Harlequin Campground
8Heads up5 park alerts · 3 fires, nearest 5 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 81 of them walk-up
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Campgrounds in Lake Chelan National Recreation Area are walk-in sites located in the Stehekin Valley. Harlequin Camp is located along the Stehekin River, 4.5 miles up the Stehekin Valley Road from Stehekin Landing and approximately 6.5 miles from High Bridge. Stehekin is a remote community with limited facilities and is only accessible by foot, boat, or plane. There is some shared parking at the campground for a limited number of vehicles but all sites are considered walk-in. Keep reading
Recreation
Visitors can access several trails from the campground area, such as the Stehekin River Trail, Company Creek Trail, and Rainbow Loop. Many of these trails also lead to other backcountry trails and the opportunity for longer wilderness backpacks. A backcountry permit is required for overnight stays in the backcountry. Other trails along the Stehekin Valley Road can be reached by foot, bike, or shuttle bus. Visitors can boat, fish, and swim (although the water is a chilly 45 degrees) in Lake Chelan or the Stehekin River. Bears do inhabit the area, so care should be taken when hiking, picnicking, or camping.
Facilities
Harlequin has pit toilets and garbage containers, though all trash must be eventually barged downlake and visitors are encouraged to pack out everything they pack in. The campground has no running water; plan on boiling or filtering water from the Stehekin River or bringing what you need. Each campsite offers a picnic table and fires are allowed in designated fire pits. Most sites are large, with space to arrange multiple tents (no specific tent pads). There are no roads or car access into Stehekin. Accessible by foot, boat or plane only. Visitors may take a passenger ferry or their own boat, which may be parked at the public docks in Stehekin with the purchase of a federal dock permit. (4.5 miles from Harlequin). At the Stehekin Landing area, the North Cascades Lodge at Stehekin has a small store with very limited groceries and a restaurant. Public showers and laundry facilities are located near the Landing, but not in the campground. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (360) 854-7200.
Nearby Attractions
Stehekin is a gateway into the east side of the North Cascades National Park Service Complex. Many short to multi-day backpacking trips begin in the Stehekin area. Other attractions in the area are the historic Buckner Orchard, where visitors can pick apples in the fall, and Rainbow Falls, a 312-foot waterfall near the Stehekin Valley Road.
What the agency tells you
Harlequin Campground is located 4.5 miles from Stehekin Landing. Shuttle service may be available or campers may walk or bike to the campground.
Many sites in Harlequin are flooded during late May and June, due to their location on the Stehekin River. Dates and the extent of flooding vary year-to-year with spring runoff. If you are planning to camp in late spring, it is recommended to check with the park ahead of time for current conditions.
There is no cell phone reception.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Wildlife frequents the area. All food must be stored in animal-resistant food lockers or hard-sided vehicles until use.
There are no shower facilities available at the campground. Laundry and shower facilities are located at the Landing.
There are limited grocery items available, bring what you need. With limited trash services, consider Pack It In/Pack It Out.
There are no ATM services available in the valley.
No Show Policy: If you do not arrive at a campground or cancel the reservation by check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date, your reservation will be cancelled. Staff will hold a campsite until check-out time on the day following the arrival date. On-site personnel may not be able to assist with reservations or cancellations. Please cancel your reservation if you are unable to use it to makes space available for others.
Refund Policy Customers may submit a refund request through their Recreation.gov profile within 7 days of the end date of their reservation. Customers may also initiate a refund request through the call center at any time after their reservation has ended. Fees: Applicable fees, such as reservation fees, service/cancellation fees, lottery application fees, and change fees, are non-refundable. Debit or Credit Card Purchases: Refunds for debit or credit card payments made after October 1, 2018 will be issued as a credit to the original bank or credit card used to pay. In the event that a customer has cancelled this card, they will need to contact their card company to have the funds released. We cannot issue refunds to any card other than the one used to pay. If a customer paid with a debit or credit card prior to October 1, 2018 their refund will be issued in the form of a Treasury check. 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. You may update the address at the time you request the refund. It may take up to 6-8 weeks for the Treasury check to arrive. Please make sure your address is up to date in your customer profile. Emergency Closures: 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 your Recreation.gov customer profile. Reservation fees for free tickets are non-refundable in the event of an emergency closure.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 8 · 7 tent-only, 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets - year round
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Lake, River, Creek
- Biking
- Birding
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Rafting
- Night sky · 36th darkest of 400 in WA
- Bortle 2
- Fall color · reported 5 days ago, 15 km away
- Peak color
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 15:23 UTC
recreation.gov lists 7 of the 8 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
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.
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 · 10
What you actually pay
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 · 4
recreation.gov availability, read 15:23 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
8 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 7 mapped sitesAll 8 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 8 of the 8 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
| Stehekin | 1 | tent only nonelectric | 71 ft | 111 ft | 590 ft |
| Stehekin | 2 | tent only nonelectric | 71 ft | 129 ft | 527 ft |
| Stehekin | 3 | tent only nonelectric | 100 ft | 149 ft | 429 ft |
| Stehekin | 4 | tent only nonelectric | 59 ft | 121 ft | 355 ft |
| Stehekin | 5 | tent only nonelectric | 59 ft | 140 ft | 297 ft |
| Stehekin | 6 | type not stated | 173 ft | 186 ft | |
| Stehekin | 7 | tent only nonelectric | 88 ft | 180 ft | 184 ft |
| Stehekin | Harlequin Group | group tent only area nonelectric | 88 ft | 201 ft | 121 ft |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Purple Point CampgroundLake Chelan National Recreation Area · 3.5 mi
Lakeview CampgroundLake Chelan National Recreation Area · 3.9 miMoore Point CampgroundWenatchee National Forest · 9.0 miSouth Creek CampgroundOkanogan National Forest · 11 miHolden Ballpark CampgroundWenatchee National Forest · 11 miPoplar Flat CampgroundOkanogan National Forest · 11 miThere are no roads that connect Stehekin to the rest of Washington. Access is via foot, boat, or plane. Head north on Stehekin Valley Road from the Landing approximately 4.5 miles and turn left at the large Harlequin Bridge. The campground is the first left after crossing the river.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Winthrop, WA
Typical weather
Typical October night 38°F, day 56°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 25°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 Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Harlequin 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 →