Dispersed camping on the Nisqually River below Mt Rainier
Just outside Mt Rainier National Park, on the national forest side of the line, the Nisqually spreads across a bed of gravel and bleached logs far wider than the water in it. In the summer of 2020, on three visits between late July and mid-August, we pinned nine places to pitch a tent along it and up Berry Creek, which comes down from the south to join it.
There is nothing there: no toilet, no water tap, no table, only rings of stones someone left. The five by the river sit at the edge of the trees above the gravel, less than a mile across the river from the road into the park’s Nisqually Entrance. The four up Berry Creek are in tall timber.
- “Can get noisy from the river but has a great view. Also road is a little too close. But the view is great.”
- “Very nice place on the river.”
- “A little dark but has a nice little creek.”
- “As of 6/2020 the access road is blocked and I had to walk quarter mile from the road.”
On the Nisqually, off Forest Road 52 5
Clearings at the edge of the trees above the gravel bar, a short way off Forest Road 52, most with a ring of stones. Distances are to the middle of the river as the map draws it; the gravel starts closer.
Up Berry Creek 4
In the tall firs along Berry Creek, off Forest Road 52; the last is up Forest Road 5220, by a smaller creek of its own. In 2020 one of them was a quarter-mile walk from a blocked road.
The rules
- Dispersed camping, the Forest Service says, is permitted throughout most of the Gifford Pinchot. Nothing is provided: bring water or treat it, and never wash dishes in the river or the creek.
- After 14 days in a row you have to move off the forest.
- Camp 100 feet away from lakes and streams. By the map, the first spot up Berry Creek is about 30 feet from the creek, so pitch back from the water.
- Use the fire ring that is there, burn only dead and down wood, and make sure the fire is dead out before you leave. As of September 18, 2026 the forest had no fire restrictions; check again before you go.
- Bury human waste and toilet paper in a hole 6 inches deep, at least 100 feet from any stream. Leave the site cleaner than you found it.
- Camp on bare ground, out of meadows, and drive only where the forest’s Motor Vehicle Use Map allows.
- In October 2026 the Forest Service closed Forest Road 5290 north of Packwood, about a dozen miles southeast, for the Backbone Fire, through December 31 unless lifted sooner. No alert named the roads here; check the forest’s alerts before you go.
If you would rather have a campground
- Big Creek Campground (Forest Service, about 3 miles west, not on our map: 29 sites, reservable, mid-May to mid-September; its page showed it temporarily closed in October 2026)
9 spots, photographed in July and August 2020. Distances are straight lines from each pin to the Nisqually River or Berry Creek. Checked October 2026 with Forest Service: Gifford Pinchot dispersed camping, Forest Service: fire restrictions, Forest Service: Backbone Fire closure, Forest Service: Big Creek Campground and OpenStreetMap (the Nisqually River). Been there since? Tell us what has changed: support@tentspots.com.