Potholes

Potholes State Park offers a cool, freshwater escape from the surrounding Central Washington desert. The park sits on Potholes Reservoir, a body of water created by the O’Sullivan dam, where families spend the day boating and swimming before returning to camp in the evening. Many people come here for the excellent year-round fishing, with catches including yellow perch, rainbow trout, largemouth bass, and walleye. If you’re up for more water adventure, waterskiing and tubing are popular family activities. Birders will also enjoy looking for and visiting the Columbia Wildlife Refuge two miles to the east. The landscape around the park was shaped thousands of years ago by massive Ice Age floods. The tall, curving sand dunes—some as high as 50 feet— line the opposite side of the reservoir to the park. The O’Sullivan dam flooded these areas and the glacially-carved depressions in the Earth known as “potholes,” forming hundreds of small lakes and ponds. Come and experience this unique desert wetland and classic camping park.