Taneum Campground — Hotel in Cle Elum

5 stars for the price... You can't beat FREE! (Discovery pass required).

First come first serve only. No reservations. Plenty of parking right next to walk-in tent sites with big rocks acting as barriers.

We took off without reservations anywhere and arrived on a Thursday midday after searching Google for nearby campsites while making a stop in CleEllum. Found this gem.

Pit toilets near every site, clean, fully enclosed, lockable, and stocked to the max with TP. (Just make sure to close the lid when you're done and leave the door open while not in use. Otherwise the flies can -and will- get gross.)

Each site has a fire pit with a grill, but too windy and dry to use during our stay. The burn ban does not include propane fire pits so that's what we used. They don't let off flying sparks.

There is no running water or electricity on tent sites that I know of. There is a river on-site but gets very low in later summer months... Still had water but only about 2 feet deep in the deepest spots.

There were a ton of spacious tent sites to choose from. There are RV sites and Horse sites too. Lots of trees for shade but plenty of room left over to see the stars. The bugs weren't bad at all. Just a few bees and flies. I didn't see a single mosquito. I did see butterflies, grasshoppers, birds, and chipmunks. Maybe a bat or two at night.

There WAS wind. Sometimes none. Sometimes big gusts. Usually just breezy...which kept the heat manageable. Probably why no mosquitos. I'll take wind over mosquitos any day of the week! Just be sure to stake down your tent. It will get blown over if there's nothing holding it down. We staked ours and also tied it to a tree. Watch out for falling pinecones tho!

There's a bike tool set up at the entrance with a few historic storyboard signs about the logging history for the area. Also a frisby golf field.

No garbage cans, bring your own and take it with you when you leave.

A great place to bring the kids to camp if you're set up right. A blank camping canvas. Bring stuff for them to do. I.e. games, toys, bikes, towels if you plan on letting them play in the river, etc. Easy to let older kids roam together on grounds alone because it's a big circle and you can hear them if they yell. I wouldn't let them go to the river alone, but seems safe enough to explore along the trails.

We did have one snafu... Campers were respectful for the most part; however, our first night someone kept using their key fob which made their car honk over and over and over and over again at 1:00am for about two hours. I had an ear bud in but my poor husband did not. He can't sleep with them in. Anyway, that was obnoxious. Hundreds of little honks. No rhyme or reason to it. Too close together to be accidental. Too sporadic to be an alarm. Idk what their deal was but it eventually stopped. If we had been right next to them I would have had to say something, but we weren't and couldn't hear it with the ear bud in. That was weird... No other loud noises. But not the camp site's fault so not going to deprive...

BEES!!! There are TONS of bees in this area. Luckily we had our RV or else there is no way we could have stayed. We talked with some motorcycle riders in the area who said that the bees were here last year as well, and they seem to be getting worse.

There is motorcycle riding in the area that is sometimes good, sometimes really whooped out. My husband rode here as a teen and loved it. Now that we are back he is sad to see the state of...

Great place to camp! Beautiful views! We camped near the paid camping. We hiked a trail leading to paid camping to get to the creek going over the road to the paid camping. We had a good time. I recommend bringing a powered chain saw to cut wood! It makes it easier! We just found bunches of skinny logs that burnt so damn quick. We had our hand saw and a axe with us but with manual cutting was very...