This time, I visited just to get some ice cream. I decided to stay at another campsite and rode my…read morebike here for ice cream. It was crazy busy yet the owner was just as friendly as can be. I realized the mistake that I had made by staying at the other place. This place has more to offer. Even though the other place is more expensive and has larger spots, this place has a swimming area, easy access to the water for those with boats or kayaks, or just floats. I will return to this place in summer 2026. Plus, I do like the idea of ordering breakfast and not having to cook. ;) Ice cream is the double plus. (Labor Day 2025)

Ginger is THE BEST host!!! Love the hand dipped ice cream, gorgeous lake, even has a bakery on the…read moreweekends!! She is so accommodating and a true blessing to the community

Heading back across the Columbia River and northbound, the first rest area is Battleground. The…read moresecond one off of I-5N is Toutle River rest area. I stopped here on 7/10/26 to have a light meal and use the clean, functional restrooms. No travel info or free coffee service available during this visit. The surrounding grounds were well maintained. I also felt safe being here briefly before continuing on my drive.

This rest stop is an oasis in the middle of.... well, basically, nowhere, Oregon…read more The Wife and I were on a road trip to vacation town U.S.A. and with "The Old Man" in the car, we need frequent stops to..... wash my hands, and stretch my legs. We pulled of the freeway at the next sign that read Rest Stop. It was a sunny day and it really made this pit stop a sight to behold. The grounds looked awesome. There is an area for walking pets, dual bathrooms on each side. Water fountains for free or for some coins, you can get something from the vending machines. Ther is also a station for brochures and maps to help your journey. There is plenty of parking and plenty of shade. It was a much needed rest and an enjoyable one ta boot.

Gust Backstrom City Park is terrific. I really enjoyed my stay here. You may be asking yourself a…read morepark and sleep in the same category? Yes! Gust Backstrom offers camping! All types of camping including Full RV Hookups and or primitive tent camping. Well...that's where I fit in. I was looking for a simple/easy/casual place to pitch my tent for the evening and this Gust Backstrom City Park absolutely delivered!! Just to give some background info.... For me, I was coming from Mount Rainier National Park and heading south towards Mount Saint Helens. Gust Backstrom was right in between both these landmarks...though it's situated a lot closer to Mt. Rainier (being only 30 miles away) and about 118 from Mt. Saint Helens. I discovered Gust Backstrom through the APP on my phone called CAMPENDIUM. I highly recommend for all the adventurers out there to download this free App and wherever you're located throughout the USA...it'll provide and list all the available campsites within a radius that's appropriate for where you're headed. After finishing while my wonderful exploration of Mount Rainier, I was tired and ready to find an affordable campsite to sleep for the night. When I found Gust Backstrom...I was hoping they'd offer online booking/reserving campsites ahead of time. Unfortunately that wasn't an option. So to make sure I'd grab a spot...I quickly arrived in late afternoon, parked my car and went inside the office to book a site. I was here during the month of August on a random Thursday and thankfully I had no problem getting a site for my tent. It was $15 to book the night. I then had to fill out a form and the lady behind the desk just asked which site I'd like to choose. I picked an area underneath a tree sort of near the playground. And I was good to go! Yes, woohoo! I had a place to get a good night's rest. Other Prices Included.... - Day Use Vehicle - $5 (Friday through Sunday) - Full RV Hookup - $32 - Power and Water - $30 - Tent only - $15 - Extra Car at Site - $5 - Sewer Dump - $10 - Covered Picnic Area - $40 - Open for reservations year round. - Payments are by cash, check or money order. They say - NO CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED. As the sun started to set, I put my tent together and got ready to relax. I had a small grill with me to barbecue for dinner, though there weren't any pits available for lighting a fire. Surrounding my campsite was a playground for kids, a picnic area for eating and best of all.....at this picnic area were working electrical outlets to charge my phone and generator! That was awesome! Also good being here was that cell phone reception worked fine. I was able to connect to the internet from my phone. This may not matter to some people but....there were some soft grassy areas to my campsite good for setting my tent upon. This way the ground would be nice and fluffy as I laid down. Most campgrounds I visited on my road trip were based near hard, dirt ground....difficult to get comfortable on. If I had to say anything disappointing about Gust Backstrom, it's that there weren't any showers available and they only had vault toilets (though some RV Parks and campgrounds out there do offer all the amenities, lol). So...although it wasn't a big deal...had there been a shower and bathroom I would have been thrilled. Still I was extremely satisfied with the conditions and surroundings. Before I went to sleep for the evening...I sat in my beach chair and looked up at the sky. It was a beautiful summer night with plenty of stars out, very pleasant for appreciating being outdoors. Overall, Gust Backstrom City Park was a fantastic place to camp out for the night. Had I stayed in this city of Morton, Washington longer...I happily would have returned for a second evening. The following day I kept traveling towards Mount Saint Helens. Finally, to everyone out there...I urge you to download this App called - Campendium on your phone! When traveling spontaneously or on a cross country trip like I was...this convenient little Gulf Backstrom Park will be easily accessible for camping and spending the night in nature.

Beautiful place on the Tilton River. Just needs more attention to picking up trash. Other than…read morethat, we absolutely love bringing our dogs here and enjoying a lunch at one of the picnic tables!

TL;DR: Great lakefront campground with easy access, clean facilities, friendly camp hosts, and…read moreabundant wildlife. Some of the sites are fairly close together but well maintained and well run. Great for fishing, kayaking, or a relaxing PNW lake stay. Bring most of your own food, there's a small nearby store for basics, but limited dining options near the campground. We camped at Mineral Lake Lions Den Campground over Memorial Day weekend (May 26-28) with two adults, two tents, and one vehicle. Overall, it was a peaceful lakefront camping experience with great wildlife, easy water access, and solid amenities. Sites are fairly close together but well maintained and organized. They have tent and RV sites some with power and water. Reservations are made online and the process was simple with instant confirmation. Check-in was smooth. We had about 3 to 4 bars of cell service during our stay. Quiet hours were generally respected. Camp hosts were helpful, friendly and present. Bathrooms were very clean and well stocked, and coin-operated showers were available (we didn't use them). There are dumpsters conveniently located near the sites, which made it easy to keep everything tidy. Firewood is available for purchase on-site ($9 per bundle), which came in handy. There is a road outside the campground, but we didn't notice road noise during our stay. The lake itself was the highlight. Multiple docks make it easy to get right out on the water. We saw plenty of fishing activity, and conditions ranged from choppy water on Friday to glassy calm on Saturday and Sunday. Wildlife was abundant: ducks, ducklings, geese, goslings, osprey, eagles, red-winged blackbirds, and even deer. There's a small local store within walking distance that carries basic supplies and a nice selection of snacks. It's best to bring your own groceries for the stay, as dining and full food options nearby are limited unless you drive into Ashford, Elbe, or Eatonville. The local Mineral store is great for essentials, last-minute items and souvenirs. Overall, really nice spot. I'd be happy to camp there again.

We were in need of a stopover along the way on our trip to central Oregon, and this RV park's…read morelocation in Castle Rock was perfect. We reserved online, and chose a "hookup" site that (upon arrival) was barely large enough for a camper van - much less our 25' RV and similar length tow vehicle. Luckily, the nice couple who run the office were able to upgrade us to a larger site with full hookups. Thank goodness as we would have been without a place to stay overnight! This is not really a campground as much as it is an RV park with a lot of fulltimers. That being said, the place is relatively clean and pretty quiet. Sometimes these types of parks can be a little sketchy, but this one was fine and fit our needs as a waypoint. We also got to visit the nearby Mt. St. Helens Visitors Center as well as grab a couple of beers down the road in downtown Castle Rock. If you're looking for a camping-style experience, this probably isn't the right place. But if you need a quick place to stop not far from the freeway, it was perfectly fine and felt safe.

What a delicious find!! Hidden. Beautiful. Upscale and lovely. New owners have brought this…read morecampground up to a 5 star and more. The setting is ideal with hidden trails and river access. They have created a magical maze across an old bridge. A wonderland. The office area has delightful and tasteful gifts and an airstream so polished you can see yourself serves coffee on the weekends. We did the logging trail ride 16 miles on our e-bikes. Elkcamp gets a 10!!!

We spent two weeks here. The camping was fantastic, all the sites are really nice. The owners were…read morealways available if we had any issues. The restrooms were always kept clean and look as though they have been recently renovated. We were able to ride our bikes from the campground to a forest road giving us access to some very pristine forested land with both paved and gravel roads. We live in Michigan but if we were closer, we'd go back. Highly recommend!

This is a beautiful park and campground. I have been going here yearly for the past four years…read more There are lots to explore. Morton, WA is only about a ten minute drive and has a "Loggers weekend" in August. They have a parade, a chance to see and learn about the mill, among other events.

I was so excited about this place. This was my first full hook ups with our TT. We drove through…read moreand then when we found our spot we realized that we were not going to have much privacy. Well, we were not too worried since the site next to us had no campers (July 2) and the one on the other side stayed in their TT. ... THEN the 3rd arrived. UGH! The quiet people left in the morning and were replaced by two families and the other side had a good size group. They were overall quiet but the double, if not triple family site decided to make this their grand central. They had friends from different sites visit and stay. Midnight came and went and they were still loud but I thought, well, at least the music stopped. Kind of wish the music would turn back on because they got louder and louder. 3:45 AM and they were LOUD! I didn't want to start trouble so put my DVD player on. What would have helped if knowing that 10PM or 11PM was quiet hour, why wouldn't the host drive around at midnight to check on the noise level? This was what upset me. Let me tell you that the place was nice and I'm learning that when you camp with hookups they are closer together. Okay, that would be fine, but even more reason for the host to keep an eye on the party people. The place itself is clean and neat. Don't plan on launching your boat from here (or kayak) but there is a place just 2 minutes from here where you can. That's where we went in. The lake is nice, too. --- Let me take that back, if you are brave and more experienced than me, you may be able to launch kayak. I need a boat ramp or beach. ;) The place would have seriously gotten a 5 star if not for the lack of consideration I felt that the hosts had by not checking the spots after quiet hours. BTW, yes, I know it was a holiday weekend, but come on! 3AM!!!!???!!! FYI: I would recommend this on a quieter weekend or weekday.

I am writing this review for the camping area here at Sahara Creek. Although it's mentioned as…read morebeing a Horse Camp with a trailhead...I didn't see any horses, any stables or any trails. For those interested in camping, this is your place...bar none! Yes...anyone visiting Mount Rainier National Park and looking for affordable accommodations during their trip....look no further than Sahara Creek. I highly recommend it! It was a fantastic spot for me to stay during my time at Mt. Rainier along my cross country road trip. First off, this Sahara Creek Campground was ideally located. I knew that coming to Mt. Rainier and this national park being quite popular especially during the summer months...I gave into the fact that hotels/motels would be limited and expensive. And since I was basically living out of my car for the entire summer...camping for me was just fine. Yes, this Sahara Creek Campground was perfectly situated just outside the main entrance gate to Mt. Rainier....located in the quaint town of Ashford, Washington...simply 7 miles away. How convenient! And...Sahara Creek was easy to find as well, being right off Highway 706. I initially used my favorite app to find campsites...CAMPENDIUM to discover Sahara Creek. I was then immediately drawn to this place with all the good reviews about it. I plugged Sahara Creek's location into Google Maps and boom....I was here in a matter of no time. Although the sign for Sahara Creek was a little hidden off of 706, when using Google Maps I just drove slowly and turned right into it. After I turned, the entrance to the campsite and area was basically right in front of me. I drove just a tad to find my campsite and I was setup for the evening. What pleasure a this was! Also, more good news...it was FREE TO CAMP here as long as you held a Washington State Discovery Pass. And of course I had this pass. The pass was $30 and good for an entire year at all the parks in Washington state. I had bought it early on in my journey because I also had visited North Cascades NP, Olympic NP and plenty of other scenic spots within Washington. Having this Discovery Pass was a no brainer. So, coming back to this Sahara Creek Campground...just perfect...especially with accommodations being so pricey within Mt. Rainier...now I was relaxing and camping for free! And...it's first come first served in regards to grabbing a campsite. There's no reservations needed or a Camp Host on the grounds to check in with. I simply drove right into a campsite and was good for the evening. Best of all...is that it wasn't crowded whatsoever! This aspect was shocking! Because during summer times at national parks and all around the country every night that I camped out...places were packed with campers and RV'ers. But not here, how great...it was very quiet even for being in the month of August. Since I enjoyed camping here at Sahara Creek...I had to spend at least 2 nights. I didn't mind at all driving into Mt. Rainier exploring the primary Paradise Section of the park for the day...and then driving about 20 miles or so and exiting to return here. Another great aspect is that Ashford offered convenience stores so I could grab cheap breakfasts in the mornings along with gas or any needed essentials. Continuing on...another wonderful point is that I had cell phone reception. Yes! Woohoo! This was great. So many times during my road trip and at so many national parks or around the areas, there was nothing. But yes at Sahara Creek, I had reception and was able to fall alseep at night watching some YouTube videos. It did get a little cold during the evenings, but I was prepared for this...no issues because I bundled up. In this entire campground area, there were tables and benches along with fire-pits for barbecuing. This was terrific as I bought hamburgers and hot dogs at the convenience stores in Ashford and then grilled for dinner. Also, when I pitched my camping tent, the ground was nice and soft and not hard at all or with many rocks or pebbles. The ground was virtually ideal for camping. Both nights I had terrific sleeps. Overall, the campground area was picturesque as well. Just for being right off the main 706 road, it felt like I was in the heart of the forest far from reality, yet I was in Ashford with cell phone reception within a quiet ambiance and atmosphere. Sahara Creek was absolutely a hidden gem and AS GOOD AS IT GETS in regards to camping for those visiting Mt. Rainier National Park. I can't say enough good things about staying here. Lol...I hope I haven't let the cat out of the bag with this review. Although this place is under the radar...it so deserves recognition for being so great. Sahara creek was one of the BEST CAMPGROUNDS I uncovered during my 3 month cross country road trip.