Merrill Lake Campground is a pretty awesome spot. Awesome enough that I honestly hemmed and hawed…read moreover whether to even add it to Yelp. Although my better Yelp humanitarian judgment has won out here, I still hope you read this, enjoy it, and camp somewhere else. Why? This little campground only has about 9 sites. It's free but you need a discovery pass. There is a camp host and there are surprisingly clean pit toilets on-site, but no potable water. The sites fill up fast in the summer time, but have a 3-day limit that's enforced by the friendly but vigilant camp host. I don't want it to fill up even faster now that I'm sharing this, since I do plan to hit this spot at least one more time before summer is over. There are no reservations (first-come, first-served) and the campsites are designed to work for larger groups - some of them could easily fit 7-10 tents. Each site is spaced decently well away from the others, and offers a picnic table, fire ring and places to pitch. The sites don't really offer views of the lake, they're set back in the trees, but there's plenty of shade Not too dusty, but some sites are heavy with gravel. While it's car camping, you don't drive right in to your site but park in a common lot, then walk in (the farthest you'll have to walk is about 50 yards). So no car noise up close to your site. This little campground sits just by Merrill Lake, a nice smaller lake that does not (thankfully) allow motorized boats and fishing is restricted to fly only, catch + release. For these reasons the water is calmer, cleaner, and dotted with fly fishermen and specific times of the day. At the mid-July mark the lake was warm and clear... perfect for swimming and canoeing. There are some excellent trout holes around the edges of the lake, however I'm not a fly fisherman and don't believe in torturing anything I'm not able to then eat (so catch + release is not for me). However I can see how this would be an attractive spot for a fly fisherman. This campsite is a great place to get away from PDX. Only about 1h 35m in no traffic, and the drive (especially if you come up the 503) is a nice one. Very pastoral, windy road. Get out of your house this summer and sleep under the stars. Just do it at some other campsite since this one is mine.

We stayed for two nights-three days last weekend for my niece's birthday. We usually stay at a…read morecampsite at Lake Berryessa in California, but most of my family now lives in Vancouver so we opted for somewhere near there. Plus, the lakes in California don't even amount to the lakes in Washington/Oregon. My parents went to Merrill Lake Campground on Thursday to secure us a spot which was first come first serve. They managed to get a campsite (#4) that had a direct path to the lake (not the day use where most of the guests would walk to)! It was really big, the only downside was the hill which isn't ideal with little kiddos. Also, that we couldn't have a campfire due to Washington's high alert for fires. It just wasn't the same. You do need a discovery pass which we got at a store that was twelve minutes from the campsite- Lakeside Deli. It was $11 for a day use. The scenery was amazing. It wasn't hot at all where the campsite was. It was surrounded by trees. The water was so clear and clean. The weather was perfect once we made it out of the campsite, through the trail, and to shore. Oh god, and the drive. The drive up the mountain was the scariest I've ever seen. It was beautiful, but so scary. It was a great stay (for free at that!). I recommend this lake!

Pretty nice camp spot, this is a small step up from dry camping as the site only has vault toilets…read moreand campsites, no amenities other then that. Bring all the water you need, no onsite that we found. First come first serve only.

Bathrooms smell bad. No running potable water but a good fun time. The falls is nice and has a…read morejumping spot. Since I went on the second to last day of summer I want to go back in early summer.

Host staff warm and welcoming. We stayed one night for July…read more4th. It was a last minute decision but I was able to find one ada spot available but it was right next to the restroom. People walking through the campsite at all hours of the night thinking it wasn't a site as it isn't clearly visible that it is. So if you don't want that don't get one directly next to the restrooms, but if you are a people person and enjoy talking that would be a great spot if you're disabled. This year for July 4th we found a better site a bit farther away because of my dog. There are lots of trees and great water access for fishing and swimming. A very family friendly place! On the day after July 4th, the local fire department goes through the campground and hands out stuff for the children. It was fun watching before we had to leave . This was a great place to camp to get away from the noise of fireworks too. I definitely will be camping here in the future! Cons: no showers and bring a roll of toilet paper with you in case there isn't any in the restroom in the middle of the night

Great campground. Lots of trees. Has a beach spot for swimming. Huge parking loar for boat access…read moreor extra parking. No showers though.

Our family has gone here every year for a while now with a group of friends. The staff is next…read morelevel, always welcoming and accommodating. They always seem to go the extra mile. The campgrounds are great, perfect for us since we like to let our kids run around between our sites and are able to keep eyes on them. Shirt drive to the boat launch and short walk to the lake shore.

Great campground. With porta potties that get emptied regularly. Staff who works the grounds are…read morefriendly too and check sites often, which is nice.

$25 a night. Attentive camp host. All the sites are good or excellent. Quiet. Family friendly…read more Everyone has two spots to access the river. I love this place.

Overall the grounds are well cared for and the people who are doing the work seem happy and content…read morewith their roles.

Back in WA for a wedding and the kids and I HAVE to visit La Wis Wis!! We moved to NC in 2018 and…read moreNOTHING comes close to the beauty of this campground!

In August 2019, our family stopped by La Wis Wis Campground, which is about 4 miles east of…read morePackwood, WA on U.S. Route 12. We were searching for the Blue Hole Swimming Area, based on a spectacular picture I found in a Washington state travel magazine. Inside La Wis Wis Campground, the blue swimming hole has a cliff where bold teenagers can jump into the deep, glacially cold water below. The campground is somewhat difficult to find, but once you enter the complex, it's best to ask campers where the Blue Hole Swimming Area is located. When we arrived, the rocky area on the beach felt a bit painful on the feet - if you have water slippers, it might be more comfortable. The river is pristine but frigid (the water comes from a glacier) and has a pretty indigo (light aqua color) from above. My 14 year old son and 12 year old son jumped from the cliff into the blue swimming hole and were cheered by.a crowd of families on the opposite shore! This is a fun and memorable activity if you're visiting Mt. Rainier National Park and would like to do something fun on a hot afternoon with teenage kids. But it's not for the faint of heart. We stayed for about 45 minutes before continuing on to Packwood.

The camp hosts are so helpful brought the fire wood directly to camp for us, check in was a breeze…read moreour site was prepped and ready for our tent. Bathroom was clean and well maintained. My only gripe is the showers 15 seconds is way too short for the timer we barely got lathered up when the timer went off :( A very family friendly campsite.Tents only no RV's

So today me and my families got kicked out from cougar campground over in cougar Washington. The…read morecamp host named Val and Robert Castro. They both blamed my kids for making a mess in the restroom. Just because a caucasian lady told them it was my kids. I know for a damn fact it wasn't my kids cuz I walk them there myself. So the lady yelled at my kids and i was doing dishes rite across from the restroom. Me and my husband over heard it and I tried to have a nice and respectful conversation but that didn't help. She said my kids was rude and disrespectful vandalizing the restroom. I told her maybe it was her kids that was doing it cuz they were in the restroom for hours. I guess she went and told her husband and her husband went and told the host yesterday. The host came and talk to us yesterday saying that if there is going to be anymore issues they were going to kick both of us out. But they had more issues with the restroom yesterday and they still blamed it on us. My girls were with me the whole time and we still got blamed. We were the only brown skin in that whole campgrounds. And the other lady that blamed on us went around telling ppl at all the campsites about it. When I took my girls to the restroom this morning they were looking at us and trying to whisper but they were loud saying I wonder if it was them referring to us. I told them it was not us it's them other ppl cuz I have my girls with me all the time. So rite now I feel like I was discriminated and violated with our rights. Cuz the camp host only kick us out and not the other family just because they were caucasian and they were the one that causes the issues. To all my Facebook friends and families please help share this so everyone knows that this place have racist ppl working there.

What a great family friendly campground. Water and electric hookups only, but the onsite bathrooms…read moreand showers were nice and well kept. They are located in a remote area, so there is no cell service, and wifi is only available right by the office, but they do have a great selection of loaner DVDs, which kept my hubby . They have a gathering space with movies and popcorn, an onsite store. They even had a great DJ on Saturday night.

Admittedly, we have not done a lot of camping at campgrounds like this one, in fact we haven't done…read morea lot of camping at all. That said, this is the sort of place that we want to go camping all the time now! We're definitely not go out in the woods and sleep on a camping pad under the stars type people. We're more camp where we can see the car and have a bathroom around type people. This definitely trends towards the latter. This little campground is about 17 miles past Bron Yr Aur in Naches and is an absolute gem of a spot. Upon checking in, you find they have a small store with plenty of food and beverage options. They have spots for tent camping, cabins with beds, and plenty of RV parking. We went up here for a friends birthday weekend and opted for one of the small cabins. It was named "mamas place "and was lovely. The cabins are newly renovated and have small kitchenette's, a nice TV, And most importantly were warm! The two that we saw in so I did not have bathrooms, but there is a shared central bathroom and shower house that's close to everything, and is also heated! On the grounds, they have a small beach area where the kids could go throw rocks in the River and during the summertime everyone is able to get into the water to cool off. They have tons of play equipment for kids to run around and play on, some awesome area for people to ride 4 x 4's if they brought them, and they even have a meadow type area where they hold weddings. It's incredibly picturesque with the river in the background and the cliffs behind it. Go out there at night and check out what they called the fire flies - a bunch of lights set up in the meadow the dance on the trees. It's pretty awesome! You are just close enough to be able to run into town for something you forgot, but also far enough away that your cell phone isn't going off all the time because the reception is bad. This is actually about as close to perfect spot as we've been, and we're really excited to go back!

The facility does a great job of making things fun and engaging for tourists. Before you even enter…read moreyou are greeted by a Bigfoot that will read you your fortune for a dollar which is pretty cute. Their gift shop is stocked well with items that folks might actually need while going into ape caves or summiting Mt st Helen's. The restaurant portion here has one of the juiciest most flavorful burgers I've had- no joke. It came with shoe string fries that had seasoning (I believe it was rosemary). I also had the huckleberry lemonade and a hot coco and both were excellent. The staff were all very kind, welcoming, quick, and helpful. They even helped us find the weather report for Mt. St. Helens summit the next day and gave us some tips for having a successful hike. We stayed one night in a two twin room. The room was well decorated and clean as well as the beds being decently comfortable. Unfortunately the restroom had some things get missed during the clean. There were baby spiders all over the ceiling and climbing down the walls, it smelled strongly of urine, and there were globs of hair on the floor and in the shower- we had to use a hand towel to tidy up the floor and kill as many of the spiders as we could. This wasn't my first time staying here, so I know the bathroom being like that is not the norm- must have just been missed by accident. If I need to stay in Cougar in the future I would definitely still stay here again.

This is a good place to stop on the way to or from Ape Cave, one of the only places to stop for…read morefood. It's overpriced for the quality, but that's what you get in the middle of nowhere. I was disappointed wi-fi wasn't free for customers you have to pay to use it. The have a ton of gluten-free options! Gluten free pizza and chicken tenders yes please! So I was excited to find many options for me.

Great service, great drinks, and the best pizza I've had in decades!…read more The beers Backwoods makes are all delicious and smooth-drinking. The service staff was all exceptional. But the pizza! Off the charts!, FULL REVIEW of all Services: If anyone who enjoys hiking, river fishing, or just a general outdoor-focused vacation wants a good, simple getaway with their spouse/loved one, check out the Backwoods brand in Carson, Washington (just north-northeast of Bridge of the Gods/Cascades Locks). Backwoods Cabins offers a really great overnight stay option. The 8 cabins there are all basic "two-room" designs (bedroom and attached bathroom, and a living room / mini-kitchen room). The cabins sport king-sized beds, a gas fireplace and outdoor fire, a mini kitchen with refrigerator/freezer and microwave (no stove/range). I think 3 of the 8 cabins welcome dogs. The Backwoods brand also owns Backwoods Brewery, which is just across the road from the cabin property. They have great microbrew beers (from light lagers to GREAT stouts!). The brewery also has a smokehouse, with fantastic smoked brisket, pulled pork, and house-made sausage/brats. But even better, the Backwoods Brewery offers the BEST PIZZA I've had in decades. The pizza dough is a perfect balance of flavor and texture. It's not too thin and not too thick. The crust is chewy in the middle, with a great crusty edge and base. The red sauce (they also have a white sauce we didn't try) is thick and rich, with a few tomato chunks. It's got a slight spicy bite with a sweet finish. They also have some unique house pizzas. We tried the Whistle Punk - Red sauce, bacon, smoked brisket, peppadew peppers, sweet onions, fresh mozzarella rounds - and the Pepperoni Express - Red sauce, pepperoni, mushrooms, tomatoes, banana peppers, smoked mozzarella. Both were outstanding. I'd go so far as to say both Donna and I deemed these the best pizzas we've had in 35+ years (noting that our first date was at a pizza joint in Fife we both thought was the best-ever pizza). If you stay in the Backwoods Cabins, you get two coupons for free drinks at the brewery (beer/wine/cider/cocktails) as well as an assortment of snacks for your hiking adventures, and a full S'mores kit to use over the gas fire pit. And if you are in a dog-friendly cabin, you get complimentary treats, and water/food bowls for your canines.

Gluten free review:…read more Came here after a hike because I believe in balance, climb a hill, eat a pizza. Thrilled they had gluten-free options. Tried the Tree Hugger 10" GF pizza and it was genuinely tasty. The crust? So good. The staff? Kind. The price? About $20, which felt a little "ouch," but the pizza did not, and that's what matters. The place was fun and great ambiance. Take a fun trip and go try this place out.