Red Mountain Campground — Hotel in Cle Elum

Stayed September 2013

Pros - Clean little campsites with fire pit and picnic table. Vault toilet and dumpster are on site. Plenty of trees provide shade at the campsites. Most sites are just steps away from the Cle Elum River and there is a small sandy beach for easy access, this a great place to take a dip in hot weather (which we did plenty of). The rest of the beach is rocky and stretches for nearly a quarter of a mile. We had a great time exploring along the riverbank.

What I really liked about the area was the lack of bugs, I usually get eaten alive so this was a nice change. Maybe it had to do with the late season (mid-September) but the only time I was accosted by pests was when I ventured onto their territory or left dirty dishes out for too long (my own fault).

Cons - If you want quiet and secluded, this isn't the place for you. You'll be in close proximity to the highway and other campers and will hear sounds coming from both. Fortunately the river drowns out much of the noise and after a short time we barely even noticed it. While our campground neighbors were quiet and considerate, the large group at the dispersed site across the river were beating their drums until 9 or 10pm. It didn't bother us much but I can see how someone else might be annoyed.

Privacy depends on which campsite you're at. Get there early and snag one of the spots surrounded by trees. We were left with one of the three spaces right next to each other, but since our neighbors minded their own business it wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared. Prepare for foot traffic to and from the beach and toilet. The beach appears to be well-known by locals so we did have a small crowd of people from outside the campground.

We came upon this campground after finding Salmon la Sac was full and we're really glad we did. The river was beautiful and crystal clear and a lot of fun to play in, and that alone will keep us...

The views from this campsite are spectacular! It is so beautiful and the water is perfect. I arrived around 2:00pm on a Friday in mid-July and there were 2 spots available (out of 10). After about an hour all the spots were filled, so if you were planning on finding a spot after work on a Friday, then this isn't the place. There were multiple people that came around 5ish looking for spots and couldn't find any. Different times of the year may be different, but from what I experienced it filled up fast. There is a bathroom available and a dumpster for getting rid of waste which is nice and probably helps the campground stay clean. The only downside was that it was pretty crowded during the weekend and the campsites were very close. If you're looking for a secluded place to pitch a tent in the woods, this is not the place for you. You can see everyone else's tent and some of the spots literally touch each other. For the most part everyone was quiet though and noise was never an issue, but it definitely didn't feel private. On Saturdays and Sundays it got REALLY crowded because people just came for the day to swim in the river and there was probably about 20 people (and 6/7 cars) parked right at the front blocking the walk down to the water. If you don't mind small crowds of people then you'll be fine, but it wasn't really my thing. I bet if you can go during the week though it's...

We stayed at spot #1 and although the space was large and relatively private, it is very close to the road so there is occasional vehicle noise. This campground is on the Cle Elum River and across the river is an unincorporated Federal area that anyone can camp at without paying a fee, but no ranger or camp host is present and the partying gets very loud and occasionally out of control. In our case, the loud music playing and drowsiness went on until about 1 am. The area was very beautiful and the ranger servicing the area was very friendly. He kept the vault toilet well stocked with toilet paper,...