North Fork Campground (WA)
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 19 mi
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $25From, per site
- Sites
- 2019 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
North Fork Campground sits along the North fork of the Cispus River, shaded by a canopy of trees that include hemlock, maple and Douglas fir. This popular campground is typically open from mid-May through late September and offers standard sites in addition to the Bear, Beaver and Elk group sites. North Fork is situated between three of Washington's most impressive mountains: Mount St. Helens, Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier. The variety of recreational activities and the diverse natural beauty draws many visitors to this area. Keep reading
Recreation
North Fork Campground makes a great base camp for a variety of activities. Hikers, mountain bikers and OHV riders can access the nearby multi-use Valley Trail. From this trail, OHV riders can enjoy a network of over 50 miles of OHV trails. The North Fork Loop and River trails are open to foot traffic and can also be accessed in this area. Anglers can fish the Cispus River for brook trout, steelhead and salmon.
Facilities
The campground consists of 33 sites that have parking spurs, which vary from 20 to 40 feet in length. A few of these sites are 40 foot pull-through, and the rest are back-in. Picnic tables, grills and potable water are also provided. There is a host on-site and firewood is available for sale.
Natural Features
North Fork is part of the Cowlitz Valley Ranger District, which is located in the northernmost portion of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Located in southwest Washington state, the Gifford Pinchot National Forest encompasses 1.3 million acres and includes the 110,000-acre Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument established by Congress in 1982. This Ranger District manages four Wilderness Areas including the Goat Rocks Wilderness, Glacier View Wilderness, Tatoosh Wilderness and William O. Douglass Wilderness. Major River drainage includes the Cowlitz River, Clear Fork of the Cowlitz, and the Cispus River. A variety of wildlife may be spotted in this area, including elk, deer and bears. Contact Info This location has limited staffing. Please call (360) 686-3008 for general information.
Nearby Attractions
Randle is the closest town to North Fork, and offers access to the Windy Ridge Lookout at Mount St. Helens. Adventurous hikers who want to enjoy some spectacular views may be interested in the Tongue Mountain Trail, which climbs to an elevation of 4,838 feet.
Charges & Cancellations
Cancellations Individual Campsites: Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee. A visitor who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee including tax and applicable add-on for a campsite. Cancellations for a one-night reservation will forfeit the entire amount paid and will not be subject to an additional service fee. No-Shows A no-show visitor is one who does not arrive at a campground and does not cancel the reservation by check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. Staff will hold a campsite until check-out time on the day following the arrival date. No-shows are assessed $20.00 service fee and forfeit the first night's rate, taxes and applicable add-on for a campsite. Refunds Visitors may submit a refund request through their Recreation.gov profile within 7 days of the end date of their reservation. Refunds will not be issued after the 7 days has ended. Refunds for debit or credit card payments will be issued as a credit to the original bank or credit card used to pay. For 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. Treasury check refunds may take up to 6-8 weeks to arrive. 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 the Recreation.gov visitor profile.
What the agency tells you
Check in: 2 pm, Check out: 12 pm (noon)
Store food in bear-proof containers.
No ATVS or OHVS in campground
Everything else this campground posts · 4
Click here for more information about Gifford Pinchot National Forest
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.
Camping fee covers RV/trailer and tow vehicle or first 2 cars, additional vehicles are charged $8.00/night of stay each.
Firewood is available for sale at host site for $10.00/bundle.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 20
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…are back-in. Picnic tables, grills and potable water are also provided. There is a host on-site and…”
- Firewood
- Sold here
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Night sky · 195th darkest of 400 in WA
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 9 days ago, 39 km away
- Patchy color
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 19 of the 20 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 · 13
What you actually pay
“Extra Vehicle Fee $8.00” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own fee record
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $25 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.
“Cancellations Individual Campsites: Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee. A visitor who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee including tax and applicable add-on for a cam…” · this campground’s own no-show 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
20 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 19 mapped sitesAll 20 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 20 of the 20 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. 19 of the 20 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 000 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 79 ft | 202 ft | 255 ft | $25 |
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 002 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 79 ft | 231 ft | 180 ft | $25 |
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 003 | type not stated | 30 ft | 300 ft | 172 ft | ||
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 004 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 91 ft | 342 ft | 26 ft | $25 |
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 005 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 59 ft | 319 ft | 206 ft | $25 |
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 006 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 59 ft | 286 ft | 247 ft | $25 |
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 007 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 86 ft | 159 ft | 278 ft | $25 |
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 008 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 66 ft | 243 ft | 224 ft | $25 |
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 009 | standard nonelectric | 16 ft | 153 ft | 209 ft | 123 ft | $25 |
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 010 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 72 ft | 492 ft | 207 ft | $25 |
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 011 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 72 ft | 439 ft | 200 ft | $25 |
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 012 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 69 ft | 456 ft | 175 ft | $25 |
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 013 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 69 ft | 525 ft | 224 ft | $25 |
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 014 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 84 ft | 507 ft | 168 ft | $25 |
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 015 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 73 ft | 416 ft | 91 ft | $25 |
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 016 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 73 ft | 431 ft | 82 ft | $25 |
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 017 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 85 ft | 473 ft | 201 ft | $25 |
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 018 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 102 ft | 349 ft | 127 ft | $25 |
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 019 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 85 ft | 507 ft | 284 ft | $25 |
| NORTH FORK CAMPGROUND | 020 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 104 ft | 411 ft | 284 ft | $25 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
North Fork Bear Group CampGifford Pinchot National Forest · 0.0 mi
North Fork Beaver Group CampGifford Pinchot National Forest · 0.0 mi
North Fork Elk Group CampGifford Pinchot National Forest · 0.1 mi
Tower Rock CampgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 3.9 mi
Blue Lake Creek Campground - Gifford Pinchot NF (WA)Gifford Pinchot National Forest · 4.1 mi
Iron Creek CampgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 9.6 miFrom I-5, take Highway 12 east to Randle, and from there go south on Road 25 and continue until you reach a fork in the road. Take the left fork onto Road 23 and travel for about 10 miles to North Fork Campground & Group Camps.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Packwood, WA
Typical weather
Typical October night 40°F, day 61°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 31°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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
North Fork Campground (WA) 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: F. See every public-lands vote →