Hey guys, I found a nice place for a late Winter/Spring hang near Leavnworth. Tumwater Campground, about 8 miles nnw from Leavenworth has been abandoned for years, and i was just up there a few hours ago checking it out. Here's what I found: the group pavilion is in excellent shape, covered, with a nice fireplace and plenty of sturdy picnic table/benches under the roof. There's lots of downed wood in the area, so no problem finding it. There's ample trees scattered throughout the campground, and parking isn't a problem either at the locked entrance or across Highway 2 along the entrance to Hatchery Creek Road. Parking's also close enough that we can lug ice chests, stoves and such along the still paved paths easily. The pavilion's maybe a hundred yards from the parking area, if that. It's also close enough to Leavenworth or Lake Wenatchee Headwaters Pub, that hot pizza would be easy, and of course there ample groceries in Leavenworth.
Here's the downside: no toilets are open (the campground's been abandoned for the better part of a decade), there's no water and no garbage. And there's road noise from Highway 2 next to the campground.
Water's available in the Wenatchee River, which flows next to the campground, so we either lug in some jugs or bring our filters.
we all know how to poop in the woods, and lug out our own garbage, so that takes care of those issues.
I'd need a team of folks to clean up the overgrowth and do some trimming so we'd have plenty of decent hang sites. and unless somebody goes in between now and then, and gathers all the already cut logs, all we have to do is split them and clean out the pavilion fireplace. Remember, it's National Forest, which makes it pretty difficult for the forest "service" to tell us no camping. We do have a window though. It's Chelan county, and as of June 1st, there's usually a burn ban on for the entire summer.
Another plus is the small distance between the gates and the pavilion. i used to cook for our elk & deer camps, and have a large Camp Chef 3 burner stove with griddle, as well as a large paella burner (yes, WITH the large paella pan!!) as well as smaller stoves. It wouldn't be difficult to do pancakes, bacon and coffee in the mornings, and since the firepits are still there, dutch oven goodies or walking in some decent size Webers wouldn't be an issue either. Y'all let me know??