Sahara Creek Horse Camp

This campground is free (with Discover Pass). It is operated by Washington Department of Natural Resources. There are no hook-ups but there are vault toilets, a few covered picnic areas.

We visited this campground in December 2019. We used it as a base camp for a couple days of exploring Mt. Rainer and the town of Elbe to include the Polar Express. The campground was practically empty the entire time we were there.

It is a horse camp, so the sites are large enough to accommodate horse trailers, many of them are pull through. All the sites we saw in the loop that was open were shaded by trees.

In the summer, I suspect this campground will be busy on the weekends with horse groups as there are many horse trails starting from this campground.

Bring Leveling blocks, all the sites are dirt and few are level. We were able to pick a site that was level, but i suspect these few sites go quickly in the busy season.

If you are looking to spend a few days around Mt. Rainier and want a low cost place to stay this is it if you are prepared to boondock.

Cell coverage in the site was minimal. We had maybe 1 bar of LTE on our Verizon phones while outside but there was plenty of times they said no service. Our Cellular Modem in the trailer with an external antenna however had 3 bars of AT&T and enough bandwidth to get a consistent 5-8meg download. Enough to stream a movie, and so forth.

This campground is free if you have a Washington State Discovery Pass. If you don’t have a pass you can’t stay here as there is no way to pay onsite. The annual pass is $30 so it pays for itself quickly. I think you can get them at several different places but we picked ours up at a Safeway grocery store.

The campground is very nice. Almost every site has a lot of tree coverage which is nice for seclusion but not so nice on solar power generation.

No services to speak of other than a few drop toilets. Still, for the money or lack thereof, this is a great spot.

We were here last Autumn and spent several nights here with very few other campers coming in. The area is a great free base camp for Mount Rainier NP.

The Verizon signal was spotty at best but T-mobile was great with 2-bars of LTE. We did use our WeBoost to sure up the signal from time to time but all in all one of the best places remotely near the park to pick up a cell signal and get some work done throughout the week.

Brand new fire rings. We were the first to use ours. We came in a Tuesday and the place was empty. Only one other camper. Lots of spots and a few pull thrus. There are water spigots throughout the campground. There is a little road noise but otherwise just the sound of birds. There are a few vault toilets. Great free spot 7 miles from Mt. Rainier.

This site is free with a Discover Pass ($30/year for access to all WA state parks).

Pros: Beautiful grounds with a canopy of trees soaring above you
Large pull-through spots (great for large rigs!)
Great proximity to Mount Rainier National Park
Surprisingly strong T-Mobile signal (3-4 bars of LTE)
Decent amenities (water spigot, new fire rings and a picnic table at each campsite)

Cons: minimum spots for good solar
The two vault toilets were quite damp and could be cleaner.

Verdict: I LOVED this campground and can’t wait to return to have adventures in MRNP!

People drive for miles with their horses to ride the trails above the camp. This camp is for horse riders, and tired horses. Please If you camp here respect that the horse trailers with the horses "should" come first as you can camp anywhere...horse and rider cannot. There are hi-lines for horses in the back woods of every site.
This camp is big so there is usually room for non- horse people. Just be aware that if full, or close to being full with horse trailers and you take last spot, you will be asked to leave. As I said before..each spot has a specific area they tie there horse. Thank you for being considerate.
Lots of noise, shooting area just above camp.

My bars dropped to zero right before I turned off. Place is beautiful though. I had to work next morning and needed a hot spot so unfortunately I did not stay.

Arrived mid day on a Saturday and there still plenty of spots left, I was able to get the last pull through but there were at least 6 empty back in sites. T mobile cell service is pretty good, close to mt rainier, beautiful, spacious campground, and all for free. What more can you ask for!?

This campground has plenty of spots for just about any size rig. This is dry camping at it's best. Free for up to 7 days with the Discovery Pass. It should be noted that there are very few spot that will give you any access to a clear view of the sky. So of you are looking for solar you are going to have very limited options (mostly just the spot or two that are directly at the end of the road as you drive into the campground.) You are only about 15 minutes away from the entrance to the National Park. Couple items to keep in mind

* There are a couple of water spigots spread out around the campground (I was told it is potable water)
* Internet connection is good if you are on Tmobile/Sprint but non for Verizon
* There are no dumpsters or trash cans.
* Gasoline in the area is limited and much more expensive
* There is a "maintence area and home (possible campground host, but not labled that way), they have a deer derrent alarm on their property that goes off (with alarm) at all times of the night. If you are camped on the south side of the loop (directly to the right as you enter) this may keep you up allnight if you are a light sleeper.

This is a great spot and we will be back for sure.

We found free camping near Mt Rainier National Park at Sahara Creek with a Discover Pass. Just 8 miles from the Nisquallly Entrance to Mt Rainier National Park, the Sahara Creek Camping Area offers free camping with the Washington State Discover Pass. In this video, I provide a walking tour of the Sahara Creek free camping area. The Sahara Creek Camping Area is located within the Elbe Hills State Forest, is big rig friendly and has multiple vault toilets. Trash is pack it in, pack it out. AT&T cellular service clocked in at 9.92 Mbps download speed and 2.46 Mbps upload speed. T-Mobile cellular service clocked in at 55.5 Mbps download speed and 0.60 Mbps upload speed. There was no Verizon cellular service at this location.

Awesome little campsite set back from the road.
Lots of large sites far apart, bathrooms in the middle. Cell reception was okay (AT&T), some noise from the road but it’s not busy.
Would definitely stay again!!