Bedal Campground
4Heads up4 fires, nearest 26 mi
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 16:20 UTC
- A night
- $27–$54When it reopens, per site
- Sites
- 22In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Bedal Campground is located just off the Mountain Loop Highway in the stunning Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Nestled in canopy of forest along the rushing water of the Sauk River, this campground offers visitors a primitive camping experience and access to a wide range of recreational activities. Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest sits on the west side of the Cascades in Washington, showcasing glacier-covered peaks, wide mountain meadows and old-growth forests, rich in history and outdoor opportunities. Keep reading
Recreation
The Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest boasts 1,500 miles of trails. From smooth paths meandering through deep quiet forests to challenging ascents up a boulder-studded mountain, opportunities abound for every skill level. Access to biking, rafting and fishing is also readily available. Within five miles of Bedal Campground are the spectacular North Fork Sauk Falls. A short hike descending 200 feet rewards visitors with views of cascading 45-foot waterfalls that flow into a deep pool surrounded by low-lying ferns and towering forest. For those interested in higher elevations, the popular Sauk Mountain Trail begins and ends in high mountain meadows, offering wildflowers and spectacular vistas the entire length. On a clear day, Mt. Rainier can be seen to the south, Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands to the west and the rugged Cascade peaks stretching to the east.
Facilities
Bedal Campground offers 22 standard sites. Picnic tables, food storage lockers, tent pads, campfire rings and vault toilets are provided. Visitors can access the Sauk River from the campground, and a boat ramp is provided for whitewater paddlers.
Natural Features
Along the banks of the Sauk River an outstanding show of wildflowers in July and August includes paintbrush, phlox, tiger lilies, aster, columbine and lupine. The surrounding undeveloped wilderness, clean streams and diverse forests support an abundance of wildlife. In addition to being home for a multitude of mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles, the area sustains more rare species such as lynx, moose, wolves and wolverine.
Nearby Attractions
Visitors enjoy the North Cascades and Mt. Rainer National Parks, where interpretive programs and exhibits offer education about the diverse landscape and history of the area. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (530) 932-0242.
Charges & Cancellations
Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.
What the agency tells you
This is a NO WATER facility so campers will need to bring their own supply.
Prevent the spread of invasive species by inspecting and cleaning packs, equipment and tires before using lake or trails.
Extra Vehicles: One RV with tow vehicle per single site or one vehicle per single tent site. Two RVs with tow vehicle per double site or two vehicles per double tent site. Most sites can accommodate 1 extra vehicle that is not included with the reservation fee. A fee of $12/extra vehicle per night must be paid for upon arrival by cash or check only.
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Fire Restrictions: Fire restrictions may be imposed at any time due to hot, dry weather conditions, at which time campfires and charcoal fires may not be allowed.
Reserved Sites will be held until check out time (NOON) the day following your arrival date. Sites must be occupied by the checkout time of that following day to hold a reservation or the site may be forfeited and released to other guests.
Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.
Refunds: Refund requests made through www.recreation.gov will be charged a $10 processing fee. This fee is retained by the reservation service contractor along with the non-refundable reservation fee. All requests for the return of the non-refundable reservation fee and the cancellation fee will be declined by the campground concessionaire as they did not receive these fees (these are the fees retained by the reservation contractor, a different entity).
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.
The Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest has a Food Storage Order in effect. All food and refuse must be acceptably stored (in a hard sided vehicle or trailer, food storage locker, or certified bear resistant container) or acceptably possessed (attended to by a person who is physically present).
Click here for more information about the Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 22
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 58 ft
- Accessible sites
- 7
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…lockers, tent pads, campfire rings and vault toilets are provided. Visitors can access the Sauk River…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Bear boxes
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, River, Creek, Meadow
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Night sky · 300th darkest of 400 in WA
- Bortle 3
Nothing to book until it reopensread 16:20 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
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.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
“A fee of $12/extra vehicle per night must be paid for upon arrival by cash or check only.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
“Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.” · this campground’s own 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
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at Bedal Campground closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Forest Service has published no closure notice we hold, so this page can’t say why, and it won’t fill the gap with a guess. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one: the reservations its record still carries were taken before the sites were closed.
There’s no notice to quote and no reason to argue with, so this page offers you the watch and the list below, and no letter.
Open within 60 miles · 4
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- Purple Point CampgroundLake Chelan National Recreation Area · 37 mi · walk-up · 6 sites
- Lakeview CampgroundLake Chelan National Recreation Area · 37 mi · walk-up · 9 sites
- Goodell Creek CampgroundRoss Lake National Recreation Area · 40 mi · 19 sites
- Gorge Lake CampgroundNorth Cascades National Park · 44 mi · 8 sites
recreation.gov availability, read 16:20 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
22 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 18 mapped sitesAll 22 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. 20 of the 22 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| BEDAL | 001 | standard nonelectric | 58 ft | 43 ft | 240 ft | $27–$54 | |
| BEDAL | 002 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 43 ft | 246 ft | $27–$54 | |
| BEDAL | 003 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 75 ft | 327 ft | $27–$54 | |
| BEDAL | 004 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 75 ft | 283 ftSauk River | $27–$54 | |
| BEDAL | 005 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 75 ft | 326 ftSauk River | $27–$54 | |
| BEDAL | 006 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | yes | 38 ft | 255 ftSauk River | $27–$54 |
| BEDAL | 007 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 100 ft | 320 ftSauk River | $27–$54 | |
| BEDAL | 008 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | yes | 91 ft | 229 ftSauk River | $27–$54 |
| BEDAL | 009 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | yes | 91 ft | 145 ftSauk River | $27–$54 |
| BEDAL | 010 | standard nonelectric | 44 ft | yes | 38 ft | 236 ftSauk River | $27–$54 |
| BEDAL | 011 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | yes | 104 ft | 142 ftSauk River | $27–$54 |
| BEDAL | 012 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 86 ft | 53 ftSauk River | $27–$54 | |
| BEDAL | 013 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 84 ft | 63 ft | $27–$54 | |
| BEDAL | 014 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | yes | 83 ft | 67 ft | $27–$54 |
| BEDAL | 015/016 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 83 ft | 73 ft | $27–$54 | |
| BEDAL | 016 | type not stated | 23 ft | 82 ft | |||
| BEDAL | 017 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 106 ft | 116 ft | $27–$54 | |
| BEDAL | 018 | standard nonelectric | 29 ft | 89 ft | 246 ft | $27–$54 | |
| BEDAL | 020 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 127 ft | 141 ftSauk River | $27–$54 | |
| BEDAL | 021/022 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | $27–$54 | |||
| BEDAL | 022 | type not stated | 23 ft | ||||
| BEDAL | 19 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | yes | $27–$54 |
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
Coal Creek Group CampgroundMt. Baker National Forest · 7.1 mi
Coal Creek Group CampMt. Baker National Forest · 7.9 mi
Tulalip Mill Site Group CampgroundMt. Baker National Forest · 11 mi
Suiattle Guard StationMt. Baker National Forest · 12 mi
Clear Creek CampgroundMt. Baker National Forest · 12 miFrom Darrington, Washington, travel 16 miles southeast on of the Mt. Loop Scenic Byway. The campground is located on the west side of the road at mile post 37, just beyond the junction of Mt. Loop and Forest Road 49. Note that the final 7.5 miles are along a graveled single lane section of road and that road conditions can be variable due to heavy use, weather, and periodic maintenance. We recommend accessing the campground via Darrington as the Barlow Pass section may be gated.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Darrington, WA
Typical weather
Typical October night 42°F, day 58°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 32°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
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Bedal Campground is in Washington’s 8th congressional district. Its representative, Kim Schrier (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →