Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Lake Ellen West
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · WA · 48.49626, -118.26446
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →U.S. Forest Service lists this as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Lake Ellen West · Colville National Forest · WA
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 2014017 (Lake Ellen West & Boat Launch), 30 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as crushed aggregate or gravel surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 2014017 (Lake Ellen West & Boat Launch), 30 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 2014017 (Lake Ellen West & Boat Launch): “01/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Lake Ellen West
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,260 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Lake Ellen WestNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Lake Ellen West · Colville National Forest · WA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel11 mi
- GGrocery11 mi
- +Urgent care12 mi
- EVEV fast charger12 mi
- HHardware12 mi
- MMechanic12 mi
- @Mail12 mi
- OOutfitter12 mi
- ShShower15 mi
- LLaundry15 mi
- DDump24 mi
- RxPharmacy24 mi
- WWater51 mi
- PPropane56 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 51-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 11 mi out.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Lake Ellen West
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
2,260 ft
Ground slope
4.9% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~10.0 mi · main line
State
WA
Coordinates
48.49626, -118.26446
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Lake Ellen West · Colville National Forest · WA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureLake Ellen · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townInchelium · ~9.2 mi
- Nearest rail line~10.0 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelColville Fuels · ~11.1 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~23.8 mi
- GroceriesColville Fuels · ~11.1 mi
- PharmacyRepublic Drug Store · ~24.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicNorthEast Washington Medical Group Kettle Falls · ~12.1 mi
- HardwareMc Intosh Hardware · ~12.3 mi
EV charging — from Lake Ellen West · Colville National Forest · WA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger12.2 mi straight-line NE — Avista - Kettle Falls DCFC · FLO · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach4 within 25 mi · 7 within 50 · 63 within 100 · 97 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)69.9 mi — Jackson Store 249, Spokane
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO16.3 mi — Colville Retail Center, Colville
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)12.1 mi — Kettle Falls SD - Middle School Public · FLO · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 466507 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Lake Ellen West · Colville National Forest · WA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletLake Ellen West · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLake Ellen · ~0.9 mi NE · USFS
- RestroomBLDG FR Vault Toilet · ~3.1 mi E · NPS
- RestroomBLDG FR Vault Toilet #2717 · ~3.1 mi E · NPS
Coming out here — Lake Ellen West · Colville National Forest · WA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Lake Ellen as a perennial lake or pond, ~0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 4.9% — gentle. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Rail line mapped ~10.0 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in it.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Lake Ellen West elsewhere
Other camps near Lake Ellen West
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Lake Ellen~0.9 mi · fee
- Canyon Creek~5.7 mi · fee
- Trout Lake~8.9 mi
- Sherman Overlook~11.8 mi · fee
The unit that manages Lake Ellen West
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Lake Ellen West are set by Colville National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Lake Ellen West
Source
U.S. Forest Service recreation data
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
Developed FEE campground (not free) - review | auto:usfs-fee 2026-08-20: US Forest Service developed campground, agency coordinates, agency states a fee. No dollar amount in the agency record -- expect a charge and confirm the current rate before you go. Not field-verified. | Fee 2026-08-24: $10 per night, single site; additional vehicle $2 per vehicle per night. The fee block and the page's own *FEE UPDATE* notice agree on $10 -- worth saying, because on some Colville pages they do not. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/colville/recreation/lake-ellen-west-campground.
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Lake Ellen West
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Lake Ellen West
Camping near a reservoir →Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Gear & rig loadout →All field notes →