PNW Dispersed sites?

MarkAl

We like to dry camp and dislike being crowded in a campground. Now that we're older we are trying more comfortable camping (tired of Rain and always cold?).  SO, this last trip while camped at a 16 site NF campground on a river we wandered up and down various NF roads to trail heads looking for trailer sites on not too gnarly of "roads". We were largely unsuccessful. In fact we were traumatized thinking of towing the trailer on some of the narrow, steep, rutted side of the mountain roads. Meeting an oncoming car was part of the reason, we ain't backing up! So do any PNW (west - rainy side) T@Bers have any suggestions for dispersed camping over here?  Tenting is easy as you pull over then walk to the stream/river and set up camp in the woods.  I'm thinking the more open east side and high desert this is less of a problem. FYI we looked off of the "mountain loop highway". We also are planning to park overnight at sno-parks this winter to X-C ski / snowshoe without having to travel so far for the day. Is this something any of you have done?  We have also found that the Gaia GPS app is our friend.

Verna

There are many phone apps and websites that give info about BLM sites, NFS site, etc. Allstays is my favorite. Campendium is a good one.  I’m sure others will chime in with other apps. 

MuttonChops

@MarkAl ;  Feel Your Pain.
West of Cascades it seems dispersed sites are in two main groups.

Group 1:
  A Few along side most of the major 'smooth gravel/dirt' forest roads.  These have the issue of daytime noise & dust and are nearly always occupied.
Group 2:
 Lots of secondary road cut-offs which lead to dead end old logging Tower Yarder site.  These are quiet and road dust free - - - if you can get to them with a trailer as there is always at least 50 yards of really messed up road to get there.

So all of my west side camping has been in formal campgrounds with 4x4 drives into the hills.  Last spring stayed at King County Fair EXPO campground, Emunclaw.  Small/clean/quiet easy bike ride to town.  Did some 4x4 driving in Mt Baker-Snoqualmie NF.  NF 7000-series roads had several Group 1 sites at lower elevations, Group 2's at higher elevations.

A few weeks ago did dispersed camping on East side of Cascades, just 3-miles north of Liberty on Wenatchee NF Road 9718, Cougar Gulch. Very much a Group 1 area . . . does have a small creek to listen to and not a big drive from Puget Sound.

Marceline

It’s not dispersed camping, but I stayed at Coho Campground in the Olympic National Forest a couple of years ago and the sites were really spread out. 

MarkAl

Thanks I know the Bluet Pass roads have more open areas above on the NF roads. It's more of a time commitment to investigate. We tented / hiked out of Cle Elum off of Teanaway Road last year and we do have plans to return there. Plenty of great hikes and nice dispersed Group 3 (good enough road, no people goes nowhere) sites there. It's far enough that we'd need 3-4 days to justify the drive.

N7SHG_Ham

In Oregon on west side, lots of ODF lands, some areas have designated camp sites. Eastern Oregon has tons of NF and BLM areas wide open with many areas to camp. Lots of pressure this year in Central/Eastern Oregon, can't hardly find any spots in the forest.