Panther Creek campground
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 12 mi
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $25–$45Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 33All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Campground sits along Panther Creek at the intersection of the Pacific Crest Trail. Driving on FR65, 4.7 miles upstream from the campground, visitors can enjoy an easy hike to Panther Falls. Campers can enjoy the privacy provided by a variety of shade-loving plants and a thick forest of cedars, ash, firs and alder. Keep reading
Recreation
Hikers have close access to the Pacific Crest Trail, which spans 2,663 miles from Mexico to Canada. Outstanding scenic views are available all along this trail.
Facilities
The campground consists of 33 back-in sites with parking spurs that vary from 20 to 40 feet in length. The campground's Premium Sites are adjacent to the creek and each site comes with a picnic table and grill. Potable water and vault toilets are also available.
Natural Features
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. Panther Creek Campground is located in the Mt. Adams Ranger District. Elevations here range between 1,200 feet at the Wind River Work Center, 12 miles north of Carson, WA and 12,276 feet at the summit of Mt. Adams. The Mount Adams Ranger District offers a diverse array of habitats and natural features, from old growth to second growth forest, wetland areas, low and high elevation meadows, glaciers, and low and high elevation lakes. Contact Info This location has limited staffing. Please call (509) 427-3677 for general information.
Nearby Attractions
Panther Creek Campground makes a great base to explore Mount Adams and the Columbia River Gorge. The town of Carson is nearby, which is known for its hot springs. It also has a golf course, restaurants and shopping.
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)
No ATVs or OHVs in the campground
Horses prohibited except in designated horse camp
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.
Extra vehicle fee of $8.00/night stay.
Firewood is available for sale at host site for $10.00/bundle.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 33
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…table and grill. Potable water and vault toilets are also available. Natural Features Located in…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…comes with a picnic table and grill. Potable water and vault toilets are also available. Natural…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Hot springs, Lake, River, Creek, Meadow
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Night sky · 343rd darkest of 400 in WA
- Bortle 4
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 · 14
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 rates for this season, $25–$45 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
33 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 28 mapped sitesAll 33 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 28 of the 33 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. 33 of the 33 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 01 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $25–$45 | ||||
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 02 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 57 ft | 412 ft | 490 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 03 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 57 ft | 357 ft | 450 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 04 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 77 ft | 364 ft | 268 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 05 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 77 ft | 309 ft | 214 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 06 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 98 ft | 388 ft | 114 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 07 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 98 ft | 308 ft | 74 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 08 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $25–$45 | ||||
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 09 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 159 ft | 389 ft | 86 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 10 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 49 ft | 479 ft | 367 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 11 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 49 ft | 514 ft | 359 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 12 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 191 ft | 533 ft | 624 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 13 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 67 ft | 389 ft | 767 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 14 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 62 ft | 297 ft | 806 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 15 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 62 ft | 326 ft | 825 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 16 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 63 ft | 233 ft | 856 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 17 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 63 ft | 253 ft | 805 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 18 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 64 ft | 189 ft | 860 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 19 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 115 ft | 186 ft | 746 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 20 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 129 ft | 219 ft | 616 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 21 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 104 ft | 282 ft | 461 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 22 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 104 ft | 215 ft | 377 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 23 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 111 ft | 142 ft | 306 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 24 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 95 ft | 102 ft | 284 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 25 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 95 ft | 101 ft | 284 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 26 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 142 ft | 132 ft | 237 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 27 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $25–$45 | ||||
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 28 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 142 ft | 74 ft | 333 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 29 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 126 ft | 717 ft | 722 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 30 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 126 ft | 673 ft | 616 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 31 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 136 ft | 630 ft | 498 ft | $25–$45 | |
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 32 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $25–$45 | ||||
| AREA PANTHER CREEK | 33 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | $25–$45 |
25 of 33 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Beaver CampgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 4.5 mi
Govt Mineral Springs Guard StaGifford Pinchot National Forest · 6.9 mi
Paradise Creek campgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 9.4 mi
Goose Lake CampgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 10 mi
Wyeth Campground10 miCat Creek CampgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 11 miFrom Carson, WA: Travel 6 miles north to Old State Highway, (follow signs) turn right and then take your first left on Panther Creek Road. Proceed on Panther Creek Road for 4 miles to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Carson, 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.
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
Panther Creek 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: F. See every public-lands vote →