Lodgepole Campground

This is our third time camping at this campground. I’d like to note that there is a new recreation management company, Rocky Mountain Recreation Company and they SUCK! We specifically looked online to see if they had drinking water because we now have a motor home and prefer to fill out fresh tank onsite rather then travel with heavy water. We also received emails from Recreation.gov that did not alert us to the fact that there was no water at this campground. Had they done that, we would have come prepared. We set up camp only to realize no water. There were no signs posted when we arrived either. After speaking with our camp host, who seemed equally frustrated, he gave us 12 gallons of his own water so we wouldn’t have to break camp to drive down the road to a campground to get water. Such a good guy doing his very best. He said he had to drive down the road to find cardboard so he could post signs regarding the water issue. Our site #20 was perfect but most sites are dusty, unless you’re in an ADA site. Not having water would not dissuade me from staying here but the NFS has a duty to responsibly notify people in advance of this issue. This is a small, cozy campground and it really filled up over the weekend. All the kudos go to our camp host who seemed really tired and worked very hard throughout our stay.

We really enjoyed our stay at Lodgepole. The campground is fully paved with fully paved driveways at each campsite. Some campsites even have a concrete pad under the picnic table. Our site had an 85' arch pull-thru. The length of the driveway mitigated the sharpness of the curve and our rig fit just fine. The picnic table on site is substantial and the fire pit has a large and heavy pot grate on it. Adjacent to the American River, our site was close to the highway so we had some traffic sounds, but almost no traffic at night. The river is audible at all times. Individual camp sites are nicely spaced out and if your neighbors are polite, you won’t notice them or their activities. Potable water is available and there are pit toilets. The campground hosts circulate through the campground frequently and seem eager to assist. I wish there was an RV dump station nearby. The closest one is a number of miles east at a private campground. If you need to get away from it all, lack of any wireless service will ensure that you’re totally disconnected.

We stayed during the week and it wasn't very busy at all. Spaces are decently spread out, all paved pads, lots of pull-thru sites and some sites on the river (wish we had one of those!). Didn't see the bathrooms so can't comment there. Zero cell reception, which wasn't surprising. However, we had to drive a good 45 minutes to either Greenwater or Pacwood to get any reception. Since we have to work on the road, this was a bit of a hassle. However, if you're looking to unplug then this is your place. Convenient to Chinook Pass and exploring Mt Rainier NP.

Lodgepole Campground is a no-frills national forest campground with well-spaced, wooded sites. It has vault toilets, one water pump and no dump station. The American River is next to the campground. The campground is about 10 miles from Mount Rainier National Park on the Mather Memorial Parkway (Rte. 410). The scenery on the drive to the park is fantastic, just after Chinook Pass entering the park is a great Mount Rainier photo op with Tipsoo Lake in the foreground. At Tipsoo Lake there is the beautiful 3 mile Naches loop trail that makes a great short day hike.
We stayed at this campground because we could make a reservation and it had some bigger sites. Site 6 is a paved pull-through and fairly private. We had no ATT cell service. Access to Mount Rainier NP is not great, the Sunrise area is closest. We visited the Ohanapecosh area as well and loved the "Trail of the Patriarchs" and Silver Falls.