Steamboat Rock State Park — Attraction in Grand Coulee

Steamboat Rock blew us away.

I received an email announcement from Washington State Parks in late August indicating that they had just completed construction on the new Cove Loop at Steamboat. That made me go to the web site and take a look at this new loop and maybe see if it were worth a visit. We didn't have a lot of vacation time left in the year to get away, but because the loop was brand new and the camping season had a few weeks left we found some time and decided to take a long weekend and make the drive. There was available space in the Cove Loop, and so we went.

I've never stayed in a brand new camping loop before and was sufficiently impressed. We'd never been to Steamboat Rock before so we weren't sure what we would find when we got there. Questions about if there were enough to do when we arrived bounced off our heads, especially as we are not boaters or fishers.

We arrived after dark after a rather long drive. Steamboat is not close to any Interstates and the roads leading to it are of the state route variety. The worst road we drove on was WA-155, which has repeating cross road cracks that make the drive very bumpy and hoppy. We were so glad when we got to the turnoff to the very long access road that goes across Washington DNR land to the gate of the park. In typical Washington State Park fashion, with a reservation, you arrive, give your name, and they check you in and give you a receipt to place on your dash and instructions to your loop. Quick and friendly check-in as usual. A bit farther drive and we found our loop and back-in spot.

The Cove Loop pavement is smooth as glass. All the sites are well marked with a decent sized tent/table pad and rather long back-in spots. The tent pad is covered in very fine pea gravel, so be aware of that if you are planning on putting up a tent, I would expect that the floor would be very rough to sleep on, so a cot or pad will be an absolute must. The utility post and sewage ports (yes, more than one), were in excellent condition and very clean, as you would expect when camping in a brand new loop.

The electrical panel was 20/30/50 and all breakers and outlets were super tight. The water spigot had a typical twist valve, nothing exciting here. I'd prefer to see the pull-up plunger style water valves as they are more reliable and offer better freeze protection, but I've not been to a Washington State campground that uses these water valves. The biggest problem with the electrical and water post was that it was at the very rear of the driveway and even with a long rig, such as ours, I still had to break out an extension cable for power and my longer water hose.

On the other hand, two sewer ports on the campsite meant that I had two different places to run my sewer hose dependent on where my outlet was. My sewer outlet is midship, and therefore the midship sewer port worked best for me. The other sewer port is located very new the power/water pedestal. For example, accross from me was a camper with an RPod and his sewer outlet was at the back corner of his rig, so the sewer port near the pedestal was the best option for them. And if I had one of those very large fifth wheels that has two sewer outlets, I could use both sewer ports for my hookups. The point is that these campsites are about the most rig friendly sites I've ever been in.

Lots of stuff to do, too. There is a nice paved pathway along Devil's Punch Bowl that connects all of the loops together and to the park at the north end. The park at the north end has a concessionaires stand that sells ice cream and some other snacks during the summer season. There is also a very nice playground in the same area that will keep kids...

I have been camping my whole life in and around this area. The park is by far one of the best camp areas in Washington State, BUT with that being said! The mosquitos have now claimed it as their own! We went from July 12-14, 2015. We were suppose to stay four days but the mosquitos won that fight! My son who is 4, had 67 bites alone that I counted! His body was swollen and he smelled like off with 40% deet the whole entire time! When we arrived I got out of the truck and was swarmed by mosquitos, before I even let my son out I sprayed him with off in my brand new SUV truck. I truly didn't care if my truck smelled like off, I just didn't want my son attacked! Even after we showered I took the off spray with us to spray him completely! We spent over $60 dollars on off spray and a zapper. The ranger does come around really quick to spray a fog to control the mosquitos, BUT I think the mosquitos have become use to the spray. We came with three other families, and we all decided to leave early even though we were having a good time when we were away from the camp site. My friends daughter who is 8 looked by far the worst off, her face and eyes were so swollen from all the bites. We joked about if we had to fly anywhere in the next couple of days that we would be quarantined because they would think we all had the measles or chicken pox. The park needs to spray the grass and the trees with mosquito spray to keep the population down plus fog at night! Maybe that would help! Oh and lets not forget the bats! Had to take a shower with a bat that was trying to eat the mosquitos...... SCARY! If you do decide to go, don't tent it! And bring mosquitos screens to help when you are outside! OH and lets not forget the park ranger! He was kinda grumpy! Maybe because every person camping was complaining so much about the mosquitos! Feel sorry for the camp host! Go to Sun lake Park instead which is right down...

I have been coming to Steamboat Rock State Park pretty much my entire life (I am 40). The lake is one of the best in the state, and the campground is right up there as one of the best as well. However, what compelled me to write this review was that over the past 4 years, what was a minor mosquito problem that was once just a part of the package you got used to, has morphed into making the park miserable. We went 2 years ago and the mosquitos were so bad we swore we wouldn't come back. We tried again last week ( August 2014) and we were fooled twice. You literally can't walk in the grass day or night (even mid-day at 105 degrees) without getting swarmed with mosquitos. Even the bathrooms have enough mosquitos to make potty breaks a challenge without getting bit. We tried to just deal with it and just about everyone that planned to camp around us stayed for a night and couldn't take it and left early.

We were there for 4 nights, $80 in bug spray later and no less than 30 bites on each of us and we even had a bug shelter, we sadly will never go back. The park ranger did spray twice while we were there which didn't help a bit. I believe they may have changed to a more 'eco-friendly' mosquito spray which may be the root of the problem. Hopefully this review will help someone out there when trying to pick a state park to stay in. I would suggest Lincoln Rock State Park as a great alternative. It is a better park with much more features and a great swim area, it just isn't as much fun if you bring a ski boat like we do. At least there you won't get eaten alive...