Quick campsite review : Rasar State Park Campground, site 43

We spent two nights at Rasar State Park near Concrete, camping in walk-in site 43. 

Parking for the walk-in sites is not far from the entrance to the campground ... but we forgot and drove past them as we arrived after dark. But it's not a huge campground, and we found our way quickly.

This map isn't super accurate, but it will give you an idea... We walked down the path to get to our site.

Really nice, and quite private:

Here's the view from the back of the site towards the path; you can see that it's quite private:

I was a little surprised not to have actual tent pads, but there's easily space for two tents, if not more if they're small. The site was quite level, too. There's a fire ring with a flip-down grill, and a picnic table in good condition.

Two of the walk-in sites have "rustic shelters" on them -- small huts with 4 single bunks built-in, and open on one side. No electricity, heat, or padding. Maybe they'd be nice in the summer? Site 41 (below) seemed pretty non-private, just off the path and without a ton of room.

Site 42 -- our closest neighbors, below -- had a much larger area and felt much more private. The people who stayed there when we did actually didn't use the shelter and just had tents set up. At least until they packed up and left late on Saturday afternoon, abandoning a huge pile of damp wood. Um, yes, we brought more wood home than we took with us...

 

The restrooms -- about 100 yards away -- were very clean and well maintained, and offered hot showers between the hours of 6am and 10pm for 50 cents. We're so out of practice that it didn't even occur to us to bring towels! Drinking water was closer, right at the walk-in site entrance, but we didn't try it as we had brought our own. 

There's also an amphitheater, though we were too late in the season for any ranger programs. Next summer!

Another great feature of the park is its location on the Skagit River, and its network of trails:

On Saturday afternoon we went for a walk along the river in the glorious sunshine.

Eventually we headed back to our site for a nap -- we had a GHOST WALK to take that night, so needed to rest beforehand!

Rasar State Park Campground Site 43 at a glance

Privacy: Yes! This site felt really private.
Tent pad: Not actual pads, but the site was level and there was room for at least 2 tents.
Fire ring: Nice, with a working flip-down "grill"... which frankly felt too close to a big tree, but it wasn't movable.
Picnic table: Nice table, in a good location.
Bathrooms: Super clean, well-stocked, with flush toilets and coin-operated showers.
Water: Drinking water available, but we didn't try it.
Pro tip: Enjoy the trails in the park!

Quick campsite review : Newhalem Campground, site 125

We stayed two nights at Newhalem Campground in site 125, a walk-in site. The first task was finding it in the twilight ... but luckily I had a vague memory that it was off of Loop A. 

Sure enough, we found the trail near the bathrooms. 

We walked around the walk-in loop before finding our site, 125. Here's the view from the loop:

You walk past the bear bin and into the site itself -- delightfully private!

Here's a view from one of the tent pads looking toward the entrance to the site:

Tent padS, you say? Yep, there were two, both nicely graded and easy to set up a tent on.

The picnic table was good, and the fire was odd in that it was flat, with a flip-down grill.

The bear box was nice to have -- given that the park is home to, as the ranger said, "wild bears ... not those nasty campground bears .... and we want to keep it that way". We were diligent about keeping all our toiletries and food and drink inside the bear box when we were going to bed or away from the site.

The site felt super private, though that might have been because we didn't have neighbors the first night -- there were several sites reserved but not occupied on both Friday and Saturday night.

The bathrooms weren't too far away -- up by where we parked the car -- and they were super clean, with running water and flush toilets. There was also drinking water up there, though we weren't super keen on the taste.

Site 125 is not directly on the river, but you could hear it in the night. Sites 121-124 do have direct river access -- highly desirable!

The Skagit River runs fast and super cold ... we couldn't do more than dip our toes in!

One highlight was the nighttime ranger talk in the nearby amphitheater -- I was happy to see it reasonably well attended!

Newhalem Campground Site 125 at a glance

Privacy: Yes! This site felt really private.
Tent pad: TWO -- both nicely graded. They weren't meant for huge tents, but our 3-person Big Agnes tent fit just fine.
Fire ring: Nice, with a working flip-down "grill".
Picnic table: Nice table, which we moved just a smidge to get it farther away from the fire.
Bathrooms: Super clean, well-stocked, with flush toilets.
Water: Drinking water available, but we didn't like the taste.
Pro tip: Walk the mile to Newhalem after dark to visit Ladder Falls when it's lit up at night -- it's beautiful!

Quick campsite review : Panorama Point Campground, site 16

We recently spent one night at Panorama Point Campground in site 16. Based on the map below, we though we were getting a site on the water... but where that "tongue" of water is is actually the location of site 15, which happens to be a group site. 

But we were lucky in that we had a quiet couple in the site next door, and predominantly quiet fellow campers. 

We liked our site, even if it wasn't on the water. It was big and roomy, with a nice fire pit, a sturdy picnic table, and plenty of space for our tent. Note: there was no tent pad, though some sites had them. To be fair, no tent pad was mentioned, and the ground wasn't too rocky so it was easy to set up our tent. 

Here's a view from the corner of the site, with a glimpse of the mountains through the trees. 

Panorama Point Campground site 16

Here's a more evenly lit view of our setup; you can see the car and tent at site 15 just a few feet away.  

The day use / picnic area was across the drive from our site. A large family with jet skis colonized a large part of the area for most of the afternoon, but who can blame them for enjoying this view?

We, of course, preferred it when empty in the early morning...

We went for a walk to explore the campground and discovered that there's another day use area at the eastern tip, between sites 12 and 13. It's labeled as NO CAMPING so we sauntered through to find a nice quiet spot to get in the water and enjoy the view. 

A few other things: we didn't interact with the campground hosts at all. At 9:30 we started hearing loud music -- AC/DC's "Highway to Hell", to be specific. And, magically, at 9:45, it stopped. We never quite worked out who was playing it, or if someone stepped in to tell the campers to turn it off. 

We didn't have any RVs near us, so never heard any generators from our site. 

The bathrooms were clean, well-stocked with paper, but really, really stinky. They were also, for reasons unknown, gendered. I mean, if it's a single seater, why???

There was drinking water in the campground, but it looked pretty murky in our clear bottles. Let's just say we drank what we brought with us.

Site 16 wasn't super private -- being across from the day use area and next to two other sites -- but our neighbors were quiet so that was great. 

We liked this campground -- but also know we got super lucky with our neighbors. I guess that's always the case, however!

Panorama Point Site 16 at a glance

Privacy: Just so-so. Not much between the sites.
Tent pad: None, but at least two good spaces to set up a tent.
Fire ring: Nice, with a working flip-down "grill".
Picnic table: In excellent condition.
Bathrooms: Clean, well-stocked, but stinky.
Water: Drinking water available, but it looked pretty murky.
Pro tip: There's a quieter "beach" at the far eastern edge of the campground, between sites 12 and 13.