Twice a year on the long Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, Packwood Washington comes alive with a huge flea market that takes over the entire town for three days as well as private homes having yard sales for miles each way. This is private property owned by Steve (number above) with a huge level field that the family allows everyone to camp on, in RV's right behind the big event. No hookups, some general courtesy rules and porta potties and dumpster provided. East end of town, turn right at intersection of Shell gas station and Snyder, turn right at 114 Snyder at the first long driveway. Funky and fun weekend with huge crowds at the markets and many RV'rs make this a destination weekend. We camped here in a Motorhome.
This park is under large trees, just behind the Packwood town library. There is a good little coffee house right across the street and a good burger place (the one with the skis) just down the highway to the south. The elderly campground operator (anyone who looks older than I is elderly) was initially taciturn, but a nice fellow. We had two rigs (my son was traveling with me) and wanted to have spaces together, so the operator set us up in a grassy, less formal area with hookups, where my son had an elk follow him to the restroom. This park is older, rustic, and has some minor maintenance problems. The restrooms are clean, and are sufficient if not luxurious (the mens’ restroom had two each shower stalls, toilet stalls, and sinks, no urinals and no soap, but the showers had plenty of nice, hot water under good pressure.) The regular rate seems a bit high, but I paid $15 with a Passport America card, and considered the park a good value for that price. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
This RV park feels like a camp with beautiful, old, 150' tall pines with a great view of Mt. Rainier and driving distance to Mt. St. Helen. The park is close to many dirt roads and trails in Gifford Pinchot Nat'l Forest. The park is within walking distance to restaurants and a grocery store with two gas stations that sell diesel. For a minimal fee (in the summer) you can swim and golf at the local country club a couple miles away. There are great photo opportunities here; from the elk to the river behind the park. The park manager was very helpful providing information about our interests. We camped here in a Motorhome.
If you want concrete pads and manicured landscaping, this is not the place for you. It's a quirky, friendly campground in a beautiful setting among grass and huge old trees; there are even elk wandering through on many evenings. Lots of great hiking in the area and lovely drives to Mt St Helens and Mt Rainier. Excellent free Wi-Fi available from 9am to 9pm at the local library just steps away. Sit outside to use it when the library is closed! Only one block from the highway but minimal traffic noise. Contractors primarily on a separate access road so no disturbance from early truck traffic. Easy access for any size rig: ours is a 42 ft motorhome. We camped here in a Motorhome.
The manager here is pretty darned good. The park itself is funky and below average as regards hookups and parking surface. The electricity that we experienced was no more than 30 amp using ancient electrical boxes. We were here during the fall Packwood Flea Market so every piece of available space had an RV or tent on it. It rather reminded us of camping at a state fair. The upshot is we had fun; the camping albeit funky was not a bad experience at all. They need to trim trees so you can make it down the newly graveled access roads in the park as well as into many of the sites themselves. We would stay here again, however. We camped here in a Motorhome.
We were very disappointed with this park. There was a huge pile of excrement next to our sewer dump and the entire "park" was very unkempt. I was afraid to go into the bathroom, and when I did try, the door was locked: we were never given a key. To make it worse, it was 100 degrees and we only had 30 amp. There aren't many park options for big rigs: but would not recommend staying here. There was another RV park about 7 miles down the road that looked much nicer. Rate reflects Passport America. We camped here in a Motorhome.
We stayed here for two nights, at $15.00 for one night using our Passport America card and $30.00 the second, plus tax. We couldn't use our Passport America card the second night because it was a weekend. The park is an older park and it shows it's age. Our site was a pull-through grassy site with full hookups. The RV park's location is very good as it is near the southeast entrance to Mt Rainier. We drove to Longmier, parked our car, and took the free shuttle up to Paradise, which we recommend, as it is very difficult to find parking at Paradise. If the weather is clear, be sure to take the drive up to the Sunrise overlook. It's awesome! We camped here in a Motorhome.
At first glance we were very sceptical about this park. It is old and run-down. But it was a deal with our PA discount. The location is great because it is so close to Mt. Ranier. It's also right in the town of Packwood. There are several good restaurants that we could walk to. There is a library next door so I was able to connect to their WiFi. The spaces are big and there are huge shade trees surrounding the park. We saw elk roaming around in early evening. We camped here for 4 nights and would stay here again. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Our truck broke down in Packwood, a tow truck towed us to this campground. We stayed here while our truck was in the shop getting fixed. We enjoyed our stay here: elk roaming through the campground. Management was very professional and nice. Would recommend this campground to anyone and would definitely come back. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Review Rating
[ 10 / 10 ]
September 2009
$30
Thank you Packwood RV Park for going out of your way to make us comfortable. We think the new management made this RV park what it is. We will be back during the winter for a good get away. We love this park. The owner should be very happy they have such awesome people running the park. Your special kindness sets you apart from the rest of the world. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Review Rating
[ 8 / 10 ]
August 2009
$18
We arrived in the early evening to a clean campground with elk running freely. The woman was polite and allowed us to drive through and choose the site that would cover our needs. The manager even let us borrow some key things that were forgotten in the scramble to get on the road! The bathrooms were well kept and the showers were free (a rare find these days). The kids loved that they could walk to the store because the location was so convenient. We would recommend this campground to anybody traveling in the area and will return next year as well. We camped here in a Tent.
Review Rating
[ 1 / 10 ]
June 2009
$30
Very uncomfortable, looked like people lived here year around, too much late night activity for us. Did not feel safe. Dirty icky bathrooms. Smokers in bathrooms. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Review Rating
[ 3 / 10 ]
March 2009
$28
We have camped here twice in the last two years while working in the area and visiting with relatives. The location was the most convenient for our purposes. Packwood has a huge flea market on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends. We had to change sites when we were there over Labor Day 2008. This is an older RV park with large shade trees. The facilities are adequate but not real well maintained. Our site had a good view of Mount Rainier and lots of elk right in town. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
The RV Park is unkindly maintained. It is shady under big old trees. The owner was kind and helpful. WiFi is sometimes available from the public library next to the campground. The park is quiet overnight. We camped here in a Motorhome.
There were permanent tenants in this park. Scary ones at that. Lots of coming and going from a couple of the 5th wheels parked here. There were lots of shady characters floatin' around. Said it was under new ownership so maybe they hadn't got a chance to clean it up yet. We stayed here to ski White Pass but will make another choice next time. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Sure wished we had found this site first before our stay at this stinker. Where to begin? This is one of those "RV Parks" with permanent residents. Trailers up on blocks with tarps over them, etc. The managers were new and stated that "The owner doesn't allow overnighters". In other words if you are passing through Packwood and need a place for one night, pass on through! No picnic tables, no fire pits or grates, very un-kept. We could find no other parks listed on other sites for this area and since we were going skiing in the winter at White Pass, the Forest Service campgrounds are closed this time of year. We did find while we were there that there is an "RV" parking lot directly across the street from the White Pass ski area for skiers to use. No hookups. There is also a much much nicer looking park 7 miles west of Packwood, called Cascade Peaks RV park. In summary, stay away from this park, we won't be back. We camped here in a Motorhome.
This is a lovely park with grassy sites situated among huge old growth fir trees. I was also very surprised to read the first review. This isn't a concrete resort, but a delightful little place within minutes of the entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park. Saying it's "smack in the middle of town" is kind of silly, since the town of Packwood is so tiny. Don't know what the population is, but the whole town is 4 streets that cross Highway 12. And since the entire area is so remote, in such deep forest, it was comforting to be camped close to civilization, especially after we saw the 6 bull elk standing beside the highway just past the city limit sign. We also found the owners to be very friendly and helpful. The sites can be a little confusing, which is why the owner dropped what he was doing and led us to our site. He stayed to make sure we were happy with the site, which was fortunate, because our sewer hose wouldn't reach, and without batting an eye, he moved us to a site nearby which was perfect. The sites are confusing only because they left the huge old trees in place, and forests seldom grow in straight lines. As for having nothing to do, don't go to Packwood if you expect an amusement park feel. This is a laid back area in beautiful forest area, and if you can't find anything to do it's certainly not the fault of the RV park. We spent a day exploring Mt. Rainier (breathtaking views!), another day taking walks and bicycle rides, and another day recovering. We camped here in a Motorhome.
This is a beautiful park with wooded and grassy areas. The restrooms had brand new toilets and sinks installed. The showers were very clean and were tiled. The park has a laundry room, a park with playground and lots of nice areas for walking pets. All the necessary facilities one requires when on the road are within walking distance, such as restaurants, post office, hardware store, and grocery store. Propane was available right across the street. This park was bought by new owners in September of 2004. They were exceptionally friendly and informative. We spoke with them in length. They have been busy doing upgrades to the park, and had just launched their new website, and were working on a live reservations system. I did read the other reviews that were posted, and am very surprised that they rated this park and people as they did. The only thing I can think of is that they recorded their visit date incorrectly. The couple that just took over the park had shared with us, that the two previous sets of managers that had been in there had not cared about the park's cleanliness, or repeat business and just camped to collect a wage and free lodging. The park is definitely one to see for yourself. We will be going back there in May for the annual Memorial Day Flea Market. The park's website is very informative so please use your own judgement. Happy Trails!!! We camped here in a Motorhome.
Review Rating
[ 2 / 10 ]
November 2004
$25
Two words: run and down. The staff was less than friendly, when they were even there. Apparently office hours mean nothing. They charged my credit card prior to us arriving. I explained to them that this was against the law. They basically gave me a bunch of "playing ignorant" double talk. I got my $$$ back though. We left early and stayed somewhere else. Some sites have concrete pads in the middle of grass. Others you just pull onto the grass next to a hose spigot. Doggie land mines all over. The park is right smack in the middle of town (Packwood) next to a city park, but there is absolutely nothing to do. There are much nicer places to stay up at Randle. We camped here in a Motorhome.