Martha Lake- Closed
I need my fellow boondockers thoughts on this matter - and if anyone familiar with WA Game and Wildlife is listening, even better.
On Sept 12 I arrived at my favorite dry camp area on Martha Lake at George WA. Much to my surprise I found it gated and locked. "No Unauthorized vehicles allowed" was the sign.
I drove on to Vantage and stayed the night. Next morning I called the Dept, and the lady on the phone said they always close that park on July 31, at the end of fishing season. That didn't sound right, so I did some emailing, and was told the area is normally closed on Oct 31, but they had a problem with squatters. I asked some follow-up questions, but the nice lady suddenly went silent. Of course she did, because now I'm asking her about their business.
When I first saw the closed gate I had a feeling it was because of me. I camped there in June, and noticed a funky old trailer with some junk around it. The couple "living" there happened to be near my favorite spot, but I set up anyway. Soon the young woman came over to my rig asking for help with her phone. Then she came over a couple hours later asking for more help. It kinda creeped me out - so I left. A day later I reported it to the State.
Apparently (and I don't know ALL the facts yet as the email lady is not talking) because of this squatting, the State decided just to shut the place down, denying access to everybody. What's that saying "cut off your nose despite your face?" I get rewarded for reporting abuse by having them shut the place down!!
It's not free. .you have to have a permit which is not expensive, but costs 3x more than it did 2 years ago. I pay heavy taxes to this state and donate freely to WA state parks. I'd really like some answers as I hate thinking the only solution they came up with was to evict the squatters and shut the place down.
I'm pretty thick-skinned for the "who cares? - go somewhere else" type answers so do that if you must.
On Sept 12 I arrived at my favorite dry camp area on Martha Lake at George WA. Much to my surprise I found it gated and locked. "No Unauthorized vehicles allowed" was the sign.
I drove on to Vantage and stayed the night. Next morning I called the Dept, and the lady on the phone said they always close that park on July 31, at the end of fishing season. That didn't sound right, so I did some emailing, and was told the area is normally closed on Oct 31, but they had a problem with squatters. I asked some follow-up questions, but the nice lady suddenly went silent. Of course she did, because now I'm asking her about their business.
When I first saw the closed gate I had a feeling it was because of me. I camped there in June, and noticed a funky old trailer with some junk around it. The couple "living" there happened to be near my favorite spot, but I set up anyway. Soon the young woman came over to my rig asking for help with her phone. Then she came over a couple hours later asking for more help. It kinda creeped me out - so I left. A day later I reported it to the State.
Apparently (and I don't know ALL the facts yet as the email lady is not talking) because of this squatting, the State decided just to shut the place down, denying access to everybody. What's that saying "cut off your nose despite your face?" I get rewarded for reporting abuse by having them shut the place down!!
It's not free. .you have to have a permit which is not expensive, but costs 3x more than it did 2 years ago. I pay heavy taxes to this state and donate freely to WA state parks. I'd really like some answers as I hate thinking the only solution they came up with was to evict the squatters and shut the place down.
I'm pretty thick-skinned for the "who cares? - go somewhere else" type answers so do that if you must.
