May 4-6, 2026
Miles traveled: 183 each way
We snuck away for a quick camping trip to Lake Wenatchee State Park just north of Leavenworth, WA. While we visit Leavenworth somewhat regularly, this is the first time we’ve camped at this state park! We recently traded in our Jeep Wrangler for a Ford F-150 pick up. The Jeep, while a very fun vehicle to drive, really was not very practical. While it managed to tow our little teardrop trailer adaquately, it was maxing out that “80% Towing Rule” we had heard about, and it was small and could hold, at best, four adults. With all that in mind, we traded it in, and were anxious to give the new rig a test run at hauling the trailer before we head off on a long road trip in the near future.
Lake Wenatchee State Park is located on, you guessed it…Lake Wenatchee. It is a large lake, and provides the headwaters for the Wenatchee River. This is, I believe, a glacier-fed lake. In the right weather it is reported that this lake is a beautiful color. However, it was experiencing some spring-time windy weather during our visit, which was churning up a lot of dirt and debris with many white cap waves across it’s 5-mile length. Nonetheless, the weather was otherwise great with highs into the 80’s and nighttime lows only into the low 50’s. The sitting bench at the end of the lake makes a perfect spot to watch the sunset, the birds and the Cascade golden-mantled ground squirrels.
This state park has two designated campgrounds (North and South), each with multiple loops of campsites, and a total of 197 sites. It was only being lightly used this first week of May, but we imagine it is quite busy in the summer. The south campground is mainly for tent camping and small trailers (less than 20′) with no utilities, while the north campground has sites for larger RVs with both pull-through and back-in driveways, and many with partial utilities (water/electric). Both campgrounds have restrooms (including flush toilets) and showers, which we found to be clean and well kept. We had a reservation for the north campground and were quite happy with the location and condition of site 130. It had a flat and level driveway, which made parking the trailer a breeze, and the electrical hook=up post was in excellent condition, offering 50, 30 and 20 (I think) amp service, as well as a couple of standard outlets. The water spigot was available and on for the season, however we did not utilize the water (we always bring our own water). This campsite, as well as the others, had a nice metal ringed fire pit with a flip over grill, a large tent pad, and a big wooden picnic table. Mosquitos were out in full force, so we used the tent pad to set up our 9′ Clam Quik-Set shelter. Because its not quite ‘fire season’ yet, wood fires were allowed but we chose to utilize our portable fire pit instead. Our campsite was about a 1/3 mile easy walk to the lake shore along a well kept access road/path from that end of the campground. Be sure to take a flashlight with you if you’re coming back to camp after dark as there is no ambient light along this trail. Black bears are known to be in this area, and we did see a couple of trees that looked to have been clawed open, so stay aware of your surroundings.
We had pre-cooked our meals, which always makes things much simpler while camping. Breakfasts were my “world famous” breakfast burritos and “muffles” (a muffin batter cooked in a waffle iron); lunches were our usual cheese, crackers, and fruit; and dinners were bratwursts cooked over the fire, and cheesey-mexican chicken and rice in a tortilla. We also enjoyed “campfire pies” which are a family-favorite, which are made from crescent roll dough and apple pie filling baked in the pie iron/sandwich maker. (this link isn’t to the exact same one we have, but it’s similar).
This was a very low-key trip, with just the idea of being out in the woods to soak up some nature. I spent some time listening to an audiobook while in my hammock; we played some Scrabble (with an equal number of wins for each of us); and we watched satellites and bats after the sun set. We did make a quick run into Leavenworth to visit The Oil & Vinegar Cellar, one of our favorite shops in the quaint Bavarian-themed village, for a bottle of pecan-praline balsamic vinegar. This particular balsamic is amazingly delicious on top of ice cream, especially strawberry ice cream. I tried a new flavor, mango white balsamic, which really had some zip to it, but was very good. We were not prepared to invest in a second bottle, but thought it would be very good drizzled over fresh fruit.
This short camping trip was delightfully peaceful, and we would most certainly return to this campground again.
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