Beach

Whispering Pines RV Campground

71 RV Sites

Whispering Pines RV Campground in Cle Elum, Washington, offers 71 RV sites across 60 acres in the Cascade foothills, with 30 and 50-amp service, cable TV, and rigs accepted up to 120 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout. River back-in and full-hookup categories in both water-and-electric and water-electric-sewer versions join pull-through tiers, with a clubhouse, beach, and general store. Seventy-one sites span back-in water-and-electric 30/50-amp, back-in water-electric-sewer 30/50-amp, pull-thru water-and-electric 30/50-amp, pull-thru water-electric-sewer 30/50-amp, and river back-in water-and-electric 30/50-amp categories, carrying water, sewer, and electric where noted with cable TV and site WiFi, sized to 120 feet. The category names spell out exactly which utilities you get, which is unusually plain and genuinely useful. One hundred twenty feet accommodates anything on the road. A general store, boutique shop, laundry, propane fills, dump station, restrooms, showers, and RV storage handle the practical side. A lake, pond, river, and beach support fishing and swimming, with a clubhouse, walking trails, playground, and dog park filling the rest. Pets are welcome. Directions: from westbound I-90 take Exit 84 and turn left at the stop sign, two-tenths of a mile to the park; from eastbound, Exit 84 then east on 1st Street to Oakes Avenue and right. The store runs 9am onward May through September. Cle Elum sits at the eastern approach to Snoqualmie Pass, where western Washington's evergreens give way to Kittitas County ponderosa. Summer is peak. Reserve well ahead.

from $62/night

Smokiam RV Resort

42 RV Sites, 1 Cabin, 46 Tent Sites, 4 Glamping Sites, 1 Cottage, 10 Tipis

Smokiam RV Resort sits on the shore of Soap Lake in the Columbia Basin of central Washington, a mineral-rich body of water so geochemically unique that it ranks as one of only two lakes of its kind in the world. The soap lake campground sits at the edge of waters that the region's Indigenous peoples and early settlers regarded as having healing properties—a reputation supported by the lake's extraordinarily diverse mineral content, which includes sodium, magnesium, sulfate, and carbonate compounds in concentrations that give the water its characteristic feel and the lake its name. The resort delivers a full amenity package centered on the lake's distinctive character: 900 feet of sandy beach, a pool, two mineral spas, a European steam sauna, and a dock with canoe, kayak, and stand-up paddleboard rentals give guests multiple entry points into the Soap Lake experience. A renovated playground, sport court, and miniature golf course provide recreation for guests who prefer to stay on shore. A beverage bar and espresso café are available in the renovated clubhouse, and the resort offers a range of accommodations from full-hookup RV sites to luxurious new log cabin rentals and tepee rentals for guests who want the most distinctive overnight option in the Columbia Basin. High-speed WiFi, restrooms, showers, and laundry round out the practical amenities. Soap Lake is the southernmost of a chain of lakes occupying the Grand Coulee, a massive glacially-carved canyon that runs through the Columbia Basin—a landscape shaped by the Missoula Floods, the largest known floods in Earth's history. The coulees, lakes, and basalt cliff formations of this region are among the most dramatic post-glacial landscapes in North America, and the geology underfoot at Smokiam RV Resort tells part of that enormous story. The lake's mineral concentration has naturally increased over millennia as water evaporates and minerals accumulate without an outlet, creating the chemistry that defines its therapeutic reputation. Dry Falls, about 20 miles north, is one of the great geological wonders of North America—a 3.5-mile-wide, 400-foot-tall waterfall remnant from the Ice Age floods that once carried ten times the combined flow of all the world's current rivers. The Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park that surrounds it provides camping, hiking, and additional lakes for swimming and fishing in a landscape that is simultaneously beautiful and geologically humbling. Grand Coulee Dam, one of the largest concrete structures ever built and the most powerful hydroelectric facility in the United States, is about 45 minutes north and offers tours of its extraordinary infrastructure. Banks Lake, created by the dam as a pumped irrigation reservoir, provides water skiing, fishing, and boating in a dramatic basalt canyon setting. Smokiam RV Resort operates through the Columbia Basin camping season, with the dry, sunny summers of central Washington delivering reliable warm weather from May through September. The mineral lake's soaking pools and beach draw visitors seeking the therapeutic experience year-round, and the fall hunting season brings additional guests to the Columbia Basin. The combination of Soap Lake's genuinely unique geochemistry, the resort's expanding amenity set, and easy access to Dry Falls and the Grand Coulee makes Smokiam one of the more distinctive camping destinations in eastern Washington.

from $49/night

Alpine Lakes Lodge

30 RV Sites, 7 Cabins, 8 Tent Sites

Alpine Lakes Lodge in Easton, Washington, serves as a year-round mountain retreat at the crest of Snoqualmie Pass in Kittitas County — a property with a range of accommodation formats, from a fully equipped lodge capable of hosting 14 guests to private cabins, glamping sites, and RV spaces with water and electrical hookups in a setting where the Cascade Mountains define the view in every direction and the surrounding terrain delivers outdoor recreation across every season. Easton's position at the pass elevation means proximity to some of the most accessible mountain landscape in Washington State, within two hours of Seattle's population center and surrounded by the Wenatchee National Forest and the Alpine Lakes Wilderness for which the lodge takes its name. The lodge accommodates groups and families requiring solid-wall mountain lodging with plush amenities, while cabins provide more intimate versions of the same forested mountain stay. Glamping sites serve guests who want an outdoor-adjacent experience with shelter already in place, and RV pull-through sites with 30- and 50-amp electrical service and water hookups handle motorhomes and trailers needing full infrastructure in a mountain setting where self-contained capability is genuinely convenient. The property's multi-format approach makes it a practical choice for groups where different participants want different accommodation levels within a shared destination. Iron Horse State Park, following the former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad grade across the Cascades, provides one of Washington's most distinctive trail experiences — a nearly level path following the historic rail corridor through the Snoqualmie Pass area, passing through the famous Snoqualmie Pass Train Tunnel (a two-mile bore through the Cascade crest), and providing a hiking and cycling route with extraordinary mountain views and historical infrastructure embedded in the landscape. Lake Easton State Park, adjacent to the lodge area, adds a lakefront recreation component with boating, fishing, and swimming in the glacially carved lake basin that serves as one of the pass region's primary recreational anchors. Swiftwater Cellars, a wine destination and gathering space at Suncadia resort in nearby Cle Elum, provides an unexpected level of culinary and viticultural sophistication within easy driving range of the lodge. The Suncadia area more broadly adds golf, spa facilities, and the full resort amenity suite to the regional day-trip options available from a Easton base camp. Alpine Lakes Lodge operates year-round, with summer delivering peak mountain recreation through the hiking and lake activity season and winter providing ski access at The Summit at Snoqualmie, one of the Seattle region's most accessible ski areas just minutes from the lodge. Fall foliage in the Kittitas County and Cascade foothills begins in late September and delivers sustained color through mid-October across the mixed conifer and deciduous terrain surrounding Easton. Reserve lodge and cabin accommodations well in advance for ski weekends and the summer hiking season, when Snoqualmie Pass access makes this one of the most sought-after mountain lodging corridors in Washington State.