Far in the Northwestern corner of the United States lies a world of magic, splendor, and mystical beauty. Perched atop the historical Mount St. Helens, Seaquest State Park is the home-base for thousands of volcanic visitors year round. Most notable for its proximity to the Mount St. Helens Visitors Center, this park is the home base for hikers, explorers, tourists, and adventures alike. It’s not just the volcanic aftermath that makes this area so special. Even before the eruption, Gifford-Pinchot National Forest has always been known for its dense foliage, as well as its beautiful lakes, tributaries, and waterfalls. 

When it comes to nearby attractions, the area is packed with them. Miles and miles of trails fork and wind throughout the park. Beyond the confines of the park’s boundaries are numerous additional trailheads, all offering something unique to those seeking it. Perhaps the most popular trail nearby is the Monitor Ridge trail. This 10 miles round trip excursion will have you climbing 2,000 vertical ft. through grassy meadows and winding forest paths. The last 1,000 feet are especially difficult due to the volcanic debris and soot that cakes your clothes. However when you finally reach the domed summit, you’ll be pleased with your efforts. Massive and expansive, the St. Helens dome is unlike any other scenic viewpoint in the US. Nowhere else can you see the true force and impact of Mother Nature’s wrath. 

Nearby, the Mount St. Helens Ape Caves give visitors a chance to traverse through the labyrinth of volcanic caves left behind by magma runs during the the eruption. Today, the caves are a popular attraction for families and explorers. There’s two separate options, one which is well-lit and suited for families. The other option will send you through a pitch black adventure trekking the depths of the craggy, drippy tunnels. If planning to visit, be sure to bring a strong flashlight or kerosene lantern, as you’ll be unable to enter otherwise. 

Camping in Seaquest State Park is relatively painless thanks to the 52 standard campsites, 18 partial-hookup sites, and 15 full-service sites. RVers, tent campers, van travelers, and anyone else with a form of shelter should have no issues finding somewhere to stay here. Aside from standard camping accommodations, there are also full-service Yurts available for rental, complete with heaters to stay warm if you’re visiting in the chilly months.

Seaquest State Park Campground

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.

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Ranger Review: Midland XTalker 4 Pack at Seaquest

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!

Our favorite close to pdx retreat

This campground is split into three loops; an RV loop, Mixed loop, and a predominantly tent loop. As with other Washington State Parks, the loop and camp spotseach have a different cost ranging from $20-$30+ a night. That is a major detraction to camping here. We stayed in #74 which was $25 a night in the popular season. The spot itself was very spacious with plenty of room for multiple tents and space to sit around the fire pit. There are several miles if hiking trails which would be rated as easy for most and would be a great intro to hiking for familys. 

Fern covered campground near Mt St Helens

A bit crowded and the sites aren't really spread apart, the road through it is paved, and it's full service, so not exactly the rustic experience that I usually go for. But it's also got a lot of trees so they help make it feel more remote and spread out than it actually is. Our camp host was nice. Parking space at our site was big enough for two cars. Not my first choice, but the proximity to St. Helens made it worth it, especially for a last minute back up plan.

It's fine, mostly it's just close to St. Helens

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.

How did I not know about this place?

This is a campground on one of the roads leading to Mt. Saint Helen's. It was a decent sized campground with RV spots, tent spots, group spots, and walk-in spots. It had a huge playground area as well as a day use site with covered shelters within the park. The visitor center was a short 1 mile walk from the campground that had an under road tunnel leading under the highway. From the visitor center here was an additional path through the marsh with views of Mt. Saint Helen's, or at least I think there are views the smoke was so thick we could not see the mountain. At night the campground had a great Junior Ranger program with a very enthusiastic park ranger that kept the almost 50 people/kids entertained. She was great at engaging all the kids and teaching them about the park, highly recommend this for anyone bringing kids. For being completely full the nights we were there it was pretty quiet with only the occasional noise coming from the nearby highway.

We stayed in the group site, spot 60/61\. Since we booked the group site we were required to book both of the spots at the same time. It was the smallest group site I have ever seen. There was barely room for the 3 tents we set up and originally we would have had almost 6, which would not have fit in this spot. There were 2 large tables as well as 2 fire pits, however 1 fire pit was inches away from the bushes and would not have been good for people to sit around. Luckily the other fire pit was great and we were all able to sit around it. The bathrooms and water were close by.

There were other sites that were much bigger and would be able to accommodate larger groups. I would not waste my money on the group site if you need more then 4 tents, honestly 3 was a squeeze. It's a great campground for those that are spending multiple days in Mt. Saint Helen's since it was a very short drive away.

Campground near Mt. Saint Helen's

Beautiful Pacific Northwest campground in a canopy of trees.  Very peaceful and green campground with well spaced out sites.  Some loops are hard to drive through with anything bigger than a car.  Just off the highway but without the noise.

#pnw

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.

Beautiful campground in the shadow of Mt. St. Helens.

Campsite 32 backed up to the day camp area with a playground. Perfect for our family with 3 kiddos. We were able to let them go play and be close by. Plenty of trees for semi-private campsite. We had a blast! Great place to catch views of Mt St Helens and 1 hour away from Johnson Observatory. 

Great Spot! 

Such a well maintained park. The sites were big and while we had neighbors on all sides there was enough distance and tree/fern cover to feel private. We stayed at site 41, which had a trailhead right beside it offering a leisurely walk to explore the surrounding woods. An easy walk to a visitor's center with a decent exploration of the Mt Saint Helens eruption. The center is also surrounded by a wetlands nature walk that has some great birdwatching. Overall we loved it!

Beautiful!

We were looking for a place between Portland and Seattle for one last night of camping. We were able to get site 12 the day we arrived at Seaquest without an advance reservation. It’s near a water spigot and not too far from the bathhouse. 

One bathhouse included in my pictures was part of another loop that was on the walking path to the Mount Saint Helens Visitor Center, located across the street. A short tunnel goes under the road for safe access to the visitor center. 

Seaquest State Park has a small playground and picnic area. There’s not much else to the park. It’s proximity to Mount Saint Helens probably makes it popular. The facilities were clean and the campground was quiet. Nice place for a quiet, relaxing camping experience. 

Nice place to camp

This is a great family campground.

We (2-adults) spent two nights: Sun &amp; Mon. The campground is huge but our site felt fairly private even though there were lots of campers around. Good, clean services (toilet, water, trash bins); it's very well maintained. 

We explored the area near Mt. St. Helens during the day; there are plenty of lakes and hikes around. 

For what it is it's great. If you are looking for more remote and fewer campers, it may not be your first choice but for an easy getaway between Portland and Seattle, we enjoyed our time.

Family campground 

My family loves this campground. It is very peaceful, very clean, friendly people. Paved roads surround several loops. Tent camping and trailer camping is plentiful. Majority of sites are private. There is a playground for kids and many trails surrounding the park. We live within 20 min and this is our choice for camping. The campground is located across the highway from one of 3 Mt St Helens visitor center with a tunnel that goes under the Hwy to get you safely from the campground to visitor center. If you are going to see the mountain this park is a great place to stay at and then head up to the mountain in the morning and come back to camp another night. There is a very nice ADA accessible trail around the wetlands that are on Silver Lake. If you enjoy star gazing there is a large open field that you can lay in at night and make a wish on numerous shooting stars you may see. Absolutely a great place to stay for a night or a week.

Beautiful, clean, quiet. 

This was a very pleasant surprise.  Our guidebook gave a very mediocre review of this campground and I think they were way off.  Nice and quiet, tucked away in the woods with good sized sites and good privacy.  Excellent staff and firewood available to purchase.  Nice playground for kids.  We had a great time and it was a perfect base camp to get out and explore Mt. Saint Helens.

Quiet Spot in the Woods

Loved the yurt village, which is in its own area on the other side of the campground from the regular sites. Yurts and restrooms were clean. Beware the mosquitos! We always get eaten alive when we stay at Seaquest. Easy access to the Mount St Helens area. Johnston Ridge Observatory was closed when we were there but we were still able to see some amazing views and get some nice hikes in nearby.

Easy Access to Mount St Helens

Not far from freeway and Mt St Helens visitors center. The Johnson Ridge observation point is about another 35 miles away. Both were closed when we were there on 3/26/21. There are sites from tent only to full hookup. The ones towards the front are close together with power and water. Thick trees makes it pretty shady. The biggest sites are in the back loop. They were closed not sure if it was the season or the fact that many had extensive wind damage. 

Nice park primitive sites $20 pw $30 full hookups $35. Full hookup sites are more like a RV park than a campground 

* electric and water
* dump station included in fee which was $40/night
*if not camping here, it is $5 to dump
* heavily treed
*about 40 miles from campsite to main visitor center for Mt St Helens
*If you want to see Spirit Lake etc, you will want to camp closer to the mountain. From Sequest State Park, it was a 10 hour day to do the loop in order to see the east side, with only one short hike thrown in. 
*as of this date, all visitor centers are closed due to covid. But for some reason the forest service and park service feel it's ok/safe to keep the gift shops open... masks are required.
*the signage at the overlooks is very good however, so we felt we weren't left short of information with the visitor centers closed.


Seaquest State Park (Mt St Helens)

Good clean campground. Many of the sites have good privacy. Restrooms are clean and one is quite new. ADA options.
7 miles of reasonably maintained trails though not marked very well. Park map is terrible.
Location is everything with easy access to Mt St Helens learning centers and observatory. 

Location is everything

We spent 3 nights here July 19-22. The facilities were adequate and clean. 3 minutes per token for the showers. The sites are pretty well spaced which was nice. It is very shaded which is good if it's hot but not so good if you are counting on solar.

  

The campground is located directly across hwy 504 from the Mt Saint Helen's visitor center. There is even a walking tunnel under the hwy from the campground.

The general discription here in thedyrt says there is wifi. There is no wifi in the park. We had extended Verizon service. So we could text usually and even in a few spots could make a call but no data access.  

  

The nearest data connection we found was back towards Castle Rock / I-5 3 or 4 miles. The downtown area of Castle Rock is a pretty nice place with a couple pubs and a few restaraunts and a small grocery store. 

  

I would recommend avoiding the loop of sites 55-76. They are the closest loop to the hwy and the hwy noise is very noticable.

Shady noisey

This was what I would call perfect winter camping- no rain but chilly. It was like being deep in the forest but with the convenience of a full-hook ups. (Water is shut off in the winter but you can fill your tank at the park. The “tt” sites are just like regular rv park types- field of grass w/ picnic tables. The straight #s are the sites in the forest. 

Relaxing weekend get-a-way!

It was a great place to escape from everything for a night. We stayed at site 35 in a tent, and it was perfect. A little dip down and isolated enough perfectly for my wife and I. A nice fire ring, picnic table, and plenty of space for our Rav4. It was really busy but our area was almost completely empty so we had a blast. Awesome staff and clean bathrooms. 

Nice Little Getaway

Well maintained state park. Spaces are large and fairly level. Close to Mount Saint Helen. 