Alder Lake Campground

We have stayed here multiple times (usually yearly) and have always had a pleasant experience. Sites are fairly good sized per the reservation website with some being smaller than others. Very family friendly as it has some trails and close access to a private area of Alder lake and a good view of Alder dam just down from the campground. We have filmed a couple of Youtube videos here including a site by site review. We always have a nice quiet stay and will be coming back in the future ! - Unique Adventurez

Left the RV at home and went old school....tent and car camping. Wanted to spend the day at Mt Rainier and knew it was too far for us for a day trip. We had seen this campground years ago and remembered it was nice. Upon arriving we went to the Main Campground, it is the only one open from Sept 15 to May 15th. No reservations taken during this period. The summer months are reservations and I am sure it fills up very quickly.

We scoped out a tent site in the area that had 15 tent sites. Back the car right up to them. We arrived on Tuesday the 29th of Sept (the day they lifted the burn ban) and there was not another sole in the tent area and out of the two RV loops no one in the one loop and about 6 in the other loop. The bonus was great weather, but also the nicest, cleanest bathhouse and toilets and, first time I have seen this, a dish washing station with hot water and two sinks, even the dawn dish soap was provided. The showers were .50¢ for 6 minutes or $1.00 for 12. We explored the campground, and I read a review about the sites being close together, well, yes if you are there in the busy summer and are at Elk Plain, they are. But off season camping here is absolutely the way to go!

We found a half dozen sites we would be comfortable pulling in our AF (13.3 H), but many of the sites had low trees or tight squeezes. We saw LOTS of medium to large sized motor homes and smaller lower profile bumper pulls and 5th wheels that would fit into any of the sites. The Main campground has lots of space between sites and is very roomy. Except for the tent spaces all had water and electric and 15 had sewer. The dump station is an easy pull through and is free for campers, $5 for none.

The day use area was beautiful and has a bathhouse also for day use visitors.

Our second night saw one other tent camper but quite a few more RVs pulled in and by the time we left on Thursday, many more were coming, but still lots of open spots.

We loved this campground and only 3 hours from home, it is a nice get away.

Stayed for 2 night. It’s an RV Park so it’s fairly busy and not like camping on BLM, but we had a great experience. Most sites have some shade. We had an easy entrance with a back-in (somewhat) level concrete pad site. The sites include a picnic table and fire pit. It was quiet at night. Paid $35/night for water and 30amp hookup. They have full hook up sites as well. Bathrooms were clean and they have paid shower. $0.50 for 6 minutes and $0.25 for each additional 3 minutes. Hot water. We found that 6 minutes was enough. (Must have quarters for the shower.) Dump station and trash available. None of the campsites had lake views from what we saw. The lake has a swimming area that’s fairly clean, but the water was pretty cold. If you walk pass the swimming area, there are picnic tables which border the lake and the sunset is gorgeous. I would have rated this 5 stars if the showers had been included and if a laundromat was available. We couldn’t find a laundromat close by. Very low/spotty cell service with T-Mobile. Sometimes no signal, sometimes one bar LTE, and if you’re lucky every once in a while you’ll get two bars LTE so download offline google maps and movies before you arrive.

They lock the entrance gates at dusk. You’ll have to ask the gate guard how to get in if you plan on showing up after dusk.

This campground was alright, mor of a day use are, very crowded and sited are close together. Checked in now one working 2 days the front was not manned then when leaveing very grumpy lady, grill me about my car and why I didnt get a tag. Even though i tried and still paid online. She then said my car was never there and wanted to charge me again, saying I was just checking in even though I was there for two days.

We were in Elk Plain, the lower campground. About 20 sites and decently spaced. 4th of July weekend and yet it was quiet. It is a boating lake but we are up on a bluff so a lot of the noise was more muted. A great spot and well kept. No sewer in this area but four nights just tapped out our grey water so perfect timing to dump as we left the spot. Cell service is very spotty - lots of bluffs and hills. Rangers between 3G 2 bars and LTE 1-2 bars. No 4G.

Nice big campsite, a pull thru with full hook up we had a big cedar tree in our site. The lake is so big lot's of good fishing and kayaking. There are motorboats who like to put out a big wake be prepared. This park is very close to Mt. Rainier (14,410 in elevation)which is an amazing park. Our site was on the end, facing the park road and lake. Nothing water view in there, nice size sites. There is a boat ramp which is busy especially on weekends, but dock space first come first there. Great Kayaking & fishing, we had a great view of Mt. rainier from the lake in our Kayak. Big old trees cut on the lake makes good photos. Paddle around looking for lures people lost found some great ones wrapped around the tree stumps.

On the way to Mt. Rainier there is a sculpture place you can stop at. It's free, he asks for a donation, he's amazing. I added some photos from there.

Mt. Rainier has several great places to see, we did Paradise & Steven's canyon. Steven's canyon has a good view of Mt. St. Helens. Paradise has great views of the Glaciers. We went to Narada falls, Myrtle falls. Winding roads, beautiful all the way! Both amazing with lots of pull over/lookouts, wildflowers. Love this park!

Very well maintained. Most sites have full hook ups. Tent sites available. Decent cell phone coverage with T-Mobile and AT&T. Quiet. Gates locked at dusk to 8AM. About 10% full right after Labor Day 2019. Plan for 8 hours to explore up to Paradise and back to camp. Plan about 6 hours for Northwest Trek and lunch in Eatonville. No grocery store or restaurant nearby.

Absolutely beautiful! The lake is an amazingly turquoise color - and even though it was very low we still had fun. We took a bike ride to see the nearby Alder Dam, the kids played on the playground, and we relaxed by the campfire. Having full hookups and spaced out sites was a complete bonus. Only downside is that there are no decent grocery stores or gas stations nearby. We stocked up before we went in.

The little town of Elbe was pretty cute as well - great fruit stand and had some fun pizza in the converted train car!

Pretty sure we had 1 or 2 bars of Verizon LTE boosted in.