Blue Bay

Blue Bay Campground (Suttle Lake) Site 15 description from Recreation.gov, which I found to be accurate: “Driveway Entry: Pull-Through Driveway Length: 110 Driveway Surface: Gravel Is Equipment Mandatory: Yes Max Num of Vehicles: 2 Max Vehicle Length: 40

This site will accommodate one 40-foot and one 30-foot vehicle (total vehicle length). In addition to the above space, there is parking for approximately two extra vehicles (total vehicle length less than eighteen feet each).”

What is not mentioned, that I could find, is the driveway is shaped like a horseshoe and to pull through your RV or trailer might be tough. There are several large boulders and wood bollards on the right side of the driveway that may make it difficult to swing the front end of your vehicle wide enough to clear the trees on left. We ended up backing our trailer (32’) into the site vs. trying to pull through it.

Site 15 is spacious and mostly private that has 2 picnic tables. Plenty of space for several tents in the site and to set-up if your outdoor games. There is some road noise, but it was not overwhelming. The boat dock is a short walk from this site - short enough to walk with your SUP board, kayak or canoe. The dumpster is close to this site, but it was not overflowing and the garbage service came on Friday of the holiday weekend.

Blue Bay campground appears to be the smallest of the three campgrounds on Suttle Lake and it appears that several of the sites are semi-private to mostly private. It was mostly quiet during our stay, the loudest noise heard was the occasional barking dog and excited child.

The dock at the campground is small, but perfect for smaller craft launching and close to Suttle Lake Boat House and lodge. The lake is gorgeous and no wake for a generous part of it. Perfect for paddle boarding. The trail around the lake gets a lot of use - walkers, runners and bikers.

Accessing the campground is easy, just off HWY 20. The campground road was in good shape and we found that we had no issues pulling our 32’ trailer through the campground.

We did not utilize the restrooms (pit toilets) during our stay, but they were directly off the campground ground road and we walked by them several times and did not notice an odor.

The campground host was off duty during the holiday weekend (odd?) It looked like, if on duty, firewood might have been available for purchase. However, we did not get close enough to the wood bundles to inquire if there was an alternate pay system (leaving cash in a box vs. paying a person). There was not much Forest Service (FS) personnel presence, we saw a FS vehicle once.

We have AT&T as our phone carrier and received and made calls without issue. Text messages mostly went through, however internet was slow and iffy most of the time.

This is a lovely campground right on the shore of Suttle Lake. There is a boat launch, fish-cleaning station, and potable water (a great many spigots!). There two loops: sites 1-18 are in one loop (1-17 are reservable and 18 is the camp host); sites 19-25 are in the second loop (these are walk-up only). All are tent sites. There are two vault toilets -- one in each loop.

Campsites are spacious and each features a picnic table and large fire pit with two tall metal sides and hinged grill that can sit over the fire for cookin'. Sites have a good mix of shade and sunny spots. Lots of mosquitoes! Bring bug repellant!

There is a trail that circumvents the lake. Great for walking/jogging/biking. The lake is wonderful for boating and swimming. There are multiple lake access points along the trail and there is a dock on the SE side of the lake (there might be more but this is the only one I saw).

The only downside is the road noise. The highway runs along the lake and car sound travels across the water. Other than that, this campground was perfect.

One quick note about the toilets: they were exceptionally smelly when we went. I've used more vault toilets than I can count and the smell is never pleasant but this one was particularly foul-smelling. Not sure you can fault the campground for this, so I didn't factor it into my rating (it's possible that one person was responsible for this haha) but I got the impression that maybe they weren't emptied in a while. Could be good for the camp host to know. The toilet area, in general, was well-maintained and clean. No soap or hand sanitizer though so bring your own!

Overall, we had a really wonderful experience at Blue Bay. Would definitely go back.