Ranger Creek Airstrip Dispersed

Ranger Creek Airstrip is such a beautiful treasure that is heavily abused. Yes, I did give this a 3 star review and my title does say 5 star. Why? Well, Ranger Creek is known by the locals. Since this is technically a dispersed campground (they are not collecting the $5/night fee anymore), the locals use it as their playground on the weekends since it is probably one of the best free camping spots in the area. Why? You have a choice between wide, open spaces or wooded camping all in the same place. Unfortunately, the weekends should be avoided here at all costs. The locals that visit this campground are some of the most uncourteous and disrespectful campers you will ever experience. Generators run late past midnight, loud talking and music blasting at 2 am, public drunkenness, and kids purposefully making potholes with shovels in the already abysmal road are a few of the practices you should expect. Oh, and that's not to mention how people ignore public policy on limiting large social gatherings due to COVID (locals circling the wagon with their RV's). It's pure unregulated camping anarchy where anything goes since there is no one there to enforce any decency.

But once the weekdays come around, you are treated to one of the most beautiful campgrounds where the real campers come to enjoy the days pass by and experience Mount Rainier. You will be treated with the pick of the best sites in the campground since the campground is practically empty. You will hear nature happen. People will be friendlier. Overall, it is just darn peaceful and deserves a 5 star review. So lets get down to business and list the pros and cons of this place:

Cons

• Weekend locals
• Terrible condition of the road
• Mosquitos
• Limited Verizon service

Pros

• Weekdays
• Lots of space
• Beautiful wooded campsites
• Secluded (especially true when you go farther back in)
• Limited Verizon service (if you wish to disconnect)
• Decently leveled spots
• Beautiful river a short walk away
• Close to Mount Rainer's Sunrise area

Ranger Creek Airstrip has two paths when you drive in: the left and the right road. The left road will lead you into the wide open area that's fantastic for rigs that require solar. Once you pass the open space and reach the airstrip side, you will find the wooded area sites. You have an inner side and an outer side. The outer side will have sites that are partially shaded and have a great view of the airstrip. Yes, planes land there at times, but more frequently on the weekends. The inner will have shaded sites inside the woods. Going back to the entrance, if you take the right road, you will be greeted with wooded sites on the side of the road. There are no sites on this side worthy of solar rigs since they are covered in shade all the time. You can go past the airstrip and the road will turn to the right. Once your encounter the first fork, you can go to the left and it will take you down a long road that leads to more sites that are very secluded. There are a few areas that are tent only. The very last spot before it loops back has the closest access to the river from anywhere on the campground. Keep in mind that it is extremely bumpy and full of potholes. It is a short distance but making it all the way to that area will take 15-20 minutes if you take it slow to avoid car damage due to the road condition.

Cell Service: we stayed at the large open area and were able to get 1 bar of 1x Verizon service. Boosted, we were able to get 2-3 bars of Verizon LTE but could barely load anything even with 3 bars. The closer you are to the entrance side, the better service you will get. The wooded areas have no Verizon bars.

There is no water or dump at this campsite. There is a latrine on the left side of the airstrip where the fee box is located (no fees are being collected).

Lastly, take it slow going in and out. The road is seriously in dire need of repair. And if you are planning on going, please be a good steward and pack out your trash and be respectful to your neighbors. No, there are no posted campground rules but there are a few common sense rules that you should follow for the greater good of the campground, such as quiet times, generator hours, and cleaning up after yourself.

Stayed here 2 days and its great. The location you cannot beat if you are going to Rainier. The entrance is a little rough, with dirt holes. We have a 2wd with low clearance on both truck and camper. Take it slow and you will be fine. When you make it in make sure you go past the open area all the way to the woods. Go past the bathroom and the awesome sites are there. They are set up like a campground with back in sites. Some have picnic tables too. Cant go wrong here. Just take it slow.

Beautiful forested free dispersed camping. We heard that normally there was a small fee, but that they weren't collecting because the sites aren't being maintained. The area is large and full of RV and tent campsites. Some tent sites were right along the White River. There were also a couple of pit toilets further in.

This was a great location for walking, hiking and biking. This is an air strip so an occasional airplane would even land.

There are large open areas for RV camping near the entrance if you need solar. Plenty of room for large groups too. If you don't need sun, then you have more options. The road in has about 4 large lumps and holes you'll need to navigate. After that it's fine. Most RVs with average clearance should clear them just fine if you take it very slow. We kept hearing small cars bottom out going too fast as they would come and go. Back in the woods there are lots of campsites. We had a group of 4 RVs and managed to get a nice area near the entrance at the end of the runway.

There are also a couple of great trails within walking distance. We hiked a 6 mile trail up to the falls. Very pretty.

Cell coverage was pretty bad, but seemed to be better late at night.

This location is what inspired us to Boondock before we launched full-time.

A year later we finally had the chance to stay here, and it didn't disappoint! We arrived on a Thursday morning and secured our location at the end of the airstrip. We managed to also get one bar of Verizon LTE, which (depending on the time of day) was enough to actually stream Hulu, and enough to work! But this was the only spot in the entire area that we were able to get Internet (we drove up and down the strip searching for signal).

This GPS, is the spot for the one measly bar (with booster).

47.020299, -121.536692

During our stay it was mostly cloudy with rain, but that made the hiking incredible! There's so much to do here. We hiked to Snoquera Falls, a must see! We also hiked the Ranger Creek, and Skookum Falls Trails.

The only downsize is no dump or water anywhere near, because (at least during our stay) the campground down the road is still closed due to Covid.

We didn't see any animals, and no planes taking off or landing, but on the last day there, a helicopter landed and took off.

This place was dead Mon, Tue, and Wed. But come Thursday, 7-8 campers showed up over the course of a couple hours. There's no issue finding spots but we needed sun, and internet, and the gps coordinates above, are the only place in here that has them.

The road in is terrible and full of potholes. There were a lot of people scraping getting in, but we've seen worse.

We only stayed for a couple of nights, but this area is gorgeous! You have sites to park that are big rig friendly, come with a picnic table and a fire pit. We went hiking in the forests surrounding the campground and beautiful, simply does describe it! The moss, ferns, huge trees and a rope swing make you never want to leave... not to mention the color of the river nearby. If you are wanting to explore the Mt. Rainier National Park area, this is a perfect place to park.

This place is amazing! When you enter you can go one of two ways around the airstrip, there are vault toilets on the left side and more primitive camping on the right. We stayed on the right hand side and had it to ourselves for the first few days, although we could see several campers on the left of the airstrip. This place is free with the Discover Pass, which is $30 for a year. This place is beautiful and so green, we really enjoyed the giant mossy trees. This place is perfect for hammocks. The sites we were in had picnic tables and a fire ring and the sites are spread out enough that when the weekend arrived and the area filled in we still had plenty of space, I'd estimate about 75 feet between sites.

The airstrip is active, and was surprisingly quiet when airplanes were landing and taking off. Small passenger planes and a couple helicopters. The mossy floor seems to help muffle the sounds within the campsite.

There is a trailhead within the campground as well if you're looking for something to do, as well as its close proximity to Mt Rainier NP.

Some fairly large potholes on the way in and some washboarding but overall very accessible, spacious road, just take it slow.

Also very clean.

We were only in the area for one night but will definitely be coming back! This is one of the nicest free sites I’ve ever seen. Each site has a picnic table and a fire-pit. There was even firewood cut up already at our site. There is a vault toilet on site also. The roads had some potholes but we were easily able to get there still with our are vintage Shasta. It’s free if you have a National Parks pass, $5 a night otherwise. Highly recommend!

I have a senior pass no charge just display it on mirror. Roads are really potholed drive slow. Bring your wagon, chainsaw, and splitting mall you can cut downed tree's not if they are standing. Only cut what you need to burn you are not allowed to take home.
Pit toilets no running water take out your trash whatever you cannot burn.
This is a fee site including both sides of runway and the horse camp. If you do not have a pass get one at main toilet.

This is a wonderful little gem for free camping (with National Forest pass) only a few miles from the Sunrise entrance to Mt. Rainier, Crystal Mountain Ski Resort, and Tipsoo Lake where you can see gorgeous fields of wildflowers and hike a little of the PCT, if so inclined.

There are tons of sites on both sides of the Airstrip, but the roads on either side of the Airstrip do not connect to each other after the first intersection at the entrance. If you want to be on the EAST side of Airstrip, stay LEFT at every opportunity after crossing the little bridge just off Hwy 410. There is more room for bigger rigs here than on the west side. This side seemed to have a lot more people camping in it, especially over the weekend, so was a bit more noisy.

If you want to be WEST of the Airstrip (where we stayed), take the 1st left after the bridge as above, then stay straight on the road instead of taking the immediate left. The west side road has many good spots for small to medium sized RVs and tents (our trailer is 24' long, and we had no problem). However, after the 1st bend in the road, the sites are really better for tents and the road narrows, but it does loop back around, which wasn't obvious to us when we first arrived.

The road on the west side is pretty pot-holed and rough for the first mile, and we dubbed it the "RV Suspension Test Road", but if you take it slowly it is fine. The sites are all more shaded and tucked into the forest on the west side, so if you need sun for solar, the other side of the airstrip will give you better sunlight. But all the sites have fire rings and picnic tables and are very roomy and fairly level. Some are very private and several would be excellent for camping with friends.

Free water is available at The Dalles campground about 4 miles north of Ranger Creek Airstrip on Hwy 410. Spigots are non-threaded faucets along the campground loop road. We didn't find a dump station in the area, sadly. Also, there is no garbage service, so be prepared to pack out your trash. The only cell service in the area is at the Crystal Mountain Ski Resort, which had excellent 4-bar LTE service.