Mapped · not agency-listedPublic land · dispersedFree
Kool-Aid Lake Camp
Hike-in · public land · WA · 48.43929, -121.04623
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →A mapped lead, not an agency listing. Somebody marked this as a campsite; we could not match it to a land-manager record. Worth checking rather than counting on. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
What the record says about the site — Kool-Aid Lake Camp · Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest · WA
- No toilet
- Listed as a backcountry site
- Informal, undeveloped site
From the OpenStreetMap contributors listing for this site — their words, not our visit. Records go stale; treat it as a starting point and confirm anything your trip depends on.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Kool-Aid Lake Camp
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 6,124 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Kool-Aid Lake CampNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Kool-Aid Lake Camp · Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest · WA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater17 mi
- DDump17 mi
- GGrocery19 mi
- EVEV fast charger19 mi
- FFuel19 mi
- @Mail19 mi
- LLaundry20 mi
- ShShower20 mi
- MMechanic29 mi
- RxPharmacy29 mi
- HHardware29 mi
- OOutfitter31 mi
- +Urgent care52 mi
- PPropane58 mi
- AAir-up58 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 19 mi out.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Kool-Aid Lake Camp
Access
Hike-in
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
6,124 ft
Ground slope
28.5% · steep
State
WA
Coordinates
48.43929, -121.04623
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Getting in
Park at Cascade Pass Trailhead · ~2.83 mi in a straight line (trail will be longer)
Nearby & resupply — around Kool-Aid Lake Camp · Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest · WA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureKool-Aid Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townNewhalem · ~18.6 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelShell · ~28.5 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~17.4 mi
- GroceriesSkagit General Store · ~18.6 mi
- PharmacyDarrington Pharmacy · ~28.8 mi
- HardwareDarrington Hardware · ~28.9 mi
EV charging — from Kool-Aid Lake Camp · Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest · WA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger18.6 mi straight-line NW — WCEH Seattle City Light, Newhalem, WA · EVCS · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 4 within 50 · 274 within 100 · 391 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)49.3 mi — Leavenworth, WA - US-2 - Tesla Supercharger, Leavenworth
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)18.6 mi — WCEH Seattle City Light, Newhalem, WA · EVCS · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 333299 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Kool-Aid Lake Camp · Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest · WA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomSKA Cascade Trailhead Vault Toilet · ~2.8 mi NW · NPS
- RestroomSKA Eldorado Parking Romtec Toilet · ~5.1 mi NW · NPS
- Vault / pit toiletMineral Park · ~5.5 mi W · USFS
- RestroomSTE Tumwater Campground Vault Toilet #0414 · ~9.9 mi E · NPS
Coming out here — Kool-Aid Lake Camp · Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest · WA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Kool-Aid Lake as a perennial lake or pond, under 0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 28.5% — steep. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (10 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Kool-Aid Lake Camp elsewhere
Other camps near Kool-Aid Lake Camp
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Yang Yang Lakes Camp~3.3 mi
- Mineral Park~5.5 mi · fee
- White Rock Lakes Camp~6.9 mi
- Marble Creek Campground~12.2 mi · fee
The unit that manages Kool-Aid Lake Camp
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Kool-Aid Lake Camp are set by Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Kool-Aid Lake Camp
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
auto: hike (road/trail right there)
Site details
The OpenStreetMap contributors listing's own fields for this site (site type, whether tents or trailers fit, capacity, toilet, water, campfires, reservations). Printed as the record states them, unchecked by us, and never used to make a cost claim -- the cost verdict above is decided separately and audited before every deploy.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
Contributed, not agency-listed. A mapper marked this as a campsite. We have not matched it to a land-manager record, so it stays at Likely.
What we don’t know about Kool-Aid Lake Camp
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Kool-Aid Lake Camp
Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Reading a forest MVUM →Reading your camp page →All field notes →