PNW Lakeshore Camping Recommendations

Hey Guys,
I am still fairly new to the area and would like to get some recommendations for lakes to camp near. I would prefer to get away from the crowds and find a nice spot to set up my RRT and a hammock next to a lake or river or swimming hole. If you know of any gems within 1 or 1.5 hours from Bellevue please let me know.

Thanks
Joe

 

Would be interested in finding something like this as well.

 

Crickets... nothing, but crickets. Having a hard time thinking of a lake that you can drive too, is open to the public, and isn't crowded.

 

Lake Crescent? Its waaaaaay out there, but its gorgeous. Definitely not in the 1-1.5 hour range, but worth the drive

 

North Fork Skagit?

 

Lake Cle Elum.

 

I second this one. Just bring lots of bug spray; last year, we almost got eaten alive by the mosquitoes.

 

There aren’t too many lakes I know of that are accessible and not developed within that travel distance.

There are tons of great dispersed camping spots along the teanaway, salmon la sac and Cle Elum rivers if you’re willing to go more like 2 hours east.

Further east (but closer to 90) is taenum creek that also has good river front dispersed camping options.

I have a couple great spots along the Suiattle river that are my go to for relatively close trips, but there are only a couple options and if they’re taken you’ll end up in a usfs campground.

 

Glacierview campground at lake Wenatchee is like 2 hours from Bellevue and it's only like 20 spaces first come first serve. Tinkham rd is exit 42 (I think) off i90 along a river. All the FS roads in chelan county are about 3 hours away but there may or may not be lakes or rivers close enough...epic views though. Putting a truck on the banks of a river or lake may be a tall order within 1.5 hours.

 

I drove past here today, looks like you could camp right on the edge of the water in one spot (can't imagine it was a boat launch....) But it's right off the road, the pond is small, and the mosquitos are probably so thick they blot out the sun....
https://goo.gl/maps/xrX6LvAVF912

 

I just spent the weekend at Glacier View. It was nice, crap ton of mosquitos and it was completely full. We only had a spot because a friend snagged one mid week. Also, most of the spaces require you to park and walk your stuff in. It's not a long walk, but if you're planning on camping out of an rtt then you're going to be limited. We were in site 3 which was nice but busy with traffic. SIte 6 looked the best to me except for the wind. Above 6 was nice but all park and walk. 4 was on the water and not bad except that it is right next to the boat launch. Only saw one boat go in off a trailer, most others were canoes, kayaks, SUPs, but the boat launch is the beach that everyone tended to hang out at, both campers and daytrippers. If you're looking to get a picture of your truck with water and mountains, it's doable at the boat launch.

The only site I can say didn't look worth it was 5. I didn't get a chance to see sites 1 or 2.

One other thing to note is that traffic between I5 and Leavenworth can be pretty heavy, especially Sunday afternoon going west.

 

I was just up in Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. Plenty of places to camp and swim. Dispersed Campings allowed so we set up camp around Cooper Lake and near the Trailhead for Hyas Lake.