I can honestly say that staying at Casey’s Riverfront RV Park was one of the best things we have done for a long time. What’s not to love?? It’s on a river, the river is accessible, the park was quiet, full hook-ups included cable TV and Wi-Fi, and they had self-serve soft ice cream! WOW!!
Carol K had alerted me to the ice cream and it’s a good thing, otherwise I would never have found it. It is not in the small store/office as I would have expected. The ice cream dispenser sits in the group picnic shelter, along with a plastic bin of cones and a coffee can to leave $1.00 for your cone or container of soft serve. Never heard of such a thing!!!! And it was good too!! I have to admit that I had no money on me when I found this magic machine and I couldn’t walk away empty-handed. The sign said it was on the honor system so I swore on my honor to come back later with the money. No way could I pass up that cone. I did go back later and put my money in the can and since I was there and had a couple of extra dollars in my pocket….well…the temptation was just too great and I had another.
I am NOT being paid by Casey’s to champion their establishment…I just can’t seem to help myself. If you have a group outing or family reunion in the works, Casey’s is PERFECT. Here is the outdoor pavilion where groups can meet for potlucks. There is indoor and outdoor seating, two TVs, a microwave, and of course, the magic ice cream machine!
There is also a huge brick fire pit, along with a supply of wood and an ax. You can cook up a storm here for LOTS of people. If crowds aren’t your thing, you can have a fire and a picnic right by the river for just the two (or one or four!) of you. After all the work is done you can relax in a hammock over looking the river.
Or just sit a spell and let the river carry your worries down stream.
Can you tell, I am enchanted with this place? We will definitely be back here. One last look at the river, the morning of our departure. The temperature dropped quite low during the night and the next morning steam was rising from the river as the sun came up. Had it not been for the fact that we had reservations at LaPine State Park, we would have spent more days here. It is absolutely the best and I highly recommend it. But we had to move on and so if you are tired of reading about my love affair with Casey’s, stick around. You can read about my hate affair with LaPine State Park, and see how the squirrel ate the table cover. It’s not really that bad, but I think I got spoiled at Casey’s.
Lake, that is. Located on the western slopes of the Cascade range about 70 miles east of Eugene, OR, Waldo Lake is the 2nd largest lake in Oregon and one of the purest lakes in the entire world. A battle over the use of gasoline motors on the lake has been ongoing since 2000. Personally, I am on the side of the no motor crowd. There are plenty of other lakes in Oregon where gasoline motors are allowed and to degrade the pristine quality of these waters is nothing less than criminal. Not to mention the degradation of the peaceful nature of the area that would be lost if gasoline engines are allowed to return to the lake. Currently only small electric motors are allowed. To listen to the quiet at Waldo is to experience the peacefulness that can usually be found only on long treks into the wilderness. Since we cannot “trek” anymore, it makes Waldo all the more special for us.
Yes, it really is that blue, comparable to Crater Lake, but much more accessible. There are primitive campgrounds on the lake that are best suited for tents. However, many of the sites would be able to accommodate a 30’ or less RV. Beware, though, the tall trees will limit the use of solar. Some sites had more sun exposure than others so choosing your site carefully will determine your ability to rely on solar.
This is a typical campsite at Shadow Bay, on the south end of the lake. There is also a boat ramp and courtesy dock here.
Poppy was having a wonderful time running around and even jumping over logs. Just look at that happy face.
Can you believe there are those who want to land float planes on this beautiful lake? I’m not a tree hugging activist, but some things are just WRONG!
We also stopped at Islet Campground at the northern end of the lake. There is a swimming beach here but it would have to be pretty warm to tempt me to get in that water! Russ found a great sitting rock by the beach area. If you look closely towards the trees on the far side of the lake, you can see a stand of gray, dead trees. This was all beetle kill.
More logs for jumping over made Poppy one happy dog. Her tail is held high and there is a spring in her step. That makes us happy!!
This is a campsite at Islet Campground. The sites are huge, it’s just the parking that is short. This site would easily fit a 30’ RV, with lots of room left over for a car and a couple of tents…with lake view through the trees. WOW!
It had an interesting fire pit. Just turn the crank to adjust the grill up or down. Pretty neat, huh?
We had planned to eat our Sub sandwiches here but the yellow jackets were just a little too aggressive. If I camped here, I would definitely want a screen room! It was great fun for a day trip though.
At this stop, Poppy did not want to get out of the car. She had done a lot of walking, running, and jumping and was probably pretty tired…or so I thought. We had started our day with breakfast in Oakridge at Manning's Cafe. Can’t say as I would recommend them, but I didn’t have to cook. The bacon was good and I saved half of it to put on my sandwich for lunch. When I stopped to get the Subs, Russ took everything out of the cooler so the sandwiches would fit. I thought I got everything back in but…
…when I went back to the car to check on Poppy, I wondered why she had a guilty look on her face and wouldn’t make eye contact. Then I spotted it, the napkin I had wrapped my bacon in! EMPTY!! Poppy had bided her time until she was alone in the car and then that bacon thief nabbed my bacon, and left nary a crumb!! I guess she found it fair and square so I couldn’t begrudge her her ill-gotten gain. And my sandwich was just fine without the bacon.
So if you ever find yourself at a Lake called Waldo, come and sit a spell, or even spend the night, and just enjoy the quiet and the serenity of a pristine mountain lake. But, please, leave your dang motors at home!!
Before I get started, I want to invite you to take a peek at my son, John’s, latest post. He doesn’t post often but when he does it’s interesting stuff. He just got back from a trip with his wife, where they stayed in a Tree-house. Pretty cool place. And here’s another Oregon story that I found interesting from The Back Porch View about Power of the Past.
The west end of Odell Lake seems like a different body of water altogether, from where we stopped for lunch. Accessed by a long fairly steep road near the summit of Willamette Pass, Shelter Cove is quiet and serene compared to its wild and windy sister at the east end of the lake.
We made our way down the rock strewn drive as a light rain began to fall. By the time we got to the lake the rain had stopped and there was barely a riffle on the water.
Shelter Cove Resort is a 17 acre parcel that has everything for the lake enthusiast. There are several boat docks, launching and gasoline, boats and cabins for rent, and an RV park.
The cabins are all different and range from older, tiny spaces to modern town homes. All are lake front and have their own dock.
This is one of the newer lodges. It has four town house type apartments and faces the lake. The front has a gorgeous wrap around porch but I was tired and took the picture from the car as we drove through!!
Poppy was happy as there were more new smells to enjoy. Her eyesight is failing badly, and her hearing is not what it used to be. But her nose works just fine, thank you very much, so we allow her to use it as much as she wants. It makes her happy and gives her input that is lacking from her other senses. She deserves to enjoy what she can.
The general store sells a good variety of items and even some prepared food. We always like to get an ice cream here but it just seemed to cold to do that today. And this is where the bats come in! Many years ago, about 16 if I am not mistaken, I was still working at the bank as the Compliance Officer. My boss was the Chief Financial Officer, in charge of all the lending. We held the mortgage on this property and it went bad. The bank repossessed the property and guess who was volunteered to go up and keep an eye on things? Yup, my boss said “go” so I went! The concern was that inventory and equipment might make a hasty exit with the owners gone and the bank 70 miles away.
It was a fun venture for the most part, until my boss wanted me to spend the night rather than drive back and forth and collect mileage every day! And so it was on a Thursday night that I climbed the stairs to the owner’s quarters; just a big dormer bedroom and bathroom. The kitchen and living area were downstairs. With nothing but a mattress on the floor, it was pretty sparse but I could make do. Then I checked out the upstairs bathroom. There, in the tiny little stall shower, were two dead bats! If there were dead ones there had to be live ones! I called Russ and told him if he would come up and spend the night there with me I would love him forever. He did and I do, but that was the last night I spent there!
For the most part, I had a good time at the resort. I did everything from buying supplies for resale in the store, to washing and folding towels for the cabins. I had to do inventory on each of the cabins and make sure nothing walked off. I only did this for a couple of weeks until my boss could decide which employee to trust and then they were put in charge. It was a lot more fun than sitting in my office reviewing loan files!!
The property eventually sold and the new owners did a wonderful job of updating and making needed repairs. It has been a very successful enterprise under their watch. But all good things must come to an end and as we pulled in I noticed that Shelter Cove is once again for sale.
The owners are retiring after 15 years and for only $4,000,000, you can own this piece of heaven, along with all the headaches that go along with it. Frankly, I would rather rent!!
Here’s a picture of a couple of the campsites. They have water and electric and a honey wagon to do pump outs. This place is packed out all summer. Many people, my former boss included, come for the season and spend all summer catching the kokanee that are so plentiful on this lake.
I see the promise of another nice day as I sit by my window and watch the rising sun sparkle on the river. I think I’ll go enjoy it.
What a wonderful day we enjoyed on Sunday. We woke up to a damp morning but before long the sun was out and our chairs and tablecloth were almost dry!!! What can I say, the rain was not predicted.
Sunday’s goal was to visit Odell Lake at the summit of the Willamette Pass (that’s Hwy. 58 in Oregon). But more about that later. On the way we decided to stop at Salt Creek Falls. We have stopped there many times before and I almost passed it by but, what the heck, I stopped again. I am so glad I did. Be aware, this is a fee area but is free with the federal America the Beautiful Pass (senior or annual).
It’s only a very short walk to the falls from the parking lot on a paved trail. Although the falls are much showier in the late spring when the snowpack is melting, it was still an engaging vista.
Here’s a short video from the top of the falls to the bottom. Hope it sounds better on your computers. It sounds like sizzling bacon rather than water falls on my little laptop!!
After visiting the falls and enjoying that spectacle, we walked farther along the trail than we had before. The trail is paved all the way around the park except for a couple of wooden bridges. It is a well-maintained trail and would be easily accessible for scooters or wheel chairs.
I loved the way the trail meanders through the woods and follows the curves of Salt Creek.
There are picnic tables and fire pits scattered in the woods along the trail, many of them close to the road for easy accessibility.
The water is crystal clear. You can see the rocks and even the moss growing on the rocks.
A scenic wooden bridge leads to trails that go further into the woods. These trails are not paved, but the paved trail winds around and goes back to the parking lot. You can make a complete loop staying on the paved trail.
Near the end of the loop, Russ spied this colorful boggy meadow.
It was a nice walk and Poppy found lots of wonderful smells to be sniffed. I think she even found some deer scat and that was REALLY special. Oh, the wondrous scents of the forest!!
An interesting side note – there are flush toilets here but no sinks! There were hand sanitizers mounted on the wall but both were empty. Just be prepared!
On to the lake. We made a quick tour of Princess Creek campground. This campground is right on the lake but the road is narrow and lumpy. Some of the sites look like they would be fine for smaller rigs. There is a fairly new boat ramp and courtesy dock and a large parking lot for boat trailers.
We stopped for lunch at Odell Lake Resort at the east end of the lake. This is an older resort with a few cabins, a lodge, restaurant, and boat rentals and launching.
Not much business on a chilly, overcast Sunday afternoon, but the food was good all the same.
Russ took this picture inside the lodge, especially for Paulette.
It can get really windy on this end of the lake and today proved that! The waves on the lake were almost as big as the waves we saw at the coast last week!
On the way home we stopped at the west end of the lake but that’s a story for another day. I was too tired to blog last night when we got home so, as usual, I am too wordy this morning! Thanks for stopping by…we are having a wonderful time.
Guess what??? We are on the road! Can you believe it? We followed our check list and did everything right and we arrived at our destination intact and without problem. Of course our destination was only about 35 miles from home but, hey, it’s on the road!!
We headed east on Hwy 58 from Eugene, OR. Our first stop was Dexter Lake. The lake was calm and beautiful today but the boat ramp was blocked. Didn’t know why until we heard the ROAR of the unmuffled engines from across the lake. The annual drag boat races were happening at the Lowell State Recreation area on the other side of the lake. We visited this park a couple of weeks ago and it was MUCH quieter then!!
It was fun to watch, even if it was quite a distance away. Other than that the lake was smooth and serene. Haze from the wildfires could be seen in the distance towards the mountains. Hopefully, we will be able to get above that haze when we head to higher elevations later this week. We are happily parked at Casey’s Riverside RV Park in Westfir, OR, about 8 miles west of Oakridge. We drove through here a couple of weeks ago too and decided we would like to spend a few days. This park is right on the river and we have the last pull through facing the river. The driveways are probably 70 feet long and are angled so that no one is right next to their neighbor. Nice spacing between sites, full hook-ups, cable, and free internet (slow, but strong signal). The first thing we noticed when we pulled in was our neighbor…another Lazy Daze. Of course they saw us too and hightailed it over to welcome us and discuss Lazy Daze. Theirs is a 1997, purchased brand new and is in excellent condition. You would never believe it has over 100K miles on it. Super nice people and they are going to come over later on and visit.
Our site is near the rapids so we are getting some nice river sounds. Downriver just a bit, the river widens out and becomes calm and peaceful. Plenty of room to carry down a couple of chairs and just sit a spell. A nice breeze is keeping things cooled down as I sit outside and write my blog. In fact, it is getting chilly enough that I may go inside soon! Just perfect weather.
There are many places along the river where you can access the water. We saw one gal fishing, but didn’t see her catch anything. Russ saw an old bobber and checked to make sure there was no line or hooks attached. It sure caught Poppy’s attention when he tossed it down.
She doesn’t see very well anymore so she had to get down close to figure out what it was. No good fishy smells attached so she wasn’t interested!!
We came across this structure on our walk and couldn’t tell if it was a fish trap in the making, the remain of a teepee, or the beginning of Noah’s Ark.
Back at our site we looked across the road and saw this happy couple taking in the sights and sounds of the river. Nice!! We may take our turn later on tonight. We are enjoying ourselves and relaxing. Tonight we will watch the Ducks go up against the Arizona Wildcats. This is the Pac-12 opener for the Ducks and we don’t expect it to be a “gimme” like the first three games. This should be a fun game.
Hey, you’re sharp! I heard everyone say, “That’s a foot well on someone’s car.” That’s right. That’s where we used to put this:
It fit but it was tight. And it was no fun getting down on our old knees and wrestling it into place then squeezing arm and shoulder into the foot well to attach the clamp to the brake pedal. Now, I am not knocking the Even Brake. It does work. It’s just more messing with than we expected. And we are not exactly agile!! I just think we are too old or too senile to get this right.
So today we got the Fit back, along with a newly installed Stay in Play Duo, a hard wired braking system. All you do is plug it in, flip a switch and go! Of course you still have to run through the gears and whatever else the manufacturer recommends to prepare your car for towing. But this is so easy!!! And if you have to unhook, all you do is UNHOOK! No wrestling with the brake and no finding a place to store it after you get to your destination.
We haven’t been on a trip yet but just driving home from the tow place was a pleasure. I followed along with the van just in case anything went wrong. It was a thing of beauty!! And all that is extra in the foot well is this:
That little box with an on/off switch is it. I think we are going to be real happy with this addition. We’ll see when we drive to the mountains on Saturday! P.S. For sale at bargain price, barely used Even Brake with everything you need for installation.
