Potholes State Park

We arrived in the evening, in the unimproved loop with our 19 foot camper van. We had the whole loop to ourselves in early October! Lots of folks in the very nice looking loop with utilities, but was super nice to be in the quiet and natural area of the potholes. Pit toilet clean, no other utilities. Site pretty level, no level blocks needed. We had a nice walk out the Frenchman’s hill trail, saw a covey of quail and sand hill cranes migrating overhead. Super nice, would come back and spend more time - just and O/N stop

Two years ago, we stayed at the boat launch in August and it was HOT! We decided to stay at the state park this time as our first night out for a 3 month trip. We wanted the hookups while we got ourselves settled back into the rig. It was great for the night, nice staff, everything we encountered was clean. But, this is mainly geared towards fisherman, which is great if that is your purpose. There isn't much to the park besides the camping area, a boat launch, and some well maintained grass and trees. If you are a fisherman, going jet skiing, need a stop over from I-90, or are just there to relax with some friends - it works well. Wide range of campsites from dry camping to full hookups, the sites are easy to back into and level. Dump station and potable water available for non campers for a small fee. General store across the street has most of your needs and easy/wide access. Expect to pay a bit more for gas (.10-.20 cents), we felt like it was worth it for the ease of access and to not waste gas/time finding another spot. Cell service was tough! It took 8 attempts to send a text and forget about a phone call.

Breakdown of our scores:

Access: tighter turns and somewhat narrow roads for how large the park is and it being flat land.
Location: If you have a boat 5/5 if not, no hiking or other activities at the park or in walking distance.
Cleanliness: from what we saw it was pretty clean, but we did not use the bathrooms and while the landscaping was great for a state park it was not a resort.
Site Quality: As the husband says, 5/5 should exceed your expectations. This was above standard and we were more than happy with the site.
Noise: Peaceful and serene with the exception of the occasional drone of a boat.

I travelled here with a 35’ 5th wheel and parked in site 47, a back-in site with FHU for $43/night. Whoever designed this loop did a great job making it easy to back in. Each site is a tangent off of a circle so you can almost back straight in. Awesome! The road is asphalt and the sites are gravel. It was easy to navigate the park. There was only one centrally located bathhouse so it would be a long walk from this loop if you weren’t self-contained. There is another bathroom closer to the tent area. It was a quiet park – possibly due to the mid-week dates and time of year. I would imagine it would be busier during the season as boaters come to use the lake. There is not much else to do there if you are not a boater. The sites are nicely spread and the layout means you don’t look directly at the rig next to you. Picnic tables were on a concrete pad and there was a fire ring as well. Connections were to the rear of the site and I needed all 20’ of my sewer line to connect. There was shade behind the rig and sun on the parking area. Some sites had shade on the rig. Wifi was moderate and got slow at night even with the repeater located right by my site. Verizon was 2 bars at best.

The circle we were in, the tree wind block completely blocked everything so absolutely no air movement whatsoever! It was much hotter back there than the rest of the park. Little to no shade which was a disappointment. Not great swimming for smaller kids as there is not really a beach. Would try a different site with more shade next time around. Nice playground and room to ride bikes. There were a few showers in the grass area but not the primitive area. Kids had fun but it was not an awesome experience.

We travelled to Potholes SP in July, and it was hot! This state park is very well maintained with lots of grass and shade trees everywhere. Nice play area for the kids. FHU site 38 was very level, and all utilities worked well, although they reported nitrates in the water. Our site had a picnic table, fire ring, tent pad and you could find shade throughout the day. Low cell service, but free park WiFi worked great. We walked down to the reservoir, but did not go in since the area was swampy. We golfed across the street, and the nearby 76 Gas Station has ice cream and milkshakes.

This campground is situated right on the large body of water called the Potholes Reservoir and is south of the town of Moses Lake WA. The area is popular for water sports, fishing, bird watching and picnicking.

We pre-paid and registered online. Arrival and check-in was very easy. The gate attendant gave us a park map and directions to our site. Park roads are wide and smooth enough to handle any kind of RV. We stayed in one of the non-hookup loops. Sites in non-hookup loops are typically smaller than the full hookup sites. The campground was quiet in early March. We had the loop almost all to ourselves.

Pros:
- easy access to the water via a public boat launch and "beach" near the campground
- The trees, shrubs, and underbrush within the campground seem to block the wind, which can be very intense in this part of the state.
- Generous size sites
- Clean, but dated facilities.
- The grounds are well maintained
- quiet in the off-season

Cons:
- campsites are dated and very basic
- probably crowded in the summer
- campground can get busy with day-use traffic

We arrived after dark and had no clue where to go....absolutely no lighting in the entire park or driveway in. The only reason we found our site is there happened to be ONE other camper in the loop we found (our headlights shone on their camper) thank goodness. Water was turned off for winter. Park is lovely and close to the lake- clean enough bathrooms and very dated bathrooms. There was NO ONE there. We heard coyotes which was cool and the stars shine pretty bright out there. Will come back in the spring/summer to check it out again for sure! We camp for free in Washington State Parks with a disabled veterans pass.

Season opener at Potholes, they stay open year around so if the roads are clear this makes a nice winter getaway with power and sewer. I paid $0 thanks to WA state parks disabled veteran pass. Seems a Discover Pass is needed for entrance and day use. The drinking water is reporting high for Nitrates (11.1 and the acceptable limit is 10) so we hauled our own. I read that they are thinking about drilling a new well, but anyway. There is corral loop parking style for RV's with 50 amp/full hookups. The layout and quality of the sites is 10 out of 10. We had a loop all to ourselves this time of year and it was simply lovely, a sunset for pictures, and music provided by coyotes. We hauled our own wood, not sure if they sell it. The grounds are pristine, seems to be well treed for shade. The other loops closer to the water are boondock only, and most look to be on the smaller side...a few spots actually back up to the water for a premier view. Very nice playgrounds for the kiddos, boat launches etc. I'm sure this place gets really busy in the summer, and hot. New experience for us - State Park wifi ! Very much appreciated for those of us that work remote.