Gold Basin Campground
1Heads up1 fire 46 mi away
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $37–$74Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 4038 on recreation.gov
- Season
- May 1 – September 30Open May 1 through September 30
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Gold Basin Campground sits near the banks of the tranquil South Fork of the Stillaguamish River, close to several wilderness areas and hiking trails, offering visitors opportunities to experience both the serene and wild aspects of the Cascade region. Gold Basin features 39 primitive campsites and vault toilets. Keep reading
Recreation
In addition to being a prime location for hiking, biking, fishing, picnicking and horseback riding in summer and early fall, Gold Basin offers excellent skiing and snowshoeing in the winter months. A large, open field offers opportunities for sports and group activities. For visitors wanting to learn more about the natural and cultural history of the area, the Gold Basin Mill Pond interpretive trail is located across the street from the campground. This interpretive site includes a short, barrier-free trail that passes by mill relics and ends on a floating viewpoint. Interpretive signs discuss the history of the mill and the wildlife in the area.
Facilities
Gold Basin features 29 primitive campsites and vault toilets.
Natural Features
Old-growth forests of cedar, fir and hemlock line the wide, gently-flowing Stillaguamish River and tower over trails winding through moss-covered rocks. The surrounding undeveloped wilderness, clean streams and diverse forests support an abundance of wildlife. A multitude of mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles make their homes here, and the area sustains more rare species like lynx, moose, wolves and wolverine. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (530) 932-0242.
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. The spectacular Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), one of the world's premier National Scenic Trails, showcases some of North America's most fantastic scenery, winding its way its way from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon and Washington, and is accessible near the campground.
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
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.
Prevent the spread of invasive species by inspecting and cleaning packs, equipment and tires before using lake or trails.
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
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.
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.
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 Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
This is a NO WATER facility, so campers will need to bring their own supply.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 40 · 1 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 45 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…features 39 primitive campsites and vault toilets. Recreation In addition to being a prime location…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Night sky · 384th darkest of 400 in WA
- Bortle 4
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 38 of the 40 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
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 · 16
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
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $37–$74 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
“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 · 7
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
41 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 38 mapped sitesAll 41 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 41 of the 41 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 40 of the 41 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| GOLD | 020 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 295 ft | 298 ftSouth Fork Stillaguamish River | 364 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 052 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 83 ft | 168 ft | 355 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 054 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 22 ft | 250 ft | 277 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 055 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 22 ft | 250 ft | 271 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 056 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 46 ft | 363 ft | 187 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 057 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 46 ft | 376 ft | 154 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 058 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 30 ft | 472 ft | 92 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 059 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 30 ft | 472 ft | 119 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 060 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 59 ft | 574 ft | 157 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 061 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 59 ft | 577 ft | 107 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 062 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 142 ft | 716 ft | 244 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 063 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | 25 ft | 700 ft | 395 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 064 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 25 ft | 710 ft | 392 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 065 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 29 ft | 619 ft | 319 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 066 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 36 ft | 579 ft | 266 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 067 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 36 ft | 543 ft | 244 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 068 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 29 ft | 646 ft | 336 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 068B | type not stated | 34 ft | 497 ft | 178 ft | $275 | |
| GOLD | 069 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 31 ft | 447 ft | 143 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 070 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 31 ft | 449 ft | 115 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 071 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 151 ft | 356 ft | 65 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 072 HOST | host pad | 40 ft | 402 ft | 85 ft | $275 | |
| GOLD | 075 | standard nonelectric | 29 ft | 65 ft | 519 ft | 143 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 076 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 47 ft | 585 ft | 127 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 077 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 49 ft | 631 ft | 148 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 078 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 61 ft | 689 ftSouth Fork Stillaguamish River | 203 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 079 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 39 ft | 831 ft | 438 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 080 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 27 ft | 718 ft | 309 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 081 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 27 ft | 704 ft | 291 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 082 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 28 ft | 644 ft | 226 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 083 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 44 ft | 585 ftSouth Fork Stillaguamish River | 280 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 084 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 44 ft | 572 ftSouth Fork Stillaguamish River | 251 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 085 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 40 ft | 630 ftSouth Fork Stillaguamish River | 219 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 086 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 28 ft | 624 ft | 206 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 087 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 27 ft | 698 ft | 294 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 088 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 39 ft | 824 ft | 411 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 089 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 118 ft | 796 ftSouth Fork Stillaguamish River | 283 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 090 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 61 ft | 684 ft | 171 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 091 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 47 ft | 543 ft | 88 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | 092 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 131 ft | 395 ft | 217 ft | $37–$74 |
| GOLD | A | type not stated | 40 ft | 282 ft | 143 ft | $275 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
25 of 41 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Wiley Creek Group CampMt. Baker National Forest · 1.1 mi
Esswine Group Camp1.9 mi
Verlot CampgroundMt. Baker National Forest · 2.0 mi
Tulalip Mill Site Group CampgroundMt. Baker National Forest · 2.3 mi
Turlo Campground2.7 mi
Boardman Group CampMt. Baker National Forest · 2.9 miFrom Seattle, Washington, go north on I-5 to Everett. Take exit 194 onto Highway 2, then turn north at Highway 204 toward Lake Stevens. Turn north on Highway 9 then east on Highway 92 to Granite Falls. The campground is located 13.5 miles east of Granite Falls.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Verlot, WA
Typical weather
Typical May night 44°F, day 67°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical May night 44°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season
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
Gold Basin 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 →