$250.00 for 7 units(Days/Nights) of Camping State Park Washington ?

70 years old & have NEVER been Camping (except as infant to 7 years with parents in 40's & 50's ). I purchased an annual Discover Pass & Senior lifetime card, ranger at REI said that was all I needed. I went online to get an idea on state parks as close to Bothell or Everett Washington as could be found.
ALL the places I looked at noted "Park CLOSES as DUSK" and you needed to reserve your place, rates began at around $30 for one person in a 32 foot RV. I really thought there would be somewhere that I could simply park for a week or two, where a $5 per 24 hour fee would be going rate ( at 2 weeks that's $70.00 more than I have, living on a retirement fixed income of $402.00 per month).
I did see in a publication Don Wrights guide to FREE campgrounds Western Edition  11th edition camp
sites a LONG way out in desert or ? I have no idea, but at 5 miles per gallon this HOG needs an owner
with money to spend for gas to reach the free sites, so those are for when I happen to be going that way I presume, IF I live that long :>). I get the feeling that everything has changed since this guide to free campgrounds was published 2002 ? PRICES and FEES that is. Any suggestions ?

That is about the average for Washington State Parks. Slightly less if you don't need hookups. They do offer a 5.00/night discount for 62 and over.
During the off season, many places do not require reservations, but from late May until Mid Sep, most places are booked. I think there are still some with first come first served sites.
I believe all of the camping parks keep the gates open until ten.

Here's a map of parks in the Puget Sound.
https://washington.goingtocamp.com/WashingtonStateParks%2fNorthwestWashingtonStateParks%3fMap

My favorite state park is a little north of you in Birch Bay

I have never seen $5.00/night but at one US Forest Service park, using my (Well my wife's that week) Senior pass (50% off at most federal facilities) I managed 7.50/night (normal rate 15.00)

Recreation.gov is the site that can explain the assorted senior pass cards and show you the rates.  n Note that this pass only works at FEDERAL parks and facilities and not all of those.. The discount however also varies.. Most Federal campgrounds it is 50%.. However some formerly federal campgrounds (Grand canyon for example) are now vendor operated and do not honor the card.. Grand Canyon, however, the discount on vehicle admission to the park is 100%,, yup, free with card.

Some states offer senior discounts, but as we say elsewhere "your millage may vary"  I only know the rules in one state, and i have not stayed in a state park there for some years.

Finally there is one other option some folks like... You can try Membership camping.. Now the proglem here is that for MOST Membership systems you buy a LIFE membership and now you pay dues for ever... Even if they loose all their campgrounds to the tax man they still bug me every month for dues,, which I told them a decade ago I was not going to pay any more since they lost all their usable parks.

However Thousand Trails offers a "Zone pass"  it's about 600 bucks last I checked and gets you access to about 15 of their parks for a year, 2 weeks in, one out, First 30 nights included, and just a few dollars a night after.

TT parks however have been operating on restricted budgets for a long time,,, And they are older parks for the most (if not entierty) part.. Older parks means electrical issues.. and restricted funds means some of the buildings and such may need some repair.  But, unlike the other parks, the Zone pass is a ONE YEAR membership.. Send them a "I'm no longer interested" letter to cancel.. they do not keep dunning you.

For truly inexpensive camping, boondocking is the only way to go.  My definition of boondocking is dispersed camping on National Forest (NFS) and BLM managed land (and this is clearly not for everyone). This means no hookups.  You can pretty much forget any form of organized campground if budget is tight.  That said, there are a few places that may work (NM State Parks have a great annual pass deal).  I'm afraid I have no idea what is available for boondocking in the area you mentioned but I would think there is plenty of NFS managed land there.  Take a look at freecampsites.net.

As others are sure to point out, nothing is "free" - even true boondocking has some costs.  I minimize that with enough solar to provide for all my electrical needs. If one looks around a bit, free/inexpensive dump sites do exist.

Best of luck in your search!

There are very inexpensive places, but not with water & electric (let alone sewer), prepared pads, picnic tables, etc. If you want services, it's gonna cost. If you can do without, then there are more options.

Yes, prices have gone up a lot since 2002. We used to pay $15-$20 per night and now its twice that. Inflation is part of it, but increasing demands for campground facilities and services p[lays a part too. The world changes...

There is more recent info on free or cheap camping available online. Here are a few:
https://freecampsites.net/
http://www.freecampgrounds.com/

Gary RV Roamer said:

Yes, prices have gone up a lot since 2002. We used to pay $15-$20 per night and now its twice that. Inflation is part of it, but increasing demands for campground facilities and services p[lays a part too. The world changes...

Click to expand...

From a percentage increase perspective, I think you'll find that prices at State Parks have escalated enormously, probably more than the prices at private parks.  In the past we were accustomed to paying ~$30 at private parks; now that's often $40 + tax.  But the $10-20 state park fee seems to also now be $35-40 especially if any hookups are provided.  IMO the only real bargains that remain are COE parks, especially if you have a senior pass but those get booked so far in advance that it's difficult to find sites with hookups during the camping season.

I suspect you are right about the public park fee increase. State park budgets are under a lot of pressure and the RV campsite costs were heavily subsidized. It's politically difficult to justify subsidizing camping when the guest are showing up in rigs that cost $50k or more and demanding ever more services.

8) AllStays.com also list from city, county, state and Federal campgrounds for low rates!