For almost 35 years Mount Hood Village RV Resort allowed local residents to
purchase day-use or month passes for access to the indoor and outdoor pool,
sauna and gym facilities at the resort. This long-standing tradition was
brought to an end in the middle of January, leaving some locals, in the words
of community member Janet Lemke, feeling “devastated” and struggling to
maintain therapeutic exercise routines while missing the sense of community
the facilities provided in the region.

Welches resident Uma Chodron has been swimming at the RV resort for 12
years. She stated that she is retired, lives on a fixed income and used the
facilities as a form of physical therapy to deal with pain from hip surgeries and
issues with her spine.

“A lot of the older swimmers used the pool for exercise and therapy,” Chodron
said. Now she drives an additional 15 miles each direction to Sandy to swim at
an increased cost and is finding herself exercising less due to the distance.

“It’s a trek compared to what it was,” she said about her new routine.

Susie Anderson, local business owner of the Rendezvous Grill in Welches, has
had an even longer experience utilizing the facilities at the RV resort.

“I’m very sad. I’ve been going there for over 30 years,” Anderson said. She
added the closure was “literally an overnight thing,” announced with the
posting of a sign and left many locals feeling mistreated.

“As a business owner and a member of the community I know it’s always
good to take care of the community,” Anderson stated about the abrupt end
of access to the RV resort.

Welches resident Janet Lemke has also relied on swimming at the RV resort as
physical therapy for a back injury that resulted in surgery eight years ago.

“I met a lot of people in the community there ... I miss my friends,” Lemke
said. She described the community use of the facilities as varying from toddler

swim classes to elderly aerobics classes and lap swimmers. “I feel so hurt and
betrayed,” she added. “Why would they do that to people in the community?”

In response to inquiries about ending community access Mount Hood Village
RV Resort offered a statement to the Mountain Times in an email: “As our
newly expanded Mount Hood Village RV Resort has become an increasingly
popular destination, we made the decision to reserve the resort amenities for
guests staying on property. Our focus is ensuring that guests of Mount Hood
Village continue to receive the best possible experience.”

The Mount Hood Village RV Resort is operated as an Encore RV resort and
Thousand Trails RV campground, both of which are part of the Equity LifeStyle
family of resort communities. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. is a corporation
based out of Chicago that brands itself as “the leading operator of
manufactured home communities, RV resorts and campgrounds in North
America.”