Marblemount is tiny with the last census listing just 203 population as of 2010. It’s pretty obvious while touring the town that it’s income is derived mainly from people passing through or staying at the two nearby RV parks. Nearly always in the spring summer and fall.
It’s funny that there’s so many overpriced restaurants there in town. While James was with me, there was a Seahawks game on and we ran into town and had dinner at one of them while watching the game. Nice big flat screen. I think is was a 55″. Big anyway. We lost.
After the game, headed back to the RV park and lounged around. Moved the RV 5 spaces closer to the office building as the tree directly south of our first spot just trashed the satellite signal. After moving, got a good DTV, and the Wifi improved slightly. Even though I could see the external antenna, and pointed my high gain antenna at it, the Wifi still sucked.
Here’s a look at the park. This is the main road in. You can just make out my RV with the DTV antenna up there in the distance. This was the 3rd spot I moved to to get both DTV and a better Wifi signal.
This is the main food store in town. Doesn’t look like much but it’s bigger then it looks and is pretty well stocked. I lacked for nothing while staying here in town.
The restaurant we watched the Seahawks game at. Expensive….
Startled to see my RV on a tow truck…then realized it wasn’t mine. I don’t have the brush in back. It’s exactly like it though. This gives a view of the entire town. Up the road a piece it turns left and then a few miles later is the RV park I’m staying at.
A couple days after I got to the RV park, someone across the street had a medical emergency and I took this shot because TWO ambulances showed up. So that poor person will likely be billed by both, even if they only called one emergency service. Both ambulances are with the same company too. That’s typical of predatory medical practices in rural areas. Or so I’ve been told and have read about a couple times. They are from different jurisdictions too, one from the West the other from the East.
You can see the puddles of water along side the graveled road in the above pic. We had a nice few days of cooling rain and I was snug as a bug in my RV so welcomed the respite. I do still enjoy 4 seasons.
After my 3rd move, I had this view of the office building. The modem was right behind that door. I talked them into letting me work on it and soon we had Wifi in the 4Gbps range.
Nice spot. Might be considered a bit crowded but I didn’t mind. The sun was out quite a bit and the weather fair mostly. Nice and cool too.
After staying there for 3 weeks or so, it was time to amble on. I intended to head to Moses Lake and stay at a campground there, first stopping at Dry Falls, but I didn’t make it all the way to Moses Lake.
When I left the RV park around 9 AM, I was traveling east towards eastern Washington, and have to cross the Cascades.
After reaching the summit and heading back down, the countryside changes rapidly to dry near desert looking. Still some spindly pines along the way, but those give way to scrub brush typical of dry areas. Soon after getting into a valley came on this old time tourist town, Winthrop. But it came up suddenly and the parking area forbid RVs. And there wasn’t anywhere along the road into or out of town that was convenient to park a 60 foot long RV and toad. But you can see from the pictures that it might be an interesting town to visit. Looked to me like they had lots of tourists the day I passed through. After that, the trees got thinner and the brush got more yellow.
It didn’t take long for me to reach Dry Falls. If you don’t know what these are, back after the last ice age 14,000 years ago, they were the largest falls in the world. I stopped to admire the grandeur.
And still more pictures below. It’s really an interesting place to hang around. I think there’s tour boats but I don’t know where they’re from. Local to be sure and there are some RV parks nearby if you decide to visit the area. It would have been spectacular with water tumbling over those falls. Inside the building are some interesting displays.
After spending a couple hours there, all the while trying to decide where I should spend the night, I decided since it was still early, I’d push on to Moses Lake. It’s around 5 hours from Marblemount but the stop at dry falls put it at 7 hours away. I realized that after I got back on the road so started watching for a place to spend the night as it got close to 4 pm. You can see from these pics that being down on the desert floor there’s more brown than green. Those cliffs are ancient lava flows but still raw looking.
When I arrived at Soap Lake though, it was nearly 5:30 pm. I spotted a city owned RV park alongside the lake, and since I was tired of driving anyway, stopped in. Didn’t expect much but wow, it’s a nice RV park. Nearly new services, including super fast Wifi! And only $25/night. Right on the lake too. It was Sept. 13th when I got there and I ended up staying 3 nights, watching Netflix mostly. Hah! I did get out a few times driving around and found a really old restored-refurbished gas station & auto shop now a restaurant. That was fun to me because the old architecture was so familiar for some reason. Good food too. Nice spot for breakfast for sure.
So I just hung out and enjoyed my stay here at this nondescript RV park in the middle of nowhere. Drove around town several times checking things out and it has it’s fans but mostly there’s not much going on there.
Wikipedia says this about it: “Soap Lake is a meromicticsoda lake in the town of Soap Lake, Washington formed by the Missoula Floods at the foot of the Grand Coulee. The lake gets its name from the naturally occurring foam that gives its water a soapy appearance, and because the lake’s mineral-rich waters have a slick, soapy feel.”
During the heat of the day I did see many people enjoying the lake. I’d see RVs pull in, settle, and then the occupants walking out into the lake in their swim clothes and floating for an hour or so. I thought about it, but I’d tossed my swim suit when it got old and faded and haven’t replaced it yet.
So that was it for that journey from Marblemount to Soap Lake. Here’s a couple parting shots of the lake, just before sunrise and just after sunset…
Thanks for visiting!
Hey, your new multiposting of images like album thumbnails is cool! I like that I can see so many at once and focus on the ones that capture my special interest, rather than scrolling as much. Though it would be nice if I could “tap-and-expand” a photo in the group, it’s easy enough to use the two finger expand on my touchscreens.
I’m trying to figure out how to set it for Tap & Expand. That’s what I want it to do but not use to the intricacies of the new format yet. Working one it!
Wonder if you knew about the pot-hole lakes created by the Missoula Floods up there. I once read magazine articles about the great fishing in them. One can hike from lake to lake and enjoy warm or cold water species. As a fly fisherman I’ve since dreamed of getting up that way and use my backpacker pontoon boat, or the new small kayak I want, to catch and release the large hungry desert trout and smallmouths I read about. I expect from the lack of such coverage in your blog that you aren’t into that sort of thing, but for future consideration I appreciate the RV Park information.
I carry all my fishing gear and I keep promising myself I’ll get into that again but I just don’t seem to be able to muster the interest for some reason. Might be because of all the outdoor activities I use to do. Belonged to an outdoor club and backpacked for years. Got far to use to it and it got uncomfortable. Might be that.
Maybe this spring if I head back to Hagerman I’ll get the bug. The Snake is right there, and doesn’t require a license to fish. Yeah, gotta get back into fishing. I am aware of the pot holes up in Washington and we used to fish up there but we lived clear down in the Tri-Cities and Walla Walla, so too much of a drive really. Did occasionally though. Dad loved Moses Lake and he always wanted to go there to fish but mom hated it.
Back in the early 60’s we spent a lot of time fishing Moses Lake, the Pot Holes and Dry Falls. A neighbor’s brother had a marine repair business in Moses Lake and dad would leave his boat in storage there.
Great memories!, thanks for the post.
You are very welcome. I love that entire area, have great memories growing up in the Tri-Cities and traveling around that area on occasion.