Rock Creek Campground — Hotel in Battle Ground

Lovely campground! Camp host is friendly and doesn’t hassle anyone. Mostly horse sites, but there are several non-horse sites and the horse sites are open to everyone after (I believe) 8pm so there’s a good chance to snag a last-minute site. Entrance gate is closed when it gets dark but it isn’t locked, so you can still access the campground and come and go as you need. Sites are spaced out nicely and bathrooms (pit toilets with no running water, though there are taps for livestock water and washing) are conveniently placed. Sites are large, too! I have a pretty big (11x16) tent and I had plenty of room.

Discovery Pass required but no daily fee; 10 day max stay (includes Cold Creek Campground that’s a little further up the road). The red trucks that come around are forest service personnel; they do check for the pass but are mostly there for safety - yours and the forest’s). Coyotes come around, and cougars & bears are in the area but avoid the campground itself; just be aware and keep an eye on pets and kids. Bring enough food, water, and firewood for your stay. The nearest store in Yacolt isn’t TOO far, but far enough to be inconvenient. Little to no cell coverage for Verizon, but you can get a signal not too far from camp. I would get an intermittent signal if I held my phone just right. Try turning off LTE; sometimes 3G works okay.

Rock Creek runs nearby and you can hear it at night, which I love. A couple of spots are deep enough to take a dip, though the water is cold. Several hiking trails run through or near here. They’re shared by horses and mountain bikes, so keep your dogs on-leash and be prepared to jump out of the way if a biker is tearing down the hill. They can’t stop very easily and injuries would be a huge pain in the rear out on these trails.

PLEASE: Do your part to preserve the wilderness. Haul out your trash - there are no trash bins in...

Be careful, if you're not one of the rich campers with horses the hosts may single you out and lie to the rangers. It's happened twice now. The first time they called the ranger, lied to them and said that I was refusing to move camp spots because I was in a horse spot. That was not true, he came and asked me if I would move and I said okay. I was gone within 2 minutes. The second time the ranger came to visit me to give me a hard time for littering the last time I was there. I never littered not once! In fact, I picked up garbage in other camp spots. Be careful of these hosts! They're very judgmental and if they decide they don't like you, they'll give you a hard time like they did me. It's really not worth it to go there, unless you're super tough and take pictures on your way out. I'm disabled, just a single woman by myself, I have Morgellons disease and they clearly lied about me. Anyway, since there's no way I can prove that I wasn't lying, those who know me know I would never ever litter, I'll just say that God saw the whole thing and knows the truth. It wouldn't surprise me if they do get the real rough crowd all summer that they accused me of being, now that they did all that to me, just an innocent single girl traveler. Check the other host comments. Some people just really need to grow up, be mature and realize that it's about enjoying yourself in nature, not some kind of power trip. I just hope that they treat the campers with money and horses the same way...

Plenty of camping sites for horses. The camp was designed well with bathrooms and water spigots sprinkled among grazing areas within each camping loop. Nice camp host keeps a good eye on things. Pens are nice with convenient manure bins. I would give the camp a 5 star and the trails closer to 3.5 stars. We had our choice of going either way on the Tarbell Trail, which is actually a 24.75 mile loop. Leaving on Tarbell Trail-head in "B" camping loop. Rode past the Tarbell Trail-head which was a 17 mile round trip to Hidden Falls (92'); water fall and a nice place to sit and eat lunch. This trail was fast and had many level areas to move out although a bit rocky. Some open areas with clear cut but many rewards on this ride including a nice view of Mt Adams. This trail is shared with mountain bikers so I would recommend this trail for during the week riding. Leaving on Tarbell Trail-head in "A" camping loop. Rode 15 miles round trip to mountain (can't remember name but was directed by book on SW Washington trails) anyway..... never found the vista that was written about but at the top of the Mt we followed directions for there was a...