Ankeny #1

Washington Highway 2 Coulee City, Washington 99115

47.6390, -119.3224

Ankeny #1 is located on the southwest shore of Banks Lake’s and approximately 3.4 miles from Coulee City, Washington.

The camping area is operated by the Bureau of Reclamation and hosts about a dozen dispersed campsites. The access road is well maintained, gravel with some minor washboarding. The campsites and rest room (very clean) are located at the end of the gravel road approximately 1 mile from WA 20.

Campsites

Each campsite varies in size from small (for tents) to some large sites able to hold large RV’s. All the sites are gravel and most required only minor leveling. I arrived a couple of days before the Labor Day weekend and there were only 2 other Class A motorhomes. However as the weekend approached the camping area became quite full with a mixture of RVs and tents.

Wireless Service

Cell Service at this location is tricky. My phone indicated 4 bars of Verizon LTE service but over the weekend access to anything data related (texts, e-mail, internet searches) was impossible. I can only assume it was due to the traffic from the crowed campgrounds and parks nearby and the area towers were not ability to handle the load. Once the weekend was over I could once again text and search the web.

Nearby Towns

Coulee City is a small town on the opposite shore that boasts 2 gas stations a city park with marina/boat ramp, one small grocery store and as far as I could tell one local restaurant that was open.

The closest “larger” towns are Grand Coulee, approximately 30 miles to the north and Epharate, Washington thirty miles to the south. Epharate is the larger of the two and has a Walmart, grocery stores, fast food options as well as local cuisine. Grand Coulee does not have your standard fast food joints but does have some local eateries, groceries, a hardware and gas.

Dinning

While in Grand Coulee I ate at La Presa, an authentic Mexican Restaurant and boy was I glad I did. The service was excellent and the servings huge. I opted for the deluxe Burrito which completely filled a small platter. If that wasn’t good enough I topped of dinner with strawberry fried ice cream. Both dishes were delicious and I would highly recommend taking the drive if your are in the mood for great Mexican food.

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Area Attractions

Grand Coulee Dam

The big attraction and main reason I went to Grand Coulee was for the opportunity to see the famous Grand Coulee Dam. This engineering marvel is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia River. It was built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation water. Constructed between 1933 and 1942, Grand Coulee originally had only two powerhouses. The third powerhouse (completed in 1974) makes Grand Coulee the largest power station in the United States by nameplate-capacity at 6,809 MW. It is not as high (above the water line) or massive as the Hoover Dam in Nevada but its worth the time to check out if in the area.

Gehrke Windmill Garden

A unique place to check out while in the Grand Coulee is the Gehrke Windmill Garden. Located in North Dam Park the windmill garden was inspired by Emil and Stella Gehrke. The Gehrke’s were folk artists that created hundreds of fascinating windmills and whirligigs. They originally displayed their creations on their property in Grand Coulee, WA but after their deaths, the large collections was broken up – some sold, some to family members and others to art installations. The remaining windmills were moved to the park so all can enjoy.

ANKENY #1 is a great place if you enjoy dry camping. While camped I heard coyotes howling in the hills at night and was awakened by the unexpected yet iconic call of the Common Loon. This is also a “dark” area so the star gazing at night was phenomenal. If you enjoy boating water-sports or fishing this camping area gives you access to several boat launches (2 at Ankey) and plenty of places to fish from the shore. Banks Lake is very large so even on the busy Labor Day weekend the boats seem few and far apart.

If you find yourself in Central Washington look up Ankeny #1 and lose track of time. You won’t be disappointed.