Ohanapecosh Group Campground
3Heads up3 fires, nearest 16 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 · 5 notices
In the agency’s own words
This facility is the group site at Ohanapecosh Campground. Ohanapecosh, on the southeast side of Mount Rainier National Park, is surrounded by old growth forest and crossed by an exceptionally beautiful snow-fed river. Close to Ohanapecosh are popular hikes to Silver Falls. The Grove of the Patriarchs trail is closed to public access until the bridge accessing the Grove is replaced. The main attraction at Mount Rainier National Park is the mountain itself, a glacier-clad volcano of immense proportions. At 14,411 ft., it dominates the skyline for hundreds of miles. Keep reading
Visitors travel through majestic old-growth forests, past tumbling waterfalls and historic buildings to reach sub-alpine meadows, where world-famous wildflower displays are seen in July and August. Popular activities in the park include sight-seeing, hiking, climbing and camping. Ohanapecosh campground has an elevation of 1,914 feet. Weather is dry, cool and sunny in the summer with daytime temperatures in the 60 to 80-degree range. Even though the eastern side of the park can be sunnier than other areas, weather can be variable and visitors should come prepared.
Recreation
The most popular campground in the park, Ohanapecosh is convenient to both the Paradise and Sunrise areas. Numerous hiking trails originate both in and nearby the facility, including the several trails that lead to Silver Falls waterfall. For visitors who would like to learn more about natural and cultural history, the Ohanapecosh Visitor Center is close by as well. Grove of the Patriarchs - The Grove of the Patriarchs is CLOSED to all public entry due to flooding in November 2021 which caused significant damage to the suspension bridge that provides the only safe access to the area ( News Release, 11/17/21 ). See the attached emergency regulation signed by the Deputy Superintendent. The Grove of the Patriarchs Trail will remain closed until the bridge can be replaced. During the closure, the Grove of the Patriarchs parking lot and restrooms have normal seasonal access, along with the Eastside and Silver Falls Trails. Construction to replace the bridge is scheduled to begin summer 2027. In addition to site clearing, the project will require supplies transport, bridge construction, trail reconstruction to meet the new bridge. This process is expected to take several years and construction work is limited to the summer season. Summers represent the only viable construction season in the park due to the heavy snow that blankets the park from roughly November through May.
Facilities
There are two group sites. Both have tent-only camping, and each can fit up to 25 people. Drinking water is provided. Visitors must use extra caution with food storage, as bear and other animals inhabit the area around the campground.
Natural Features
Ohanapecosh is thought to be a Taidnapam Indian word for "standing on the edge" of the Ohanapecosh River. The river itself is lined with mossy boulders and drains cold, clear water from higher elevations. Its banks are lined with thick, old growth Douglas fir trees and other evergreens. There is no direct view of Mt. Rainier from the campground, but the mountain dominates the landscape in nearby areas of the park.
What the agency tells you
No RVs are allowed in the group sites. No commercial use allowed on Friday or Saturday or in individual sites.
Gathering firewood is not allowed.
Please store food properly to protect wildlife.
Everything else this campground posts · 2
This area is subject to sudden and severe geological hazards such as flooding, landslides and rock fall.
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 2 · 2 tent-only, 2 group
- Hookups
- None
- Paved pads
- 1 of 2
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…and each can fit up to 25 people. Drinking water is provided. Visitors must use extra caution with…”
- Stay limit
- 28 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, River, Meadow
- Hiking
- Picnicking
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
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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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 9
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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · record Aug 23, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
2 sites · the site map
All 2 sites
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Ohanapecosh CampgroundMount Rainier National Park · 0.0 miCoho Group CampGifford Pinchot National Forest · 3.7 mi
La Wis Wis CampgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 4.0 miWhite Pass Lake (Leech Lake) CampgroundSnoqualmie National Forest · 11 mi
Cougar Rock CampgroundMount Rainier National Park · 11 mi
Cougar Rock Group CampgroundMount Rainier National Park · 11 miLocated on State Route 123, four miles north of State Route 12.
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
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
Ohanapecosh Group Campground 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 →