Swiftwater Park & Campground

We camped here July 20, 2022

This was quite busy during the salmon run, midweek in July in the rain. July is their peak season and the camping fee is higher. It's a city run park, FCFS and has a lot of potential. The grass was high and sites were overgrown and close together. We camped on the back perimeter and enjoyed the green space in back of us. Gravel spurs were mostly level, dry camping only, big rig friendly, fire pit, table, pit toilets and porta potties, day use, boat launch, fishing boardwalk on the Kenai River.

There was a manned guard shack at the entrance as well as a pay kiosk. The roads were quite muddy due to the rain. There is a free dump station at the nearby Fred Meyer, which gets a lot of use, since the park charges a $20 dump fee. There are also 2 breweries within walking distance.

We've stayed here several times and prefer it to the busier Centennial Campground on the other side of town. Its a short distance to the dump station at Fred Meyer and a short walk to town. Drinking water is available in various spots around the campground. 90 gravel sites with no utilities and decent amounts of shade. Sites 1-23 are near the river and have some pull throughs. Sites 24 - 51 are in a "newer" section it appears and have some space between sites. Sites 52 - 90 are perhaps the older section and are a little smaller with less space between the sites. There is a variety of site sizes but many on the large side. Each site has a table and fire ring. There are some weeds in the sites but there has been recent maintenance to fencing and permit posts. All the sites are short walking distance to the Kenai River for fishing. In June the campground was quite empty but for the "second run" in July we've seen it full. They did try to charge us for two camping units when we weren't actually towing our car and we found that to be a problem but over all we enjoy this public campground.