West Magnolia Campground

I stayed here from 9/11-9/22. I arrived on a Thursday and it was difficult to find a spot. The road in is bumpy, but super easy with 4x4. Site 6 is not a pull through. I learned the hard way. After dodging a bunch of tree stumps, I was finally able to get my girl "Gloria" backed in there. I took one star off because, though I don't mind it much, there's A LOT of motorcycle traffic. So the noise level wasn't as peaceful as I would prefer. I could definitely hear people talking, fighting, and playing, music at the other sites. Due to the terrain, everything echoes. I can't tell if there are still transients living there, but the Ranger went by several times so I assume they're legit. There were times that people drove through (after 8pm-1am), where they would linger and slow down or stop to check out my site. I would simply hit my car lock, or throw on my exterior light to let any possible perps know that I was there and awake. It is a high bear activity area. However, I didn't see any evidence of that. I, of course, still took the proper precautions. Dogs are welcome there. All the ones that passed by us off leash were all very well behaved and friendly. There are LOTS of squirrels for dogs to chase. I didn't hike much due to my disabilities, but there are tons of trails there. The ones I DID walk, were well kept and clear. Albeit the smoke 3 days in, that lasted for about a week, I watched some incredible sunsets and Site 6 is perfect for it. You will need sunshade if you're not able to get further back into the tree cover. Looking at the Site, if you stay to the left and go up the small hill, there's an epic tent camping spot, perfect for night photography. I was able to see the Milky Way.
It didn't seem like the folks who camped there before me, took Leave No Trace into consideration. I picked up a lot of cigarette butts, glass, a key, bottle tops, and a huge pile of giant dog shit. Oh and a pillow (?). Don't worry I DO follow LNT guidelines, so I dumped it when I got back to town. It was beautiful weather, besides the day I got there where it was cold, rainy and hella windy. Otherwise it was easily in the low 80's during the day, considering cloud cover, and chilly at night in the low 50's. Once the sun goes down the noise does too. It was so quiet at times that I could hear the wind going through the crows wings as they flew to go roost for the night. There is a fire ban, however there's plenty of wood to gather. Lots of down trees, and branches on the ground. By the time I left on the 22nd, the aspens were just starting to turn color. Beautiful drive out.

This campground has the highest land area to campsite ratio I've seen. ~15 sites.
The roads that thread through the campground is wide enough for one vehicle and gets bumpy. I kept my forester in 1st gear 95% of time. A standard, factory forester. There are enough turn offs to pass one another, but sometimes someone just has to back up.
Nederland is a nice place and close enough to make a trip there and back not a big deal.
I shopped the grocery deli for my food. A BBQ sandwich with potatoes was $17.

Absolutely beautiful location close to town - managed alright in a Sprinter 2500 170wb on the roads but would not do anything larger.

It unfortunately looks like most people here are permanent residents in large RVs. Tried over several days (only 15 available) to find a legal spot here but couldn’t.

It’s very clean and didn’t get a sketchy vibe from it - looks like they’ve done a good job maintaining it.

Would probably try again if we were here in the future - worth a look if you need a place to stay.

Gorgeous area and one of the only with reception. HUGE homeless and trash problem. When i got to my site i FILLED a large trash bag with garbage left from the last homeless encampment. Trash EVERYWHERE; mattresses, flattened tents, clothing, cans, bottles, batteries, anything you could imagine. Its obvious that homeless people setup here for the summer and just walk away when it gets cold leaving their entire camp to rot. This was confirmed by a forest service woman that stopped by to clean a bit. I think they are working on the issue as rangers and forest service drive through daily, but they were very nice and great for safety enforcement.
The natural area is beautiful and there is a ton of wildlife. Theres a moose family living the area which walked through my camp daily, also saw some elk on the road. Great views and trails around.
Would absolutely stay here again despite the trash. I hope they keep cleaning up the area, and i hope the homeless arent disturbing in the summer months.

When we stayed here in May 2018, the road for the campsites (10-15) was washed out, creating huge ruts in the road. We didn't find other campsites, although we didn't travel further down the county hwy, there were no signs for additional campsites. The road off the county highway was in terrible shape due to washout and vehicles that do not have 4x4 should not attempt it. The road to the other sites also is quite steep after site 14 (site 15 and 14 were first two sites). I would proceed with extreme caution and avoid bringing tow vehicles into West Magnolia.

There were no pit toilets, fire pits or picnic tables. Considering the area, it is a great area with lots of hiking/biking options. But it was rough camping.

Although the other reviews mention vagrants/gypsies and law enforcement, we did not experience any of that. We saw a park ranger drive by and one site was taken by people who didn't seem to own a vehicle, but no interactions with either. We could hear the traffic from Hwy 119 from the campground but it wasn't loud.

I've stayed here many times in the past, and over the recent few years it has gone down hill something bad. The vagrants who started living here for months at a time - trashing the place, causing all sorts of mayhem - are finally be pushed out by local law enforcement.

As of July 2017 there is noticeable improvement in the area. It isn't perfect yet, but it seems to be an option for a stay again. Still lots of trash (both in garbage and people) around, but it is better. The further you get away from the first few sites, the better/cleaner things get.