Ranger Creek Airstrip Dispersed

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.

Too many sites to count, there is a lot of places to stay here. Its hard to see how many sites there are on satellite as most of them are hidden in the trees. There are spots on both sides of the runway. Lots of choices for big rigs, beautiful spots in treed area for smaller rigs and tents. When you first turn off highway to enter area there is a one lane bridge. Coming in there are many big potholes but doable going slow.

It costs $5 a night unless you have the national park pass then its free. Pit toilets were clean while we were there, someone came and restocked toilet paper during our stay. Verizon was non existent, ATT was weak but usable with a booster, or by walking around and finding the few spots you could get a signal. Sites have nice firepits and picnic tables.

We stay here all the time. Montana 33rl 5th wheel. Gets very busy on the weekends but love the weekdays. Just spent 6 days only had one guest in the open field area. Suntop fire lookout just 40 minutes away. With a 1/2 mike hike at the end. That’s unless there is a wedding then the gate is open and you can drive the last 1/2 mile. You can see for ever up there. I have lived in the Seattle Metro area all my life and this is the best Mtn Rainer view I have had. Great short hikes all around. Driving south you will find a Ranger info center approximately 3 miles past Buck Creek/ Ranger Creek. One other site to take in is a grave site of Mr Allen, a civil war bet that move to Buckley to work for the forest service. Left family to trap in dead of winter and never returned. He was found after weather cleared. National Forest buried him with a headstone where they found him. The easiest way in is through silver creek campground. This grave is covered with trinkets People have left. So bring something small to place on the grave site.

If you ever visit Ranger Creek look for our 2019 33 Montana 5th wheel and Blue/Silver Ford in the field and stop by and say high to a fellow Rv’er
Wynn & Shannon Bushong

We really enjoyed our stay at the Ranger Creek Airstrip. It is easily accessible off 410. You will turn at a blue sign that says Buck Recreation Area. The road in has some potholes and a few lower trees, but I would consider it extremely easy access for a boondocking spot. There wasnt anything we couldn't handle with our 30ft Fifth Wheel. When you are debating right/left, keep to the left. While there is camping in both directions, the majority of spots are on the left.

After heading to the left, you will find an open field next to the airstrip with plenty of spots for larger rigs (especially if you need solar). You might have to move a few rocks (and watch for glass) but I would consider the spots much cleaner than we've found in other NFS boondocking.

Most spots have a nice picnic table and fire pit which was amazing to have at a free spot! There are also at least 2 pit toilets in the campground. If you continue past the open field, there are plenty of spots in the woods. At one point, it appears this was a paid NFS campground, but now all spots were available for free with the required pass. While the wood spots are nice, the trees hang a little low to maneuver with our rig, plus we needed the direct sunlight in the field for our solar. The field was definitely dusty so don't wash your vehicles right beforehand.

Camping is free as long as you have a national recreation pass. We kept our Annual National Park pass displayed in our truck window and do not know if anyone checked for it.

We have ATT and work on the road. While signal was spotty here, we were able to work rather easily with the use of our booster. Typically, our hotspot had 1-2 bars 4G or LTE and the speed was good. We did have a problem though dropping calls on our cells unless we walked out into the center of the airstrip.

There are a few planes that fly in/out each day which we actually thought was pretty cool to watch. There is a little road noise from the highway and you can hear the rippling of the white stream which was close by.

As previous reviewers mentioned, this place clears out on weekdays but is pretty busy on weekends. This is a popular spot for hiking, trail running, and mountain biking with numerous trails leaving from the area. There was a mountain bike race during our stay but everything quickly cleared out after the weekend.

This location was perfect for us to explore the national forest and Mt. Rainier. It is only a few miles to the park entrance and about a 45 minute drive to the Sunrise Visitor Center. It takes a littke over an hour to get to the Paradise Visitor Center.
Potable water is available a few miles up the road at the Dalles Campground. We stopped by the Dallas Campground and Silversprings and couldn't figure out why anyone would pay for those spots which are very similar to the free ones at Ranger Creek. Plus, our cell service was non-existent at these other spots. I believe the main reason we got signal at Ranger Creek was the clearing foe the airstrip.

If we ever come back to Mt. Rainer, we will return to Ranger creek!

During the week the spot is great. Short drive to any northern/eastern part of Mount Rainier NP (the less crowded area) with all the great hikes. It's 35 min to Sunrise visitor center.
You get some Elk visitors, can hike down to the White River or take a longer hike to the waterfall.
It's 35 min to the closest grocery store (closest with decent prices. There is one about 20 min away but 2 gallons of water go for $6. So if you're really desperate....also the resort to the south has a decent emergency grocery supply, reselling Safeway stuff) and laundromat.

During the weekend it gets super.crowded. The first weekend we had a bike race with a couple hundred (?) visitors (at least it felt that way). Start was 7am sharp on Saturday, basically right next to our trailer. At least we convinced them to not put the porta-potties right next to our windows.
The next weekend was business as usual but not less crowded. Personal space was disregarded and I had to extinguish two campfires because some people shouldn't be allowed to camp.

The area is split in two parts: You enter at the dispersed camping sites and then in the back right next to the airstrip there is a small campground. If you don't have the National Park Pass or some other interagency pass you have to pay $5 a night. A camper came by once and checked. There also is one fly-in campsite for the airstrip.

It was decently clean but dusty. Most of the spots give you the choice of dust vs. solar, so choose wisely.

Internet was unusable without a booster.