Lake Kachess Campground

Decently separated, and isn’t too crowded, but the location next to the lake seems to draw a slightly douchier crowd. It was the only crowd with cars regularly speeding through the loops and not a ranger or camp attendant in sight. Luckily, people did stay fairly quiet in the evening, so there weren’t any noise issues.
The only problem: where the heck are all the restrooms?! We found one, but we had to drive just to get to it. We did have one disgusting, overflowing port-​a-​potty as a closer option. Even that was a rather annoyingly-​long walk away. You bet your ass we did our business right next to our camp site. And I’d be highly surprised if others don’t do the same all the time. Meaning ewwwwww so much potty.

Lake Kachess has good and bad. The good: Most of the camping spots have nice separation between them for some privacy, the lake is beautiful with a nice water temp for swimming. Lots of birds and other critters. The bad: It’s a popular campground. People go camping for different reasons. Some, like me, go to get out of the city, get some peace and quiet and to enjoy nature. The other end of the spectrum goes to party. I don’t understand why they couldn’t just be obnoxious in their own back yards and let us be. That’s the nature of pubic campgrounds so it is what it is. The hosts at this campground are not at all there to make sure the campers have a good experience. The bathrooms got no maintenance during the busy weekend at all. No TP by saturday evening. Pack your own. The camp site next to ours was one of the «party crowd» and were up ALL night making noise. Instead of the campground hosts enforcing the quiet hours, they were getting drunk and high with them. I guess if you’re a cute brunette and make friends with the hosts, you can get away with anything. Bring your ear plugs to this piece of nature and don’t expect the hosts to be very host-​like.

My friend and I went to this campground, as several of our coworkers spoke very highly of it, and it was the perfect distance for a short two-​night stay.
I must say that we were quite disappointed. While there were spectacular views, the weather was nice, and our particular campsite was away from all the other campers, there are so many drawbacks that we won’t be back.
Our biggest issue is that the nature trails are pretty much completely unmaintained. It is NOT a good campground if you like to hike. It’s so bad, I worry that some family will allow their kids or tweens to go hiking on their own, and that they’ll get lost. Heck, WE were worried about getting lost just a short way in!
Secondly, this campground is noisy even when no one is around. There are log homes nearby, and the residents were shooting guns all day long, completely taking us out of the natural experience. I shouldn’t feel like I should have worn hunter orange to camping. There is a military plane that is terrifying and flies by twice a day, according to the camp host, who was alarmingly enthusiastic about having military planes practicing and flying low over the campground. Speaking of the camp hosts, they clearly enjoyed driving their noisy golf carts back and forth every couple minutes through the camp. Once every couple hours I can understand. But this was constant!
Lastly, the water was good to drink, but there were many burst pipes throughout the camp.
It’s not worth $ 21 a day, and sadly, that means fewer people will be coming, and that there will be even less money to fix what could be a wonderful campsite. If you’re the type of camper who doesn’t stray far from the campsite and enjoys socializing with other campers, you may still have a good time. Otherwise, I advise you to avoid this one.

This is my idea of heaven during the summer.
A nice getaway for anyone living in the metro area. Just a short 60 minute drive from Seattle through i-​90. Far enough away from the city to feel like you’re getting away from all that concrete, but not too far that it kills your gas. I’ve gone 3 or so times within the month of August. I loved it that much since the first time I went there.
They have resident campers (mostly old people, who most are nice) who clean the bathrooms daily! No stink. No nastiness. Campers need not be afraid to drop that deuce! Bathrooms are close to every camp site.
They have like 180 — 200 campsites. 5 or 6 different areas. And one area dedicated for double sites, perfect for multifamily campers. With the areas, each has their own themes. I like to compare some for example I would call «ooo, that’s Palm Springs». haha. There were areas that were low and one that was up high. Each campsite is fashioned with fire pits and picnic tables. The really cool thing is each area has access to the lake. A really short walk really. And even cooler, it’s not like all trails lead to one lake shore area. They all lead to different places depending on which area you decided to camp in. So plenty of privacy if you need. And ahh, the water is so clear.
Lots of people bring their boats, kayaks, canoes, inner tubes… There’s hiking. There’s another trail to go to another lake, Rachael Lake I think it’s called. That one takes a logging road to get up to — 8 miles and then another 2 or 4 miles to hike to.
Things to know:
$ 20/​night for single site
$ 40/​night for double sites
BRING YOUR OWN FIREWOOD
oh, and the mosquito’s are really big there
make sure you’re prepared because the nearest gas station is 8 — 12 miles East on i-​90, but they do sell a hardcore bug spray repellent.

My family has been camping at Kachess since my mom, now in her 50s, was in diapers. Her entire extended family would head up with their gear and tent/​tent trailers and fill up several double campsites. I camped here as a child and all my fondest memories are of playing sardines in the darkness with my aunts, bathing the baby cousins in a rubbermaid tub, and dad pretending to cut his finger off with a hatchet and throwing a thumb-​shaped hotdog at the kids (with a fake fingernail carved into it and everything). I just returned from this summer’s annual campout at Kachess and it once again proved to be just as memorable as my childhood. We camped in Gale Creek, right next to the water’s edge, with the sound of the water drowning out everything else while you slept.
it’s a fantastic dog-​friendly campground with very friendly camp hosts (CHUCK IS THE BEST!) and operates under US Forest Service so it follows its own burn ban rules. While the rest of the county is under a strict burn ban, controlled small campfires are permitted within the camp. Call ahead of time to make sure burn bans aren’t in effect, as we have had a few trips spoiled with no campfires.
Take a day hike up to «the chair» by crossing the river and following the trail just along the west edge of the north end of the lake. Or, drive up to the waterfalls up the steep gravel road outside the entrance to the camp.
Less one star because more and more sites are becoming reservable (probably a bonus for others, but not ideal for our family) and the toilets are chronically broken in certain loops. When the plumbed toilets are out of order, pit toilets are all that remain.

This is a beautiful area to camp but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this campground. It seemed a little pricey for the lack of amenities, not to mention no store anywhere near, very unmaintained trails that they don’t even recommend hiking on any more and the rangers were not so friendly.
I will definitely come back to the area, there are tons of free sites all along the Forrest road to the left of the campground, and plenty to do in the area.

Beautiful lake, terrible rangers. It may have been the delinquent vibe we gave them in the beginning, but anywho, this is no place for a group of teens. My friends and I still had fun, cracking beers left and right but the rangers literally stalked our campsite until dusk. It was ridiculous!

Lake Kachess is a nice enough campground but expensive for what you get. We were only 3 adults and 1 child with 2 medium tents but they were too big to fit into a single site, unlike at other campgrounds. So we were forced to rent a double site, which was way too big for what we needed and cost $ 40/​nite. For that much one would expect good facilities however that is not the case here. This campground didn’t have any real bathrooms (unless you hopped in your car and drove) and no showers. There was only a disgusting outhouse nearby. The one nice amenity was there were water faucets for every few campsites.

Is this really Kachess Lake Campground? The signs says it is. Sure nothing like I remember it 20 years ago — back when each site was very cozy and private. It used to be densely forested and very quiet. Now everywhere is haphazard and rampant logging except (it seems — the day use area). I can see areas that are being worked on for future campsites.
I can see a campground being selectively logged once every ten years or clearing away blow downs. But everywhere where logging occured are enormous crag piles where the loggers took the choice logs but left the branches. Worse lots of stumps were left where a tent could be pitched.
So yes the places been logged — whether to deal with diseased trees or because Thousand Trails now runs the place and sells trees to supplement their corporate bottom line.
So much of the lakeside has ‘grown up’ (pun intended) as there are so few accessible lake shore spots along the lake shore trail. The only spot that offers a wide expanse of the lake is the swimming area and the boat ramps.
Ain’t no longer our ‘go to’ campground — unless we can reserve some of the few premium (which isn’t saying much) campsites.
Sorry to see you go to pots — Kachess

This lake is the location of my childhood. I’m a Kachess kid, my family camping there most summer weekends for my entire life. (We have a cabin, that is not part of the campground. But it’s next to it so I’ve been there a lot and seen how it’s changed over the past 30 years.)
A little back story about the logging, mentioned by the other reviewers, the trees were hit with some sort of tree disease that spread like a cancer over the past decade. The campground used to be maintained by the forest service (Federal), but is now leased by bureau of land management to a private company «Thousand Trails.»
The lake is cold and clean and it’s a great place to hang out with your family. The trails are not as good as they used to be, and the campground is a lot less private since the trees were taken out. I’d rather our tax dollars and camping fees went to the forest service to give college kids or teachers summer jobs to maintain trails, than to a private company that just does the basics. But that’s another debate and not part of a review.
I give 5 stars to the lake itself, and 3 stars to the campground because of maintenance issues.

Alright so I heard of this campground from a friend and he made it sound like a very great place to camp for the summer weekend… well i just got back today (6÷26÷11) and I have to say he was correct! It was more than just a majestic, clear, good enough to drink lake but it also had a beautiful background of mountains and trees where it sat. This beautiful lake also had 2 creeks/​little rivers running to it from what I discovered which made me wanna kayak down it. The lake was really cold but today the weather was warm enough for me to take a dip.
Furthermore, there is apparently a nature trail but the paths were not so great… it seemed as if my group and I had to make our own trail. Now for the little Lake Kachess trail, well i must say it was an adventure… Along our trail we came across a completely washed up bridge that shouldve ran across the creek/​river that continued with the trail that almost made us think that the short trail ended there but that didn’t stop us from crossing the river so we hiked further along the river through the forest in the hopes that there would’ve been a fallen tree that we can use to cross the river and what do you know??? there was!!! well we hiked on little Kachess trail for about 4 and a half hours round trip and the trails weren’t bad at all… Except after you cross the initial natural tree log bridge. I dont want to say too much. Go discover!
I gave this place 4 out of 5 stars because i think there couldve been something better to have sparked it to 5 stars… maybe if the campsites were more dense with trees other than logged trees which kinda lacked privacy but it wasn’t too bad. We chose site 22! and i personally like how it was next to the river … i threw some beers in the river to keep them cold cuz i had no ice and put a bag of oysters in there to keep them fresh! and the park workers were nice! that’s a plus cuz we were pretty loud and we exceeded our max number of people per campsite by 4! LOL…
well that’s enough for now… its a must to go check out! If you end up not having fun, slap yourself. Thats your fault Cuz I can have fun sleeping lol. If you have questions just comment or something… idk how Unilocal really works yet since this is my very first review on here! HOLLA
PS exit 62 off of I-​90 and 5 miles in…

I’ve had many a camping trip in this Campground, it’s beautiful and only an hour or so from Seattle. This time round I was disappointed to find that some of the best camp areas were closed due to logging. Who logs a campground? I just don’t get it and this will most likely prevent me from going back for a long time knowing that the beautiful old growth timber will no longer grace these sites.
Otherwise the park is situated in a forest nestled alongside of the majestic Lake Kachess and Little Lake Kachess and bordered between Box Canyon Creek and Gayle Creek. The sites aren’t exactly private but the setting is stunning and if you’re lucky to get a site on the lake side, you’ll have a breath taking view to enjoy. Do know that there are no showers here and the clean little bathrooms are without light so there will be no glamping here and be sure to bring a flashlight so you can find the potty in the dark!
There is a boat launch on the East side of the grounds for Lake Kachess where the big boats should go. However for us inflatable fishing boaters with electric motors, there is Little Lake Kachess where the wakes, if the big boaters are courteous, are kept to a minimum. All around the lake are sandy and pebble shores with plenty of fishing spots to enjoy.
You can also take in the scenery and hike along the trail or rock hunt in Box Canyon Creek. This trail follows the ridge around Little Lake Kachess and has a few outlooks to take in the amazing views.
Although I was heartbroken to see the broken forest of cut down trees and debris standing where once stood my favorite grounds to pitch a tent, thankfully the beauty of this lake and all that can be done here outshined the disaster we were greeted with.

This is a great place to camp that is only about an hour east of Seattle. Just on the other side of Snoqualmie Pass, the campground has great sites, some right on the lake. Reservations for sites are accepted. Lake Kachess itself is gorgeous – nestled in the foothill terrain and stretching as far as the eye can see. There is a swimming area and little bit of a beach within the camp, boat launch, kayaking, jetskiing, fishing, you name it. The Camp also offers a great hike on Little Kachess Lake Trail. The trailhead is within the camp, and it the first couple of miles are very easy for those that just want to go on a stroll, offering more breathtaking views of the Lake and the terrain (some of those Kodak moments). It continues on about 3 more miles through more difficult terrain. We were told that it ends higher up to some beautiful hidden alpine lakes.
There is a store a couple of miles east that offers everything from coffee to beer to bait. There is also the Family Pancake House near the Snoqualmie Ski Resort – order yourself a chicken fried steak breakfast, friends! Great way to get out and car camp for the weekend without having a long travel time.