Winchester Lake State Park — Attraction in Idaho

We stayed two nights here this week. This is a fantastic state park. The camp sites are clean, paved, and well equipped. They are adequately spaced, and most sites will be more comfortable in a trailer or small tent, though many will accommodate a large tent. Some loops have water and electric hookups. There is no sewer hookup, but there is a dump station not far. Camp hosts and park rangers are friendly. The park itself is great. The lake is well stocked with fish and has many docks or shore fishing places. There are some great trails along the lake and I really enjoyed the short discover trail. It was well maintained by not over worn and the information signs were well kept. The bathrooms are clean. Most are normal vault toilets, but one loop has flushing toilets and showers available. Trees are tall and there is a lot of shade throughout the park. There are plenty of parking areas for extra vehicles. Picnic tables and benches are everywhere around the lake. There is an amphitheater and a long list of programs and shows to see. We watched a presentation about wolves that was interesting and informative. I’m sure we’ll...

Stayed June 3-5 2019. Overall 3 star. Fishing 5 star. Lodgepole yurt 5 star. Rangers and office staff 5 star. I'd give the camp host 10 stars if I could: see next.

The bad. The yurts are supposed to have 2 propane tanks and have them checked before rental, but the summer help didn't - that's where the campground host stepped up and got me gas when I ran out after hours, way above and beyond the usual. Canoes come with the yurts, but ONLY if the lake temperature is above 59 or thereabouts, safety issue, and the website doesn't tell you that. A late freeze shut down the fish cleaning station that wouldn't be fixed until after we left. The showers were down as well most of the stay, and aren't for the faint hearted: they were restored Sunday night, but you have a choice of either freezing cold or almost boiling hot, and the temperature is not adjustable. The floors in the Men's side is slicker than owl ?!,? when wet, they need something on the concrete floors to give grip. Our first here, I will come back but my wife...

I'm not a big "camping person", but I was impressed with the peacefulness and cleanliness of this state park. Had a neat "junior Ranger"program just like the national parks we've been to and an AMAZING program that loans you this great pack full of amazing stuff to discover the outdoors: "kidnoculars", (top-notch)binoculars, bug capture nets and observing containers, educational pamphlets on all topics of nature including how to tie knots (along with rope to practice), a hand-held GPS for geocaching, notebook for taking observations... There's also some type of evening entertainment or educational presentation free of charge nearly every night. If I knew more of state parks, I'd probably give this 5 stars but I just feel a little less than knowledgeable about what's out there. A very family friendly trail allows for a hike all the way around the lake in about 2 hours while taking plenty of time to make observations and teach kids some basic...