Lower Goodell Group Campground
9Heads up5 park alerts · 4 fires, nearest 8 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 2All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Lower Goodell Group Campground requires reservations when the campground is open from late May to early September each year. Reservations can be made 12 months in advance. Lower Goodell Group Campground is comprised of 2 group sites, each with 5 individual areas for tents or small RVs, near the town of Newhalem, along the Skagit River. It is surrounded by forest and is situated on the banks of Goodell Creek. It is private and secluded, yet the town of Newhalem, North Cascades Visitor Center, additional campgrounds, and other amenities are close by. Keep reading
Recreation
Multiple recreation opportunities for campers including hiking, fishing and rafting are a short drive or walk away. Short hiking trails can be found at Newhalem Creek Campground. Fishing and rafting access for the Skagit River are available at Goodell Creek Campground. Black bears are active in this campground and the surrounding trails. Be aware of your surroundings while hiking, picnicking, and camping. Use the provided bear boxes in your campsite to store coolers, cookware, and other odorants when not in use. If you encounter a bear around the campground or on a trail, inform campground staff or go to the North Cascades Visitor Center and fill out a bear report.
Facilities
The campground has 2 group sites, which can each comfortably fit 12 to 20 people each; the capacity is 50 per site. Within each site there are cleared areas for tents or small RVs. Each cleared area has a bear box for food storage. Both sites have a picnic shelter, vault toilet and trash can. There is no potable water. Water is available at the main Goodell Creek campground on the south side of State Route 20.
Natural Features
The campground is situated on the banks of Goodell Creek and has a shaded forested canopy with western redcedar, western hemlock, Douglas-fir, wild red huckleberries, and other native shrubs. Nearby is Newhalem Creek and the Skagit River. The river is the largest river that flows into the Puget Sound area and provides critical habitat for all species of Pacific salmon. The river drains cold, clean glacial meltwater from the mountains of British Columbia and northern Washington. Bald eagles return to its shores every winter. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (360) 854-7200.
Nearby Attractions
The North Cascades Visitor Center is nearby and operates seasonally, typically from late May to September. Visitors can find the passport stamp, exhibits, park film, gift store, and much more. The town of Newhalem is a short walk from the campsites, there visitors will find a general store and information center operated by Seattle City Light.
What the agency tells you
This campground is located within a hydroelectric project. A warning system is in place to notify campers of high water. See Newhalem Creek Campground entrance area or campground staff for specific information upon arrival.
Wildlife frequents the area. All food must be stored in animal-resistant food lockers or hard-sided vehicles until use.
No potable water. Water is available at Goodell Creek Campground on the south side of State Route 20.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
Firewood, ice, gas, and other services are not available in the park complex. The nearest services are in the town of Marblemount, WA.
Don't Move Firewood: Help protect our forests! Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. Moving firewood is illegal in some states. Visit dontmovefirewood.org to learn more.
Campsite occupancy is limited to 50 people, 9 tents, and 25 vehicles per site.
Campground reservations are accepted during the specified season dates. For more information on camping in the North Cascades visit, www.nps.gov/noca.
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 2 · 2 group, 2 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 30 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets - seasonal
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- Store
- Nearby
- Bear boxes
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 30 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Birding
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 153rd darkest of 400 in WA
- Bortle 3
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 · 13
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 · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
2 sites · the site map
All 2 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 2 of the 2 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. 2 of the 2 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
Where it is
Upper Goodell Group CampgroundRoss Lake National Recreation Area · 0.0 mi
Goodell Creek CampgroundRoss Lake National Recreation Area · 0.1 mi
Newhalem Creek CampgroundRoss Lake National Recreation Area · 0.2 mi
Gorge Lake Campground6.0 mi
Colonial Creek North CampgroundRoss Lake National Recreation Area · 7.6 mi
Colonial Creek South CampgroundRoss Lake National Recreation Area · 7.8 miLower Goodell Creek Campground is located at mile 120 on State Route 20. From Burlington, WA, drive 60 miles (97 km) east on State Route 20. The west entrance to the park is at milepost 112. From Twisp, WA, drive 82 miles (132 km) west on State Route 20.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Marblemount, WA
Typical weather
Typical October night 44°F, day 57°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
Lower Goodell Group Campground is in Washington’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Rick Larsen (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →