Lyre River Campground

Ok, it’s all been said before, but this place is one of the very few remaining unicorn campsites. I have no cons, so I’ll jump straight into the pros:

Free, large sites with good tree/brush/foliage for privacy, at least when I was there. Spotless vault toilets. Safe, police cruising through when I arrived and the warden was there daily thereafter. Mostly level sites. Quiet. Potable water. I was in site 5 and had a lot of riverside “acreage.” Some sites get more sun than others. I originally chose #11 because it was at the very end and I’d have no neighbor on one side, but the canopy is quite dense there, so I moved to #5 when I saw it was available. Great riverside wildlife activity, if you’re so inclined. Bring binoculars. Watched a pair or American Dippers for almost 2 hours one day, and another day, a trio of river otters appeared. Totally made the entire trip! I rearranged my travel plans so I could stay the entire 7 days allowed. There is gas, laundry, and (expensive) food supplies just down the road in Joyce, the no stop light town I grew to love while I was there. A fabulous hike out to the Strait of about 3 miles round trip. Cougars, coyote, bobcat, bear have all been sighted nearby, so you might want to bring bear spray. All together, a lovely spot! Places like this are disappearing fast, sad to say. I hope I can get back there again. All this being said, if you have an irresponsible neighbor, one that doesn’t leash their dog and lets their 3 kids under 5 y/o wander all over your campsite, screeching and throwing rocks all over, it might be a less than stellar stay. I had to ask them twice to leash their dog.
As far as the screeching kids are concerned, my dog loves children enthusiastically, and when they came over to my campsite, I let my dog show them lots of love with tail wagging and kisses, which mom seemed to object to. The kids were removed from my campsite and they all left that day! 😀

The only negative is virtually no service for AT&T users. If you drive towards town a bit, no problem. This lack of connectivity may be viewed as a “pro” by many, so there’s that…

This campsite is free with a Discover Pass ($30/year for all WA state parks).

Pros: absolutely beautiful rainforest setting right next to the Lyre River
Nice amenities (two clean vault toilets, well-constructed boardwalk, fire pit and picnic table at each campsite)
Decent amount of privacy between sites
Reasonably close to Port Angeles and Olympic National Park

Cons: no T-mobile cell signal
A bit challenging to maneuver with a 17’ foot trailer (there was a sign indicating there should be no trailers above 20’)
Limited spots that are accessible to RVs

Verdict: will definitely return for an unplugged weekend in a fairytale forest

Free camping with purchase of a discover pass ($35/year or $11.50/night if purchased from one of the grocery stores or gas stations nearby). This spot was a bit out of the way, but I would have stayed here much longer if we could! Surrounded by trees, trails to the nearby river, vault toilets and water (even in November, which was very unusual for other campsites we've stayed at). We car camped and had no troubles getting in with our all-wheel drive car.

This is a wooded and beautiful secluded FREE site (with Discover pass or Annual parks pass) managed by the department of natural resources. Extremely clean and friendly host, vault toilets. 11 sites along the river all super beautiful. Privacy is ok. Love this spot as long as you don’t have a noisy neighbor but hey, people will be people sometimes! Go enjoy this beautiful site.

We stayed here a Wednesday night in early April. Small, beautiful campsite with a handful of spots pretty close together but there was only one other group there that night so it was quiet & felt secluded while still easy to reach & with cell service. We enjoyed the babble of the river, clean restroom & ability to fill up our water jugs. Highly recommended! $30 annual Discovery Pass is required, but it makes sense for us spending two weeks in Washington due to the number of great campsites, hiking spots & historic landmarks that require the pass.

We weren't sure what to expect because the last review posted was in 2016, but man were we pleasantly surprised! We were shocked this place was free. The whole campground was spotless, no trash in site. It had a drinking water spigot, (first place ever that we've run into that had running water at a free spot) a dumpster, clean pit toilets, fire rings, picnic tables, and nice level spots.

However, this place gets packed. We arrived on a Saturday and there wasn't a single spot open. Thankfully the nice fellow camping in spot #1 waved us down to let us know they were leaving in an hour. The campground stayed full the whole time we were there. Even during the three days in a row that it rained.

Be sure to have your discover pass, they do come and check everyday to make sure everyone is camping with their pass. All the DNR employees who came were very nice and friendly.
The first night we were there our neighbors didn't have a pass, and were very kindly told the next morning they couldn't stay without a pass.

There's a nice little hiking trail that loops through some of the woods and the river. Our spot seemed to be one of the only spots to get enough sun for solar, the surrounded spots stayed in the shade all day.

This campground is perfect for any tent, SMALL RV's or vans. Definitely too small for big rigs.

Overall this spot was one of our favorites! Even after 7 days we just weren't ready to leave!

This small campground is a nice retreat for the weary. You'll need a Discover Pass to stay here "legally". There is little to do here but relax and enjoy the singing waters and tall trees and soak in the cool clear water. Campsites are reasonably spaced and each has a fire ring. Water is available at random spigots. Pit toilets are newer and clean. There is no dump station. Many sites would barely fit my 30 foot motorhome and it's tight to maneuver. Most sites are lumpy but fairly level. Many sites get some sun in the afternoon to solar charge your batteries. A large group picnic area near the toilets has two fire rings but limited parking. There is a trail loop leading to a swimming hole. Another trail follows the creek to end at a wooden bridge for the road above. Campground was full through the weekend but emptied out by noon Sunday. Some human waste and TP in brush around my site. Lots of traffic as people drove through looking for a site. Day users would occupy sites leaving them unavailable for campers. 3 bars boosted Verizon 4GLTE was stable.