U.S. Forest Service · Gifford Pinchot National Forest · WA

Lewis River HC (WA) Gifford Pinchot NF

2Heads up2 fires, nearest 25 mi
Wildfire
High Lava fire · 25 mi away · 2,899 acres · 100% contained · updated Oct 16, 2026
Wildfire
Mckinley fire · 31 mi away · 0 acres · updated Oct 14, 2026
ReservableBooking 6 months out; today unlocks April 16. Season not published.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
A night
$5–$15Across the site types the agency prices
Sites
43 on recreation.gov
1,880 ftElevation
369 ftWater · an unnamed stream
29.3 miN of Carson, WA
82%Tree cover
Bortle 3Night sky · 183rd darkest of 400 in WA

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices

In the agency’s own words

This location is available on a first-come, first-served basis only. Campsites may not be reserved in advance. Visitors are required to physically arrive at the campground to purchase and claim a site. Visitors can pay by cash on site, or by using Scan and Pay . Download the Recreation.gov mobile app before you arrive at the campground, and pay through your phone using the Scan and Pay QR code which is located on site. Keep reading

Recreation

This rustic horse camp has access to many mixed use trails. There is a highline in each site and a stock only water trough with access to the Quartz Creek Trail and Lewis River Trail. There are nine camp sites and parking for 10 trailers and 15 vehicles.

Natural Features

Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (509) 395-3402.

What the agency tells you

Rule

There is no electricity at the campground and cell phone reception is poor.

Rule

There are no hookups.

Rule

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 inform ation.

Everything else this campground posts · 1
Rule

There are 16 spaces for day use parking adjacent to the campground at Platinum Creek Trailhead. These parking spots are part of the Lewis River Recreation Area where advanced reservations are required daily June 15 through September 6.  The campground is First Come First Serve and payment of your campground fee includes a vehicle.

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Tents and rigs

Sites
4
Hookups
None
Accessible sites
None listed
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
River, Creek
Fall color · reported 8 days ago, 26 km away
Patchy color
Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (26 km) · Oct 8, 2026

Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 15:40 UTC

recreation.gov lists 3 of the 4 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.

Booking window6 months outBooking opens 6 months ahead; today unlocks arrivals through April 16, 2027. The agency publishes no reservable season in the record we hold, so the window may close earlier than that.recreation.gov
A night$5–$15plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule
A weekend$18–$38DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule
Runs itU.S. Forest ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record
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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
Book on recreation.gov

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 13

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
A night, per site$5–$15
Extra Vehicle$5
Standard Non Electric Single Site$15
Rates for the season the campground is in now, Apr 19, 2026 to Nov 1, 2026.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Reservation fee, booked online$8
One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.
Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.
What a stay costs
One nightDerived$13–$23
A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$18–$38

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $5–$15 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.

If your plans changerecreation.gov
Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10
Cancellation fee$10
Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night
No-show$20 + your first night

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 · 5

recreation.gov availability, read 15:40 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

4 sites

All 4 sites

Up to

The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 3 of the 4 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

This Afternoon70°Mostly Sunny
Tonight47°Partly Cloudy then Chance Light Rain47% rain
Saturday55°Light Rain Likely then Partly Sunny63% rain
Saturday Night37°Partly Cloudy1% rain

NWS forecast for Trout Lake, WA

Typical weather

Typical October night 38°F, day 60°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 29°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°20°

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.

Measured at: CARSON FISH HATCHERY, WA (USC00451160), 23 miles away and 746 ft lower

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

What threatens this place

Roadless
Spencer Ridge5,880 acres · 6 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Red Lake2,162 acres · 9 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Oct 9, 2026

Who answers for this land

Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, official portrait

Lewis River HC (WA) Gifford Pinchot NF is in Washington’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: C. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate: the number below is the only way to be sure.
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (26 km) · Oct 8, 2026
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Trout Lake, WA, 17.7 mi NW (a census designated place). Straight line.