Harry Gardner Park

This was a nice, quiet little park to stay at while visiting Mt St Helens. I had a water/electric site in the corner. There was some trash lying about, which, since there was a camp host (although I never saw them), should have been taken care of before a new camper arrived. There was a dump station.

Verizon voice was iffy, which was odd, because I had 4 bars and -85 dB. Incoming calls did not ring, but I could call out. Data was either 1X or nothing. I could sometimes get emails, but it was mostly unusable.

What a find! This county park campground was destroyed during the Mt St Helen eruption in 1980 and was never rebuilt until this last year. This little gem of a campground is right on the South Toutle (tootle) River. We were there on a weekend and there were only 3 RVs (including us) and a tent camper. There are 11 RV sites with 30amp electric and water and 11 tent sites with no services. There is a dump station available and very clean pit toilets. No shower facilities. We walked along the river bank and took in the beautiful scenery. The St Helens visitor center was 6 miles west of here and the observation deck was 50 miles east. If you are into cycling this is one mother of a ride to the observation center! Not a single stop light or stop sign on smooth pavement!

Only ding for this CG is that we had zero Verizon wifi, but were able to send texts. We planned on staying a week but left after the weekend due to lack of connectivity (for work). We really did not want to leave!

There is a camphost on site but we never saw them. Place could have used a mowing. Sites are nicely spaced and was super quiet!

Not really much to do here other than sit outside and enjoy nature and take a drive out to St Helens.

We stayed overnight at this year-round county park while visiting the west side of Mt St. Helens. It is just a few miles from the visitors center, 1.5 miles from a well stocked Shell station market, and 5 dollars cheaper than the cheapest site at nearby Seaquest State Park. AND your 20 dollars gets you full hook ups here!

Access couldn't be easier, sites are easy to get into, fire rings, picnic tables etc. pit toilet bathrooms were very good. Playground is brand new. Good dump station. It's on a road, but also on (not right on) the Toutle River (which was a massive mudflow after the eruption.) There were only two other rigs when we were here; it might feel a bit crowded when full but there is a nice gazebo / picnic area in the middle which might mitigate some of that.

The camp host Josh came by to welcome us and was very interested in making sure we had all we needed. This campground and park is newly reopened after years of being devastated by the volcano, then just general neglect. Sounds like the county was slow to bring it back but citizens led the way. Be sure to visit the Johnston Ridge Observatory for a closer look at the mountain - about 40 miles away - if you are here in season. This campground is a great landing place for the area.