Cougar RV Park and Campground

We booked a site here as a last resort, because everything else in the area was full.  It's an interesting mix of campground and kind of a trailer park, with the permanent RV residents. They tend to junk up the place a little bit.  The campground is next to the busy road, so you get some loud traffic from time to time. The bathrooms are ok. There are 2 large rooms with showers, and they had just installed 2 new rooms, with toilets and sinks only. We ended up with a great site towards the back and on the side. It was quiet and peaceful.  Although we enjoyed our stay, if the place was full, I can see it being a very different experience. We couldn't get wifi at our site, but we didn't care. The cabins looked fun.   The owners are very nice.

The tent sites are very large however they have minimal grass or shade. RV sites are very close to each other. There are two bathrooms of one toilet, shower area combined. The shower is coin operated so unless you plan ahead with quarters you are out of luck. It has a card option but does not work. The bathrooms are also not clean. There are 2 portable toilets that were very clean. They advertise quiet hours after 10 pm but it is not in-forced. There was a group partying until 1am next to us. Neighboring property was also blasting music into the morning. There are many other options in the area I would look into one of those.

We are a professional late 50s / early 60s couple new to the van life, and not RV-oriented, so we are a little careful about choosing sites with adequate peacefulness, space and privacy.  Cougar is a relaxed campground worthwhile as a base camp for the south side of Mt St Helens and its great lava tubes and forest hikes, so we ended up staying a second night as it had good hot showers, potable water, shade and friendly hosts.  Although our rented Cabana van of 19'8" had a toilet and shower onboard, we didn't need to use them.  This campground has available wood and sufficient space, and it's a 5-minute walk to a general store, gas station and restaurant, so well positioned.