Bay Loop Campground — Steamboat Rock State Park

We spent Thanksgiving weekend camping this year. The campground was partially open but very empty. The bathroom was open and warm, which was lovely. We hung out, hiked, fished, and enjoyed the deer, pheasant and wild turkeys wandering the grounds.

The description of this campground provided in the “About this campground” is quite accurate.  From the campground you can do boat activities or hiking.  We also did a very nice long bike from the campground but for some sections of it we had to share the road with fast car traffic.  While you will need to drive there it also makes it a nice base from which you visit Grand Coulee Dam. We went there at the beginning of October and the weather was quite nice. It would probably be too hot for us during the summer.

General: Three campgrounds (Sage, Dune, and Bay Loops with a total of 136 full hook-up sites and 26 standard sites) in the main park plus primitive sites at Jones Ba (44) and Osborn Bay (36) with vault toilets and no water, 12 boat-in sites north of the main campground and five campsites for equestrian campers in Northrup Canyon. There are also three cabins in the Bay Loop that each sleep five.

Site Quality/Facilities: We stayed in the Bay Loop. The sites were all very generous in size and spaced a decent distance apart. The drives are paved and can accommodate large RVs. Each site has a large metal picnic table and fire grate (although there was a fire ban when we were there). Park volunteers were very visible throughout our stay maintaining the campsites. 

Bathhouse: The bathhouse in the Bay Loop was the more modern of the two I saw. It was clean and had one shower stall BUT there were NO hooks or bench (other than a useless tiny shelf above the sink) to put toiletries; my bag fell and the top of my moisturizer container broke making a huge mess! There are also two all-in-ones. Showers were 50 cents for every three minutes and I managed to do a three-minute shower! 

Activities: So much to do but you have to bring your own toys! I had read there were kayak and SUP rentals but could not find where to do this anywhere in the park. There is a swimming beach, boat launch, fishing pier (and fish cleaning stations in each camp loop), basketball, volleyball, playground, and paved walking trails connecting the beach and all the camp loops. I was disappointed that the Steamboat Rock trail was closed when we were there due to fire danger. Also, the concession stand selling burgers, hot dogs, ice cream, etc. is closed on Monday and Tuesday and, of course, we were there on a Monday! 

The scenery is beautiful, and the campground is very well-maintained. The price is steep ($50) but at least you don’t have to pay extra for the Discover Pass. All in all, we had a very nice stay here and would come back again, hopefully to hike the Steamboat Rock trail with the reward of Huckleberry ice cream.

Full hookups, nice and quiet for springtime camping, but I think it would be miserably hot in the summer. Maybe good for boaters, but being a hiker, we enjoyed the cooler weather and quiet atmosphere

Very nice state park. Well managed. Clean. Fishing was fair for walleye, bass. Hiking was abundant. Easy in and out. Could use cable along with water, sewer, electric, hook ups.

We enjoyed this place alot. We walked over to a nice sandy beach and kids walked aways into water before it got deep. The beach was nice and sandy. We really enjoyed this place. There were wild turkeys that walked right into our camp. We hiked part of the ways up but didnt go all the way.

Steamboat rock state park and Banks lake are absolutely fantastic places to camp, boat, swim or even just hike. I recently kayaked to a boat in campsite with my friend and made camp on a sandy beach beneath the boat.

This campground must cost a mint to maintain - the lawn is midwestern-perfect and trimmed to perfection, the landscaping is gorgeous, and the campground is sprayed nightly if mosquitoes are particularly bad even in the height of August. That being said, there's nothing delineating your site from the neighboring site, so you're really just sharing a lawn with a hundred of your fellow campers. This campground is very popular with families with young children, so be prepared to have kids whizzing around on their scooters at all hours of the day. It was kinda awesome to see kids play in the street in a way i bet they couldn't at home.

So the cabins - that's what you really want. they're air-conditioned, comfortable, and clean. there's a fridge, a picnic table, a fire pit, and your own personal patch of pristine kelly-green lawn. worth EVERY penny!

We went here during the summertime and the cabins were just awesome they have a little AC unit in there which made it great to relax and after we had gotten home from hiking around in the rocks. You could also camp in a tent however with the quality of the cabins the price was well worth it especially during the summer time when it was sweltering hot highly recommended

We stayed a couple of nights in the cabins in this campground when they were brand new in 2013. Personally, I'd be wary of tent camping in the summer here because it gets very hot. Returning from a day hiking on the rock and chilling in the AC of the cabin was priceless.

The location is great, you can walk right from the camp area up the mesa which has incredible views, or go swimming in the lake or any other water based activity. It's a short drive to town where there's a grocery store and the Grand Coulee Dam, which is a must-see if you're in the area. At night they do laser light shows, which was a fun side trip.

The facilities are great, water tap nearby, picnic table and fire pit with grill at the site, and clean restrooms with showers (that you pay for). The bathrooms get pretty sauna like in the heat but are survivable. We had a blast trying our hardest to grill things on the fire pit, though we did break down and use the microwave in our cabin at least once... The minifridge in the cabin was also nice for that. Glamping at it's finest!

Great camping spot at a state park with trails and lake access. This is a big park with lots of amenities and lots of people in the summer time. But you can always hike a trail or get on the water to escape the crowds.

The area is stunning and outside of the camp ground and park its pretty remote.

Because this campground has a boat launch we would make this an annual trip with the ski boat. The lake is big enough to find a clear spot for skiing.

Another option on Baker Lake is a private resort Sunbanks Resort. They also have boat launches and their campground is much larger and even has a few dozen little dry cabins. They get much more crowded and hectic but, it's an option if you can't reserve a spot at the Steamboat State Park you can likely get a spot at Sunbanks.