Atkisson Group camp
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 25 mi
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 5 notices
In the agency’s own words
Sitting just west of Washington's second largest mountain, Mt. Adams, Atkisson Group Camp is open for campers between May and September and becomes a sno-park for a variety of activities in winter. The flat, forested terrain makes Atkisson a popular spot for hikers, mountain bikers and winter sports enthusiasts. Keep reading
Recreation
The flat terrain surrounding Atkisson is ideal for biking and hiking during the warmer months. Huckleberry and mushroom picking is permitted, and Nordic skiing and and snowmobiling are popular during the winter.
Facilities
This group site is a large paved area with plenty of room for RVs. There is a covered, common picnic building in the center. Atkisson will accommodate up to 50 people and offers 99 feet of paved driveway. In winter, this area serves as Atkisson sno-park, with a covered warming shed a large wood burning stove. Campers must bring drinking water, but vault toilets, a fire ring & picnic table are available.
Natural Features
Located in southwest Washington State, the Gifford Pinchot National Forest encompasses over 1.3 million acres, including the 110,000-acre Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument established by Congress in 1982. Atkisson is located in the Mount Adams Ranger District in the easternmost portion of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. This Ranger District comprises 367,000 acres and includes Mt Adams Wilderness, Indian Heaven Wilderness and Trapper Creek Wilderness. Mt Adams, a potentially active stratovolcano and the second-tallest mountain in Washington state, is a prominent landmark of the District. Elevations here range between 1,200 feet at the Wind River Work Center (12 miles north of Carson, WA) and 12,276 feet at the summit of Mt. Adams. The District also features a great diversity of habitats, from old growth to second growth forest, wetland areas, low and high elevation meadows and lakes, as well as glaciers. Contact Info This location has limited staffing. Please call (509) 427-3677 for general information.
Nearby Attractions
Atkisson is a great base for exploring the region further, including the abundance of activities and sights around Mount Adams. The nearby town of Trout Lake offers restaurants and shopping.
Charges & Cancellations
Group Sites Group Facility (including Cabins and Lookouts): A visitor who cancels a group overnight facility reservation less than 14 days before the arrival date will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee. No-Shows A no-show visitor is one who does not arrive at a campground and does not cancel the reservation by check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. Staff will hold a campsite until check-out time on the day following the arrival date. No-shows are assessed $20.00 service fee and forfeit the first night's rate, taxes and applicable add-on for a campsite. Refunds Visitors may submit a refund request through their Recreation.gov profile within 7 days of the end date of their reservation. Refunds will not be issued after the 7 days has ended. Refunds for debit or credit card payments will be issued as a credit to the original bank or credit card used to pay. For check or cash purchases, Recreation.gov will mail a Treasury check for refunds of cash, check, or money order payments to the address associated with the reservation. Treasury check refunds may take up to 6-8 weeks to arrive. In the event of an emergency closure, the Recreation.gov team or facility manager will refund all fees and will attempt to notify you using the contact information within the Recreation.gov visitor profile.
What the agency tells you
Check in: 2 pm, Check out: 12 pm (noon)
Drinking water is not provided
Bears frequent the area; Store all food in bear-proof containers
Everything else this campground posts · 2
Click here for more information about Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
Don't Move Firewood: Please protect Pacific Northwest forests by preventing the spread of invasive species. Firewood can carry insects and diseases that can threaten the health of our western forests. You can make a difference by obtaining and burning your firewood near your camping destination. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 99 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- PIT TOILETS on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “Campers must bring drinking water, but vault toilets, a fire ring & picnic table are available.”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Meadow
- Biking
- Hiking
- Night sky · 191st darkest of 400 in WA
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 9 days ago, 23 km away
- Patchy color
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
“Group Sites Group Facility (including Cabins and Lookouts): A visitor who cancels a group overnight facility reservation less than 14 days before the arrival date will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee. No-shows are assessed $20.00 service fee and forfeit the first night's rate, taxes an…” · this campground’s own no-show terms
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 6
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| AREA ATKISSON | 001 | group standard nonelectric | 99 ft | 3,420 ft | $115 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Peterson Prairie CabinGifford Pinchot National Forest · 2.5 mi
Peterson Prairie CampgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 2.5 mi
Oklahoma campgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 6.4 miTrout Lake Creek CampgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 6.5 mi
Forlorn Lakes CampgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 7.1 mi
Goose Lake CampgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 7.3 miFrom I-5 at Vancouver, take Highway 14 east for 66 miles and continue on Highway 141 north for 15 miles to Forest Service Road 2400 (5 miles south of the town of Trout Lake). Turn northwest and head 3.5 miles to the Group Camp.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Trout Lake, WA
Typical weather
Typical October night 29°F, day 63°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 24°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Atkisson Group camp is in Washington’s 4th congressional district. Its representative, Dan Newhouse (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →