Cossatot River State Park - Natural Area

This place is fantastic. Well worth the 2.5 hour spur of the moment drive to get here. It's a bit of a rough drive from access to access on a small vehicle, but it's doable. The views are great. Even though the water seemed low for May. The staff at the visitors center were beyond fantastic. We came for some small mouth fishing. We caught lots of sunfish and goggle eyes. I caught lots of tiny smallies and one nice size (my 2nd best ever-released for future anglers to enjoy) I tried hard to get my wife on her 1st smallie, but it just wasn't meant to be. Video of our trip coming to my UGETube channel soon. We will be back for an extend stay next time.

Absolutely loved this area, will be back again! We came in at night & it was super hard to follow the signs to get to the falls campsite area. We seriously thought we were lost, GPS in the vehicle didn't register the roads and we had zero cell service, its advisable to print out any directions you need & carry a hard copy map! The river corridor trail was gorgeous! We made it to the Ed Banks area & had to turn around due to the water rushing over the trail. So may beautiful wildflowers, several numbered bridges to cross & beautiful water falls to capture!

We’ve been coming to the Cossatot River for years, it’s one of our favorite places. There are several locations along the River that you can drive to, then you’re on foot. If we only come up for a day, it’s usually first to the falls to hike the rocks and then to the sandbar for some swimming and relaxing. Bring comfortable shoes that can get wet and also won’t slip off. You will be miserable with the wrong foot wear. An added caution, surfaces below the waterline are especially slippery, if you hike the falls you will inevitably experience how slippery, be careful. Bring food and drinks and please don’t leave them behind, have a bag for your trash if you’re hiking. We went up for the afternoon this time, it was enough time a visit to the falls and the sandbar for some hiking, swimming, cliff jumping and fishing. There are other locations along the river that are really nice and fun to explore however you should try to arrive early and camp overnight if you want to see more and have the time to enjoy them also. There are several tent camping spots, we like the ones at the falls however those are limited and if you come when it's busy, you might have to go to another spot, there are plenty scattered along the river. Enjoy tent camping, trail hiking, river hiking, swimming, rafting, kayaking, cliff jumping, fishing, rock hunting, and more! The water can get crystal clear if there hasn't been rain, some of the sights along the river are awesome, plan to drive to different locations and then do some hiking to catch them. See a video of this visit on my YouTube channel at “Vinny C Let’s Go”

First let me say, this place is beautiful! Awesome campsites (aside from the gravel base) very hard if not impossible to put in a tent stake. There are only 6 pull up to spots. There is a outhouse of sorts as the bathroom (bring something to help with the smell) the road in will test the best suspension, gravel logging road and it’s a drive to get there. There’s no running water other than the river. Other than that this place is a must see and the hiking trail is just as awesome.