It’s a little easier in the Coulee now to get a Discover Pass to park at Washington State Parks.
An automated pay station located at Northrup Point along SR-155, in the same area as Northrup Canyon and Steamboat Rock, accepts credit and debit cards to buy annual Discover Passes, day-use Discover Passes, as well as boat launch permits and more.
The pay station is located in the parking lot at Northrup Point near the boat launch there.
An annual Discover Pass cost $30 for the year; a day-use Discover Pass cost $10. A boat launch permit costs $7, and an unattended overnight vehicle parking fee is $10.
Denis Felton is the area manager for area state parks, including Steamboat Rock, Sunlakes, Dry Falls, and Potholes.
Felton said one of the main purposes for installing the pay station at Northrup Point is to simplify their work and reduce the use of cash in envelopes, used for boat launch and overnight parking fees, to appease the state auditor.
“The state auditor hates it when people collect lots of cash,” Felton said. “It’s an audit nightmare.”
Felton said the automated pay station, installed around late April 2019, has reduced the amount of self-pay envelopes by about half, although they’d like to reduce the envelopes by as much as possible.
Felton said that another automated pay station at Steamboat Rock State Park sometime “down the road” is possible, “but it’s not a priority right now.”
Discover Passes are available at the arrival booth at Steamboat Rock State Park when the booth is open.
A paystation has been where Felton’s office is located, at Sunlakes State Park, for four or five years now, he said.
An option to buy an annual Discover Pass is also included when renewing vehicle license tabs through the Washington State Department of Transportation, and they are also available at Coulee Playland.
The state Legislature passed the law to create the Discover Pass in 2011, in part for “recovering the cost incurred by the state for operations and management of recreation opportunities.”
There are 74 automated Discover Pass pay stations statewide. At the most recent purchase cost of $7,000 each, that’s the equivalent of 17,266 annual Discover Passes.