Cross Country Adventure 2022 (day 14)

 Potholes State Park Campground, Othello, Washington

29 July 2022

Really warm day here.

Marc-  We left the Skokomish campground at about 09:30 and started our return trip to Vermont.  For most of the day we retraced our route.  We also had a repeat of heavy traffic in the Tacoma area.  We did not return to Leavenworth but continued East on Route 90 toward Potholes State Park.  Once East of the Cascade mountains the terrain became very dry and desert like.  The exceptions were when irrigation was in use.  The Columbia River Irrigation Project provides a great deal of water to farms in this part of Washington.  Think of large apple orchards and fields of various fruit plantings, many covered by netting (this went on for about 70 miles).  Potholes Lake is a large reservoir adjoining the State Park.  The name for the park comes from the holes that were made by glaciers and have since filled with water.  The park and the farms are each like an oasis in the desert.  There are many RV resorts near the Lake.  Fishing is a major sport here (bass, crappie, walleye, perch, bluegill, whitefish and well stocked rainbow trout).

Goodbye Lake Cushman.

Deer beside the road driving out.

Arid Eastern Washington.

Well irrigated Eastern Washington.

Entry road to Potholes State Park (Black Poplar trees).

Here the park personnel planted a row of lodgepole pine trees next to a row of black poplar trees.

A view by the lake with irrigated fields in the distance.

Potholes Lake.