Lake Ponderosa
- Thread starter ddisu
- Start date
They recently closed the multi million dollar Visitors center, they still have goo to remove to avoid flooding, and the road to the top is starting to fail. The mountain has a new top as it blew out its side away from most cabins. You should be good to GO.My family and I just bought a lodge at the foot of Mount St. Helens. Really seemed like a steal. Is there anything we should know about it? Does anyone know why it doesn't have a top??
OZHAWK, man you are an idiot. Of course, your screen name says everything. The town of Montezuma is a very clean small town. Lake Ponderosa has not had any meth busts in the past ten years. I have no idea were that comes from. My dad is on the board. I am pretty sure he would know if that happened. why don't you get your facts straight before you throw them out.
The dam has been fixed so there is no issue there. i think somebody said the water is always dirty?? it is usually mossy after heavy rains like most lakes. but it is A LOT cleaner than Lake Panorama if you have seen that lake.
DDISU you will love it. don't listen to these people that have no clue what they are talking about. the party cove is in the southern most cove on the west side lake. its fun on the weekends.
The dam has been fixed so there is no issue there. i think somebody said the water is always dirty?? it is usually mossy after heavy rains like most lakes. but it is A LOT cleaner than Lake Panorama if you have seen that lake.
DDISU you will love it. don't listen to these people that have no clue what they are talking about. the party cove is in the southern most cove on the west side lake. its fun on the weekends.
Yeah we live in Toledo so it is 40 minutes which is a big reason we went there. Holiday Lake is about 30 minutes but is about a third of the size with the same amount of people. Ozhawk is way off base but I hope it isn't like that, I don't want to deal with that many hok fans when I'm there.
My dad has had a place there for 15 years and he still goes every weekend. It's a great little lake. A few bits of advice though:
1) Fishing should be done before 10AM. There are quite a few boats for the size of lake and it can be bothersome (especially on holiday weekends)
2) They put on a great 4th of July show. Find someone with a pontoon if you don't have one and get parked near the marina before the sun goes down.
3) 'Party Cove' gets pretty busy, but it's usually tame enough to not warrant that title. It's on the first cove of the west lake from the marina. Good mix of older and younger people. Some loud music at times.
4) Get a golf cart or something similar. It's much more convenient to travel around to friends' houses than your car.
5) Buy groceries before you get there. The Super-Valu in town (Monte) is way expensive and should only be used in times of dire need.
6) Get some ice cream from Dairy King in town. It's good and they're nice people there.
Lots of fond memories from my teenage years down there. I only make it down a couple times a year now but always enjoy my time. Good luck!
1) Fishing should be done before 10AM. There are quite a few boats for the size of lake and it can be bothersome (especially on holiday weekends)
2) They put on a great 4th of July show. Find someone with a pontoon if you don't have one and get parked near the marina before the sun goes down.
3) 'Party Cove' gets pretty busy, but it's usually tame enough to not warrant that title. It's on the first cove of the west lake from the marina. Good mix of older and younger people. Some loud music at times.
4) Get a golf cart or something similar. It's much more convenient to travel around to friends' houses than your car.
5) Buy groceries before you get there. The Super-Valu in town (Monte) is way expensive and should only be used in times of dire need.
6) Get some ice cream from Dairy King in town. It's good and they're nice people there.
Lots of fond memories from my teenage years down there. I only make it down a couple times a year now but always enjoy my time. Good luck!
Little late in the season but welcome to Lake Ponderosa! As someone said earlier, when you roll in on the gravel road it feels like you are on vacation everytime. We have owned a house on the lake for 7 years. we are on west side cove and just took down the original cabin last fall, put up a new one this spring. Still have a big pile of dirt in the front yard, stop on over for a proper welcome. It is a private lake, so within reason, no need to worry about the law(dnr). We have found people are extremely friendly. Get a cart or rhino for getting around. Traffic is ridiculous @ times on the lake on holiday weeends, other weekends not bad at all. 4th of July fireworks are best in Iowa, imo. get yourself a firepit for late night "save the world" discussions. Marina is serviceable, but we all think they are missing the boat big time by not offering some entertainment, gas girls, pizza delivery, etc. Dont worry about the dam. it is a county highway and the last two weeks there have been 6+" rainfalls twice, water rose and receded in a couple of days. we'll be there this weekend, enjoy.
Just out of curiosity, any happen to be all concrete wall yytyioconstruction? For the whole home?
Most smaller lakes in Iowa get busy on the weekends. All part of the fun. I am just glad we have other options to go boating on.
The only clean man made lake in this state is Sun Valley in southern Iowa because it's spring fed. Ponderosa is as clean as Panorama. It all depends on the weather and the quality of water coming in from the river.
Been boating on Panorama for 4 years now. Private lakes are a lot of fun. Enjoy your cabin!
I'll second what an earlier poster said about laying out a clean cut schedule for cabin usage.
