Ariel Creekside

Camp out on the bank of Speelyai Creek in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Only two miles from two huge lakes (Merwin and Yale) great for kayaking, paddle boarding, and fishing. Try your hand at spelunking with a short 15 minute drive to the Ape Caves. Also plenty of hiking and sightseeing around Gifford Pinchot National Forest with amazing views of Mount St. Helens! Only an
Camp out on the bank of Speelyai Creek in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Only two miles from two huge lakes (Merwin and Yale) great for kayaking, paddle boarding, and fishing. Try your hand at spelunking with a short 15 minute drive to the Ape Caves. Also plenty of hiking and sightseeing around Gifford Pinchot National Forest with amazing views of Mount St. Helens! Only an hour drive from Portland and two and a half from Seattle.
There are two tent campsites on the property. They are both down a short trail from the upper gravel parking area. Your gear will need to be carried down and back out. Potable well water is available. There is a small porta-potty down the hill to use which is cleaned and emptied during your stay. Each tent campsite has seating, a hammock, and stone fire ring. Out of the sites, Site 1 is the larger and most spacious of the two. Larger parties will be given priority access to Site 1, but typically it is first come first serve. I will try my best to accommodate everyone upon check-in.
As mentioned by many of our previous campers, the property is located right next to State Route 503 which isn't overly busy, but it is constant and can get noisy. When you walk down to the campsites the noise is significally reduced and almost completely drowned out by sound of the creek, birds, and frogs!
It should also be noted that our two sites are close together and both are 100% kid-friendly! We welcome families with all age groups so if you would prefer to enjoy a quieter stay you might consider booking both sites and having the entire grounds to ensure a peaceful retreat.
- Check in: After 2PM
- Check out: Before 12PM
- Cancellation policy: Moderate
- On arrival: Meet and greet
- Minimum nights: 1 night
- Accepts bookings: 6 months out
- Response time: Within 24 hours
- Response rate: 88%
Activities
Offered on the Host's property or nearby.
Terrain
Natural features you'll find at Ariel Creekside in Washington.
Places to see near Ariel Creekside
39 Reviews
Lovely site but loud
Lexy and her family are awesome and kept the campsite clean and maintained. The site is beautiful, on a little creek amidst the trees. There was a fire ring, a bench, a hammock, and a toilet! Lexy provided access to potable water. The main downside is that the road and neighbors are not quiet. You never get to imagine you’re in the wilderness. But you still get to see the trees and stars and have a campfire. And there are fun outdoor activities nearby.

Creek was queit but it was close to a semi busy road so there was some car noise at night, but it didn't bother us. I suggest renting the entire space if you would like creek access. We had neighbors who had the only point of access and they weren't nice enough to share, so our kiddos didn't get to play in it. Overall great stay! Make sure you pack light, the hill is a killer in the heat if you have lots of heavy gear.
The camp hosts were very nice and accommodating. There was a lot of space to spread out. You do have to hike your stuff down and up a short trail. It’s very close to Cougar for stores and restaurants and Ape Cave for a quick day trip. There is plenty of seating (not chairs) around the fire ring. There are no tables. There is a small portable potty inside a small tent and I nwas able to take a sponge bath in the creek wearing my swim suit and water shoes. They do supply well water from a hose at the top where you park. The traffic from the main road can be quite loud during the day but it’s fine at night.
The site is adjacent to a nice cold creek that was great for a post hike soak. The site was well maintained and there are may great sites to see in the near vicinity.
A beautiful location and wondehosts
First it's important to know this property just changed hands in early June 2019. The new owners are amazingly friendly and helpful. They have 2 very young children at this time and the chickens also changed hands so they are still busily clucking around!
The area for camping is absolutely beautiful! We got lucky and arrived when no one else was camping because of the two spots one is much bigger and has more flat areas where we set up our bigger tent, our second tent and a canopy (it rained during our trip). The ground is semi-flat but worked fine for us. The other spot would have been more difficult for us to manage with 3 of us. The creek is so beautiful, the birds are plentiful and we were so pleasantly surprised how few mosquitos there were. We also didn't see any racoons, mice or squirrels which we thought was unusual but it meant our food was more safe! One deer came and investigated the creek while we are dinner one night.
Lexy was incredibly quick to respond to questions and requests!
Yes, the portable toilet is a little unusual. It's very low to the ground so my 6'5" husband was fairly uncomfortable using it, but we all managed just fine and Lexy did an amazing job keeping it clean and sanitary. I am hoping for her sake they can figure out some sort of composting toilet! For a night our the Cougar Bar and Grill had surprisingly good food!

My husband and son , and many other fathers and sons, had the most wonderful time at this site. They said it was beautifully wooded. The kids spent all day catching frogs at the creek and raves on and on about the caves. Hens visited them everyday from the homestead. We couldn’t have asked for better campsite. Price was very reasonable and we will be back for sure.
Awards
- Property
- Ariel Creekside
- State
- Washington
- Country
- United States
- $35/night
- 2 Sites