Maple Grove Resort is situated between Mt Rainer to the north, Mt St Helens to the south, Mt Adams to the southeast in the tiny town of Randle along Hwy 12 and the Cowlitz river. For that reason alone it's a perfect place to camp.

I brought my motorcycle and rode around Mt St Helens and Mt Rainer, but beware - the Gifford Pinchot National Forest roads are not well maintained.

The resort itself has two main sections for camping: one open and the other more forested. While I was there, the vast majority of campers remained the the open area, while only 3 or 4 of us used the forested section.

The staff was friendly and helpful and most of the resort is clean and usable. There's a small laundry room with two sets of washer/dryers. There's a club house (I didn't use) with ping pong tables and the only place with WIFI, a sand volleyball court, a small pool and a smaller weight room. If you golf (I don't), there's also a golf course.

There were some things I didn't like about the resort, however. Next to one of the trash bins there was a lot of broken glass on the ground, from the time I got there to the time I left (7 days). There is no reason to leave broken glass on the ground that long. There is an off leash pet play area, which is nice idea, but it seems to be more of an afterthought as it's very small with a quarter of it concrete. I have a golden retriever and it was way to small to play ball with him. The shower facility had an overwhelming odor of mildew due to not enough ventilation. The roads in the forested area where I camped were covered with find, powdery dirt, with dust kicked up anytime a car or even golf cart drove down them. I camped at a Thousand Trails resort a couple of years ago that had the same issue but used a tanker truck that watered down the roads. This resort would do well employing the same solution.

Over all, I like the resort and will be back.