This is the worst campground I've ever stayed at.
Please, please do not stay here. If you insist on camping in this region's unbearable heat, go to Chief Timothy in Clarkston, Washington (a few minutes west of Lewiston, with cabins at about $65 a night, plus fees). Everything about Chief Timothy is superior, including the nice breeze from the water. If you just need a cheap place to stay, go to Motel 6 in Clarkston, Washington (~$49 a night for two people). Seriously. It's more expensive than a campsite at Hells Gate ($16-24), but it is cheaper than the cabins (~$65 a night), and you get your very own bathroom.
The cabins at both parks have two full beds, one twin bunk and electricity. They don't have toilets, showers, kitchenettes, or water spigots, so they cost too much for what you get. You can stay in a yurt at an Eastern Oregon state park for $37,and there won't be any A/C, but it will be bigger and more comfortable and there will be a clean, comfortable, shared bathroom one minute away by paved path. I don't mind roughing it (I love it, actually, in cooler weather), but I do mind roughing it for $65 a night, plus reservation fees.
(If you do decide to stay at Hells Gate, make sure you look at the official map of the campground and pick a site or cabin very near a bathroom, and if you plan to drive out often, pick a site close to the front gate to limit drive time.)
Problems at Hells Gate:
*The bathrooms are absolutely unacceptable (they smell AWFUL [notes of dog urine on a moldy mattress]; they are at least 10 degrees and 30% humidity higher than the outdoors; at one point during our trip there was no toilet paper at all; there are no soap dispensers or soap; the shower stall walls are about 5' tall [yes, Virginia, you can look right over them]; the showers don't have a shelf or bench or anything to put your clothes on; and the water gets extremely hot and extremely cold, suddenly and randomly)
*The bathrooms are a five-minute walk from the cabins and many of the campsites
*When you walk 5 minutes to the bathroom, you will have to decide whether to add two minutes by walking on the poorly planned path, or cutting through other people's campsites to get there more quickly. That means you're walking through sharp, dead plant material which will get into your sandals and make your feet bleed (the bleeding and limping also add to the commute)
*The cabin parking is a few hundred feet away from the cabins, or further, if you use the path, so you have to haul all your stuff a great distance over the sharp, dead plant material (if you aren't wearing sandals, it sticks to your socks)
*The mattress pads are about 2" of sad foam inside a waterproof case. It's basically like sleeping on the floor. My hurt-back friend had to take the twin mattress and put that on top of the full bed for a double layer
*The cabins cost about $20 more than a room at Motel 6 (hotel rooms have A/C, bathrooms, AND showers--in the room!)
*The picnic tables near the cabins are made of a dark metal that gets up to about EIGHT THOUSAND DEGREES in the Idaho sun
*The signage is not welcoming (DO NOT do this! If you do THIS you will be ASKED TO LEAVE! If you DAMAGE anything you will PAY! No COOKING! No COFFEE MAKERS! No LEAVING CABIN WITH A/C ON!)
*The place looks like an RV park. There is basically a huge lawn with parking pads on it, and some trees and manicured flower plots, and then a whole lot of people stuffed in, too close to each other. It looks like a dog park with a bunch of cars parked on it
*The park is located more or less in the industrial area of the town of Lewiston. It is like 5 minutes from their downtown (this was a problem for us)
In short, we hated nearly every minute of our stay here. I am so thankful we didn't reserve more nights than we did. We did have fun making up slogans for the park, though! It was too hot to go outside, so we had a lot of time to work on them. Here are two of my favorites:
*Hells Gate State Park: You gotta laugh, or you'll cry! (But don't laugh too hard or you might pee and there is no toilet paper.)
*Once you go to Hells Gate State Park, you never go back! read more