This is a tent and RV campground geared towards families and larger groups. The landscape in the Chilliwack area is beautiful! Although there are many campgrounds here, this was one of the only ones with availability over a month in advance, during peak season. This is a quaint little campground backing directly on to Sweltzer Creek and Vedder River, just a short drive from many attractions.
Date of Adventure: July 2019
Location: Fraser Valley
Nearest to: Cultus Lake, BC and Chilliwack, BC
Advised: Bear country, loose gravel roads, active logging roads, frequent weather changes. Please check all advisory notices, restrictions, regulations, etc before heading out.
Sweltzer Creek Campground – The Land
The location of this campground is beautiful, it is a large flat area right next to the Swetlzer Creek and Vedder River. There are dirt and gravel roads, with both grassy and rocky areas. There are many huge trees everywhere, all types of shrubs and a bountiful amount of wild raspberry bushes!
Sweltzer Creek Campground – The Campsites
Structured in a large loop, this campground has many different types of campsites. There are three main types, long sites, group sites, and creek sites.
- Long sites: Rectangular with lots of room for cars, tents and fire area. Many tall trees, grassy area, and gravel/ dirt area with a fire pit. This is the site that we got, and we were a group of 5 adults with 2 cars.
- Group sites: Huge sites, sometimes not a particular shape but can fit double, if not more, than the long sites. Filled with trees and bushes.
- Creek sites: Smaller, square sites, back directly onto the creek. Fewer trees but more bushes lining the creek. These are the sites that book up first.
Sweltzer Creek Campground – Amenities and Attractions
- Playground and volleyball site
- Gazebo
- Fully-equipped washrooms
- Electrical sites
- 5 water taps throughout
The playground and volleyball area is a little outdated, mainly used by kids. The washrooms are heated with multiple sinks, toilets and showers. They are lacking cleanliness and maintenance, and there are no shelves to put your belongings on while there (we would open the changing table to use as a shelf) and there are no mirrors. There is a quiet time around 11pm/12am, when no loud music, noise or instruments are permitted. They did have staff members that came around one of the nights to let us know. Unfortunately, our neighbours weren’t so open to this rule and were quite loud, but the staff was nice and tried to inform them multiple times on the first night. After that they did not put much effort into it.
This campground is close to Cultus Lake, Vedder River, and Chilliwack.
Sweltzer Creek Campground – The Price
This is an affordable campground compared to how large the sites are. They range from $120.00CAD fitting 8 people all the way to $300.00CAD fitting 20 people. They allow multiple vehicles per site, without an additional cost (not sure if this applies to all sites).
Sweltzer Creek Campground – Extra Notes
There is a gravel logging road near the campground that is frequented by vehicles at night. This is not a pleasant experience especially considering that our site backed right onto the road, and a row of bushes was all the divided the site from the road.
There are also many large snails or slugs around the sites, but luckily we have The Nature Walkers’ Hack’s to guide you and help with situations like these.
Sweltzer Creek Campground – Recommendations
Overall, this is a decent campground. We expected more from this campground based on our research, but it does have some decent features. The sites themselves are pretty good, with trees that are great for hammocks, flat areas for tents and picnic tables including fire pits. The staff is nice and somewhat helpful, but cleanliness and maintenance need to be improved on. We personally will not be returning to this campground as there are many more to try in the area.