreshing showers near the larger RV field. Things to do in this park are abundant. The water is super chill, shallow and warm. 

Only “cartop boats” are allowed in the lake, making it ideal for stand up paddle boards, small kayaking boats, inflatables, canoes, fishing dinghies and just swimming around.  Lightening storms in this part of the world are pretty rare, so very fun to see one over the lake while we were here.  The lake shore has some classic picnic shelters, built by the CCC, that are reservable, offer wood burning stoves, and lots of places to cook for a family get together. 

Hiking and trailing running in the park is wonderful, and with all the loops your efforts can range from 30 min strolls to half-day hikes. The trails are well mapped, and signed making it nearly impossible to get lost. 

Tumwater is about 10 miles away on country roads to the north, and Grand Mound is 10 or so miles to the south. Either of these communities provide the usual suburban supplies for groceries and restaurants. There are also some nearby convenience and general stores where you could pick up some ice and such. During the summer months the park has a small cafe and ice cream shop.

Campground Review:

I recently visited one of my favorite campgrounds with my family. Seaquest is at the base of Mt St Helens, right next to the Mt St Helens Visitor Center. They have tons of activities for kids and a great learning space about the volcano. At the campground, there are easy trails for kids to go on. The campground is surrounded by trees and wildlife. One thing I love about this space is the yurts are in their own area. We have yet to take advantage of reserving all the yurts at once for a family event, but I am excited for when we do. There is an amazing playground for the littles at the center of the campground. If you reserve a campsite around the playground, you can very easily sit at the fire, while being able to keep an eye on the littles.

Product Review

I also love how quiet and safe this campground is. I allow my littles to ride their bikes through this campground. Using the Midland X-Talkers with them makes communication so much easier! Each child, my husband, and I were able to have a radio. My girls were in love with their "camping phones". I was able to put their radios on their bikes very easily and by turning the volume up all the way, they were able to ride and listen. The radios have belt clips that held up during my run and my girls' bike rides. They also are small enough that they fit easily in a 6-year-olds pocket. I plan on making a clip for their bikes for easy holding on their handlebars. The range was tested to over five miles!! The only downside was the radios used 4 AAA batteries rather than having a rechargeable battery. However, so far, it seems like the battery life is really good, so I can't complain that much. We tested these with Midland radios one of my uncles has, and the radios were compatible with the X-Talkers so my young cousins could use them.

Overall, I am very impressed with the radios and look forward to using them for future trips.

https://midlandusa.com/product/x-talker-t20x4-walkie-talkie-four-pack/

One of the prettiest lakes in Washington. Can get pretty busy in the summer but mostly empty otherwise. Little to no cell service. lots of options for camping and backroads all around.

Campsite Review: The Coho campground in Olympic National Forest is pretty interesting as it’s just off Lake Wynoochee, formed by the Wynoochee Dam (I don’t think I ever really got the Indian names down quite right). This portion of the National Forest is really cool and feels very secluded as you drive for miles and miles from any real civilization into some wonderful old growth forests. The 46-different pull-through, back-in campsites are all fairly separated and you’re not at all bothered by your neighbors. There are also 10 walk-in tent only sites and a handful of Yurts (which looked interesting). Since you are off quite a way down an old logging road (paved one way, unpaved the the other) you have absolutely no highway noise to deal with and no one is coming and going at all hours of the night. All of the campsites themselves are a decent size with nice flat areas, huge tables, fire ring, etc. We stayed at site 41 in loop B which was open to the road, but we had no one behind us or on either side. When getting your site be careful about the exact size allotment if you’re in a big RV or have a 5th wheel, etc. Felt really bad for the guy trying to back into site 38 beside us. He tried for 30+ minutes pulling around and trying to get a better angle 2-3 times before they found the camp host and to move to site 40 which was empty. While the site might say it’ll fit your vehicle, the roads are narrow and there are random boulders here and there which may impede your maneuvering. The sites which are “on the water” aren’t really on the water, but overlook a pretty steep decline to the lake with the 16-mile lakeshore trail in between. If you’re a boater you’re also not too far from the boat access ramp.

The toilet facilities in Loop B were nice and clean. The facilities right by us seemed to have been properly maintained and no guests had come in and destroyed them. There was hand soap and plenty of paper towels and toilet paper (in case you forget to bring your own).

Amenities: Definitely larger than standard picnic tables, fire rings, plus flush toilets, potable water, & trash cans which were emptied first thing in the morning |Prohibited: pets off-leash

Nearby Hikes: Wynoochee lakeshore trail, which goes by a couple waterfalls & Working Forest Nature trail, which gives you a little insight into the life cycle of the forest

Gear Review: As a Ranger for The Dyrt I sometimes get the opportunity to test out products and the highlight of this particular camp site was my testing of the Belmont Blanket #AdventureBlanket The best all-purpose blanket ever!! This is a truly fantastic blanket and completely different from the other “outdoor blankets” which either are supposedly waterproof or keep you warm. This blanket does it all. I felt like this was designed specifically with mastering the outdoors in mind.

• I was really impressed with the size that this rolls up into. Was thinking it wouldn’t be nearly as warm with such a small packed size for a 6’ x 5’ all weather blanket.
• Similarly, this blanket is huge. I’m 6 feet tall and this blanket can cover me from head to toe. So many times with an “outdoor” blanket, I can’t fully stretch out.
• The #AdventureBlanket is really soft on the plush inside, it’s very comfy and has actually become not only our outdoor blanket, but also our couch blanket.
• Can’t attest to the waterproofing in the wild (thankfully haven’t yet had to test out if we’d get ‘wet butt’ or not), but our makeshift water bottle rain test proved the blanket was fully waterproof (not resistant) which is awesome.
• Really like the design with the awesome leather accents. The colors are really sharp and make the blanket pop.
• Probably one of the best features of this blanket is that it’s Handmade in the USA!! How many companies or products can claim that now a day.

I give the Belmont Blanket #AdventureBlanket 5/5 stars and it's my go to "blanket" for any picnic/fest/outdoor activity and I actually got myself a second one!

Let me start off by saying - if there are so many campsites in Washington, why would you want to stay at the same place multiple times???

Ike Kinswa is the place I would stay at repeatedly. Between the incredibly helpful and friendly staff, to the private tent sites, to the water access, we’ve already stayed twice this summer!! So incredibly impressed with this gem!

One of my favorite campgrounds in Washington! Lots of camping spots right on Lake Mayfield with tons of trails in and around the campground. Private swimming areas are awesome for paddle boarding and kayaking. Also has its own boat launch which is great during the summer. Really quiet in the spring and fall which is my favorite time to go. Make sure to take one of the hikes north from the campground along the Tilton river, it's beautiful.