Mt Rainier National Park is a must-visit destination within the Pacific Northwest.
We had an incredible experience camping at Elkamp (recently renamed from Eastcreek Campground just south of Elbe. We spent some time in Mt Rainier National Park to do some sightseeing and hiking, but also just relaxed and explored around the campground. Elkamp was an excellent, well-maintained private campground that we will definitely be returning to in the future.
We stayed in the one full hookup site (electric, water, sewer). There are also several electric + water sites, plus an RV dump area.
Often times private RV campgrounds can kind of pack in the trailers to a point where there’s not a ton of privacy, not so with Elkamp. In fact, I left one morning for a drive and I was a little surprised that the outside gate had a sign saying “Campground full”.
It did not feel full, in fact, it felt a bit like we were one of only a few parties camping that day.
There’s new ownership with this campground and the new owners are super helpful, friendly and involved in every aspect of the operation.
Let’s take a look around the campground
We had the chance to walk around a bit before the campground filled up for the weekend. Look how secluded that tent camping spot is!
The bathrooms are super well maintained, including the showers. And look at the above pic, there’s a sink for tent campers to do dishes in…wow!
We did a bit of exploring beyond the camping sites themselves and quickly ran into this beautiful creek snaking it’s way through the campground perimeter. I love these little creeks!
We crossed a bridge over the creek and entered an expansive well maintained grass field play area.
Since there was nobody else there, we decided to give our dog some off-leash time. He decided to go nuts, zooming back and forth until he tired himself out.
Our day at Mt Rainier National Park
We headed to Mt Rainier National Park on day 2 via the Longmire / Nisqually entrance. Also known as the Southwest Entrance. This is one of my favorite places to access Mt Rainier. Partially because the Nisqually River is one of my favorite rivers!
I love seeing the Nisqually in its glacial melt flow form before it picks up all the feeder water which adds volume and a bit more clarity.
The Nisqually River flows into Alder Lake, which is formed via a dam near La Grande. Water is released below the dam to form the river most are familiar with.
The river runs clear during the summer months until Alder Lake is drawn down enough that the silt starts to also be released, which is why sometimes by late summer, the lower Nisqually River has poor visibility.
We drove all the way up Paradise, looking for a suitable hike, but after seeing the snow level and realizing we didn’t quite bring the right shoes for it, we backtracked a bit down the mountain to look for something below the snow line.
We settled on Narada Falls as our hike.
The parking lot and trailhead offer fantastic views of the falls itself. You can hike down about a tenth of a mile to see Narada falls even better.
We continued on from there through some old-growth forest for another mile and a half ( snacking on delicious rainier cherries along the way!)
Eventually, we arrived at the Reflection Lakes to have lunch, while we stared at the impressive view of Mt Rainier.
On our drive back we decided to stop at Inspiration Point, which is off of Stevens Canyon Rd and get a few pics.
Magnificent views!
Wrapping things up
If you are looking for a place to camp outside of Mt Rainier National Park, there are many good places to try, but Elkamp should be on your list to check out. If you live in the Pacific Northwest and you haven’t visited Mt Rainier National Park, you are missing out!
This is a must-see destination if you love the outdoors. We will write much much more about our adventures around Mt Rainier, as there’s so much more to the park than what I’ve covered here, but this was a fine start.
