Lake Walcott State Park

Our Garmin RV GPS and Google Maps had us exit earlier than exit 216 off of Interstate 84 coming from the NE. The emailed state park instructions have you get off at exit 216. Since the roads looked RV-friendly on Google maps, we took the earlier exit. It was fine, but exit 216 would have been more of a straight shot. The RV GPS and Google Maps eventually followed the brown We stayed here the end of September. Walcott SP signs all the way to the campground (CG). We had a couple of interesting turns at the far side of Rupert, but no big deal. When we arrived at the CG check-in building, it was unmanned. Since we had paid online, we paid the $7 vehicle fee per day via envelope and then proceeded to the CG. As a side note, the next morning, we got a call from the park office that our tow vehicle was included in the nightly camping fee, so they gave us our envelope back. We saw a right turn to the tent and boat ramp area and decided to go straight, and as we rounded a corner, we saw the RV campsite sign and proceeded to pull through site 5 with water and electric. The site was plenty big enough for our 40’ 5th wheel and our F-450. The water and electric were in the middle of the site, which was nice. There was decent water pressure, and we had a clear shot to the north sky for Starlink; however, to the south were mature trees. This site had decent spacing between the adjacent sites. We got 2 bars on Verizon. There are two tent areas, one that’s to the first right with the day-use area and another that’s adjacent to the RV CG and cabins. Most sites here will take larger rigs, and the center and north sites will give both north and south shots for satellite. There were a couple of interesting quirks with this state park. 1) The park’s sprinkler watering times were special, with our site getting an hour's worth at 1:00 PM with five rainbird sprinkler heads. However, the grass and trees were in good shape for this desert-ish area. 2) As we have seen with COEs, there’s a dam between the lake and the river, so when they open or close the floodgates, there’s a siren that goes off until the process is completed. We had this happen our first night at 1:00 AM. In the park’s defense, they have both of these activities posted in several locations. There are a ton of areas to walk your dog, and we saw deer during our walks. There’s a dump station located as you enter the CG area. We enjoyed our stay at this well-managed state park.

This is a place for a night or two. It's clear many use it as a stopover to get to Wyoming or Montana and it's great for that.

Everything is a little older, not the nicest of facilities but it gets the job done. The lake was really quiet so that was a plus as a paddleboarder - not many motorboats to contend with. My boys love disc golf so that was a huge plus for us but may not be for others. Some good fishing along the river below the dam. There's a path that goes from the dam and disc golf area to the boat launch on the other side. Note that boating is only allowed from April until September because this is a wildlife refuge and they close it to protect bird nesting sites.

The sites had hookups that worked fine (thank goodness - two days over 100 meant A/C got used, as did the lake for cooling off). It has serviceable showers. The siren did go off a few times but that's what comes with being close to a dam.

All bathrooms I saw were closed. Many trees had been removed or had fallen. The disc golf course was ok, but without directions, tough to know where the next hole was. The Lake Walcott Dam siren was blasted many times during the day, starting at 7:00 am. The place has been neglected. I would not stay here again and left after only one night. Drive to Castle Rocks and like it here!

This was one of those places you end up at after a long drive and no real other prospects seemed better. Last day of March and the park wasn’t busy and no real color or flare to it since nothing blooming or leafing out yet. We were in a completely self contained unit but charged full price as well as the restrooms were closed and had to pay out of state fees as well as a park pass. Only positive was it was quiet. Also a bit off the beaten path.

We stayed here for two nights on our way to other places. A little off the highway but so quiet and peaceful. The campground was clean and the bathrooms were immaculate. Saw deer and other animals throughout the park. Walking paths around the lake and enjoy kayaking and boating. Be prepared for bugs.. you are out in the wilderness. Beautiful Shoshone Falls (definitely worth seeing) is not far from here as well as the snake river and beautiful Twin Falls.

We stopped here for a couple days because it was en route between other destinations. I think this would be a better fall or spring spot and I'd skip it altogether if you don't fish or kayak (there's no swimming at the lake). Summertime + water meant there were a lot of bugs, so we spent a lot of our time indoors, but we did enjoy watching the birds from our trailer and even saw a huge jack rabbit one evening.