May 3

May 3, 2021 – Colville, WA to Loomis, WA

Ok, now this was a treat. Pretty much every place I’ve been, I’ve said “this is my favorite place yet.” But really, this is my favorite place yet!

I originally left Colville with the intention of setting up camp at Serenity Lake. The land around Serenity Lake is owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

BLM land really is like the wild west, and not just because most of it is in the western United States.

On almost all BLM lands, you are allowed to camp for 2 weeks at no charge. There are some rules, like not blocking roadways and you can only stay for 14 days at a time, but for the most part, it’s everyone’s land to enjoy as they please.

BLM usually does not have campgrounds or campsites. Everyone just kind of finds a spot. But I found two BLM campgrounds in one day.

I first arrived at Serenity Lake, and it just didn’t feel right. It’s not that I felt unsafe or that it wasn’t beautiful, but it was crowded and I just got the feeling I should head somewhere else. Here’s the spot I got at Serenity Lake. Not bad, right?

Video from the lake.

Well, I found another BLM camping area not too far away, except it was up on a mountain. I figured I’d check it out, and if it wasn’t any good I could always come back to Serenity Lake.

What I found just absolutely blew me away.

Just check out this drive I had to take to get up to my spot. I really wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into once I started my ascent up this winding mountain road.

Pictures never do justice, but this is the sight I was greeted with when I got to my camping site.

Yeah. This feels like the spot.

There was a large fire here several years back. If you look closely, you can see the burn marks on the trees. There was all sorts of evidence of a fire left over in this area.

Here’s a 360 degree view of this amazing spot.

After that crazy drive up here and being in such a secluded place, you’d think cell phone signal would be non-existant. But I guess it pays to go up in altitude, because I got fantastic internet speeds here!

The few rules that need to be followed.

More views of the area.

Some video from down by the lake.

360 degree view of the lake area.

More random views.

The “road” that got me here.

Selfie time!

A selfie video?! Why not?

Here’s where I was. Pretty much the definition of the middle of nowhere.

As I sat getting work done with my good internet, I was feeling really fortunate having this view as my backdrop.

Just as I had arrived, a couple fisherman were leaving. I was up there all by myself.

As the sun began to go down over the horizon, it really set in how alone I really was. The closest human was probably miles away. There was no way anyone would be driving up that winding road in the middle of the night, so here I was, all by myself. Kind of a crazy feeling knowing that nobody is around for miles and miles.

If I had to give a perfect place to camp, this would be it.

Remote, a beautiful view, in the mountains, lots of trees, quiet, no humans, a lake, free, and good internet speeds all wrapped up into one package. This is pretty much my dream spot. If I can find more of these, I will be one literal happy camper.

Here’s the route we took.

Some highlights from the drive.

Since this drive was so amazing, I also decided to make a timelapse video of my full trip from Colville to here.