Devil's Toenail works the river in full view of the bank at Bowl and Pitcher. The swinging bridge crosses the Spokane onto basalt under ponderosa, and the campground loops sit in the trees behind it. The gorge is the morning walk, and the campground is the same park.
Cross the bridge on foot and the rapid stays in view from the far bank. Trails follow the gorge from camp, and the loops are on the river, still inside Spokane.
The improved sites take hookups, with a 45-foot cap, so a campervan fits and a larger RV still can if you want more sleeping room. As of September 2026, sections of Riverside remain closed after the summer fire, and a statewide burn ban allows gas and propane stoves and fire pits while wood and charcoal fires stay off. Read the park alerts before you go, then take the next day up Mount Spokane.
Mount Spokane State Park
The summit walk ends at a stone Vista House, a lookout the trails are built around. You drive the mountain, walk the last stretch, and sit with that view on a summer day.
In winter the mountain is a Sno-Park. Groomed Nordic trails run through subalpine meadows, and a separately run downhill ski area occupies the flank. A Discover Pass does not cover this season, so you need a Sno-Park permit from December through March, even for a day.
Bald Knob is the small primitive campground on the mountain if you want the night up there. It is open early July through mid-September, with reservable standard sites, a restroom and running water, and no showers. Outside that window, treat Mount Spokane as a day.
Spring Canyon and Fort Spokane on Lake Roosevelt
Spring Canyon and Fort Spokane sit on the open shoreline of Lake Roosevelt, the bank of a wide reservoir. Fort Spokane still has the 1880s Army post on the same ground, so the day is swimming, a shoreline walk, and a look through the old buildings.
The National Park Service does not provide hookups at Spring Canyon, Fort Spokane, or the other standard campgrounds on the lake. Your van has to fit the paved site pad, and both of these campgrounds have water-fill and dump stations. Reservations are required up to 6 months ahead, and from December through March only single loops at Spring Canyon, Fort Spokane, and Kettle Falls stay on the books.
Steamboat Rock State Park
The campground sits under the butte at Steamboat Rock, and the day is the columnar hike up it, desert water at the foot of Banks Lake. Jones Bay and Osborn Bay are the improved loops under it. The night people stay for is the laser-light show at Crown Point, next to Grand Coulee Dam.
Palouse Falls is a plunge into a basalt amphitheater from an overlook a few steps from the lot, with no camping at the park. East of the river, Coeur d'Alene is the Idaho overnight. West of here, Wenatchee takes the next stretch of the Columbia.