Kettle Falls Campground

Arrived to discover the only way you can obtain a site is via recreation.gov, not at the campground. The charge on recreation.gov was $23, although the paperwork at the campsite says $18.

Nice campground, although not to my taste as I like things a little quieter. This is a busy campground with a marina and boat launch, a lot of people enjoying the lake and their boats.

No hookups but on the plus side, freshwater fill was available at the dump station (not available often at National Park CG’s). There are water faucets throughout the campground but they are not hose bibs.

Drove here from the coast of northern Washington to bypass the smoke and fires that were along our originally planned route. A little smokey when we arrived to a half full CG, the next morning we got socked in. Being a weekend & trying to nurse a hurt leg, we settled in for 3 nights. Staying inside as much as possible, using our masks while walking the dog or just being outside because of the thickness of the smoke.

This is now a Reservation Only with 3 days advanced booking on Res.gov location. We didn't have a reservation but looking around we noticed half the sites on loops 2 & 3 didn't have dated placards, I then checked the res.gov web site showing the same thing. I called the agent at res.gov and after waiting on hold for over an hour, she then tells me they couldn't book any site under the 3 days. Called the manager of the Recreation area, which the res.gov recommended & gave me, telling her our predicament. 2 calls no return call. National Park Rangers pass through the CG several times a day, so I stopped one telling him what I had done, he apologized for the inconvenience, saying we could stay & would check with the Manager just to make sure the site # wasn't booked. No word or call from the manager or Park rangers, so we camped the 3 nights for free. The Ranger also told me this was the only open CG on the National Recreation Area lake making it busier than normal during the pandemic. I'd check the CG website before arriving just to be sure.

We came here on July 1, on a Monday. This large campground was maybe just 1/4th full. Self-check in on a first-come first-serve basis where we could choose our site. Some sites had reservations posted for July 4th and the following weekend, but we could have taken them on July 1.
It was very hot, 90F in town, and this campground has no hookups (nor did we look for any). We found site 48 to be a bit away from the water views, but shady. The trees are large pines which makes for just spotty shade, but luckily we had three or so large trees behind us.

Dumpstation is a plus, and freshwater too.

The regular price for a night is $18, but is half off if you have an America The Beautiful Pass, so only $9. There were two bathrooms, but I didn't check them out.

Kettle Falls doesn't have much as far as stores goes.... we didn't want to cook on a hot day coming in, so were looking for fast food. All we saw was a Mom and Pop pizza place (with delivery) and a Subway Store by a Fuel Station. There was a smalish market on the main road through.

Both my AT&T and Verizon Mifi Internet devices did work without a glitch which was surprising because coming here, if you see trees around you and no town nearby, you won't get any reception.

Good place to stop when driving through.

Kettle Falls Campground, Stevens County, Washington. So, how does a little town in the middle of a big plateau and no river get a name like Kettle Falls? Well, you take one of the largest natural waterfalls on the Columbia River, Sacred source of salmon to the Indians, and the drawing point of the original resort town of Kettle Falls, flood it to make a dam, tell the Indians to buy tuna, move the town brick by brick to higher ground where no one wanted to live before, then sit back and behold the mess you've made. But the campground isn't a mess. The original foundations are still there, and there's an energy in that Locust Grove in the middle of the campground where the town once stood. It will leave you in awe. Wonderful place. My first wild turkeys. My favorite. For more info, click on http://campeverycountywa.com/stevens-county.html