# Ohanapecosh Campground



## The Stephensons

We just got back from a long weekend camping at Ohanapecosh Campground, one of two campgrounds in Mount Rainier National Park (the other being Cougar Rock on the other side of the mountain).

Ohanapecosh is located in the Southeast corner of the park and is very shady - HUGE old-growth trees including western red cedar, western hemlock, and Douglas firs. In fact, one of the best hikes for all ages (our 5-year-olds loved it) is the 1-mile roundtrip hike to GROVE OF THE PATRIARCHS only 3 miles away. There you will find some of the biggest trees in the Pacific Northwest.

The campground does not have any rv hookups, and cannot accomodate larger trailers or RVs (max trailer length is 27 feet, max RV is 35 feet). That said, we saw a few trailers that had to have been over 30' (and some RV's more like 40'). Some sites on the main road are deeper and could accomodate the bigger rigs.

There are several camping loops (A thru H) - 4 of which have some sites that back up or overlook the beautiful (but cold) Ohanapecosh River. Lots of sites in the A-loop had access to the river, but we found these sites to be very cramped and short - no way we could have backed our 25' trailer in and still have room for our tow vehicle. By far, in my opinion, the best loop was the F-Loop. There was a family reunion going on in the center section - about 8 or 9 families filled the entire center section (nice folks; not loud at all). There is a path leading to the river between sites F9 and F11. The sites on the outside loop, facing the river (F7, F9, F11, and F13) were all very spacious and wide and afforded some privacy and all overlooked the river (F13 doesn't overlook the river, but rather a small creek that leads into the river). Our site (F9) was a little short - we had to park our tow vehicle sideways to make sure it didn't hang over into the road. But it was wide - lots of room for the kids to play. Next time we will try to reserve site F-11 which was a bit longer and just as spacious in back. As we were pulling out we saw a 23' Outback Kargo-Roo pulling in in site F7 and LOVED the view from their site - said they like being a bit further away from the path to the river.

It was our first time to "dry-camp" since getting our travel trailer 2 months ago. Sure did miss those hookups. But the beauty of the park, the fact you're less than an hour from Paradise at Mount Rainier, not to mention the hikes, made it all worth it. Will definitely return next year! And maybe bring a generator!


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## MaeJae

What a wonderful review....
THANK YOU

I am glad to hear you had a good time!

MaeJae


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## jasonrebecca

That is one of our favorite campgrounds, but haven't been there since we bought the Outback. Have you been there before? I am curious as to the changes to the park since the storm wiped out half the park as well as Grove of the Partriarcs (sp).


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## The Stephensons

All looked well at the Grove - they have a new bridge over the river leading to the island and some of the boardwalk had to be repaired. It looked like a few more trees had blown down, but other than that it was just as majestic as ever. Stevens Canyon Road was finally opened to Paradise (only been open about a month or two) so we were able to go to Box Canyon, Reflection Lakes, and of course all around Paradise and did some hiking in those places. We love the east side of the mountain - much quieter.

We camped at Ohanapecosh way back when we tent-camped (probably about 15 years ago or so) - but found our spot, or at least our loop. Most of the park seems to still be dedicated to tents; a few more sites can accomodate small trailers (we saw a lot of pop-ups). VERY FEW travel trailers - maybe a couple dozen. Again, the best sites in my opinion were in the F LOOP overlooking the Ohanapecosh river. We totally lucked out getting our site (F9).



jasonrebecca said:


> That is one of our favorite campgrounds, but haven't been there since we bought the Outback. Have you been there before? I am curious as to the changes to the park since the storm wiped out half the park as well as Grove of the Partriarcs (sp).


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## Java Hounds

Awesome review!
Thanks for the details...it's going on the list


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