Lake Chelan State Park is a 127-acre camping park on the forested south shore of Lake Chelan. The park has 6,000 feet of shoreline, lakeside views and expansive lawns for strolling and playing. The park gets an annual average rainfall of 11 inches. Summer tends to be hot and dry. Annual average snowfall is 42 inches.

Planning project at Lake Chelan State Park

Marine Park: No

Summer: 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Winter: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The park is open year round for camping and day use.

Camping:
Check-in time, 2:30 p.m.
Check-out time, 1 p.m.
Quiet hours: 10 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.

Native Americans used this site as a home and hunting area for many years. The name "Chelan" is a Salish Indian word meaning both "lake" and "blue water."

The location of a cabin owned by John Stevenson is visible in the park. One of the earliest white settlers in the area, Stevenson was a colorful trapper, blacksmith and ferry operator. He was the first postmaster on the southshore.

In 1880, Col. John Merriam established a military post on the shores of Lake Chelan. Civilian settlers began arriving in 1886, and the town was incorporated in 1902.

According to local lore, Lake Chelan was used as a lure in a real estate scandal of the 1940's. Unsuspecting buyers were sold inferior property in the mistaken belief they were buying property on the shores of Lake Chelan, or so the story goes. The real estate company, when accused, refused to acknowledge ownership. As a matter of public record, 124 acres of Lake Chelan State Park was acquired through a court settlement against a company named Babco, Inc. in 1943.

The lake was carved by two competing glaciers, the Chelan Glacier and the continental ice sheet. Their back-and-forth movement created the broad lower lake and narrow upper lake.

The park maintains a roadside monument on Hwy. 97A at Earthquake Point. This monument describes an earthquake and landslide that occurred many years ago. The force of the quake was so great that a landslide blocked the Columbia River for several days.

Another monument stands one mile east of the park. At this site, in 1945, a school bus carrying the children of Southshore residents plunged into the lake after hitting rocks that had fallen onto the roadway. The bus driver and a number of children died in the accident. The monument was erected and is maintained by the families of the children.