Big Creek Campground - Mt. Rainier, Washington
Big Creek Campground Details
- Number of Campsites: 26
- Avg. Overnight Fee: 22
- Drinking Water: Yes
- Toilets: Vaulted
- Camphost on Site: Yes
- Fires Allowed: Yes
- Cell Service: No
- Season: May - September
- Nearest Store (Miles): 5
- GPS: 46.736040, -121.97031
- Elevation: 1800 ft.
- Showers: No
- Firewood for Sale: Yes
- Address: 312 Skate Creek Road North, Ashford, WA, 98304
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Included at this Campground
Big Creek Campground Description
Big Creek Campground is located on the edge of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest just 10 minutes from the Nisqually entrance of Mt Rainier National Park. This campground acts as a perfect base camp for anyone looking to spend time in Mt. Rainier National Park but couldn’t find a site at the Cougar Rock Campground.
Big Creek campground is close to the small town of Ashford Washington which has basic amenities such as a general store, gas station, outfitters store, and restaurants. The campground itself sits adjacent to a residential neighborhood on Big Creek so keep this in mind and try to be respectful and keep noise to a minimum.
The campsites are spread out well with about half of them adjacent to the creek and the other half backing up to the forest. There are a couple of pull-through sites that can easily accommodate trailers or larger RVs and even the non-pull-through sites have ample space. There are no hookups at this campground and you can expect vault toilets and potable water.
The campground season is typically from mid-may through late December though that may vary each year so be sure to check with the forest service before coming.
What we like about Big Creek Campground
- Proximity to Mt. Rainier is unbeatable without staying in the actual park
- The creekside location provides a great camping experience and ambiance
- Campsites are spread out very nicely with plenty of space between neighbors
Things we Don’t Like about Big Creek Campground
- The road into the campground is shared with a residential home
- The campground is showing signs of wear and could use some basic upgrades and attention
- Nearby neighborhood could cause camper/resident conflicts
I'm an avid camper - this was THE WORST EXPERIENCE EVER.
I’m an avid camper, and the experience I had at this campground with the host was ABSOLUTELY THE WORST ever. We arrived at the campground early to find the best spot as we were planning to take some outdoor wedding photos at the campsite the day after. It was not a busy season, so there were only a couple of sites occupied. We carefully selected a spot, paid for it, and posted the receipt on the site clip. I took a photo of both the envelope and the receipt clipped at the site.
After exploring the national park, we arrived at the campground at around 9pm. Most of the campsites were still unoccupied. To our surprise, when we arrived at our reserved spot, there was a group of people who took our campsite! They already put up their tent and a canopy as well. When I checked the pole where I clipped the receipt, it was GONE & REPLACED by someone else’s!!
When I talked to those people who took our campsite, there were already drunk and were at the verge of becoming hostile. But they did tell us that the host “allowed” them to take the spot.
Right then and there, we went to the host and explained the situation, and the host said (1) we never paid and that (2) there was no receipt clipped at the site. When I told him that that wasn’t true, he proceeded to tell me that the information I wrote on the clip let him know that we were checking out today. So, for a second, I thought maybe I wrote either the # of nights spent or check-out date incorrectly. But then, I remembered I took pictures of both the envelope and the receipt!! I showed the photos to him, then, of course, he could not lie his way out of this.
There was no apology, and he simply proceeded to tell us to sleep at one of the other available campsites. We were super furious because we had NEVER experienced this kind of rudeness, lies, and brazen behavior.
As anyone can imagine, we did not want to spend another second there, so we demanded a refund, and “MIRACULOUSLY”, the envelope (still glued) with our payment was found in his RV.
I’m reporting the host to the US Forest Service.
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