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Cle Elum Ranger District Campgrounds Open for Memorial Day Weekend
Release Date: May 19, 2016
Cle Elum -- Spring maintenance is underway in nearly all campgrounds on the Cle Elum Ranger District. It is anticipated that most will open for Memorial Day weekend.
Winter is hard on campgrounds in this area. Snow, freezing temperatures and wind bring down many limbs and trees, damage picnic tables and toilet building and at times, runoff from melting snow damages parking pads and roads. It can take up to two weeks to get a campground ready to go in the spring. This past winter was exceptionally hard, bringing hundreds of trees down in the campgrounds. Hardest hit was Kachess Campground, the largest and most popular campground on the district. Downed trees have destroyed several picnic tables, and have damaged other structures, including some toilet buildings throughout the campground. Clean up and repairs are expected take several weeks with opening delayed until June 10.
At this time Cle Elum River and Red Mountain Campgrounds are open. The well at Cle Elum River Camp has failed, thus no potable water is available and fees are reduced. Salmon la Sac, Cayuse Horse Camp (campers must have stock -- horses, goats, llamas, etc. to camp at Cayuse), Swauk, Mineral Springs, Taneum and Icewater Creek Campgrounds are all expected to open by Thursday May 26 or earlier if conditions allow. Owhi Campground at Cooper Lake, Riders Camp and Manastash Camp are also expected to open for Memorial Day weekend. Fish Lake and Ken Wilcox Horse Camp at Haney Meadows are at higher elevations and remain inaccessible due to snow. These campgrounds typically open in early to mid-June.
Wish Poosh Campground will remain closed for the 2016 camping season due to root rot found in grand fir, which is the predominant species of tree in the campground. These trees are at risk of falling at any time and pose a significant threat to public safety. A vegetation management plan has been developed and is awaiting approval from cooperating federal agencies. Once approved, hazard trees within the camp area will be removed and the campground will then be available for public use. The day use area and boat ramp at Wish Poosh are not affected and are open for use at this time.
Reservations are available for individual campsites at Kachess, Salmon la Sac and Cayuse Horse Camp and group sites for up to 100 persons are available at East Kachess, Mineral Springs, Cle Elum River Camp and Kachess. Reservations can be made www.recreation.gov or by calling 877-444-6777.
For more information, please call the Cle Elum Ranger Station (509) 852-1100.