Some pros and lots of cons. We stayed at a walk-in site by the river.
I never fully appreciated just how much camp hosts do. There was no ranger and no host. We arrived early on a Thursday, hopeful we could get a spot by the water. There are only two spots that are truly private in any way. They were both taken- fine. However, one of the groups had not registered and stayed until 4 or 5pm until everyone else had already set up for the day…then they left! So uncool. The site went unused because at that point, no one was going to move all their stuff. Maybe a camp host would’ve noticed that?
The sites were FILTHY with trash, dog poop and food waste. Pretty crazy considering this was supposed to be a bear area. There was also a bad smell wafting around, hmm…maybe because of the trash and dog poop? Stepping in dog poop and trying to clean off your boots is a significant bummer. The site we were stuck at also had ashes and chunks of wood all over the picnic table. Cleaning up this much in order to feel comfortable really sucked.
There was no running water at any of the pumps and the pit toilets were quite full.
There is a bridge nearby but the river covered any vehicle noise very well. It was also nice to be right off the highway and five minutes from town, yet it felt like a proper national forest experience.
There’s an upper loop with drive in sites. They didn’t seem very private and you could see the road. I wouldn’t stay up there.
Being by the river was beautiful. I would stay here again, but with more preparation for the campground’s limitations.
This campground has a lot of amenities like showers and washer/dryers (all coin operated). It’s right off the road, which makes it a convenient jumping off point for various trails and Mount Washington.
The sites themselves are hit or miss. Some of the sites have a view of the road, which isn’t too pleasant.
The bathroom and dumpster is not centrally located, so you have to go all the way to the entrance of the campground.
Not sure if this is normally how it is but it seems the river is quite high/flooded onto one of the sites. Now that we live in the age of climate change flash flooding, I would be watching the weather closely before staying here again.
What’s tiresome about the reservation system is that on the one hand, if you’re driving from far away you know you’re getting the site you want. But on the other, the nicest sites were reserved the entire time we were there and they were total no-shows. NH isn’t different from other state parks in this respect, but it’s definitely annoying.
Camping at SB is a pleasure. It’s an easy drive from Seattle, the views are quite literally scenic and the sites are private. And there are showers. They could use an update, but oh how nice it is to get a shower while camping.
Sites are nice and maybe the nicest (ok, cleanest) vault toilet I’ve seen. Road noise is an issue on sites closest to the highway. Pretty spot and the creek was raging when we visited.
Nice camp, right off Hwy 20 but far enough off the road to keep out road noise.
We had a walk in site. Disappointingly, it wasn’t very private. If you’re going to have to haul your gear, you should at least be rewarded with a private site. Regular sites are worse- all on top of each other.
My eternal complaint that national parks have miserable bathrooms was true here, too. At least there was some hand soap, though.
Highest road in WA: Harts Pass. You need good weather, 4W drive and high clearance. Yep, sedans might be able to do it but they shouldn’t, plain and simple. If you bottom out on this road, you have a LONG walk to town.
Camp: moderately sized sites. We arrived July 1 and only two campsites were habitable due to snow. A bear box would be nice. The landscape is a bit unusual due to beetle and fire damage.
Location: Beautiful. There's forest sites and creek sites with a few sites in between on the inner loop. You can hear the creek at all times and it's very calming. Huge trees everywhere and mountain views. The mist on the mountains at daybreak was gorgeous. We had a water facing site and drank our coffee on the creek. I can see why fishers come to the area, we spotted many large trout in the clear waters of the creek.
Getting there: Mostly flat, not particularly difficult road in dry conditions. However, do not be arrogant about this road. When you see signs that say "Unsuitable for RVs and trailers" they mean it. On day one of our visit, a tree fell in the middle of the road. Though it wasn't particularly big, we couldn't lift it and it still made the road impassible. Later that day, a fellow camper with an axe cleared a small path but the whole three days we were there, no one came to remove it or any of the debris. The road itself doesn't have proper gravel size variation, which forms miles worth of something that feels like rumble strips. On the last day, it rained lightly for a mere five or six hours and the road's otherwise manageable potholes became big ponds and there's also a spot that floods quickly (there's a sign to warn you). It was still fine, I have 4W drive and a high clearance car, but just be warned that conditions can change quickly there.
A word in regards to another poster who said it looked like they were building bathrooms. Quite the opposite, it seems. There had been two different bathroom buildings but they were obviously quite old and were boarded up. No big deal, right? At first I thought so too, but I've kind of changed my mind about it. This campground has way too many sites for there to be one vault toilet. The math just doesn't work out. There are too many people at this campground for that. Any time you need to use it, someone is in there. There was an ACTUAL line at one point. The vault itself was nearly full (puke). It wasn't until we'd set up our site and it was dark that we discovered poopy wipes close to our site. Yes, wipes that don't biodegrade.
Which leads me to another issue…trash. This campground is not pack in, pack out. But the bear proof dumpster was packed in so tightly, it looked like it hadn't been cleared in weeks. Fine, we kept our trash in the car, but it would've been nice to know that the campground is basically not being serviced at all. Why is there a ranger station at Graves Creek at all?
Lastly, our stay was during the fire ban. I can live without a campfire, but it does have its benefits. There were tons of mosquitoes and…other wildlife! In addition to the warnings about bears and cougars, there was a hand written sign warning campers that a bear was in the area and to watch your food. We were very diligent and kept everything locked away in the car (which yes, I know they can still smell). On our first night we had two coyotes sniffing our tent and peeing on the site! They were easy to scare off, but definitely gave us a bit of a scare.
I'll still go back to Graves Creek now that I know what to expect. It's a beautiful place and hopefully next time the fire ban will be lifted.
Big update as of spring 2021: Hoh is now a reservation campground.
First of all, what a privilege it is to stay in such a unique and beautiful place like Hoh!
Campsites are either a huge hit or a huge miss. Because so many people are visiting and camping during COVID, we were unable to get a good spot the first night. The spot we had was virtually impossible. The tent pad was extremely lumpy and there was nowhere level to set up. Fire ring and table crowded in together. Rocks everywhere. No privacy from neighbors and we really felt like we were on display.
The good news is that because Hoh is so high traffic, people seem to come and go quickly. The next morning we were able to snag a river spot and it was easily one of the best sites! Huge site, lots of privacy. However, once again there were rocks everywhere! It was shockingly hard to drive in our tent stakes (and take them out!). We had to dig out rocks for about ten minutes before getting everything secure.
Being on the river was amazing. Though one downside is that it's such a cool little area, people were walking through the back of our site a lot. It was also a great place to view stars.
Another thing to be aware of is not only can it rain (in a rainforest!), it can get pretty cold at Hoh. Our first night was 46 degrees.
We camped for seven days in Olympic and stayed at Lake Crescent Lodge for two nights to give ourselves a break. Lake Crescent was gorgeous. Watching the sun set over the mountains and weather patterns was breathtaking.
Unfortunately both days we were there the water was too choppy to kayak or be out on the water. The wind was almost unbearable any time we were outside. This was the middle of July, so I can't really imagine making a fall trip here!
Because of COVID, dining was take out. Even so, our meals were very good and the prices were pretty reasonable for Washington.
We stayed in the Storm King rooms. Everything about it was great…working shower (albeit a bit short, tall people watch out), bathroom with a real door and fan, nice bed and a balcony! It was such a welcome reprieve after camping, really felt luxurious. The ONLY con however…the walls are absolutely paper thin. We could hear everything our neighbors said and did. Made it very hard to sleep.
I don't know if I would make this my destination for a trip to the peninsula, but as a stopping point it was perfect.
It takes about an hour to get to the Ozette campground and even though we got there at noon, all the sites were taken. The sites themselves were very close together so there's virtually no privacy. Will not be taking a chance on going back another time. Too much hassle to drive all that way for such a mediocre site.
Pros: -Beautiful tree canopy -Close-ish to Rialto (you can hear the waves at night) -Close to river
Cons: -Bathroom quite dirty, outdated, no handsoap. Maybe less cleaning because of COVID? -Reservation system means that several of the really nice sites just sat empty because ppl didn’t show. Would be much nicer if it was first come first serve.
The camp hosts during our visit were very strange. I wanted to take a shower and asking them questions was like talking to a riddling cartoon character. They collected our money and then told us to go to their camper to use the shower. Then we figured out where the ACTUAL showers were.
We stayed at one of the cabins before COVID-19 hit PA and shut down all the parks. The main part of the park has a nice little lake and we saw herons during our visit. At night there was fairly decent stargazing despite its proximity to Altoona's light pollution.
There's an easy disc golf course, which was a nice little amenity.
Several interesting hiking trails and the often-photographed limestone kilns are cool to see.
The cabin itself was overall very nice, but the bathroom was surprisingly run down.
I would imagine this is a very nice park in the summer, greener months.
We stayed at one of two walk-in sites at Greenwood. The highlights were a spacious camp site, nice bathrooms, little light pollution (we saw the Milky Way!) and hearing screech owls at night.
A couple of really nice things about this campground: You can buy ice ($2), bundles of wood (15 pc @ $5) and as long as you don't need change, it's self serve. The shower house is nice, nothing too fancy but clean. There's also a toilet-only bathroom closer to the walk-ins with a mirror and a baby changing table. It was VERY clean and heated, which was glorious considering it was quite chilly at night. There's also drinking water spigots in several locations which is a big plus and not something you see a lot in most state parks.
The walk-ins are not very far from the little parking lot, so it was easy to carry our gear down to the site. The site itself was HUGE in comparison to the other sites. Also close to a nice little stream.
There were a few big puddles from this summer's torrential rains but surprisingly no mosquitoes to speak of. The only con about this campsite was that it's down the hill from PA 305. It was fine during the night, but traffic started to pick up at daylight. Maybe it would not bother everyone, but it was annoying to be reminded you're right next to the road all day.
Spacious sites with fire pits. Vault toilet and trash. A few minutes down the road from the Bickel Knob fire tower.
UPDATED reviews for rustic and modern cabins.
March 2020, Modern Cabins: Before COVID-19 hit PA we stayed in one of the modern cabins. Wow…everything was seemingly quite new and it was extremely comfortable. Nice bathrooms, nice kitchen, etc. One of the best things about Black Mo is how isolated it feels and it's never crowded in the off-months. The Moss Hanne is still a thrilling trail even in the winter months and there's been a lot of beaver activity since we last visited including a very impressive dam.
October 2019, Rustic Cabins: We stayed in one of the rustic cabins on a cold October weekend. Very charming small cabins with robust woodstoves. Although we probably could have been more careful, there were unfortunately some very bothersome mice who kept us awake each night…and were seemingly not very afraid of us! The construction of the rustic cabins is such that there probably isn't much you can do about mice getting in. If this doesn't bother you, these cabins are really cute and cozy.
July 2019, Tent Camping: As far as camping goes, the loop area is a bit cramped for my taste, but if that doesn't bother you it's fine. Clean bathhouse and convenient outdoor sink for washing up after dinner. Overall one of the best PA parks and well maintained.
I really have to address some of these other reviews, though:
"Water was thick with weeds& lilies but ok nonetheless." Wow! Pitcher plants, sundews and water lilies are not "weeds." They are unique to bog environments and don't grow in other places. The vegetation in the lake is what makes Black Mo black, so picturesque and unlike other PA parks!
"The overall area has nothing to do. And I mean NOTHING. We drove 45 minutes to Altoona to see the famous Horseshoe Curve but there’s literally nothing else around for miles and miles. Not even an ice cream stand, or not one we could find. And, since there’s no cell service, we couldn’t figure out any options either." Like many state parks in this part of the world there is no cell service, so you need to bring a real map (Purple Lizard) and look a few things up on the internet ahead of time. Black Mo is literally ten minutes from Philipsburg where there is surely an ice cream stand, 25 minutes from State College, which has tons of touristy offerings…I could go on but really this is laughable.