White River Campground

This was our last camping site on a 3 Day drive around Rainier we stayed for one night and headed out the next morning to cross over white river to the Summerland Trail which takes you high up into the Meadows to view Mount Rainier, quite beautiful. It ended up being a 16 mile hike that was well worth it. Campsite is quiet, bathrooms were so so, no showers and we are self-contained so we didn’t worry about that. They have fresh water for your canteen’s trash service, recyclable service, wood that you can buy to have a campfire which was nice the nights were a little chilly, overall a great experience and you pick your campsite first come first serve.

Part of my 5 star rating is due to the absolute stellar time I had hiking around Mt Rainier and the other part goes to the awesome hidden campsite I managed to score. I pulled up mid morning and the campground was almost completely full. I started to stress out a bit. I chose a decent site in A loop and began to walk back to the pay station to drop my envelope. Luckily when it comes to direction I am hopeless and I went the wrong long way around. As I walked I came across a fantastic secluded campsite that I had driven past but not noticed. I immediately moved to this site. The creek ran through it and it even had a little mini wooden bridge and waterfall. The site was perfect for my tent/hammock set up but anything bigger than a van would probably not fit.
This loop as well as the others had a mix of level sites, non-level sites, private and open. It pays to look around at all the loops and also to arrive early early early! The campground filled up daily by midafternoon (first week of Aug - wildflower time).
Each loop has toilets and water spigots and a place to wash dishes or at least to dump dirty water. Each site also has a bear box and some kind of fire pit.
No cell service whatsoever in the campground but near the park entrance and at Sunrise viewpoint I could get one tiny bar of verizon, enough to send texts slowly. Others said they got tmobile or ATT in these areas but I did not get ANY tmobile anywhere. Oh and I would recommend stocking up on stove fuel, gasoline and food because there really isnt very much around the park and driving distances are long-ish if you decide to explore.
If possible be sure to visit during the wildflower time and take some hikes to the alpine meadows. Naches Peak Loop just outside the park is highly recommended for flowers but gets very crowded - go early to find parking but be aware you may have to wait hours in line to get back into the park in the afternoon. Yeah, I made this mistake. Apparently this park is VERY popular with folks from Seattle and Portland areas on summer weekends.

I can't recall how many times we would wake up early on a Thursday from wherever we were in Washington and drive immediately to White River to try and score a spot for the weekend. Over the span of half a summer and into the autumn, we were only able to get one night, in a spot barely large enough for our van.

The disappointment was always thick, yet we'd try, try again until finally it happened.

Luckily, there are plenty of other national forest campgrounds relatively nearby.

No cell service up here, though a little ways back down the road you can get a bar or three. Nothing to text home about, unless you need to text someone back at home.

The river is amazing, rushing, full of glacial till, and wildlife is relatively abundant for an area full of campers--including the occasional black bear.