Washington State camping

Here is another important website for you to check out, Washington State Parks
https://www.parks.wa.gov/

I don't know anything about Pacific Corp but their campsites seem to look ok. As a tent camper I guess I would worry about the number of RVs. Have you looked into HipCamp? There seem to be some nearby options. https://www.hipcamp.com/en-US

We are tent campers and really dislike the big campgrounds especially if there are rv’s. So we use Hipcamp and have had great luck with it. We just got back this weekend from one on Whidbey. It is very straightforward and we have not had any surprises FWIW.

The Pacific Corps campgrounds are much like State campgrounds as being well developed: https://www.pacificorp.com/community/recreation/washington.html Yes, Pacific Corps is the electric company. They created the recreation facilities as compensation to the State and the Forest Service for the dams and power generation. I've never stayed at their campgrounds in Washington.

Unfortunately there aren't many choices for camping close to Mt. St. Helens since it has an out-and-back access road, plus the volcano kind of took out the camping options :/ So wherever you camp (north or south of the mountain) is going to be a drive. If you're heading home from Seattle, you might consider north side camping. Goat Rocks area is nice, I've stayed at Walupt Lake several times but as of end of June it's still not open for business (snow). Reservations for camping in this area go fast, so hopefully something is still available if you're traveling this summer.

The Pacific Corp. campgrounds are well developed, but if you're looking at Lake Merwin area for example there are plenty of power boats, jet skis, etc. (personally not my kind of camping area). My favorite campground spot near-ish that area is Paradise Creek which can be reserved through Recreation.gov. It is near Trapper Creek Wilderness area (plenty of hikes, including Panther Creek and Fall Creek Falls) and Lewis River is not far. Not in the direction of Seattle, but just south of there is Carson mineral springs - they have old school historic bath house that is a fun (but rustic) experience.

Thanks all for the great info. We are really interested in the waterfalls of the Lewis River so Paradise Creek sounds like a great campground. We have never heard of Hipcamp and since I've seen it promoted on REI's website so we are glad to have that as a resource. I also saw on the state park website that there is a state park close to the drive that goes to the Mt St Helens observatory so that is helpful to know.

I did book Paradise Creek on Recreation.gov and boy, has that website and telephone service improved. No hold times and so easy to make and modify reservations on the website.

Thanks again!

@CL, we will be there in a few weeks. We have usually had decent weather when we've been in the PNW in late July/August. I was interested in Mt. St. Helens, but there are so many waterfalls in that Lewis River area that I'm not sure we'll get to the volcano. Fortunately, since our son and family live in Seattle, we have reason to visit the area often. On the way to WA we'll stop in Paradise Valley, Montana, near Yellowstone for a few days to hike to some waterfalls. We are always chasing waterfalls!