Tolt MacDonald Park & Campground

Camping here in late July in spot #3. Large site with partial mid-day shade. 50, 30, 15 AMP, with water. Sewer is not on the sites. Dump station is provided by a private business on the road out of the park for a small fee. Restrooms with showers. 4 bars of AT&T 5G, and 4 bars of Verizon 4G. Parks with kids play toys just a short walk north from the sites, with river access to the south of the sites. River is low and gentle for the little ones, lots of families slowly floating around. Bring a shade umbrella when at the river... full sun mid-day! Also, this park has an amazing amount of open space just paces from each site. Everyone is out in the middle playing frisbee and various lawn games.

All sites are pull-throughs along the perimeter of a large grass area, with water and 50 amp electric. We had a challenge getting level in #15, and the big tree blocked satellite, but otherwise it is a spacious and green location. We would probably try to get #17 next time. Although not as pretty, it is level and more open.

There is only one restroom house for both the RV park and the day use area, not sure if there are showers. The cleanest and best laundromat is at the entrance, on the main highway. That is where the dump station is. We didn't use the dump as the turns into it are very tight for anything over 30'.

Check out is noon. Check in is 3 PM. We arrived at 12:30 to find all but four sites (17 total) empty and cleaned up. Yet we were "visited" by a ranger to tell us that check-in is 3 PM and to remember that next time. Okay......we are always early and if no one is in our site it's never an issue. Then one afternoon returning from a day trip we arrive to find the entrance blocked with cones and a check-in at 3PM - "wait in the parking lot" sign!! What?? My house is there and you're not locking my out of it. We bypassed the blockade and went to our site. Note that you pay online when making the reservations so there is no check-in process to be completed on site.

We are usually strict rule followers, and will not arrive prior to 3 in the future.....but their obsession really affected our enjoyment of the park.

It is a quiet and dark park with river access and lots of beautiful green space, including trees. Easy access, although lots of dreaded speed bumps. Lots of families with lots of kids on bicycles so pay attention when driving through.

Good

• Very quiet during the evenings, and all sites are nicely spaced around a central field.
• Sites and the park are immaculately maintained by King County parks. These guys are really ontop of things.
• Fantastic hiking and mountain biking trails above Tolt, though IAB to get up to them.

Bad

• You cannot under any circumstances check-in before 3PM. They make you wait in the parking lot. Awful, huge speed bumps. You unfortunately cannot stay more than 7 days in a month.
• Cell service is a bit slow. With our Cradlepoint LTE router and Panorama antenna we were getting -90dBm of LTE, which is about 3 bars. Otherwise you're mostly stuck with 3G or No Service.

Other notes

• Dump station down the road at Carnation Storage for $9.00
• Park is busy in the day with camps

We camped here in order to be close-ish to family we were visiting in Seattle. It took anywhere from 40min to an hour to get into the city depending on traffic. The RV sites are all pull-through and are set up in a big circle with a large grassy space in the middle. There are no trees to provide privacy between the spaces but they aren't too close, so it was okay. Plus, we weren't there very much anyway.
The campground does have some rules that I thought were a little silly. First, they lock the gates at 10pm - so you basically have a curfew - and they don't open them again until 6am. We thought about parking outside the gate in the case that we got back too late since it would have been a short walk to the site, but they have no parking signs everywhere. Second, alcohol is prohibited. I had no intention of following that rule and I didn't see anyone enforcing it. Lastly, they seem to strictly enforce the RV check-in time. They have a parking lot set up with signs saying that check-in isn't until 3pm and that RVers must wait in the lot until that time. We saw several people parked and waiting there both mornings.
One more thing to note is that the Tolt Hill Brige is closed. Google Maps doesn't know that and kept trying to take us that way.
The $35 only gave us water and electric so we used the dump station at the storage/laundry mat place just outside the park on the right side as you leave. It was $9 and you have to go inside to pay unless it's after hours. In that case, you just put your cash in an envelope and slip it into the dropbox. I really liked the location, so I guess I'd stay here again, but I'd rather find a place without a 10pm curfew.

This place is unique, we really enjoyed the layout and all the space at each site. I hate paying for camping, but thought the rate was fair enough for 50A service and some private space.

Camp host was a real jerk, but I get the impression that his wife handles the customers and I just caught him when she wasn't around, or a bad day or something. I only interacted with him once, no complaints beyond check-in.

The suspension bridge, yurt village, and container "house" are very cool, this park is definitely different.

The power went out one day, due to two transformers exploding. The county had the utility company onsite quickly, they dug a huge hole and had service restored within 12 hours.

Oh, and the laundromat at the end of the road is excellent, best we've used, by far.

My only problem with this place was the Verizon coverage, we made due with constant booster usage but still it was unreliable and extremely slow.

Barely 45 minutes from Seattle, Told MacDonald Park and Campground is a real gem! You can make reservations for more than a week in advance, otherwise it's first come first serve. It's so BEAUTIFUL. Few sites, but because of that, it's spacious and quiet. It's a dream for kids - great playground, right on the river, with hiking trails and paved trails. It's a quick walk to the cute little town of Carnation. We stumbled upon the farmer's market with music and kid's activities. We would highly recommend it - except for the internet. Internet's not awesome.

This is a fantastic campground, and is one of our favorites so far. The RV part of the campground is 16 sites, all crescent pull-throughs along the outside edge of a giant loop with a huge grass field in the middle. This means we had other RVs about 30 feet behind us and in front of us, but none on either side of us. The camping side of each site has a grass area with picnic table and fire ring but a heavily wooded border, so we had nearly complete privacy during our stay. It's a short walk down to the Tolt river where our dogs went swimming every day among various families staying at the campground or using the river for day use. The sites along the west side (the river) have good shade in the late afternoon and the most privacy. To sum up, it's a beautiful nature setting with huge sites, lots of grass and trees, very dog friendly, and has an accessible river with beach to top it all off. The park was sold out for the weekend but there were always sites available during weekdays. We made a reservation for a week (discounted weekly rate shown above, no extra taxes/fees), which is the maximum time you can stay in one site. Sites have 50 amp and water, but no sewer. There is a $9 commercial dump station (cash only via honor system envelopes) at the park exit. One downside is that there is only one shower per gender at the bathhouse, so we often had to wait quite a while for showers. Also, they clean the bathrooms once a day. With all the campers, that meant the showers got dirty quickly. We had very strong AT&T signal, our Verizon worked but was a little weak. Also be sure to note that the park gates are locked at 10pm during the summer. We had to cut short an evening out with friends to ensure we made it back in time. If arriving/departing via NE Tolt Hill Road like we did, be aware that it has a two mile 9% upgrade and two mile 9% downgrade with many sharp curves. We managed it fine in our motorhome, but you'll want to take it very slowly on the descent. We're looking forward to staying here again.

This is a small county park in a beautiful setting with limited RV spots right on the river. The sites are all pull through, some with hook ups, some without and all with direct access to the river. There are hiking trails, a 500 ft suspension bridge, a group camping section and a picnic area. Carnation is a cute little town with a few restaurants, coffee shops and stores, and its about 30 min from Seattle.