Mardon – camping in potholes?

May 22, 2022

Camping inside a pothole? That can’t be right!

Ok, maybe those titles and words are a bit confusing.

Potholes or no potholes? What’s up here, Ann, make up your mind.

Ok, here’s the deal. A friend of mine and I are going camping and are staying at the Mardon Resort in central Washington State (me in a campsite, she in a nearby cabin). We will be in the national Potholes Wildlife Area in central Washington State. And so, we’re going to “Potholes” but with no potholes in the road, or we sure hope there aren’t any. Why is our destination called “Potholes”? I’ll tell you, but first let’s get there ok? And yes, we got there without driving on roads with potholes. 🙂 So, no potholes! Goofy, huh.

We left the Olympia, WA, area and drove east across the State of Washington, both of us in the big white truck. We crossed the Cascade Mountains at Snoqualmie Pass on Highway 90. It was late May, heading towards early June, but the snow was definitely still on the ground up at the Pass. We stopped for a little break and a walk-about and some photos.

And then we continued on.

The Cascade Mountains bisect the state north-to-south. I think lots of people think of Washington as covered in trees and very wet and rainy. Well, WEST of the Cascades it is, but not EAST of the Cascade Mountains. On the east side of the mountains, the terrain and the climate change. The photo below shows one type of land east of the mountains. There are also I’d guess millions of acres of rolling hills where wheat and other crops are grown … not to mention the acres and acres of fruit trees … and hops (for beer) … and canola (for oil) … and sugar beets (for sugar). Ok, maybe this requires another blog post in the future … what we grow here in Washington that helps feed the world.

Back on track … into eastern Washington …

It was about a 4-hour drive (but we stopped 2 or 3 times, so it took us about 5 hours) from home to the Mardon Resort near the Potholes Wildlife Area. It was a fun drive with my friend along. I drove the whole way since she’s not familiar with driving my big white truck in traffic, not to mention with Towhee the Trailer snugged up along behind us. We sang a lot, talked even more, joked, she napped a bit, I did NOT nap while driving I swear I didn’t. After we arrived, it felt good to stop and put my feet up.

The Mardon Resort is a large, private campground on the south side of the Potholes Reservoir. This reservoir is a human-made lake created when a dam was built, just up the road from the Mardon Resort. You may still be wondering … why is it called “potholes” if there aren’t potholes in the roads? I can answer that.

But first, let me park this trailer and put my feet up!

No neighbors! No neighbors all week! The last night we were here a couple pulled into the campsite beside me, between me and the restooms, with their truck and trailer. They were quiet and considerate. We waved to each other and smiled, that evening and the next morning. Perfect camping neighbors.

But, the rest of the week, the entire week, no neighbors. Ah me, sigh. 🙂

You can see I was backed up to the lake, right on the water’s edge. Perfect.

In the photo below, you’ll see the row of permanently parked RVs and mobile homes and manufacturered homes here. It might look busy, but it was very quiet here.

Map of the Mardon Resort below. The RED arrow points to my camping spot. The RED square is the cabin where my friend stayed. In the map below, you might notice a sand beach. Later in the summer, after the heat of summer, and after the crop fields downstream have used lots of the water from the reservoir to water the crops, the water level of this reservoir will drop considerably. Then, with a lower level of water in the reservoir, Mardon Resort can park RVs and tent campers out on that sand beach.

But this early in the year, when we were here in May, the water level was high from spring melt and run-off from the Cascade Mountains. And so my spot was just a few feet from water’s edge.

 

 

Red-winged Blackbirds were everywhere!

And the sunset was lovely.

 

I was sitting at the picnic table behind my trailer, just enjoying the evening and the sunset and the sounds of the birds. I started to hear some small splashing in the water … right down near the edge of the water. So I was especially quiet and held very still and kept my eye (and my camera lens) on the water below me.

Look at this!

 

I did online research later that evening, based on how the fur/hair looked, the fact that the head was out of the water while swimming and the tail end was under water, what mammals were known to live here, etc. I think it’s a Beaver. It seemed large! My guess is that its body was two-and-a-half feet long, maybe more, not counting the tail. But I have to admit that I was surprised that the “small splashing” sound I heard then turned into this sizable being, so maybe I’ve over-estimated the size. Whatever the animal was, I was thrilled to see it.

I sat at that picnic table for a bit every evening during the week that we were here. My human friend joined me a few times, after each of our day’s adventures. But I never saw my furry friend and neighbor again. Ah well. Best wishes, furry friend. 🙂