Ankeny #1

Alrightly. Left my wally Docking spot in Colville, WA this morning after a quiet stay. Took route 25 and route 2 over to my current boondocking location at Ankeny #1 (Ankeny North per WA fish and wildlife) on Banks Lake, just below Lake Roosevelt and the Grand Coulee Damn on the Columbia River. What a nice and extremely diverse ride. Went from mountains and pine forests, spectacular overlooks of Roosevelt Lake, to semi arid/sagebrush to rolling farmland with long distance views of the cascades range. So this spot is pretty nice and seems secluded (although not really in season yet), spots for maybe 10 to 15 rigs or tents. Access road doable for any size rig.. well maintained.
Sites are Pretty level. Pit toilets, gravel boat ramp/launch, but no shade. No fire rings, but most have rings made with rocks. Very windy. No other services. No TV reception. VZW and AT&T are both solid with 3 bars. Internet not an issue. Posted 3 day stay max. Stay is free but you need a WA discover pass (good for a year)....which you can order online or buy in over 600 spots. 35 bucks. I bought mine at big wallys about 5 minutes away...they sell supplies, gas, food, little sandwich shop and a nice supply of fishing gear. This Lake has 6 state managed boat launch areas scattered around the lake and you can camp at all but one of them for free....see WAFW website for more info.

Excellent spot to spend a few nights. Access road is 1 mile from highway and gravel. Good condition with washboarding but nothing major if you take it slow. Sites are fairly level. There is a pit toilet on site which was well maintained and clean. If boating there are two boat launches. Over all a very quiet and isolated place to camp.

The place is pretty much some empty gravel lots, but there is a boat ramp, and an outhouse on site. When you turn in, you pass a boat ramp and head down the road a quarter mile to find the overnight camping area. We stayed 3 days here while waiting to get back on the road, it worked well for us. No loud neighbors. But man is it HOT. No trees for shade!

There seems to be a crazy amount of bees here. There were also 3 bats in the bathroom on my last visit. Didn't see any this time around. Forgot where this place was so didn't write a review the first time I was here. Got turned around and am staying here again. There is a 3 day limit here, but it doesn't seem to be enforced.

Generally very friendly people have stopped here. The day use/dock area seems to mostly be used by fishermen and boaters.

It isn't too far of a drive down a packed dirt road and the road is pretty smooth.

There is a train that goes through at night, and there have been a few people with quiet generators during my stay here. Otherwise a good experience all around.

I've had rock solid verizon cellular coverage here.

We travel in our 1985 Volkswagen Vanagon, so we try to stay away from bad roads. The access to this camp ground was pretty easy. All gravel, including the spots. Even though the spot under the tree looks tempting, be warned there's hoards of bees and wasps that live in that tree. We spent our first night in that spot, but decided to move because the bees/wasps were so bad. I got stung on my hand by a wasp and which wasn't the best way to start this camping trip. We ended up moving to another very level spot out in the open. Didn't have as many bees/wasps but really, there seems to be a ton of them here, so just be prepared.A neighbor mentioned he saw a bat in the bathroom, upon further inspection there does seem to be dropping in the bathroom. But we never had any issues. Other then that, it was overall a great experience. Lake water is clear and swimmable. Great phone service (Verizon). Pit toilet. Had a few fellow campers throughout our stay, but pretty quiet.

Free after you buy a discover pass. Campground at end of dirt road by boat dock about 1 mile. Plenty of room for all size rigs. Lots of use at boat ramp for smaller size boats. Two rigs came in last night about 10:30. Would stay here again for a few days. Old roads to walk on, boating and birding. Lots of quail. There is even a geocache here. Some highway noise but not bad. About 2 miles from Coulee City.