Peterson Prairie Campground
3Heads up3 fires, nearest 23 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
- 30All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Peterson Prairie Campground offers shaded and secluded campsites nestled in a forest of large pine, spruce and fir trees. The campground tends is popular among huckleberry pickers. At an elevation of 2,800 ft., Peterson Prairie offers a cool summertime climate during the hottest part of the season. Several kid-friendly attractions are a short distance away, making this campground a great choice for families. Keep reading
Recreation
Seasonal harvesting of huckleberries and mushrooms is a popular pastime. Natural Bridges and Ice Cave are scenic, family-friendly nature trails near Peterson Prairie Campground. A stairway leading into the Ice Cave allows convenient access to the cave's incredible ice formations. Please be prepared when visiting the caves. Information is avaialble at the campground and the Mt Adams Ranger Station.
Facilities
Drinking water and vault toilets are available. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. The sites are spacious with gravel parking spurs.
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. Peterson Prairie is located in the Mt. Adams Ranger District. Nearest town is Trout Lake, WA. The Mount Adams Ranger District offers a large variety 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
This campground is near Bird Creek Meadows, a trail that offers spectacular wildflower displays and opportunities to observe numerous birds. Goose Lake is 8 miles west of the campground and offers excellent trout fishing.
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. Group Sites Group Facility (including Cabins and Lookouts): A visitor who cancels a group overnight facility reservation less than 14 days before the arrival date will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use 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)
ATV/OHV riding is not permitted within the campground; please limit use to transportation in and out of the facility.
Prevent the spread of invasive species by inscting and cleaning packs, equipment and tires before using lake or trails.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
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.
Click here for more information about Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Extra vehicle fee of $8.00/night of stay.
Firewood is available for sale at host site for $10.00/bundle.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 30 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 1 of 31 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER on 1 of 31 campsite records
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Meadow
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 207th darkest of 400 in WA
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 8 days ago, 24 km away
- Patchy color
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 · 15
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
31 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 30 mapped sitesAll 31 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 31 of the 31 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. 30 of the 31 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 001 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 61 ft | 1.5 mi | 218 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 002 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 60 ft | 1.5 mi | 192 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 003 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 60 ft | 1.5 mi | 155 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 004 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 79 ft | 1.5 mi | 113 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 005 Host | host pad | 40 ft | 1.4 mi | 179 ft | ||
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 006 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 79 ft | 1.4 mi | 266 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 007 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 79 ft | 1.4 mi | 200 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 008 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 67 ft | 1.4 mi | 246 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 009 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 67 ft | 1.4 mi | 302 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 010 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 104 ft | 1.3 mi | 195 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 011 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 54 ft | 1.3 mi | 166 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 012 Multi | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 54 ft | 1.3 mi | 124 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 013 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 31 ft | 1.3 mi | 180 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 014 Multi | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 43 ft | 1.3 mi | 154 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 015 Multi | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 50 ft | 1.3 mi | 105 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 016 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 31 ft | 1.3 mi | 167 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 017 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 69 ft | 1.3 mi | 192 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 018 Multi | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 69 ft | 1.4 mi | 191 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 019 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 38 ft | 1.4 mi | 114 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 020 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 38 ft | 1.4 mi | 98 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 021 Multi | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 91 ft | 1.4 mi | 34 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 022 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 40 ft | 1.4 mi | 73 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 023 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 40 ft | 1.4 mi | 78 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 024 Multi | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 103 ft | 1.4 mi | 132 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 025 Multi | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 62 ft | 1.4 mi | 151 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 026 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 62 ft | 1.4 mi | 196 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 027 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 66 ft | 1.5 mi | 293 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 028 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 66 ft | 1.5 mi | 289 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 029 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 61 ft | 1.5 mi | 226 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | 030 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 61 ft | 1.5 mi | 272 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PETERSON PRAIRIE | Group 1 | group standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 401 ft | 1.5 mi | 200 ft | $115 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
25 of 31 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Peterson Prairie CabinGifford Pinchot National Forest · 0.0 mi
Atkisson Group camp2.5 mi
Forlorn Lakes CampgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 4.7 mi
Goose Lake CampgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 5.0 miCat Creek CampgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 5.8 miCody HorsecampGifford Pinchot National Forest · 5.8 miFrom SR 14 follow SR 141 North to the town of Trout Lake, continue through town on SR 141 till the road ends and FS 24 begins(approximately 5 miles WSW of town). Continue west on FS 24 for another 2.25 miles to the entrance of Peterson Prairie.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Trout Lake, WA
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
Peterson Prairie 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 →