List of Idaho state parks

Map of State Parks of Idaho
Hold cursor over locations to display park name; click to go to park article.

This is a list of Idaho state parks. The U.S. state of Idaho currently has 30 state parks. This count includes the state-managed City of Rocks National Reserve and four parks which are managed jointly as Thousand Springs State Park. Heyburn State Park, the oldest, was created in 1908, the first state park not only in Idaho but the Pacific Northwest.^[1] Total visitation across the system is more than 4.5 million annually.^[2]

The state park system is managed by the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation. Their mission statement is "To improve the quality of life in Idaho through outdoor recreation and resource stewardship."^[3] The department has the dual duty of "protecting and preserving the resources of the state park system and of providing recreation opportunities and facilities for public use."^[4] The park system includes four classifications: natural parks which preserve significant natural resources, recreation parks which offer opportunities for outdoor activities, heritage parks which preserve and interpret sites of cultural importance, and recreation trailways.^[4]

History

For much of the system's history it was managed by the State Land Board, and briefly by the Idaho Transportation Department in the late 1940s. A professional park management agency wasn't created until 1965, this being a qualification both for the donation of Harriman State Park and for federal Land and Water Conservation Fund money.^[5]

Those federal grants, largely raised from fees charged to oil companies for offshore drilling, brought $60 million into Idaho for city and county parks as well as state parks.^[5] In 1981 the Department of Parks and Recreation began charging entrance fees, which support park operations and maintenance.^[5]

List of parks

Name	County	Size[6]		Elevation[6]		Estab- lished[7]	Image	Remarks[6]
		acres	ha	ft	m
Bear Lake State Park	Bear Lake	966	391	5,900	1,800	1969		Comprises two properties on the shore of Bear Lake.
Bruneau Dunes State Park	Owyhee	4,800	1,900	2,470	750	1970		Showcases dunes rising up to 470 feet (140 m) above several small lakes.
Castle Rocks State Park	Cassia	1,440	580	5,620	1,710	2004		Features granite spires and an early-20th Century ranch at the base of 10,339-foot (3,151 m) Cache Peak.
City of Rocks National Reserve	Cassia	14,407	5,830	5,720	1,740	1988		Showcases granite spires and monoliths popular for rock climbing.
Coeur d'Alene Parkway State Park	Kootenai	34	14	2,187	667			Provides a walking and bicycling path along the north shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene, as the east end of the North Idaho Centennial Trail.
Coeur d'Alene's Old Mission State Park	Kootenai	18	7.3	2,200	670	1975		Interprets the oldest standing building in Idaho, finished in 1853 as a Jesuit mission to the Coeur d'Alene people.
Dworshak State Park	Clearwater	850	340	1,600	490	1989		Comprises three properties on the shore of the reservoir created by the Dworshak Dam.
Eagle Island State Park	Ada	545	221	2,724	830	1977		Features day-use recreational facilities, including a swimming beach and water slide, near Boise.
Farragut State Park	Kootenai	4,000	1,600	2,054	626	1964		Features recreational facilities on the southwest arm of Lake Pend Oreille, on the site of a former U.S. Navy training base during World War II.
Harriman State Park	Fremont	11,000	4,500	6,120	1,870	1977		Preserves expansive wildlife habitat, a historic ranch, and fly fishing in Henrys Fork within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Hells Gate State Park	Idaho	960	390	733	223	1973		Contains the mouth of Hells Canyon, the deepest canyon in North America.
Henrys Lake State Park	Fremont	585	237	6,470	1,970	1973		Adjoins a high mountain lake named after explorer Andrew Henry, located 15 miles (24 km) outside Yellowstone National Park.
Heyburn State Park	Benewah	5,774	2,337	2,128	649	1908		Preserves three lakes in the oldest state park in the Pacific Northwest.
Lake Cascade State Park	Valley	4,450	1,800	4,825	1,471			Comprises properties dispersed around Lake Cascade's 86 miles (138 km) of shoreline.
Lake Walcott State Park	Minidoka	65	26	4,700	1,400	1999		Provides water recreation opportunities at the northwest end of Lake Walcott.
Land of the Yankee Fork State Park	Custer	520.9	210.8	5,001	1,524	1990		Interprets Idaho's frontier mining history, including the ghost towns of Bayhorse, Bonanza, and Custer.
Lucky Peak State Park	Ada	|	2,750	840	1956		Comprises three day-use areas just outside Boise on Lucky Peak Lake and the Boise River.
Massacre Rocks State Park	Power	990	400	4,400	1,300	1967		Preserves a boulder field on the Snake River where emigrants on the Oregon and California Trails feared ambush by Native Americans.
McCroskey State Park	Benewah, Latah	5,300	2,100	3,039	926	1955		Offers a scenic drive along a ridge overlooking the Palouse.
Ponderosa State Park	Valley	1,515	613	5,050	1,540	1973		Preserves a peninsula jutting into Payette Lake.
Priest Lake State Park	Bonner	755	306	2,440	740	1973		Comprises three units around Priest Lake in the Selkirk Mountains just 30 miles (48 km) from the Canada–United States border.
Round Lake State Park	Bonner	142	57	2,122	647			Surrounds a 58-acre (23 ha) lake.
Thousand Springs State Park	Gooding	1,500	610	2,800	850	2005		Comprises multiple units in the Hagerman Valley where numerous springs charged by the Snake River Aquifer flow out of the eastern valley wall.
Three Island Crossing State Park	Elmore	613	248	2,484	757	1968		Interprets the site of a famous ford over the Snake River on the Oregon Trail,
Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes	Benewah, Kootenai, Shoshone	|	|			Comprises a 73-mile (117 km) paved rail trail across the Idaho Panhandle.
Winchester Lake State Park	Lewis	418	169	3,900	1,200	1969		Surrounds a 104-acre (42 ha) lake known for its rainbow trout fishing.

See also

• List of U.S. national parks

References

External links

• Idaho State Department of Parks and Recreation