Lodgepole Campground (washington)

This is a newer campground with spacious and private sites away from the river.  Sites at riverside are narrow, long, flat, but not so private.  While the outhouses in general are pristine, by late summer those in the lower loop are usually over full, you would be better of with a bucket.  That said, we need an ADA site and the ADA and a few of the other accessible sites here are very good.  This is always on our short notice list of great places to relax.

Love this campground. Super quiet and very private spots. Clean. River is really shallow and cold but refreshing. Very friendly campground hosts.

Great, peaceful & quiet campground.  Road noise on the river-side of the loop is minimal.  We stayed over 4th of July weekend and no fireworks, very nice!  Campsite 20 is ok, not super private as it abuts right to the campsite on the other side of the loop.  Outhouse noise/smell wasn't an issue as it's right next to the pooper.  Clean outhouses.

NOTE: as of July 7, 2022 there is no potable water at campground, despite what Recreation.gov's website says.  Unfortunately we were not notified of this prior to arrival and arrived expecting to be able to fill up our jugs.  We had luckily brought a filter so were able to filter river water but access to river is mainly right in other campsites or down a steep trail.  Potable water also available via a hand pump at Pleasant Valley CG just down the highway, so we filled up there a few times.

Cell service: No AT&T service, but we did find that if you drive west up the highway just a few miles to the gate that closes for winter snow, then pull over there, you can get 1-2 bars if you hunt for it.  We checked email there a few times and then carried on our way.

This was a very busy campground, even during our mid-week stay.  There is a host on-site and the bathrooms near their set-up were kept very clean and fresh-smelling, which is a treat for a vault bathroom during a July heat wave.  The other bathrooms, however, weren't as closely attended too.  Lucky for us, we were about mid way between the two and could easily use the better ones.  

Things got pretty loud with a group of friends music and drinking, but the hosts were really on top of it.  We weren't the complainants, but the hosts stopped and apologized for the noise anyway.  

River was beautiful, and the campsite was roomy.  We weren't right on top of each other, which I always enjoy.  We couldn't find much in the way of trails in the immediate area though.  But the river access made up for it.  We even found a little sandy place to spend some time in.

There were also lots of wildflowers in the area, including our beautiful native lily, which unfortunately I didn't get a pic of.  

We had our 10 year old granddaughter with us, and she really loved it there.  She is a camping veteran really knows her way around a campsite!  Even though there was a burn ban and we didn't get to make our smores, she enjoyed herself.

This is a nice campground we stayed at along our loop around Mt Rainier. It's a good alternative to the other National Park campgrounds (Cougar and Ohanapecosh) that seem to book up many months in advance. I found it to be quiet with nicely distanced sites. Recommended stops along the way when coming from Enumclaw -- Tipsoo Lake, Federation Forest, Skookum Falls.

I showed up with no reservation and was lucky enough to get the last available first come site.  No cell service in the campground but about 2 miles up the road I was able to make calls. This is a good campground to use to visit Mt. Ranier. I’ll be back!

We had a great time at Lodgepole Campground in June 2018. We stayed at sites 34 and 32, both of which back up to the American river. this campground is well maintained by Hoodoo Recreation and has recently undergone some improvements. The ADA accessible sites have paved picnic/fire areas and several sites have steps down to the river. Some sites are more private than others and a few are pull-through that can accommodate a large motorhome or rv. Overall, this is one of our favorite campgrounds and we'll definitely be back.

We stayed three nights among the beautiful Lodgepole pines with the American river roaring by. Camp hosts, Vern and Marge do a wonderful job of keeping the campground clean and the restrooms some of the best vault toilets around! Some of the sites are a bit close and set up more for campers than tents as far as privacy, but the whole park was great and fellows campers quiet and respectful. The river is a bit swift and cold but many places down the road where the water was calmer you could spend the day enjoying the sun. Looking forward to the next trip!