Tolt MacDonald Park & Campground

This campground is a pleasant surprise. Not many campsites, so not many campers. Sites are large to huge, some more private than others. RV sites with utilities are all arc pull-thrus. The driveway arc on most of the pull-thrus is pretty sharp, so anything larger than about 35 feet that doesn't bend in the middle will be a tight squeeze. Sites 8 and 9 are probably the best for longer rigs. Sites 8 and 9 seem to be shaded in some form all day long with a huge grassy area on the curb side that is mostly private. I was especially impressed with how the utilities were set up. Power pole had 50/30/20, although my Watchdog informed me that my 30 amp service had no ground. The power box was also located way up high. Water pressure is excellent, so be sure to have your pressure regulator on hand. Since the camp site was all grass except for the driveway, you tracked very little dirt back into your rig. The fire ring was average for a campsite, however the picnic table was located on a round concrete pad, making it not wobbly and again, you didn't get a bunch of dirt on your shoes to drag back to the RV.

The camping loop is a long narrow drive with campsites all on the passenger side and the inside of the loop is just a large grassy area. The one campground bathroom facility is located in the large central grassy area. It is unimpressive. The restrooms and shower are kept reasonably decent, but are very industrial or penitentiary in design. The restroom building is built of concrete pre-cast and is probably about 40+ years old and covered in moss. Urinals and toilets are all stainless steel. The single shower in the restroom had its own vanity and sink behind the stall door, however these spaces are not meant for morning contemplation while relieving yourself or showering. They are designed for you to get in, do your business, and get out. Stall heights are all short, so you can see over them easily, the same goes for the shower stall, too. No real privacy here. If you are a self contained camper, you will be more comfortable using your own facilities, for sure.

River access is through a path between sites 8 and 9, although if you go down to site 1 (camp host) and go to the shore next to the pedestrian suspension bridge, you can get to the water from there, too.

This is a great campground for just parking and relaxing. The rest of the park is used by the locals for ball games, and there is a playground that is a bit of a walk away in the day-use area of the park. We are looking forward to staying here again.

This was the closest campground I could find to where my parents live, since we came here to visit them. Overall beautiful location and well worth it.

The RV sites are on a loop road, and the road itself is very narrow. All sites were pull-thru, but only a few could accommodate larger rigs. We stayed in Site 13 and made it work. It was very clean and secluded. Lots of trails, access to the river, and a huge grassy area inside the loop perfect for my kids to play on. There was a small playground and lots of ball fields nearby.

Our site backed up to a bog which was great for watching wildlife. Electric and water hookups. Dump station at a storage and laundromat facility on the corner as you drive out of the park into town.

We love staying at this campground as we have been here 2 times over the past 3 years. Love the layout of the RV sites with good privacy for sites 2-8. The others start to open up on the backside of the campground. You also get that communal recreation area in the center of the campground for large activities and has great loop visibility for kiddos being able to ride bikes. Love the river access, the cool suspension bridge and some pretty cool hiking trails. If you want to see more indepth site by site review, go ahead and find us on Youtube where we did a site by site and vlog at this campground. Great pleasant sleeper of a campground.

- Unique Adventurez

This place is gorgeous. Well maintained park, 5 Star to the weekend Park Ranger(Raymond) Very nice and accommodating. He helped us make our stay worth while, very apologetic after finding out that we were given a WRONG CODE. After trying to change the batteries and panel of that door. That is the part I really didn't expect and paid for my weekend. I hope those who are in the office sending code PLEASE avoid this same mistakes. I had long day at work and just wanting to relax with my family, because of this mistakes we were not able to explore the place completely.

Camping here in late July in spot #3. Large site with partial mid-day shade. 50, 30, 15 AMP, with water. Sewer is not on the sites. Dump station is provided by a private business on the road out of the park for a small fee. Restrooms with showers. 4 bars of AT&T 5G, and 4 bars of Verizon 4G. Parks with kids play toys just a short walk north from the sites, with river access to the south of the sites. River is low and gentle for the little ones, lots of families slowly floating around. Bring a shade umbrella when at the river... full sun mid-day! Also, this park has an amazing amount of open space just paces from each site. Everyone is out in the middle playing frisbee and various lawn games.

All sites are pull-throughs along the perimeter of a large grass area, with water and 50 amp electric. We had a challenge getting level in #15, and the big tree blocked satellite, but otherwise it is a spacious and green location. We would probably try to get #17 next time. Although not as pretty, it is level and more open.

There is only one restroom house for both the RV park and the day use area, not sure if there are showers. The cleanest and best laundromat is at the entrance, on the main highway. That is where the dump station is. We didn't use the dump as the turns into it are very tight for anything over 30'.

Check out is noon. Check in is 3 PM. We arrived at 12:30 to find all but four sites (17 total) empty and cleaned up. Yet we were "visited" by a ranger to tell us that check-in is 3 PM and to remember that next time. Okay......we are always early and if no one is in our site it's never an issue. Then one afternoon returning from a day trip we arrive to find the entrance blocked with cones and a check-in at 3PM - "wait in the parking lot" sign!! What?? My house is there and you're not locking my out of it. We bypassed the blockade and went to our site. Note that you pay online when making the reservations so there is no check-in process to be completed on site.

We are usually strict rule followers, and will not arrive prior to 3 in the future.....but their obsession really affected our enjoyment of the park.

It is a quiet and dark park with river access and lots of beautiful green space, including trees. Easy access, although lots of dreaded speed bumps. Lots of families with lots of kids on bicycles so pay attention when driving through.

Good
- Very quiet during the evenings, and all sites are nicely spaced around a central field.
- Sites and the park are immaculately maintained by King County parks. These guys are really ontop of things.
- Fantastic hiking and mountain biking trails above Tolt, though IAB to get up to them.

Bad
- You cannot under any circumstances check-in before 3PM. They make you wait in the parking lot. Awful, huge speed bumps. You unfortunately cannot stay more than 7 days in a month.
- Cell service is a bit slow. With our Cradlepoint LTE router and Panorama antenna we were getting -90dBm of LTE, which is about 3 bars. Otherwise you're mostly stuck with 3G or No Service.

Other notes
- Dump station down the road at Carnation Storage for $9.00
- Park is busy in the day with camps

We camped here in order to be close-ish to family we were visiting in Seattle. It took anywhere from 40min to an hour to get into the city depending on traffic. The RV sites are all pull-through and are set up in a big circle with a large grassy space in the middle. There are no trees to provide privacy between the spaces but they aren't too close, so it was okay. Plus, we weren't there very much anyway.
The campground does have some rules that I thought were a little silly. First, they lock the gates at 10pm - so you basically have a curfew - and they don't open them again until 6am. We thought about parking outside the gate in the case that we got back too late since it would have been a short walk to the site, but they have no parking signs everywhere. Second, alcohol is prohibited. I had no intention of following that rule and I didn't see anyone enforcing it. Lastly, they seem to strictly enforce the RV check-in time. They have a parking lot set up with signs saying that check-in isn't until 3pm and that RVers must wait in the lot until that time. We saw several people parked and waiting there both mornings.
One more thing to note is that the Tolt Hill Brige is closed. Google Maps doesn't know that and kept trying to take us that way.
The $35 only gave us water and electric so we used the dump station at the storage/laundry mat place just outside the park on the right side as you leave. It was $9 and you have to go inside to pay unless it's after hours. In that case, you just put your cash in an envelope and slip it into the dropbox. I really liked the location, so I guess I'd stay here again, but I'd rather find a place without a 10pm curfew.

This place is unique, we really enjoyed the layout and all the space at each site. I hate paying for camping, but thought the rate was fair enough for 50A service and some private space.

Camp host was a real jerk, but I get the impression that his wife handles the customers and I just caught him when she wasn't around, or a bad day or something. I only interacted with him once, no complaints beyond check-in.

The suspension bridge, yurt village, and container "house" are very cool, this park is definitely different.

The power went out one day, due to two transformers exploding. The county had the utility company onsite quickly, they dug a huge hole and had service restored within 12 hours.

Oh, and the laundromat at the end of the road is excellent, best we've used, by far.

My only problem with this place was the Verizon coverage, we made due with constant booster usage but still it was unreliable and extremely slow.

Barely 45 minutes from Seattle, Told MacDonald Park and Campground is a real gem! You can make reservations for more than a week in advance, otherwise it's first come first serve. It's so BEAUTIFUL. Few sites, but because of that, it's spacious and quiet. It's a dream for kids - great playground, right on the river, with hiking trails and paved trails. It's a quick walk to the cute little town of Carnation. We stumbled upon the farmer's market with music and kid's activities. We would highly recommend it - except for the internet. Internet's not awesome.