Best Tent Camping near Curlew, WA

Ranger Review: GCI Outdoor Recliner chair at North Gorge Campground

Campground review:

North Gorge is a sleepy little place. Small campground with a small boat launch. There isn't a lot of parking so beware if you bring your truck and trailer here. The sites are small, seemed to be a decent amount of space between them. Vault toilets, well maintained. each site has your standard picnic table, and fire ring. There was a burn ban in August, no fires for us. They actually zip tied no fire signs to each fire pit. There are only a few sites, most for tent camping only, however there are a few that will fit a trailer or rv. It is $9 in the off season Nov 1st to May 30th, and $18 in the peak season

**Product review: **

**https://www.gcioutdoor.com/folding-recliners/outdoor-recliner/
**

As a Ranger for the Dyrt, sometime I get to test out awesome products in exchange for an honest review. The GCI outdoor Recliner is well built with quality materials. It is easy to slide in and out of the large storage back. easy to set up and take down. I love the mesh back, it helps to keep you cool in those hot summer days. The chair has 3 reclining positions and my favorite part was reclining the chair all the way to look at the stars, it gives the perfect angle. I also love the storage pocket on the back. just fold up the storage bag and put it in the pocket for a pillow. It has a cup holder, but I wasn't a big fan of the placement. I give this chair an 8/10.

Ranger Review: Aftershokz Trekz Air at Douglas Falls Grange Park

Campground Review:

 Wow! Wow! Wow!

First off, a bit about the campground itself. It is owned by the local grange, right next to the Colville National Forest. It is free with a Discover pass. The discover pass is $10 for a day or $30 for a year and needed for a lot of parks in Washington. It is also located just outside of Colville, where you can get anything you need. There is about 8-15 sites. Why don’t I know? Well the campground loop intercepts the day use area, and what is a site, compared to the day use area, we can’t tell. On the main campground loop there is 8 sites. In the day use area, site #9 appears to be the only marked ADA accessible site, though many of the others seem just as accessible. Site #10 and #11 are a slight downhill walk from the parking area. Site 10 does not have a clear parking spot, where all of the other sites do. Site #12 is basically in the parking lot. When we arrived we drove the main loop and there were a few other campers, then we came to the day use area and site #12 had a tent pitched there.  There is a short car road that is a one way access with additional sites #13 #14 and #15, this road was closed, but may open in the future. There were black table cloths on the tables, indicating not to use. All sites have a fire ring, and picnic table. Some have a cute log bench right next to the fire.

There is no garbage service at this campground. Pack it in, pack it out, please, leave no trace. There are vault toilets supplied with plenty of toilet paper, they were very clean and have an air freshener that almost makes you forget you are in a vault toilet! There is a huge field with a backstop for baseball/softball, a covered picnic area, Horseshoes, hiking trails (with the main one being a 1.5 mile nature loop) and the highlight was a gorgeous 60 foot waterfall that you can see from the parking lot or take short walk to. There is also a pretty cool suspension bridge!

I had low expectations of this place, but I was very surprised! We took site #10 which is about 20 feet away from the upper portion of the falls. This site is a short walk from the parking lot, so you do have to walk your gear in.  The only other site in this area is #11 and it is a good distance away. From our site there is a small trail that leads to the main trail which goes to the top of the falls. If you take the main trail from the look out to the right there is access to the bottom of the falls. I listened to the waterfall all night and it was so peaceful and soothing I slept peacefully. The moon light over the falls was amazing, I wish I had my good camera! Did I mention the wildlife? Hawks, deer, super squirrels, Eagles, Chipmunks, Robins, Magpie and more! 

Over all, I hated it, you shouldn’t go there so I can have it ALL to myself! But really, this is a fantastic place to camp. It’s a beautiful piece of land, with so much to see and do. Go, have fun, and thank me later!

Product Review:

Aftershokz Trekz Air- Bone Conduction Headphones.

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, sometimes I have the opportunity to review new products in exchange for an honest review. At this campground I tested Aftershokz Trekz Air- Bone Conduction Headphones. https://aftershokz.com/collections/all/products/trekz-air

These headphones are a wave of the future. Instead of sitting in your ear like most headphones, they sit on your jawbone. They are Bluetooth, so that means wireless! They are super easy to pair and connect with your phone. As with all technology, it is really best to charge them straight out of the box. The colored light on the side of the headphone is red if it is not charged or blue if it’s fully charged. The pads that sit on your jawbone sends vibrations through the bone to your year. They come in sleek colors, and they are so lightweight and comfortable you can forget they are there. The point of these headphones is to be able to hear the outside world around you and still listen to your tunes. This keeps you attentive to other people in the office or, in my case, able to hear your music over roaring waterfalls on the trail.

I had never heard of bone conduction technology before these headphones, and I certainly will remember now. These are funky and fresh. I love them, I love that they stay on my head while on the go, no cords to untangle and get in the way, or earbuds to pop out of my ear while walking. If you are not moving, the vibrations can be a little intense at higher volumes or songs with more bass, it makes it feel a little strange. They have a six hour battery life, and only takes about an hour and a half to charge. I also wish that there was a voice control in these as well so I could continue being hands free and answer the phone, skip songs or pause, at the same time. I hear that it’s in the works though, so I’m willing to wait. Plus, the button controls are easy to use, so it’s not a deal breaker. They come with a great carrying bag, ear plugs (if you don’t want to hear the world around you, you can use the earplugs to intensify to the volume of the Trekz Air.) and a charging cord. They also have a great warranty, return and exchange policy. There also arrived super quickly, I have been able to use them for a few weeks before the review, giving me the opportunity to get used to them and form an opinion.

These are by far the best headphones I have ever had and I don’t think I can go back to earbuds. I would definitely recommend these to anyone!

Cool sleeping at this elevation when hot weather persists in lower lands.  We pull a 32’ Outdoors RV trailer behind a full size 6’ bed and quad cab Dodge truck.  We would have fit in a few of spots and there was 8 total with tighter loop turn around at end.  Water was off due to Covid and was no trash dumpster but did have outhouses.  Nice trail to go hiking out back of campground and simple walking wheelchair loop at Overlook parking lot.  Was some road noise when the few cars around here passed us since CG is beside road at summit of Pass but was still nice private spaces with table, fire ring and near level parking pads.

We found Bonaparte Lake Campground through Dyrt when sites were not available at Curlew State Park and we needed some place in that Okanagon/Ferry County area of Washington. Part of Bonaparte Lake is available by reservation. We lucked out at the time and found what ended up being the perfect site. It had plenty of room for our A Frame trailer and truck and could have fit another vehicle on the site. The table/fire ring area was generous and private, with space for our dog to be on a 25 ft lead. In fact, the whole site was very private with the campers to the right of us at least 50 feet away from us and no one to the back of us or to the left of us directly. I guess I should stop saying how great our site was so we can get it again sometime! In our loop we only had pit toilets. In the non-reservation loop there was one restroom with flush toilets and then other pit toilets. No showers available. The non-reservation loop had lovely sites as well with some right on the lake. Our loop had lake sites, too. The camp host was amazingly helpful and friendly, giving us maps of things to do in the area. We took a loop to find old ghost towns and remnants in the area plus other loops. We tried to schedule our trip up this way in July to beat the smoke from forest fires but unfortunately due to early heat conditions and dryness forest fires started early this year. We ran into some smoke the 2nd day of our trip there but the third day was clearer. It never got bad while we were at Bonaparte Lake but just over the mountains in Oroville where we went to get gas, it was in the unhealthy range of the Air Quality Index. We will definitely go back to Bonaparte again sometime. It would make a beautiful trip in the early fall.