Roaming.Camp
Camping in Washington

Washington

The Evergreen State

Washington runs from the Pacific Ocean to the 14,411-foot summit of Mount Rainier in under 90 miles, packing a vertical range almost nowhere else in the Lower 48 can match. Olympic National Park alone holds three distinct ecosystems within a single boundary — temperate rainforest, glaciated alpine, and wild Pacific coast — connected by a single park road. The North Cascades carry more than 300 glaciers, the largest concentration of active ice anywhere in the contiguous United States. Mount St. Helens still bears the raw scar of its 1980 eruption, with pyroclastic flow zones recovering in slow motion. The San Juan Islands, reachable only by ferry, hold orca pods and 19th-century farmsteads. Across the Cascade crest, the Channeled Scablands of eastern Washington record the catastrophic Missoula Floods of the last ice age in basalt coulees and dry waterfalls. No state outside Alaska holds this much living glacier or this many ecosystems in one drive.

Top 10 sites

The places we'd send you first.

No. 1

Hoh Rain Forest Campground

NPS · WA

Olympic National Park's signature rainforest campground sits at 578 feet along the Hoh River, deep in one of the wettest places in the contiguous United States — over 140 inches of rain a year drape the bigleaf maples and Sitka spruce in curtains of club moss. Eighty-eight sites spread under the canopy; the Hall of Mosses Trail (0.8 mi) leaves from the campground entrance, and the Hoh River Trail runs 17.3 miles to Glacier Meadows on Mount Olympus. Reserve on Recreation.gov for peak summer; first-come, first-served in the shoulder seasons.

When to go

The Cascade Crest is the climate divide. West of the crest gets 40 to 200-plus inches of rain a year depending on rain-shadow position — the Hoh records 140-plus, while Sequim, sitting in the Olympic rain shadow on the same peninsula, gets roughly 15. The coast lives under a marine layer through spring and early summer. East of the crest is high desert: 8 to 15 inches a year, hot summers, cold winters. Cascade snowpack feeds the state's rivers. Wildfire smoke is the seasonal hazard from July through October, mostly east-side. High-elevation snow persists into August at Rainier's Camp Muir and across the North Cascades.

Spring

Mar–May

Wet and gray west of the Cascades. The Hoh and Quinault rainforests are at full saturation — 140-plus inches a year drape the canopy in dripping moss — and the Olympic coast is shoulder-ready, cool but accessible. Cascade high country stays snowbound: Hurricane Ridge Road and Paradise Road stay snowbound into late May or June; the North Cascades Highway (SR-20) typically reopens late April through May. Olympic NP's Hoh Visitor Center and Kalaloch Campground stay open year-round. East of the crest, eastern Washington hits the 70s by April — Steamboat Rock, the Grand Coulee, and Lake Roosevelt are at their best while the west side is still draining out.

Summer

Peak season

Jun–Aug

Cascade high country opens. Paradise at Mount Rainier is typically free of snow by late June; the North Cascades Highway opens late April through May depending on the year; Sunrise opens by early July. The San Juan Islands peak now. The Olympic coast stays in the 60s and never gets hot — Kalaloch and Mora are summer-perfect. East WA pushes into the 90s and beyond. Wildfire smoke is the seasonal risk from mid-July through early October, especially east of the crest and in the North Cascades. Rainier's Cougar Rock, White River, and Ohanapecosh reservation pressure binds tightly — six-month windows fill within minutes for summer weekends.

Fall

Sep–Nov

The highest wildfire window runs late September through October before the rains return. The North Cascades Highway (SR-20) gates by mid-October to mid-November depending on snow, with Chinook Pass (SR-410) and Cayuse Pass (SR-123) at Rainier closing in the same window. Larch needles turn gold in the eastern North Cascades — the third week of September through mid-October — and the Maple Pass Loop is the most-hiked larch trail in the state. The Olympic coast is at its clearest in September and early October before the storm season fires up. Cougar Rock and White River close by late September; the lower-elevation rainforest campgrounds (Hoh, Sol Duc, Kalaloch) run through October.

Winter

Dec–Feb

Wet on the west side, snow-locked above roughly 3,000 feet in the Olympics and 4,000 feet in the Cascades. Paradise stays open year-round for snowshoe and ski access — the road is plowed Monday through Sunday, weather permitting, with gate closures for active storms. Hurricane Ridge is open weekends only (Friday–Sunday, snow-dependent). The North Cascades Highway is gated, typically mid-November through April. The Olympic coast stays accessible: storm-watching season at Kalaloch brings 20-plus-foot Pacific swells from November through February, and the bluff campground stays open through it.

Know before you go

Best time

Window
Jun–Aug
Peak — Summer
Jun–Aug
Spring
Mar–May
Summer
Jun–Aug
Fall
Sep–Nov
Winter
Dec–Feb

Cascade high country opens. Paradise at Mount Rainier is typically free of snow by late June; the North Cascades Highway opens late April through May depending on the year; Sunrise opens by early July. The San Juan Islands peak now. The Olympic coast stays in the 60s and never gets hot — Kalaloch and Mora are summer-perfect. East WA pushes into the 90s and beyond. Wildfire smoke is the seasonal risk from mid-July through early October, especially east of the crest and in the North Cascades. Rainier's Cougar Rock, White River, and Ohanapecosh reservation pressure binds tightly — six-month windows fill within minutes for summer weekends.

Reservations

Booking
Recreation.gov
Window opens
6 months out
First-come sites
Mixed · arrive early
Cancellation
48 hr · per facility
Peak weekends
Book on release

Permits & signal

Backcountry
Permit required
Dispersed
USFS · BLM · 14 days
Fire restrictions
Seasonal · check ranger
Signal · Verizon
Good
Signal · AT&T
Good
Signal · T-Mobile
Fair

Camping etiquette

Quiet hours
10 PM – 6 AM
Pets
Leashed · 6 ft
Pack-out
All waste
Food storage
Bear box / hang
Stay limit
14 days · 30 day window

USFS, state-park, and BLM campgrounds welcome leashed dogs throughout most loops and trails. National parks restrict pets to campgrounds, paved roads, and a small number of paved trails — never on dirt trails, never in the…

Best for Hiking & Backpacking

Washington's hiking is built on the volcanic Cascade crest — Rainier at 14,411 feet, Baker, Adams, Glacier Peak — the Olympic Peninsula's Hoh and Quinault rainforest valleys, the North Cascades' alpine objectives in the so-called American Alps, and the Olympic Wilderness Coast for a multi-day shoreline traverse. These four campgrounds anchor the best of it.

Best for RV Camping

Washington's RV camping is mostly federal — paved NPS loops at Rainier and Olympic, a year-round bluff campground on the Pacific coast, and east-WA hookup loops on the Columbia. None of these have full hookups inside Rainier or Olympic, but dump stations and well-graded sites accommodate rigs up to roughly 35 feet. The standouts:

Best for Temperate Rainforest & Hot Springs

The Olympic Peninsula is the only place in the Lower 48 with temperate rainforest at scale — 140-plus inches of rain annually at the Hoh, a Sitka spruce / western hemlock / Douglas fir / bigleaf maple canopy hung with epiphytic mosses and licorice ferns. Sol Duc adds the rare rainforest-meets-thermal-pools pairing. Three campgrounds cover it.

Best for Cascade Volcanoes & Glaciers

Washington holds five active volcanoes — Rainier, Baker, Adams, Glacier Peak, and St. Helens — and the North Cascades carry more than 300 glaciers, the most active glaciation of any state outside Alaska. These four campgrounds anchor Rainier's south and Sunrise sides, the North Cascades, and Mount St. Helens' east-side blast zone.

Frequently asked

It depends on the region. Cascade high country (Paradise at Rainier, Sunrise, the North Cascades, Artist Point) is mid-June through September, with snow lingering on shoulder weeks. Olympic rainforest (Hoh, Sol Duc, Quinault) runs year-round, driest July through September. The Olympic coast is year-round, calmest July through October, with storm-watching season November through February. San Juan Islands peak July through August, with quieter shoulders in May–June and September. East Washington (Lake Roosevelt, the Channeled Scablands, Wenatchee NF) runs May through October with peak July through September and a mild winter window for the lowest-elevation parks.

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