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Sunset Campground is located in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Visitors enjoy scenic views of the river and a waterfall within the campground. The campground is open all year.
There are several hiking trails nearby, including the Silver Star trail which offers excellent views of Portland, Oregon. The area is also popular with kayakers that visit the East Fork Lewis River.
Sunset Campground offers 18 standard sites that accommodate tents and RVs (22 feet), but no hookups are available. Picnic tables and campfire rings with grills are provided, as are 3 vault toilets and trash receptacles.
The campground is just off the East Fork Lewis River at an elevation of 1,000 feet. The campground road and trail path to the falls are paved and shaded by large evergreen trees.
This location is staffed. Please call (360) 686-3008 to speak with local staff.
The campground is located in between Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams, and only about an hour north of Portland, Oregon.
Cancellations
Individual Campsites: Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee.
A visitor who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee including tax and applicable add-on for a campsite.
Cancellations for a one-night reservation will forfeit the entire amount paid and will not be subject to an additional service fee.
No-Shows
A no-show visitor is one who does not arrive at a campground and does not cancel the reservation by check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. Staff will hold a campsite until check-out time on the day following the arrival date.
No-shows are assessed $20.00 service fee and forfeit the first night's rate, taxes and applicable add-on for a campsite.
Refunds
Visitors may submit a refund request through their Recreation.gov profile within 7 days of the end date of their reservation. Refunds will not be issued after the 7 days has ended.
Refunds for debit or credit card payments will be issued as a credit to the original bank or credit card used to pay.
For check or cash purchases, Recreation.gov will mail a Treasury check for refunds of cash, check, or money order payments to the address associated with the reservation. Treasury check refunds may take up to 6-8 weeks to arrive.
In the event of an emergency closure, the Recreation.gov team or facility manager will refund all fees and will attempt to notify you using the contact information within the Recreation.gov visitor profile.
From Vancouver, WA travel north on I-5 and take exit 9 WA 502 for Battle Ground. Go about 7 miles and turn left on WA 503 and head north for about 5.5 miles. Turn right onto NE Rock Creek Road, which will turn into NE 152nd Ave and then a slight left onto NE Lucia Falls Rd for about 7 miles. Then turn right onto NE Sunset Falls Road, travel for about 7 miles and the falls will be on your right.
Extra Vehicle Fee $8.00
Reservations for peak season at www.recreation.gov or by calling 1-877-444-6777
Didn't stay in the campgrounds, just passing through on my way into the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. I did scout it a bit. Many picnic tables, BBQ spots, fire pits, latrine style toilets without sinks or sanitizer (bring your own), water fountains, garbage cans, recycle bins, and bulletin board. Seems to have ample parking. Close to the creek.
Great little campground. A few sites, like the one we had are right next to the road, and lots of loud trucks and cars drive by at all hours. There are a couple better sites away from the road. Beautiful areas to walk around, we were here recently in the fall, the river and falls were beautiful as well.
If you want to camp at Sunset Falls for FREE read full review.
16 miles east of Battleground Washington & 6.1 miles from cell phone reception.
I absolutely love this campground for the main reason that it’s not on the way to anywhere other than the destination. Pedestrian traffic is pretty light and the campground is usually fairly empty except for peak summer months.
There is zero cell phone reception. The closest I had to drive was 6.1 miles down Sunset Falls Road to get one bar of reception on my phone.
Attached are several photos and videos of individual campsites. The campsite videos were originally longer than 30 seconds however Google auto shorten them. I feel that the photos and videos speak for themselves.
Additional photos and videos of the actual falls are under a review that I made of Sunset Falls day use area. I was not able to upload any more than 50 photos/videos on to the campground review.
In the event that the campground is completely full. There is FREE off grid camping located along the river farther up the road. When driving to Sunset Falls Campground drive by the turn off for the campground following directions to the day use area. There will be an initial overflow parking lot turn off and then a turn off for the main day use area that is closest to the short walk to the Sunset Falls viewpoint. Drive past both these parking lots to where the pavement ends. If you continue on the gravel road that has potholes so deep, they will swallow a subcompact car there are 3 FREE established campsites within a half a mile of where the pavement ends, YES IT IS PERMITTED AND LEGAL TO CAMP IN THESE SITES. However they are not maintained by any camp host & the locals like to rip up and down the roads late at night on the weekends which could be intimidating to timid campers.
The only negatives for me and the reason why this campground doesn’t have five stars is that there is no running water, the pit toilets are always in horrible condition, and the campground itself could be better maintained.
I brought my own portable toilet as that the last time I was at this campground I could not use the pit toilets because of how unbearable the smell was. It was much preferred to walk out in the middle of the woods and pop a squat.
See my review under “Sunset Falls Day Use” icon on Google maps for additional photos and videos of the actual Falls them selves.
I’ve been coming up to this place for maybe the past month or two and so far it has been really great. I haven’t hiked around yet, I just might the next time I go but I usually go to relax on some rocks and listen to the waterfall. The water is really cold but on a really hot day it feels nice to take a little dip in the water. I will say, just BE CAREFUL I cannot express that enough, there are some areas that can be a little unsafe like swimming or climbing, even if you are confident in yourself, take things slow and be safe. I would suggest having a whistle or some kind of alert system if there is any danger but as long as your being careful and safe you will have the best time of your life enjoy the nature. Also dogs are very welcomed but please put them in a leash, I don’t have a problem with it but it does become a problem when they accidentally slip off the trail or into the water, I literally almost witnessed a dog fall off a cliff because he was playing with his owner, thankfully he was wearing a leash that was long, the owner just wasn’t holding it until that happened.
Please don’t go on your own unless you know what you’re doing. My mom went up there on September 10 of this year and was found supposedly drowned. I really don’t believe it. I feel that it was a wrongful death. She would go there frequently and I tell her don’t go the last time her and I spoke. I just want people to be very careful there and if you happen to see anything if you guys were there on September 9 of this year, please reach out I am wanting to know the truth about what happened to my mom and I have talked to the detective that’s on her case, and they are not wanting to look into it any further there just wanted just Check it off as an accident.
