Mt Rainier/Cougar Rock

Chris Gough

The generator use policy is too restrictive and outdated . It encourages people like me who rely on charging their RV batteries for powering a CPAP to miss enjoying the park. It only provides for use at mealtimes 8-10am, noon-2pm and 5-7pm. Many ppl these days need CPAP overnight and there aren’t enough sites offering power connections for them so batteries and charging them is a safety issue.

Sid

Cougar Rock is a wonderful campground inside the park. The sites are well-kept, the grounds are clean, and the staff and rangers were truly amazing—helpful, friendly, and welcoming throughout our stay. Even though the main water system in the park was temporarily out, there was still plenty of water available within the campground itself, so it wasn’t an issue. We were lucky enough to snag a first-come, first-served site near the washroom, which was very convenient. Nights here were unforgettable—the sky was absolutely filled with stars, and it made for a perfect camping atmosphere. Overall, Cougar Rock is a great basecamp for exploring Rainier, with excellent staff and a classic national park campground feel. I’d definitely stay here again.

Spence Boyer

Great place to camp. Very convenient to trails in the Paradise section of the park. Portable water is by the bathrooms making it super easy to fill up. The rangers were super helpful too

Emily Feldkamp

This is a great national park campground! The sites are somewhat close together but the foliage makes it feel more private than it is. I really enjoy that they can't accommodate huge RVs here, it takes away a lot of the issue I normally find at campgrounds. It was also very quiet at night and you can hear the river which adds to the ambiance. The bathrooms were also extremely clean! Some of the sites are better than others, I would avoid sites super close to the main park road if possible. I was at D14, plenty far from the road, but it had the downside of getting the bathroom lights shining on it all night but being SUPER far from the bathroom, as there is only one bathroom on each loop and it was all the way on the other side with no way to get to it without having to walk all the way round the loop. There also seems to be a lack of rule enforcement sadly, people were having a fire when there is a strict fire ban and several small RVs (shocking it's always them breaking rules) rolled in late and set up in sites marked as not available for camping. I wish people that came to enjoy our amazing national parks had the decency to respect the place and follow the rules. All in all, I thought this was a fantastic campground and would definitely stay here again!

Patrick Tanguy

Stayed at Cougar Campground for 3 nights and we appreciated the location since we made it our base camp to explore Mount Rainier National Park. We travel in a 25-foot long motorhome and stayed in loop C on site 36. We could maneuver fairly easily with our rig but leveling it was a bit difficult. Not many rigs in this campground, more tents than anything else. No services and flushable washrooms were so so. Relatively clean but old. No showers and no washing dishes station. First the pros, quite cheap 20$/night and just 20 mins from Jackson Visitor Center on the Paradise side of the park. That was the big plus b/c the parking up at the VC fills up very quickly. By 7:30 am the first two parking lots at the VC were full and we used the pic nic area about 10 mins from the VC. It was crazy to see many kilometers of cars waiting to park at the VC. The campground is also close to the trail to get to Longmire, about 2 miles and to some falls close by. It is a nice campground but don’t expect a view on Mount Rainier. Lots of threes and our site was quite large but some are super tiny, read the site details closely if you have a rig. There were activities for junior rangers at the amphitheater which was fun. The cons now, this is a noisy place. Not b/c of generators but it is a crowded place, very crowded. Don’t hope to site down and read in peace! We had loud neighbors but maybe we were also loud! There is a lot of traffic as well. Sites are a bit chaotic with a lot of downed threes and very rocky.