colonial creek campground - stehekin valley trail

This is a first come, first served campground. You pull in, find an empty site that you like, set up and then go pay for your spot. It also happens that there are sites on both sides of the main highway. We chose a spot on the opposite of the "main" area to pull into and instantly knew we had made the right decision. We found a spot right next to the river that runs through the campground. We could hear the river from our RV...it was awesome! If you don't enjoy that sound, there are plenty of sites that are not next to the river. There are trail heads and easy access to the lake for evening walks and it's very quiet. Lots of trees and shade.

Not too far from Seattle. Off hwy 20. No reservation, arrive early, recommend 09-10 during high season, as most campers leave park around 08-10 am. Even that, many riverfront camping spots will be taken by long term campers. There are "designated & reserved" spaces for handicapped. There are walk-in tent sites along riverfront close to the park entrance, but less privacy. Sites toward the far end of the entrance are fairly private and quiet. Flushed toilets (with electrical 1 electrical outlet) are conveniently located. Activities: walking, hiking, swimming, fishing or just relaxing. Loved the birds singing in the early morning. Don't forget your senior park pass....50% off (thus $10 per night).

Peace and quiet, excellent kayaking on Diablo Lake, hiking, fires at night with roasted marshmallows, good wine and a night in the tent with the one you love.

What a beautiful place. No reservation accepted $12 to camp right at the waters edge. Tons of wild life, and hiking trails. The water is very cold year round. Bear boxes at most sites. Camping is close together by the lake but they have many walk in sites just off the road that are very private. Flush toilets are clean and well maintained. No cell reception anywhere in the park which makes this my favorite place to camp in north cascades.

This was the first time we tried a "no reservation" campground and are kicking ourselves we didn't do it earlier. With all sorts of kids stuff going on we don't tend to plan camping weekends out too far in advance and due to only going to State park or KOA types in the past that often meant we didn't get to go when we all of a sudden had a free weekend due to lack of availability. This past weekend (Labor Day w/e) we suddenly had an opening and decided to try Colonial Creek on Diablo Lake. We were worried about driving up there and not getting a spot but it was no problem at all! We arrived around noon on Friday and had our pick of spots but there were spots open through Saturday mid day. At $12 a night we got 2 sites so we could spread out (2 tents). We brought kayaks and a paddle board and loved being able to just leave them on the beach overnight and put in when ever we wanted to. The lake was basically empty, a few motor boats and other kayaks/canoes but often you felt like you had the whole lake to yourself. Next time we want to try one of the 3 boat access only spots!Also did a short hike to Thunder Knob which was nice. Go early, it seems to get crowded as the day goes on.

Have just been over to visit relatives in Seattle and wanted to see some nature. We were advised to go to Olympic and Cascades - have to say the Cascades won, hands down!4 days camping at Colonial Creek was a great base from which to explore. We bagged a lakeside site in the mid afternoon just before July 4 weekend. We had two small tents - $12 a night. If you don't get the site you want pay for 1 night and move the next day if possible as it's a first come first served site. Check out is mid-day so some sites become available for the early hikers, and some like us make the most of a leisurely last morning leaving nearer to 12. There are two camp grounds - one on either side of the road - we were on the right coming from Newhalem. Toilets and taps plentiful and clean. Love the fact in America that your camp sites offer privacy, scenery, picnic benches, bear boxes, and fire pits with grills. Firewood is cheaper the further away from camp you are but the most we saw was $5 a bundle - there's a house at Newhalem with an honesty box offering firewood - number 20. Most sites quite forresty offering a bit of shade and mosquitoes so take bug spray.Ranger programme runs through the summer on weekends and later in the week - it's much quieter Mon, Tues. Good trails from the campsite and lots nearby. Newhalem has a general store which is good for a sandwich and a coffee. Also some short walks from there.One of our highlights was hiring kayaks at Ross Lake Resort. We hiked down 1 mile, phoned across and got picked up by speedboat. A couple of hours of very pleasant paddling in glorious surroundings. We found information on this from the campsite notice board. I would recommend phoning the day before to reserve kayaks as we were lucky to get the last two person one with others arriving later being diasppointed (well for two hours!)Have to say this really was the highlight of our trip and puts British camping to shame.

We stayed at a lakefront site at the end of June and these sites were mostly empty and extremely beautiful. They look out over Lake Diablo which has many birds that make it home. It was only $12/night. There are no showers in tNorth Cascades Park, so you will need to travel outside the park to find some. We stopped in a laundry/shower facility in Twisp, about 30 miles outside the park. This is a great place to camp while enjoying the amazing beauty of North Cascades National Park.

This campground is a bargain. A campsite costs only 12 dollars and they come with fantastic views. Mountains and green shrubbery surround you.

We wanted to get away for a while without going very far, so we decided to go Rain Camping. If you're not familiar, Rain Camping is where you look at the forecast, see that 2 - 5 inches of rain are predicted for the area you want to go in the time you think you'll be there, and you decide to go anyway. Tent's got a good rain fly and we both had good rain gear, so we decided to go. There are no services in Colonial Creek Campground during the winter. Everything is locked up with the exception of one outhouse in the south-of-the-highway campground and one outhouse in the north-of-the-highway campground. There is no toilet paper provided, so make sure to bring your own if you'll be rain camping like we did. We did a lot of wandering around the campground, and it's just gorgeous. The lakefront sites are all that's open for camping right now, but they're beautiful. The lakewater looks clear when you're right next to it, but it gleams a lovely green-blue most of the time. There were all sorts of ducks out on it, diving and bathing and swimming around. Some geese flew around, generally being noisy, and there were a lot of ravens in the woods. I've never seen so many ravens in such a small area, and they were very good company. They have so many different sounds, but all of them seemed beautiful, echoing off the water. It looks like ravens like being comfortable as much as people do -- they roost in the visitor service center during the winter, happily hanging out under the eaves. While we were there, it rained and snowed, so make sure you're well prepared for this kind of weather before you go! It was absolutely beautiful though, and I wish I had taken pictures after the snow came down and blanketed the mountains all around us. It fell on us, but didn't stick. THE CAMPGROUND IN A NUTSHELL-Every site has a metal firepit with a grate-Every site has a bear box - you do not have to share with your neighbor-There are lakefront camping sites -There are forested camping sites-There are walk-in camping sites-There is a large outdoor amphitheatre-In the summer, there are flush toilets-This looks like a very kid friendly campground-There are multiple hiking trails leading away from the campground-There is a boat launch and a dock-It wouldn't be super easy, but you could definitely make a few of these spots work for wheelchairsAll of the lakefront and the forest sites have large, level tent pads. We have a pretty big four person tent, and as you can see in the picture, there is still room around the tent in the pad, so a slightly bigger tent would work. The Lakefront sites: In the winter, there's not much underbrush, so it seems like you can see half a dozen campsites at once. I imagine that's different in the summer, when everything is growing, but regardless you're still going to be pretty close to your neighbor. Despite that, there is a definite appeal to these sites: they are absolutely beautiful, and the lake is breathtaking. They are also close to the bathrooms (not an outhouse, but real toilets), which are only open during the season. Still, camping with running water? Always a plus. You cannot park at your campsite with the lakefront sites, but the walk in isn't bad at all. There is a clearly marked gravel path without any severely steep grades or bad bumps, leading from the parking area to the campsites. The walk is no more than one to two minutes long. However, we did run into some mosquitoes even in the snow, so if you're going to camp next to the lake in warm weather... bring bug repellent! The Forest sites: It looks like old growth forest in a lot of these places, to me. The forest sites are ridiculous. By ridiculous I mean, what is this gorgeous nonsense? Some of the sites are huge, some are small, some are very secluded and some are open to the neighbors... but either way, they're beautiful. It looks like a lot of them have running water right next to them, and I believe all of them have level tent pads. During the summer, if I came back this is definitely where I would want to be.The Walk-In site: these are in the forest part of the campground. The walk in isn't very far (we checked out on the ones on the south end), but it is up a mild hill... so if you have someone with bad knees, they might not be too happy about camping in that spot and then having to hike off for the bathrooms. The walk-in sites are quite lovely though. They're the farthest from the lake and the highest in elevation -- maybe less buggy during summer? There are a lot of trees, a lot of undergrowth plants, and there's a lot of moss. Picture perfect western Washington camping beauty!

Colonial Creek Campground is a great place to go camping. We camped right on the lake and were able to fish from our site. Pretty quiet campground, the only noise we heard was from the highway. The campground is clean and has toilets and sinks, and potable water. There is also a boat launch. Trails down to the lake are handicap accessible also. Campground is first come first served and has self registration. Fees are only $12.00 a night with a reasonable check out time of noon. I would recommend this campground to anyone who wants to get away for a few days, fish from shore or at the dock, hike or just relax in the peace and quiet of the Cascades.

the campground is located right at Diablo Lake on Highway 20 in the North Cascades. Sites vary in size, we were lucky and had 2 big adjoining ones. 12 Dollars a night, self registration (easy). flush toilets, no showers. 2 trails leave right from the campground. you hear the noise of the highway but we were close to a little river so we basically heard only the water. Liked it a lot. got a taste of camping, now I want more of it.

Der Campingplatz "Colonial Creek Campground" ist entlang des Sees "Lake Diablo." Die besten Campingplatz sind Zelt direkt am See. Sie sind die besten. Der Campingplatz liegt wunderschön in den Bergen gelegen, war atemberaubend. In der Nacht hörten wir keinen Lärm. Wir waren nur durch die hohe Zahl von Eichhörnchen auf dem Gelände überrascht. Sie haben wirklich keine Angst vor Menschen. Das einzige Geräusch, das man hören könnte, aber wirklich sehr weit, war die strasse dass durch den Park liegt. Es gibt auch einen Weg, der in den Bergen vom Campingplatz beginnt.