Best Tent Camping near Loon Lake, WA

What a gem! Small state park campground at about a 3000 ft elevation with only 8 sites. Dry Camping only, no dump station, but clean flushable toilets(no showers) and potable water available. Two beautiful trails are accessible from the campground and lots more are within a 10 minute drive with plenty of parking at trailheads. Local foliage is wonderful, views are fantastic from the trails. Quiet hours are enforced and observed- very quiet and relaxing. The camp host, Linda, does such a wonderful job of keeping everything neat and tidy and checking in with campers to see if they have what they need. Sites are small- only one was a pull through. I wouldn't attempt with anything longer than 23 feet. Each site has a bear box, really nice and large picnic table, firepit and tent pads that are nicely cushioned with pea gravel. Our site,#3, was centrally located without a ton of privacy, but it was still a nice site and folks were respectful and quiet. Decent cell service in the campground. I am absolutely coming back.

This section of the Colville, there is so much to see and do! This campground is close to many attractions and has great fishing! The parking areas are really long and most have a great view of the lake. Bear boxes fire rings and picnic tables are all provided at most every site. There is also bear proof trash and water spigots near by the sites as well. This is right on the Pend Oreille River, and there is a nice boat launch and fishing pier. The sites are extra large and can take just about any RV size you have. The roads in are nice and paved as well. The bathrooms are maintained regularly and have toilet paper, You can reserve site here or there are FSFS sites as well but it is a small campground and there are only a few sites to be had as it is, I think they run around $21 a night, and no hookups.

General: 67-site US Army Corps of Engineers campground in two loops along the Pend Oreille River. All sites are water and electric and have gravel driveways. 

Site Quality: All sites were nicely wooded, level and spacious. The roads are paved but the sites themselves are gravel. A BBQ grill/fire pit and large picnic table complete each site. 

Bath/shower house: There is one ADA-accessible all-in-one bath/shower plus regular restrooms. Clean if a little dated. I don’t take long showers but in the middle of mine, the water turned ice cold for the remainder of my shower, however, hubby did not have the same experience! 

Activities/Amenities: Water activities including boating, fishing, and swimming. Non-water activities include paths, including one around the campground that is approximately 1.4 miles, nice for walking, running, or biking. Partially paved and partially gravel. Other activities include two playgrounds (one for younger children, one for older), volleyball, horseshoes, sport court, and a “doggie island” (pet area). Between the restrooms are two dishwashing sinks with hot water, a nice amenity. There is also a dump station. 

We were still setting up when the host came by to give us a map, remind us there was a fire ban, and see if we had any questions or concerns. We stay at many CoE campgrounds and this one certainly measures up!

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!

We stayed here mid-September 2020. This is a smaller facility with just 8 sites. We picked site #17 on a rise at the end of the loop. We chose it as it was close to the clean vault toilet and it had a separate picnic table nearby on a hill. The fee is $24 which is a bit steep but there was no extra fee for a second vehicle in one spot. There were several trails leading down to the lake from our site. The sites were far enough apart to give a sense of privacy. Lake Leo is the last campground in a chain of lakes going east on highway 20. The first two were either closed due to COVID or busy so we were glad Lake Leo was open and uncrowded. There was fresh water, garbage dumpster and a fire ring in addition to the hilltop picnic table. There was no campground host while we were there.

Campground Review:

This is a great mid-week spot. We camped on a Wednesday in late June and there were only two other spots occupied and it was fantastic. We did notice that almost every spot was reserved for the coming weekend. Even if there were lots of other campers the sites around the outside of the loop have lots of trees and brush separating them offering decent privacy. The spots are quite sizeable with multiple options for tent location. We selected site 12 because the trail to the overlook and down to Hayden Lake runs right next to it. The trees are fantastic and their interwoven canopy offer near constant shade. One nice feature we had never experienced was the gigantic picnic table – you can really spread out on this thing!

Access to the lake is super easy, although it does involve a steep section of trail. We took the paddleboard down to the water and had fun watching all the fish dart away from us. If you are into to fishing there are plenty of good spots accessible from the campground.

Overall this is a very nice spot, especially if you are going to utilize the lake for recreation of any sort.

Product Review: Primus Firehole 100 Camp Stove

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time – on this trip I tested the Primus Firehole 100 Camp Stove.

This stove has some nice features – namely it’s super easy set up and compact shape and size for transport. The recessed knobs help with it’s packability for sure.

The key feature I enjoy is the integrated flexible fuel line that stores compactly under the stove and pops out easily for super quick set up. The little magnets on the side panels used to hold up the wind screen are great and add to the intuitive and fast set up.

Most importantly – the flame is even and has quite a range from super low for simmering all the way to high output for fast boiling. The only real drawback was that the twist-click igniter did not work every single time, but I’ve never run into one that does and this one always caught eventually.

I am overall very pleased with this stove’s performance.