Ranger Creek Airstrip Dispersed Camping

We stayed over Labor Day weekend, it was busy but we had a nice spot. The open area had room for 10-15 rigs comfortably. It was great for starlink and solar power. We did notice a lot of trash left in the tenting areas and obvious fire remnants despite signs posted concerning the fire ban. The Mt Rainier Sunrise visitor center and a few nice trails are about 30-45 min away. No water or trash disposal, but you can get water at the nearby campground. $5 per night self pay, there is a posted notice from the county considering making it a reservation/pay area, so don’t know how long it will still be $5

We loved our stay at this dispersed area. Several FSR to drive down with campsites. We stayed at the airstrip, no issues with other campers, everyone kept a good distance away from one another, no parties/shooting. Got woken up a few times in the middle of the night by military helicopters using the landing strip for training. Overall this was one of the best dispersed spots we found in WA on our 19 day trip. Please don’t overcrowd this area, it is a true gem close to rainier.

Campedium says free, but signage says $5 per night, the road into the campsites is ridiculous, huge pot holes that throw your camper violently even at a crawl, and it's the entire way into the camp, we picked up a lot of used dog waste bags around our camp, why do people bother to pick crap up only to just leave the waste bags littering the campsites, when we tried to take our Yorkie out for a walk on the leash, the other campers had three large dogs off leash just running wild and they always attacked us, it was just unpleasant, we left the next day, this could be a nice place, but it is not maintained. Lovely Spot but Unpleasant.

We arrived on a cloudy and cold Saturday afternoon to find plenty of sites available. I’d say it was only about 30% occupied. There are two “sides” to this campground - east and west of the airstrip. All sites are wooded with exception of a few sites located in a grassy area at the north end of the airstrip, close to the entrance, and one site in a clearing on the west side far beyond the end of the airstrip. As previous reviews have stated the road is rough (full of large potholes, muddy) and I do recommend taking it slow and having a vehicle with a little ground clearance. Unfortunately we didn’t see any sites with direct access to (or a view of) the river, though it was a short walk away, and we’ll worth a visit. We set up camp on the west side in a wooded site with one other site 200 feet to the north and no neighbor site visible to the south, and a view of the airstrip across the road. Disappointingly, no planes came or went during the 24 hours we were onsite. We understood the airstrip was still active but perhaps pilots were dissuaded by heavy cloud cover. Loved the woods with the tall, spaced trees - great for exploring with the kids. Will come again and hope for clearer skies and some plane sightings! Will also explore next time for better access to the river - the path we found led to an area with a steep bank and no way to easily get down to river level. Note: Campendium does not track StarLink accessibility / obstructions but from the west side of the airstrip we were able to access northern sky and get a reliable StarLink signal. The site in a clearing g beyond the airstrip would be the most ideal for StarLink, I believe.

We had a fantastic experience here, boondocking along the right (west) side of the runway. Sites on this side are well-spaced and in a mix of old-growth Hemlock and Douglas Fir. The shade keeps the rig cool, though does limit one's ability to use top off their batteries via the solar route. For those looking to use solar, sites on the end and east (left) side of the runway offer plenty of open skies, but do appear to have more campers. The single latrine is along the east side, so those staying on the west will want to be completely self-contained. If cell service is important to you, the east side sites are your only choice....nothing on the west for us (we kind of were hoping for that). The more boisterous crowds seemed to be on the east side,

Our kids enjoyed exploring the woods and watching the occasional airplane fly in/out. The area offers a great base to explore the White River/Sunrise portion of Mount Rainier National Park, Chinook Pass, and Crystal Mountain area. Fed

Again, this is unserviced camping, so bring your own H2O and take out everything that you bring in...and please, leave it in better shape than you found it. The roads here are definitely bumpy, but manageable if you take it slow.

Our price was due to having an Access Pass. As others have indicated, those with no Federal land pass are asked to pay $5/day, though I never saw anyone checking for compliance.

My wife, kids and I stayed here. We have a 26ft Travel Trailer and while the road was bumpy with some pot holes, we were able to make it just fine by taking it nice and easy. There are several spaces with Firepits and Picnic Tables. The airport is a very cool thing for the kids to enjoy and the river is only about a 2 minutes walk down to. We will definitely be staying there again soon, this weekend in fact :-)

This is a pretty neat airstrip with a lot of dispersed camping. This is dry camping only! We got here Friday evening and there were a lot of people, but plenty of room for us. We had no issue navigating our 42' 5th wheel in, but it's very bumpy from the worn down road. There are fire pits everywhere.

We could not find Verizon or AT&T service anywhere even with our booster. People quieted down at night, but there was a lot of traffic during the day. We found that we could drive 20 minutes up to Crystal Mountain Ski area and get great Verizon service for the day.

We would definitely come back if we didn't need service for work!