Tower Rock Campground
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 16 mi
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $25From, per site
- Sites
- 2120 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Tower Rock Campground is named for the impressive pillar that looms nearby and offers semi-private sites shaded by a mix of cedar, Douglas fir and maple. Keep reading
Recreation
A privately-owned trout pond offers fishing nearby, but anglers can also cast for brook trout in the Cispus River. The Burley Mountain trailhead is located off of Forest Road 28, about 4 miles from the Highway 23 intersection. From this trailhead, visitors can hike to multiple waterfalls, including Angel Falls.
Facilities
Tower Rock provides easy RV camping with paved parking spurs that can accommodate vehicles between 20 to 30 feet. Drinking water, picnic tables and campfire rings are provided. This facility has vault toilets.
Natural Features
Tower Rock Campground is located about a quarter mile from the south bank of the Cispus River on the east side of Mount St. Helens. The terrain is mostly meadow and mountainside, as the campground is surrounded by mountains on almost every side.
Nearby Attractions
Tower Rock Campground is just east of Mount St. Helens, making it a convenient base for exploring this volcanic monument. Layser Cave Interpretive Site, which has a short trail leading to the cave, is also nearby. Contact Info This location has limited staffing. Please call (360) 686-3008 for general information.
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)
Certain sites are non-reservable and are available onsite on a first-come, first-served basis.
This facility is pet friendly so long as animals are picked up after and kept on their leashes.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
The camping fee includes entry for 1 vehicle and 1 legally towed vehicle; any extra vehicles will be subject to an extra vehicle fee ($8.00/night) at the campground.
Help prevent the spread of invasive species by inspecting and cleaning packs, equipment and tires before using lake or trails.
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.
Firewood is available for sale at host site for $10.00/bundle.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 21
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 32 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…rings are provided. This facility has vault toilets. Natural Features Tower Rock Campground is located…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…vehicles between 20 to 30 feet. Drinking water, picnic tables and campfire rings are provided.…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, River, Meadow
- Fishing
- Night sky · 215th darkest of 400 in WA
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 20 of the 21 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
22 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 20 mapped sitesAll 22 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 20 of the 22 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 001 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 74 ft | 117 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 002 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 74 ft | 85 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 003 | standard nonelectric | 16 ft | 88 ft | 145 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 004 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 85 ft | 231 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 005 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 52 ft | 221 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 006 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 68 ft | 292 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 007 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 52 ft | 259 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 008 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 94 ft | 373 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 009 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 89 ft | 331 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 010 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 89 ft | 416 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 011 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 97 ft | 526 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 012 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 97 ft | 529 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 013 | standard nonelectric | 16 ft | 89 ft | 658 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 014 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 71 ft | 578 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 015 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 71 ft | 543 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 016 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 89 ft | 486 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 017 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 86 ft | 389 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 018 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 67 ft | 407 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 019 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 80 ft | 285 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 020 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 67 ft | 345 ft | $25 |
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 021 | type not stated | 30 ft | 308 ft | ||
| AREA TOWER ROCK | 022 Host | host pad | 40 ft | 194 ft |
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.
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
North Fork Elk Group CampGifford Pinchot National Forest · 3.8 mi
North Fork Bear Group CampGifford Pinchot National Forest · 3.9 mi
North Fork Beaver Group CampGifford Pinchot National Forest · 3.9 mi
North Fork Campground (WA)Gifford Pinchot National Forest · 3.9 mi
Iron Creek CampgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 5.8 mi
Blue Lake Creek Campground - Gifford Pinchot NF (WA)Gifford Pinchot National Forest · 6.9 miTake Highway 12 east from I-5 and head south on Road 25. Go left at Y towards Highway 23 and continue for 8 miles. Take a right on Road 28 and another right on Road 76. Proceed 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 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
Tower Rock 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 →