Bridgeport State Park

Bridgeport State Park: A Green Campground on Rufus Woods Lake

Bridgeport State Park is a 622 acre park on the shore of Rufus Woods Lake, directly behind Chief Joseph Dam in the dry hills of North Central Washington. About 18 acres of irrigated lawn and shade trees make it a green island in sagebrush country, with 34 campsites, two boat launches and 7,500 feet of shoreline on the Columbia River reservoir. Anglers come for the trout, silvers and walleye, and nearly everyone stops to look at the Haystacks, the giant boulders scattered across the hillside.

Bridgeport State Park Fast Facts

Park Overview

The park exists because of the dam. Washington State Parks leased the land from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1955, as Chief Joseph Dam was being finished, to give the public access to the new reservoir behind it. The day use area opened by 1964 and the campground followed in 1968, with later expansions. Rufus Woods Lake is a stretch of the Columbia River held back by the dam, and State Parks describes Chief Joseph as the second largest hydropower producer in the country after Grand Coulee.

The Haystacks are the park’s signature. According to State Parks’ history of the park, they are glacial erratics: giant basalt boulders carried and dropped by an ice sheet more than 1,000 feet thick during the last Ice Age. Today they rise out of the dry grass above a campground that looks more like a city park than a desert camp.

Activities & Recreation

Fishing is the main event. Rufus Woods Lake holds rainbow trout, silvers and walleye, and most anglers fish from boats, because fishing from shore beyond the park requires a Colville Tribe license in addition to a state license. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers runs interpretive programs in summer, usually on Saturdays, on the dam and local wildlife. Bridgeport is also one of 24 Washington state parks with geocaches hidden within its boundaries.

Facilities & Amenities

The day use area has 10 unsheltered picnic tables, first come, first served, and two covered picnic gazebos on the lawn. The park has two watercraft launches with 240 feet of dock, modern restrooms with hot showers, a trailer dump station, a playground and horseshoe pits. The group camp has its own kitchen shelter, restrooms, brazier and picnic tables.

Camping & Accommodations

Bridgeport has 34 campsites. Twenty have electrical hookups, sites 1 to 6 and 18 to 30 plus ADA accessible site 17, and take RVs up to 45 feet. The 14 standard sites are 7 to 16 in the main loop and tent sites 31 to 34, set apart near the water and the swim area. Tents are allowed in the hookup sites, but they pay the hookup rate. All campsites can be reserved for dates between May 15 and Sept. 15, and the group camp holds up to 75 people.

Find more campgrounds like Bridgeport State Park in our guide to camping in Washington State

Check in is 2:30 p.m. and check out is 1 p.m. Each site allows one camping party of up to eight people, and an extra vehicle costs $10 a night. Quiet hours run 10 p.m. to 6:30 a.m., and generators may run only from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Planning Your Visit

The park is open 6 a.m. to dusk year round, and a Discover Pass is required to park. Follow Half Sun Way from the town of Bridgeport toward Chief Joseph Dam to reach the entrance. Reserve summer sites at washington.goingtocamp.com or 888 CAMPOUT, and launch fees apply for boats. Current alerts, including burn bans, are posted on this page. The park is an easy add to a trip to Lake Chelan or the Okanogan, and our Columbia River state parks guide covers every state park along the river.

What to Bring & Know

• Sun protection and water; outside the lawn this is open, dry country
• A boat, if you have one, for the best fishing; shore fishing off park property needs a Colville Tribe license as well as a state license
• Swim gear and water shoes for the swim area by tent sites 31 to 34
• Firewood bought outside the park, since gathering wood in state parks is prohibited
• A jacket for evenings, when the air off the lake cools quickly

The park’s own brochure names two other state parks in the area: Alta Lake and Ice Caves. For more, see our Washington state parks guide.

Final Word

Bridgeport State Park is a patch of shade and green grass on a big, quiet stretch of the Columbia: a boat in the water by breakfast, walleye or trout by lunch, and the Haystacks glowing on the hill at sunset.