North Fork Campground

This is a small first-come first-served campground, 8 sites, and when I stayed there in August 2024 it was free. It's clean and quiet, easy walking distance from the North Fork and Irely Lake trailheads, and easy access to the river. No water, one porta-potti, picnic tables, no other facilities. The place was empty when we arrived but it filled up by dark. No mobile phone service.

Stopped by on December 29th. The portable toilets were removed for the season and the pay station was winterized. The concrete USFS restroom a short walk away at the North Fork Trail Head was unlocked and in good condition.

This is a bit out of the way compared to other drive up campsites nearby, but we came on a Friday night in the middle of the summer, it was the sixth campground we checked that night, and the only one that was not full. About half of the ten or so campsites were occupied. The drive in is not entirely paved, but there weren't many potholes and our little car did just fine. It took about thirty minutes to get to from the 101. Getting there, you can either take the south shore or north shore road of lake Quinault. The south side is more paved, and there are more farms you drive past. The north side seemed a bit more rugged, there was a small bridge you cross that was 'interesting', and there were good views of the forest and lake. As opposed to other campgrounds I have stayed at in Washington, this campground is in the Olympic National Park, and so the rules and atmosphere are a bit different than in the state park or national forest. For example, dogs are not permitted here technically (we had a dog). Also the only bathroom facilities are port-a-potties, which badly needed cleaning. So don't come here for the deluxe European style camping experience. What this campground does offer is that it is directly in the old growth rainforest that is otherwise quite difficult if not impossible to access. Your tent will sit among thousand year old trees. It also rained, despite it being August, but it was a warm, light, refreshing rain that did not get you wet.

I have not camped here but I have passed through to access the North Fork Trailhead and begin the Press Expedition Trail. This is the smallest campground in Olympic National Park and is very primitive. Graves Creek a few miles down the road may have better amenities and certainly more sites, but tends to fill up faster. Sometimes this is a last-resort campground in the peak summer, but you may love it for its quiet remoteness and ancient trees. It can get quite dark here at night. Olympic Otter

Loved our first stay at the North Fork Campground! Not too far of a drive from Seattle (2.5 hours), with plenty of picturesque scenery to enjoy along the way. We reserved our camp spot online via. the Recreation.gov smart phone app and showed up to our reserves campsite. Everything was cleaned up real nice for us, which was awesome! There’s plenty of nearby trails for the adventurer and a river to enjoy as well. Campsites weren’t too close together and our Saturday night was very quiet and enjoyable. Campsite also sells firewood (which is great) and they can provide chopping tools if you don’t have a set of your own. #PNWonderland