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5.0
6 votes

Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park

34875 Park Lake Road N.E., Coulee City, Washington 99115 USA

  • Independent
  • Credit Cards
    Accepted
  • Pet Friendly
  • Not Wheelchair
    Accessible
  • Public
    Restrooms
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“3.5-mile-wide chasm of basalt”

In the heart of the Grand Coulee lies one of the natural wonders of North America — the Dry Falls cataract. This 3.5-mile-wide chasm of basalt, with a drop of 400 feet, was left high and dry thousands of years ago as the last of several Ice Age floods swept through the Grand Coulee. This is one of the most extraordinary landscapes to be found along the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail. Begin your journey with a visit to the historic Vista House Overlook, which offers panoramic views of Dry Falls. Watch for wildlife, the plunge pools surrounding this dormant Ice Age waterfall are now home to a series of tranquil groundwater-fed lakes, an oasis for wildlife and wildlife viewing. Next door you will find the Dry Falls Visitor Center, home to a wide range of indoor exhibits highlighting the Ice Age and early human history of the region. The center also features a comprehensive bookstore — a must stop for those looking to learn more about the Ice Age floods story. After visiting the center, explore the Dry Falls landscape by car, on foot or by boat. Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park offers a wide variety of recreational opportunities, including hiking more than 15 miles of trails, participating in interpretive programs, camping, boating, golfing and wildlife viewing.

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Reviews of Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park

20 people have reviewed this location

Ratings Summary

4.6 Access
4.7 Location
4.7 Cleanliness
4.2 Site Quality
4.4 Noise

Cell Coverage

Verizon 4G

Confirmed by 2 users | Last reported on October 10, 2021

AT&T 4G

Confirmed by 3 users | Last reported on May 29, 2021

T-Mobile 4G/5G

Confirmed by 3 users | Last reported on June 16, 2022
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Reviewed by
Anna Hider

  • Blogger
  • 1,414 Reviews
  • 636 Helpful
September 03, 2014
Rated 5.0

I know a dried up waterfall sounds pretty dull, but the views from the cliffs are amazing!! The interpretive center is excellent as well. Really puts how massive this thing was in perspective.

1 person found this review helpful

Reviewed by
deborah.l.york.5

  • 3 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
June 10, 2014
Rated

This place is amazing! Think Niagara Falls with no water. The picture they have does not capture how interesting this place looks. Go see it!

1 person found this review helpful
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Reviewed by
Campendium

April 11, 2016
Rated

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.

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $42.00

Days Stayed: 4

Site Number: 63

4 Access
4 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
4 Noise
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Reviewed by
Campendium

May 09, 2016
Rated

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.

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Nightly Rate: $35.00

Days Stayed: 1

Site Number: 88

5 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
4 Site Quality
5 Noise
  • 121 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
May 27, 2018
Rated

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!

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roadtripper4458193 would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $20.00

Days Stayed: 2

Site Number: -

5 Access
5 Location
4 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
5 Noise
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Reviewed by
Campendium

September 07, 2018
Rated

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.

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $45.00

Days Stayed: 3

Site Number: 89

5 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
5 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

AT&T 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

June 27, 2020
Rated

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.

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $40.00

Days Stayed: 4

Site Number: 153

5 Access
5 Location
4 Cleanliness
3 Site Quality
2 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

T-Mobile 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

July 28, 2020
Rated

Really enjoyed staying at Sun Lakes State Park! The RV loops are newer and have full hookups! Not a ton of privacy but the location is beautiful. Enjoyed exploring all the lakes in the area. Especially like Deep Lake which is a 2.5 mile bike ride or drive from the campground. Having the Sun Lakes Resort right next to the campground was a huge bonus. Nice beach and small restaurant/grocery store (ice, water, beverages etc.) Will stay again!

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $5.00

Days Stayed: 6

Site Number: 81

5 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
4 Site Quality
4 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

AT&T 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

August 14, 2020
Rated

The lakes were great. We went to Deep Lake which parking was very packed, but had great cliff jumping. The park rangers were friendly and kept the park very clean. However, we had to put the tent on gravel, it was very hot with mediocre shade, and was not private at all. You’re right next to the next site.

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Nightly Rate: -

Days Stayed: 3

Site Number: 93

4 Access
4 Location
5 Cleanliness
2 Site Quality
4 Noise
  • 13 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
March 21, 2021
Rated

We chose this facility for a short shakedown trip after commissioning our motorhome for spring (mid-March). We had the place almost to ourselves - our only neighbors were two pickup campers and a single tent camp in this very large campground. Signs were posted at the entrance saying the water was turned off at campsites, for the winter but we found ours was on. Staff was working to prepare for the season and we suspect that it was just turned on. Our site had 15/30/50 amp power and sewer, all in excellent condition. Gravel pad was fairly level, but we did have to block the left rear tires up two inches.

This is a very interesting area geologically, and we enjoyed a number of wonderful walks. We imagine this would be a wonderful campground for families in the summer, with lakes for swimming and fishing, a very nice playground, a 9 hole golf course and the Sun Lakes Park Resort just up the road which is a private concessionaire. We had a relaxing, very quiet stay, but believe it could be crazy busy here during the summer.

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roadtripper9041371 would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $45.00

Days Stayed: 2

Site Number: 42

5 Access
4 Location
5 Cleanliness
4 Site Quality
5 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

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Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park

34875 Park Lake Road N.E.
Coulee City, Washington
99115 USA
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  • Unavailable
    Parking
  • Check
    Pets Allowed
  • Check
    Restrooms
  • Unknown
    Wifi
  • Unavailable
    Wheelchair Accessible
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    Credit Cards Accepted
Affiliation
State park or forest
Back In RV Sites Count
16
Last Nightly Rate
42.0
Longest Vehicle Length Reported
34.0
Lowest Nightly Rate
5.0
Max Length
65 ft
Max Stay
10
Pull Through RV Sites Count
3
Sites Count
41
  • Unavailable
    Paved Sites
  • Check
    Fifty Amp
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    Full Hookup
  • Check
    Rec Facilities
  • Check
    Pull Through
  • Check
    Tent Sites
  • Check
    Dump Station
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    Big Rigs
  • Unavailable
    Open Seasonally
  • Unavailable
    Age Restricted
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    Back In RV Sites
  • Check
    Boondock
  • Unavailable
    Cabin Sites
  • Unavailable
    Dispersed Sites
  • Unavailable
    Firewood
  • Unavailable
    Fulltime Residents
  • Unavailable
    Group Tent Sites
  • Unavailable
    Laundry
  • Unavailable
    Mobile Homes
  • Unavailable
    Permit Required
  • Check
    Potable Water
  • Unavailable
    Propane
  • Check
    Public Water
  • Check
    Pull Through RV Sites
  • Check
    Reservations
  • Check
    Sewer Hookup
  • Check
    Showers
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    Sites
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    Standard Tent Sites
  • Unavailable
    Vehicle Wash Permitted
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    Water Hookup
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