Cascade River State Park

Originally we were going to stay at a different campsite but that one was first come, first serve and all the spots were already taken. It was getting dark and we needed to find somewhere to sleep for the night. We saw good reviews for Cascade and decided to give it a shot. We got to the park office and it was closed but we were able to call a number and get a spot booked pretty easily. It was $23 for the night plus you needed the parks pass. We stayed on June 24th and it was a kinda chilly night and had previously rained so things were a little damp but not muddy at all. We stayed in spot #19 that was a drive in and tent camping. It was pretty spacious and out of the spots that we saw, it seemed to be one of the more secluded ones. We were setting up the tent around 10 PM and everyone was very quiet even though there were people in almost every campsite. Only saw a few people around their fires. There was a primitive toilet right next to our spot but it was out of order. There was another one just a short pathway away which was nice and also clean. We didn’t use the showers but the building looked really nice and wasn’t too far from our site. The dumpster/garbage was close to our spot which was also convenient. The spots just seemed so close together and we could hear our neighbors child cry early in the morning. The birds were also extremely loud. Nothing to do with the campsite but I couldn’t believe how loud they were screaming at 5 AM. We got up around 8 AM and went for a hike and there not many people around. It was a nice morning not too hot with a little breeze and partly cloudy. The cascade falls were pretty cool! The trail information place and the trails were right behind our site. We hiked to the lookout mountain which was about a 3.5 mile loop and it was beautiful but definitely bring water. We had to rest a few times since it was a lot of uphill trails but the view is worth it. When we started heading back, there were a lot more people on the trails. It took us about two hours to get there and back but we stopped and took our time getting there. I would stay at Cascade River State Park again but also would probably check out other places to see what else is out there.