Best Tent Camping near Republic, WA

Based on visit in August of 2019. The lake had a pretty significant bloom of algae and a lot of mill weed at this time, but it was still a great visit.

The lake and surrounding area is gorgeous. If coming from the West I recommend taking Hwy 2 across the Cascades then take Hwy 21 north across the Columbia (via the free Keller Ferry) and all the way to the Lake. The whole stretch of Hwy 21 between the border and Columbia is one of the best in the PNW. Take Hwy 20 back from Republic for more splendor.

Decent-sized IGA for groceries, convenience stores, and a few restaurants in Republic nearby

This is a big campground on a big lake, but the three loops help to create three different experiences. We camped in #79, one of seven tent sites on the somewhat isolated lower loop. All of the sites on the lakeside of this loop are pretty large and nice. Save for a few trees there isn't a lot separating each site and all are visible from the lake, so not exactly private either. South of the park are cabins across the bay that you can see and hear. During the day there is a lot of activity on the water, including speedboats blasting Nickelback (it is close to Canada).

Over a little hill from the lower loop is swimming beach and day-use area. This area was pretty busy with locals as the temperatures hit 100 during our visit. The bathroom has pay showers, outlets, and was recently renovated. Plan your showers for the morning or evening.

The middle loop is on top of hill that has a wooded slope on the lakeside. There are two distinct areas here, one is literally a loop of sites on grass in classic WA State Parks fashion. The other section is series of 10 or so sites on the hillside and in the woods that you have to park and walk into. The sites were all different sizes and distances from each other. More privacy here, but there is a trail just above the shore that runs by many of them, so keep your shorts on.

The upper loop is the largest and has mix of RV and drive-up sites in a little valley ringed by walk-in sites on top of the hill. Note that from the sites in the valley you can't really see the lake but there are scattered trees to provide some shade. Not my cup of tea, but there is another shower area and a little store operated by the hosts that had ice, wood, and some frozen treats.

Back to our experience: the lower loop is on edge of a small bay and natural marshland. We had a clear view of an Osprey nest (see pictures) that the hillside trails goes right by.

In addition to the Ospreys we saw many birds drawn to the marsh and trees, several kinds of fish, turtles, and nutria in the water. In addition to a few red squirrels we also were visited by a tiny skunk who sauntered up through the reeds on the hillside to lick the griddle I left on the ground by our table (always clean up, folks). It left without incident, but I was glad we didn't have out dog with us or else things could have ended quickly.

In the area are hikes in the Kettle River Range, the Ferry County Rail Trail (which I want to check out next time), and numerous back roads to explore. Because of the heat we did some trips in the van up to the border, Ranald MacDonald State Park (smallest in the state), Swan Lake, the city of Curlew, and of course the ice cream serving establishments of Republic.

I wish the lake would have been more pleasant to be in, that's the only reason for the 4 star review. I'm not sure if it is like that every year, so I would contact the park office or check on social media to see.

This place has showers and bathrooms which were great after a day floating on the river which is just a short drive away. Great tent camping with group camping available. Sites have a lot of room, table, fire pit, garbage can and easy walk to rest of campground.

Love it here! Kinda wish there was more spots but at the same time love how spaced out the camp sites are great for both campers, rv and tent sites. I love Stevens county camp grounds!

We had a campground all to ourselves in early April. It is full of birds and waterfowl. Rocky cliff side down to the lake. In April the water levels are low for flood control. Beautiful sunsets, the site's are large and the road is good.

There are large sites for trucks, trailers. Tent camping is nice in the upper loop, but nothe a lot of shade in the lower loop. $9 in off season and $18 in peak.

Bathrooms were clean and had toilet paper. The walking tour at this campground is also nice. Full of history.

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.

Nice, well kept state park on the southeast shore of the lake. Garbages emptied and bathrooms cleaned regularly. The designated swimming area had a lot of geese poo so we opted to find other areas to swim. Zero reliable cell service in the park. Had to drive back towards Republic to make a call.

Nice park beside very slow river adjacent to busy road. No dogs on grass. Garbage. Picnic tables. Shaded. Stay 72 hours. Warm shower. Flush toilet. $10/night/vehicle or tent

A nice little campground that I used to go to with my Grandparents. It’s mostly set up for RV camping but works well with tents too. No hookups for RVs. Longest space is probably 20-25 ft. Beautiful view of the river!

Great place if you’re just looking for a spot to spend the night or take a shower. The park is sandwiched between a busy city street and the river. Bathrooms are old but clean. Possibly open all night. There are no individual spots it’s just a long parking lot with a grass area for tents.

This campsite was overall a really good time! There's a trail that leads to the water for any of the campers or visitors to go swim at, site 13 had its own trail down to the water which was so fun to have easy access too! If you want a site with a beautiful view and flat tent spots site 9 and 10 also looked beautiful!

If you plan to stay at the walk in sites I recommend bringing a wagon! The walk from car to campground is not far but there is a decent hill you have to walk down to the campsite.

Pit toilet was nice and well taken care of! The hand sanitizer was out, but otherwise very clean. The only toilet is at the parking lot, so it's a short walk from the campsites.

The other downside was bugs! SO many bee's! Especially when we ate we had to walk with our food to keep the bee's away we never got stung though!. And mosquitos at night were bad but all of it was manageable with big spray!

Overall a great campsite, if you go during the week you might have the walk in sites all to yourself, not crowded and lots of fun!

The drive into this area is absolutely beautiful. Campground is large, with at least 3 loops. The campground itself is very clean. We saw rangers checking up and driving thru at least 6x through out day and evening. There are flush toilets and spigots throughout the loops. Bathrooms had toilet paper and hand sanitizer.

We stayed in loop 3, spot 61. It was smaller compared to other spots. This campground is big so there isn’t a ton of privacy and spots are close together. You can hear pretty much everyone’s conversations around you. Lots of RVs and families with kids. Lots of sites with dogs, so anytime people did walks with their dog, a symphony of barking dogs would start. Bring earplugs.

First night in, mosquitos were absolutely terrible. Literally swirling around us as we put up the tent. Neighbors were loud past midnight, and there was construction noise over night (woke us up around midnight and 2am).

Second night, still had noisy neighbors but these didn’t stay up as late as the ones from previous night. Mosquitos were not as bad. There was no overnight construction noise.

There are some nice hikes nearby, just be sure to plan accordingly as it gets quite warm.

Overall, while the lake was nice, it was not a place for me considering how busy and noisy it was. I did appreciate how well maintained it is though.

This is one of many Park Service CGs on Lake Roosevelt. There is a day use area, group camp, and marina all down the road from CG. Your experience will depend on time of day, season, crowding, site, etc. We stayed 10 days after arriving in area & finding everything else full. We had to move mid-way into visit from site 39 loop 2 to 70 loop 3. Camp host told me 39 was best site in CG - it was, though I got it by accident for 5 days without realizing. 70 was only average. 39 is huge lakefront sandy site. Host this summer was amazing & helpful. Sites near entrance to loops were more unlevel. This year all loops are reservation only. During day in week its quiet & emptier, & fills & louder till 10pm. Weekends very busy! Sites are all paved & most are small yet many RVs are huge (& people bring boats & large trucks) making driving thru loops hard on weekends. There were LOTS of kids on weekends. Interior sites are shaded (low solar collection). The road runs near each site so every diesel truck is near your camper window & every person walking by is near your site/window (this was a virus concern on 70 especially weekends). I could hear the paper mill - not an issue in RV - would be a issue in tent. There were many generators at all times and since it's a loop it can sound like you are surrounded by generators at busy times.

 My boyfriend and I stayed at Tiffany's resort this weekend , August 28, 2021, for one night at Cabin 5. We found the place dirty to the level of being worried for our health and safety and the only positive was the lake view. We arrived at 5:15 pm, we brought our stuff in the cabin and had to leave and returned at 8:00 pm. The owners leave at 5:30 pm, thus, when we came back there was no one to contact about the state of the cabin. The cabins have obviously been constructed at time when lead paint was used in these facilities. The cabin has tons of decaying wood peeling paint and obvious mold growing in and around the sink area. The caulking was little to nonexistent there was cracks in the concrete floor in the living room and bathroom, the floors were so dirty that we had to wear our shoes and there were light fixtures that did not work. The windows did not stay open and if they did they had, there were broken screens which were duck taped to seal the screen. There was a serious gap in the door which allowed the outside wind and air to enter the cabin including bugs. When we looked up at the light at night there were tons of little green flies around the light. The beds were covered with old, motel like cover, which was not clean, smelled like bio, and the bed was covered with thin sheets, on an old mattress. I checked for bed bugs... did not see anything, but who knows? All of the furniture in this cabin, was old, dirty and run down; bed side tables were missing handles. In the bathroom we found two soaps and no shampoo. The gas heater in the living room did not work, and had slimy dust in it the couches were filthy, and all stained and dusty, God knows what was on them...You would not want to bring a blue light in this cabin. There is no doubt when the facilities were originally constructed, they were fantastic and were the place to build family memories. In the review book, people reference those magical times, but now these cabins pose a serious health hazard to those hoping to enjoy the lake. There's a serious concern of mold spores, being dirty, lack of sanitation, period, not to mention the required sanitation due to COVID-19 protocols, the structures severely asked the question should they be condemned for health and safety purposes? We understand staying in a rustic cabin, we also do not mind an older cabin, but we have not agreed to pay to stay in filthy and condemned place. We rented it as a choice for staying in a tent, as the nights are getting cold and we knew we were coming in late, but this type of facility looks like something that you would find abandoned with no maintenance being done for years. And all this for the price of$118.00 plus tax, per night, when the state park across the way charges$30 a night for a tent spot and the grounds there are spotless, pristine and maintained amazingly. While the cabins are decaying slowly, the owner is building a new building and their current home, which is right on the property, oozes with the fanciness and richness of a Beverly Hills like mansion with big expensive looking signs with warning of no soliciting or trespassing on their private property with "top of the line quality" sectional on their porch. At check out we provided the feedback about the cabins. The owners were only concerned because another potential client was in the room at the same time with me and heard what I was saying about the state of the cabins. Moreover, owners continue asking me why we didn't leave when it was so bad...or why didn't we say anything. How can one provide feedback when no one is available after 5:30 pm. The owners responded that they are sorry, and as soon as I walked out, I herd them excusing themselves to the client in the room, saying that they were sorry the client had to hear what I had to say. They did not seem to see that this was a health and safety concern, especially in the world of COVID-19. We won't be back!

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!

There is the state park and 3 other resorts on the lake. All have full hook ups.

This was a great campsite, the area was so pretty and we had a great view of the lake! The campsites are pretty close together though, so there isn't much privacy. Also, the trail was pretty overgrown, and not the easiest to navigate at times.

Jake from the Dyrt here!  Highland Glenn Ranch is new to the Dyrt and offers an awesome spot with a great way to connect with the wilderness in this Northern US Border Ranch.  Check them out and make sure to post some pics of your stay!

The nightly call of the loons sing you to sleep as they howl to one another. The trout are in abundance but are some what if a challenge to keep hooked. Camp site are flat. Huge fire pits. And the night sky like you only see in movies!!