Millersylvania State Park

Thirteen beers, a shot of whiskey, and here’s what I recall.
The place has a lot of bathrooms complete with showers. Most of the camping spots have a rather thin buffer between them which can be a bit of a buzz kill when everyone seems to be knocking off at 9 and you’ve systematically consumed enough fermented grain malt to get a miniature horse lit. For this camper there are too many does and don’t. You don’t get to collect firewood. You do however get to pay for some. You don’t get to just find a spot that suits your fancy and simply lay claim. You do get to reserve a thin slice of woods for $ 38 smackers and a $ 10 «Discover» pass. Yeah, I discovered alright. I discovered for that kind of money I could have got a cheap hotel room, filled it with tree limbs, covered the floor with dirt and pine needles then got plastered till the wee hours of the night butt naked while playing a banjo. Instead I was out in some raped forest with state workers in tight goofy shorts checking to make sure everybody has paid up to commune with nature. You don’t get to shoot guns. You don’t get to trap small mammals. You don’t get to go stump jumping till someone gets ejected out of the bed of the pickup truck and has to be rushed to seek medical attention. Now how’s that camping? You do however get to swim in a lake that as legend has it was once the site where a mentally challenged youth had drown. Now his soulless corpse roams the campground wielding a machete and donning a hockey mask hell bent on making every young lustful couple engaging in precoital activity pay with their lives.
Not all was absolute state run buggery. Despite my efforts we never ran out of beer. The friends we had there where of the highest caliber and a good time was had by all.

Nice for fishing but the roads are a little bumpy but you need a discovery pass to get in but it’s is great for the family,

We just discovered this park last summer. Truly feels like you are on a camping trip even if you are just visiting for the day. We originally checked it out for the trails. They weren’t very pretty but would be great for an easy trail run as some are pretty wide.
We were most impressed with the roped off swimming areas. Everything was kept very clean and maintained and my kids still are asking when they get to swim here again.

First time here. Only hiked so I cant say about the other amenities.
This is a great state park, We bought a discovery pass for the year and hiked for several miles. The trails were clear and well maintained. The swimming and rec areas looked very clean and were uncrowded. They were many picnic facilities, grills, horseshoes, and covered buildings. The lake was super clear and minimal trash.

Came for a few hours of swimming. Great roped off swimming area close to posting lot. Bathrooms and a changing room with coin shower. Small grill for food. Would have 5 stars if the lake water was a little cleaner. Lots of dead baby fish can’t be a good sign of healthy water. Oh well, it’s a lake!

3.5 stars. This is a nice family campground and a pretty good day use park. We come here fairly often, mainly because we live less than 20 minutes away. If we were say, an hour away, we probably wouldn’t come here much because there are other options if you are willing to drive.
The parking situation is this: To park in the lots you must have a Discover annual or day pass ($ 30/​$ 10). To park overnight in the lots or in the campground you must have an «extra vehicle» campground permit (about $ 10), assuming yours is not the primary vehicle registered for the campsite (the primary vehicle is included in the camping cost).
High points:
–The tent camping area is situated among nice, large second-​growth Douglas-​fir and cedar. There are even a few old growth trees near the edge of the campground. Overall, a good setting to camp in.
–There two OK swim areas on a nice little lake. It has a dock and lots of picnic tables located among the trees close to the lake.
–There are something like 11 miles of trails to walk on. These are mostly among large trees, including a little old growth. Some of it is on a marsh boardwalk. The trails are flat or gently sloping.
–There is lots of C.C.C. infrastructure from the 1930s in place, still in good condition.
Low points:
— Tent sites (1 tent/​1 car/​2 people) run as much as $ 31.00 per night in the summer! Plus a reservation fee of $ 6.50, which brings the total to $ 37.50!
— The trash collection service is terrible. I arrived on a Saturday morning and there were already campground dumpsters that were overflowing with bags heaped around them. I left on a Monday and there were still bags piled around dumpsters. Thank goodness it was not hot, or it would have smelled terrible for all the folks camped nearby the dumpsters.
— Some of the campsites are too close together. You really end up close to two or three different neighbors. Others have good privacy, but those are the exception.
— Bathrooms are poorly maintained. Paper towels usually out or machine broken. Electric hand dryer not working.
— Some people do get swimmer’s itch from the lake. I’ve seen it happen, but not to me.

I use to frequent this park when I was a kid, since it was so close to home. It use to be great fun in the summer time. I remember swimming in the lake, at Deep Lake Resort. They closed it down a long time ago and turned it into an adult motorhome park. LAME!
But Millersylvania is fun to hike around the trails, look at the lake, and all the trees.
We decided this year to have a family photoshoot in the park for Christmas. A lot of great backdrop choices. Brought back some good memories.
I wish they would bring back Deep Lake Resort, that was always so much fun in the summer.

Nice and peaceful. Staffs are little picky about parking spaces and their bathrooms are not in their best condition.

This is a great park for camping, hiking, and lounging in the sand near the lake.
There are several strips of sandy beach along the shore of the lake; each with really nice swimming areas. In addition, you can rent kayaks or bring small boats for fishing. The beaches have small snack stands and tons of grills for people to cook their own food.
The lake is surrounded by walking and hiking trials. It seemed well groomed and clean. I am not sure whether you could hike the trials for hours and hours, but you could keep busy for quite a while before lounging on the beach or swimming in the lake.
Most people in Lewis County and southern Thurston County travel to Mayfield Lake for summer refreshment. If you don’t want to make the drive, Millersylvania is a great alternative.

My friends and I stayed here over the weekend of July 4^th. It’s easy to get to from either Portland or Seattle. They have well shaded campsites. The lake is pretty nice and was surprisingly warm given the temp outside was not quite 70.
My two dislikes were parking and bathrooms. The staff and rangers were really annoying about parking. We had 1 extra car between 3 campsites which we could comfortably fit within the boundaries of our campsite *or* in the completely empty overflow parking. However, park policy limited each site to 2 cars regardless of size or if they could fit on the site. They wouldn’t sell us another parking pass. So one of our friends went and bought an entire campsite just to park her car. Stupid.
Oh and the bathrooms were ok, but not impressively clean. They were located only at one end of the campground. We had to do a lot of walking back and forth to use them. Fortunately for me, the world is my bathroom. The females in our group weren’t so lucky.

We used to come here a lot when I was a kid but I hadn’t been back in years. Then a friend and I met up for some hiking and it made for a neat day.
We went on a hot Saturday in August, so it was pretty crowded but even then not ridiculously so. We were actually able (barely) to snag a picnic table to eat our lunch on. Then we hiked around on the trails and pretty much had the place to ourselves. Access and parking is easy and there was even a little concession stand. Trails are nice and have a mix of wooded and open areas, with some boardwalks as well. Great place for a day trip!

Came hiking here on a early spring day. This was one of those places that I’ve always seen the sign for while driving on I-​5, but never knew anyone that had actually been here. Time to explore! Finding the park was fairly easy; just a few miles off exit 95. The park has a large campground area and a number of wooden shelters and «kitchens» that it looks like you can rent out for groups. There are a couple beach areas with swimming and boat rentals. The lake in the park was calm and peaceful. There were also a few cabins and cottages for rent which could make for a neat getaway! The trails around the park are fairly flat. There are boardwalks that travel through the more marshy areas. The trails just kind of loop around but you could spend an hour or so exploring the old growth forest. It was pretty quiet this time of year, but when it gets hotter, I could see the picnic and beach areas being crowded. Pets are welcome.