Winchester Lake State Park

We are early in the season, so only lower Appaloosa Loop was open, but the treed lakeview was lovely and the place was quiet. I assume it will be busy with fisherfolk later in the season. Nice waterfowl and hikes. Plenty of AT&T to conduct hour-long Zoom chat WITH video.

People at registration booth very friendly. We didn’t have reservations so they made a list of open spots and said to go choose one and come back to pay. Campground has lots of evergreen trees and most spots are shady. Road is paved, but sites are gravel. Seemed hit and miss on how level they were. All rv sites had w/e. No sewer or dump in park. There is dump in town right outside the park. The rv sites are not next to the lake. We’re in 25 ft class C but there were some very large rigs here. Decent space between sites in the Camas loop. There are showers with flush toilets but most of restrooms are vault style , very clean. Favorite things.. weather was high 70s at end of July.

There are 46 water and electric sites and 22 standard sites. Most sites are wooded and private. The staff was very friendly and helpful. The lake is perfect for kayaking and fishing. Only 45 minutes from Lewiston, ID, Winchester Lake State Park is a great stop.

Winchester Lake is a fairly typical Idaho State Park. It is located off of US 95, south of Lewiston, Idaho. The man made lake was once a millpond for a lumber company in Winchester. It is probably around 15 to 20 feet deep and was just a meadow before a creek was damned to create the millpond about a 100 years ago.

The campground sits in what could be referred to as old growth by some, however, its actually second growth trees planted after all of the real old growth was harvested in the early 20th century.

The campground has 3 loops of campgrounds, 2 with both W/E. I recommend you try and get a site in the Bitterroot Loop if you need hook ups. There is no sewage dump within the park, however, there is a free dump station within the town of Winchester. I would rate the dump station a 3 on a scale of 5 as the water connection will not screw into any backflush fitting on your trailer. Its a 3/8" hose and I tried to hold it against my fitting and it worked...somewhat.

The campground, at least the Bitterroot loop, is a nice campground. However, some of the sites may be tight to get into with a bumper pull trailer. Reservations can be made at Reserveamerica.com. The campground was full on Labor Day weekend.

The Lake reportedly is stocked with many species of fish, and I saw many people with a line in the water, but no tight lines did i observe. The water clarity is poor, and I wouldn't advise swimming in the lake with the 1000 + resident geese we saw and all of what they leave behind.

Still, the park is a bit of an oasis on the prairie.

https://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/parks/winchester-lake