Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park
Washington State Park
Write a Review 34875 Park Lake Road N.E. Coulee City, WA 99115 509-632-5583 Reservations: 888-226-7688 Official WebsiteGPS: 47.5898, -119.3911
Overview of Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park
Last Price Paid: $50
Reported by TwoOnTheRoad on 6/29/2023
Longest RV Reported: 34 feet (Travel Trailer)
Reported by TwoOnTheRoad on 6/29/2023
Number of Sites 191
Pad Type gravel
Reservations yes
Elevation 1,082 ft / 329 m
Max Length 65 ft
Tent Camping Yes
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Reviews of Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park 15 people have reviewed this location.
“Great basecamp location for nearby exploration”
Reviewed 6/26/2020
Nightly rate: | $40 |
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Days stayed: | 4 |
Site Number: | 153 |
We chose this campground because we could not get into Steamboat Rock, and honestly we'd still prefer Steamboat over SLDF, but our experience here wasn't bad overall. To start, the campsites are pretty big. You get a lot of horizontal space on the road, providing more than enough space for a vehicle and 2 medium-sized tents. We occu... more
We chose this campground because we could not get into Steamboat Rock, and honestly we'd still prefer Steamboat over SLDF, but our experience here wasn't bad overall.
To start, the campsites are pretty big. You get a lot of horizontal space on the road, providing more than enough space for a vehicle and 2 medium-sized tents. We occupied 2 spots, where one was a car + RTT and a boat + trailer, and the other was a car and a camping trailer. We were swimming in room. The downside is that tents must be in the parking area, which is crushed gravel. Most campgrounds are like that, so that is to be expected. Behind the campsite is a fairly wide strip of grass with big trees providing lots of shade. This is a great area for the provided picnic table, camp chairs, and recreation.
The fire pits are quite shallow, which made cooking over the fire using the attached metal grate challenging.
There is no local store, like one you'd find at Fort Flagler, so expect to make a day trip to Coulee City or further for ice or other provisions. I didn't see firewood for sale nearby.
Bathrooms are not far from the campsites and are kept fairly clean. There are showers, and a gender neutral bathroom also equipped with a shower.
Adjacent to the campground is a lake with a swimming area. The water is nice and the lake bottom is not too dirty, but I'd still wear water shoes when wading in it. There is not a boat launch at that spot, but there is one up the road at a nearby campground for a fee. There is also one to the other side that is free, but narrow.
Rising above the campground on one side are the rocky cliffs of the coulee. It makes the campground quite picturesque. On the other side is a golf course.
At night with a clear sky, the stars are wonderful. There is not too much light pollution, and you can make out the milky way.
We didn't experience many mosquitos or other bugs. In the late evening we'd see tons of bats flying overhead, which is probably why. Over by the upper campground there are several bat boxes, and we read somewhere they live in the coulee rocks too.
The area can be quite windy in the evening. That made for great kite flying one night. Many campers were up at 2am staking their tents down and attaching guy lines. The rangers told us after every weekend there are broken tents in the dumpsters, so be smart and secure you tent when you first set it up. Guy lines are a must in the heavy winds too. A cheap tent with weak poles might not stand up to those winds either. We saw several broken tents/shelters.
As the campsites are very close together, it can feel more like a music festival. There is little privacy, and you'll see tents in every direction. Even though "quiet hours" are after 10:30pm, many campers disregarded that rule and we saw no evidence of rangers enforcing it. Some people were quite loud. Heavy winds seems to put an end to that, so there is an upside to windy evenings.
We stayed Friday to Monday, and on Sunday afternoon most campers were gone. Our stay from Sunday to Monday was quite nice.
Some rangers stopped by to chat and recommended we check out Deep Lake. We nearly kept our original plans of boating on Banks Lake, but decided to trust the rangers and save 40 minutes of extra driving. We sailed our little 16 foot catamaran down the length of Deep Lake and reveled in every minute of it. The lake is surrounded by coulees and was breathtaking. The wind kept changing direction, which made sailing pretty challenging. We saw others on inner tubes, standup paddleboards, rafts, and kayaks. There is also a cliff people were jumping off of. This ended up being the highlight of our trip. The parking lot was nice, the boat launch was perfect, and there is a little dock next to it which made trailering easy, when people didn't leave floaty things attached to it and be in the way.
We also did 2 local hikes: Umatilla Rock and Lake Lenore Caves. Both were good, and I'd recommend them. If I were to return, I'd definitely do Umatilla again. Next time we'll save time to do the hikes over at Steamboat.
TMobile coverage varied. An Android phone at 0-2 bars at our campsite. iPhones had no bars, unless we went to the upper campground.
All in all, we'd come back if we couldn't get a site at Steamboat Rock, but I'd try to stay on a weekday.
David Williamson would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
Reviewed 9/7/2018
Nightly rate: | $45 |
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Days stayed: | 3 |
Site Number: | 89 |
This place was wonderful, we were in the newer loop. The sites were all full hook up and spaced nicely apart. We went hiking and kayaking while here and enjoyed watching the California Quails and Deer daily. We would definitely stay here again.
Newt would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Plenty of hiking opportunities, great weather and uncrowded in May.”
Reviewed 5/27/2018
Nightly rate: | $20 |
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Days stayed: | 2 |
This is a huge park in Eastern Washington with plenty of opportunities for hiking, boating and fishing. The area is really interesting geologically. The landscape you see today was carved by the Great Missoula Floods of the last ice age. The nearby Dry Falls Visitor Center does an excellent job of explaining it all and offers some outs... more
This is a huge park in Eastern Washington with plenty of opportunities for hiking, boating and fishing. The area is really interesting geologically. The landscape you see today was carved by the Great Missoula Floods of the last ice age. The nearby Dry Falls Visitor Center does an excellent job of explaining it all and offers some outstanding views.
The park has 150 standard sites (no tent pads), 41 full hook-up sites, 6 restrooms and 12 showers. We chose to stay in a full hook-uo site. Although further from Park Lake, the largest lake in the park, we thought this was the nicest area and we had a great view out to the eroded cliffs and a pretty little meadow where wild turkeys liked to hang out. Other loops of the park would be better in the heat of the summer though because they have some nice big trees to provide welcome shade. The park was quiet at the time of our visit, but it's very popular with families in the summer and reservations would be a good idea if you wanted to camp here at that time of the year. Our rate reflects the fact that it was the shoulder season and we also have a limited income senior pass that is available to WA state residents. Normal price for our site at this time of year would be $40 and in the summer it would be $45. Ouch!
This is the only state park the we have ever been to that also includes a privately run RV park, Sun Lakes Park Resort, within its boundaries. The resort offers RV sites, cabins, boat rentals, a cafe, general store and golf course. It wasn't quite open for the season when we were there in early May so I can't really say much about it.
Besides the large, aptly named Park Lake, the park has several smaller lakes which are, to my way of thinking, more scenic. These lakes are popular with the fishing crowd and would be great for anyone who likes to canoe or kayak.
As for marmots and mosquitoes - we saw tons of marmots in one of the day use areas, but none in the campground itself and the mosquitoes weren't out yet so all was good!
Evergreengirl would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Pick your poison--- mosquitos or marmots? ”
Reviewed 5/9/2016
Nightly rate: | $35 |
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Days stayed: | 1 |
Site Number: | 88 |
RV Length: | 23' (Travel Trailer) |
This campground is a neat location in the bottom of a waterfall basin that's been dry for thousands of years. To get to it, pass by the Sun Lakes Resort Campground first. This park and area in general is likely to be crazy busy in the hot summer. The state park itself is a very large campground with parking-lot like old-school fa... more
This campground is a neat location in the bottom of a waterfall basin that's been dry for thousands of years. To get to it, pass by the Sun Lakes Resort Campground first.
This park and area in general is likely to be crazy busy in the hot summer.
The state park itself is a very large campground with parking-lot like old-school facilities mostly geared toward tent camping in the gravel lots. We drove past these extensive areas to the back of the campground to the newer area along the Vic Meyers Golf Course. There are two loops back there, away from the large marmot village that plagues the older portion at the base of the scab-rock and scree fall zone. Picture lemmings scurrying about, hiding under the dumpsters or racing back to the rock piles. No thanks!
We opted for mosquitoes, rather than risk our van to the ravages of those chewy rodents. These biting pests are the reason we'll stay away from this park in the future.
Like the other four Washington State Park campgrounds we stayed at on this trip in early May 2016, the "shoulder season" rates are still very high, they don't include the showers which charge 50 cents for a measly 3 minutes. Really ridiculous, considering these parks are all right next to the huge Columbia River dam system.
It's worth it to visit the nearby Dry Falls Visitor Center to see an example of vintage 1965 public architecture before accessibility became a valued attribute.
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“An awesome (and often overlooked) part of Washington. ”
Reviewed 4/11/2016
Nightly rate: | $42 |
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Days stayed: | 4 |
Site Number: | 63 |
RV Length: | 30' |
The views are pretty as you head down into the park - think cliffs and water. The park was busy but check-in was no problem. Our site #63 had water, electric and sewer. It was a back in spot, close to the garbage bins. There was a common grass area for the sites in this loop, and our kids enjoyed playing with the other children during ... more
The views are pretty as you head down into the park - think cliffs and water. The park was busy but check-in was no problem. Our site #63 had water, electric and sewer. It was a back in spot, close to the garbage bins. There was a common grass area for the sites in this loop, and our kids enjoyed playing with the other children during our stay. Kids climbed and played on the small hills across from the campsites. Bathrooms were close by and clean.
We did a lot here! We visited the park visitor center, where our kids got their very first Junior Ranger badge! We attended a program about bats, held at night, and saw hundreds of bats flying about. We hiked, played at the playground, rented a pontoon boat from the boathouse, and took a day trip to Grand Coulee Dam (45 minutes away).
We had several deer in the camp loop. We really liked the park and all the activies. Great park if you are in the area.
TakeThatExit.com would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
Peaks, Coulees and Dams - Beyond
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Sun Lakes State Park {Washington}
We just spent four days, three nights at Sun Lakes State Park and we I can’t wait to tell you all about. The drive from Lake Wenatchee State park was only a few hours, but lots of elevation changes (r...
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Amenities
Hookups
- 50 Amp
- 30 Amp
- 20 Amp
- water
- dry camping
- sewer
- Full Hookups
Recreation
- boat ramp
- fishing
- horseshoes
- picnic area
- recreation trail
- swimming beach
- water access
Site Amenities
- big rig
- fire ring
- picnic table
- pull thru
Facilities
- dump station
- restrooms: flush
- showers
- trash
- water available
Pets
- pets
Nearby
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