Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Swan Lake
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · WA · 48.51723, -118.83696
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 — Swan Lake · Colville National Forest · WA
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 5300000 (Scatter Creek), 0.1 mi from the pin. The MVUM lists it as asphalt surface and maintenance level 5 – high degree of user comfort.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 5300000 (Scatter Creek), 0.1 mi from the pin, open to passenger vehicles Apr 1 – Nov 30. That season ends after Nov 30.
MVUM record for FR 5300000 (Scatter Creek): “04/01-11/30” 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 Swan Lake
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3,676 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Swan LakeNIFC · 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 Swan Lake · 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
- FFuel9 mi
- GGrocery10 mi
- LLaundry10 mi
- RxPharmacy10 mi
- @Mail10 mi
- EVEV fast charger11 mi
- MMechanic11 mi
- HHardware12 mi
- DDump16 mi
- ShShower27 mi
- +Urgent care27 mi
- PPropane30 mi
- OOutfitter36 mi
- WWater46 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 46-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 9 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 — Swan Lake
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
3,676 ft
Ground slope
21.4% · steep
State
WA
Coordinates
48.51723, -118.83696
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Swan Lake · Colville National Forest · WA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSwan Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townRepublic · ~10.3 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~9.1 mi
- Propane / LPGTonasket Feed and Supply · ~30.5 mi
- Dump station~16.1 mi
- GroceriesBeaver Trap Junction · ~9.7 mi
- PharmacyRepublic Drug Store · ~10.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicCurlew Clinic · ~27.1 mi
- HardwareMidway Building Supply · ~11.5 mi
EV charging — from Swan Lake · Colville National Forest · WA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger10.9 mi straight-line NE — Old Republic (at a public site) · RED_E · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 6 within 50 · 58 within 100 · 104 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)65.2 mi — Coulee City, WA - Tesla Supercharger, Coulee City
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)10.9 mi — Old Republic (at a public site) · RED_E · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed
- 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 456460 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Swan Lake · Colville National Forest · WA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletSwan Lake · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletFerry Lake · ~1.3 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLong Lake · ~1.7 mi SE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletTen Mile · ~4.5 mi E · USFS
Coming out here — Swan Lake · Colville National Forest · WA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Swan Lake as a perennial lake or pond, under 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 21.4% — steep. 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.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on 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 Swan Lake elsewhere
Other camps near Swan Lake
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Ferry Lake~1.3 mi · fee
- Long Lake~1.7 mi · fee
- Ten Mile~4.5 mi · fee
- Lyman Lake~8.4 mi
The unit that manages Swan Lake
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Swan Lake are set by Colville National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Swan Lake
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 2026-08-20: $10 per night, single site, plus $5 for an extra vehicle. This page contradicts itself three ways and the $10 comes from the freshest of the three: the Current Conditions line reads '2026 Fees: $10 per night; $5 extra vehicle', while the Fee Site and Info table below it says $10 single, $55 group and $2 extra vehicle, and an older block on the same page says $8 single and $35 group by reservation plus a one-time $10 transaction fee. Budget $10 and expect the group site to be quoted somewhere between $35 and $55. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/colville/recreation/swan-lake-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 Swan Lake
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 — Swan Lake
Camping near a reservoir →Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Getting unstuck →All field notes →