Cascade Lakes and Cove Palisades SP, Oregon
July 15th– July 17th
As we were approaching the weekend, Fabien reserved a campsite in an Oregon state park to insure that we would get a spot. We were looking for something between Crater Lake and the Columbia River Gorge- he found one site available in Cove Palisades State Park. Without really knowing what to expect, we reserved it!
We took the scenic route byway of the Cascade Lakes scenic byway, which took us past Mt. Bachelor (the biggest ski resort in the Pacific Northwest) and through some pretty spectacular scenery. We picnicked next to a lake where Fabien went for a short swim (it was too cold for me) with one of the Sisters in the background (the Sisters are three mountains close to each other.) Another stop, we had to park the car and hike up the snow-covered road. We walked about 10 minutes up the wrong trail before turning back and finding the good trail. When we reached the lake it was spectacular, completely isolated and surrounded by snow. We finished the road near the Newbury Volcano National Monument and decided to stop and check out the lava tube caves. Our timing was perfect and we arrived just in time for a ranger-guided tour into the cave. Donned in our head lamps and fleece jackets (it was around 50F inside), we set off on an hour journey into a cave formed by lava several thousand years ago. By then it was late in the afternoon, we had to restock our groceries and get to the park before dark. In fact, we had also changed landscapes. On the eastern side of Oregon, it was dry and desert-like and much warmer than we had experienced in the mountains. Just as we finished our grocery shopping, a thunderstorm came rolling in. We hurried towards the campground with the rain behind us. After crossing a plateau of agricultural fields, we arrived at the entrance and a great surprise, an impressive canyon with a deep, lime green lake. We took the road down into the canyon and across the lake to reach our campground on the other side. We got in, got up our tent and it started pouring rain. I told Fabien to get a couple of cold beers and peanuts- we spent the first part of the evening reading and drinking beer in the tent. When it let up, we quickly got our cooking stuff and made dinner, just in time for the rain to start again. In fact it rained most of the night, but it was surprisingly warm, a nice change from the previous nights.
As often happens, we had haphazardly found something unplanned to explore in the Cove Palisades. We woke up on Saturday morning and went for a good 6-mile hike through the “high-desert.” From the top, we had a beautiful view of the lake and the Wake-Boarding Contest that was going on below. We watched them do the opening ceremony (a speedboat carrying an American flag and pulling three wake-boarders) while they played the national anthem, and then a couple of contestants do some pretty impressive stunts. (I’m not sure we could manage those on the surfboards.) It started raining just as we got back to the campground, but we were too hungry to care. We had lunch, under the rain, put on our swimsuits and went down to the lake to take out the kayaks. We kayaked a little ways up the lake to get some pretty pictures. When we got back to the campsite, our very friendly neighbors invited us for a glass of wine before dinner. It was a fun-filled day!
Tags: BIG TRIP 2011, In English 2005-2006, Oregon
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