Kayaking and Hiking Adventures

 We headed to Turner Lake to beat the heat today. Turner Lake Park has plenty of parking, with a fee booth for the parking fee. There is a small boat ramp with a dock. When we were there, it was crowded with swimmers, and hard to get in and out of with all the bodies in the way. There is a rental for kayaks and SUPs, and even a small playground. Also a snack shack. I think there was a bathroom as well.  Most of the lake is bordered by apartments, and houses, meaning that part of the lake is private. The south side of the lake is public, and there is a trail that takes you from the park around to the East side of the lake, where there are some places to swim or pull up a boat.  This is good for SUPs. Even with a nice cooling breeze, the lake was pretty calm, and there are no gas motors allowed, and the whole lake is a no wake zone. Turner Lake is a decent size. We traveled around the edges, including the many coves lined by HOA houses. This used to be a quarry that filled ...

  We chose to spend a hot day on the river, and headed down to Willamette Mission State Park . Our goal was to explore the Mission Lake inside the park. Our plan was to use the Willamette Boat Launch just north of Wheatland Ferry. This is a nice boat launch, with bathrooms, plenty of parking, and a short dock alongside the ramp, which is a bit narrow. There is a small cove here so there is no current to worry about while putting in.  The Wheatland Ferry is just upriver from the boat ramp. The ferry is not operating right now, and it is in 'dry dock' for upgrade and maintenance. We headed upriver to find the outlet for Mission Lake. Unfortunately, that outlet is not passable, and we just headed upriver to see what was around. Yay for pedal kayaks! The river here is very shallow. There were many people using this for swimming on this hot day, and a few kayakers were literally standing in the middle of the river collecting cool looking rocks. We did pull over to cool down, but it...

 Today we went to Triangle Lake for our kayaking adventure. This lake is on the way from Hwy 99 (Corvallis/Albany) to the Coast (Florence). We used the boat ramp at Triangle Lake Park, which is pretty small, with a narrow boat ramp. Think one motor boat at a time. While there is a restroom, it's pretty nasty. Parking was fine, although every space was full when we put in. There is not much other parking available around the lake.  The rest of the lakeshore is private property, covered with an interesting array of houses, RVs, and other structures. The lake allows motor boats, and most of the houses we saw had some form of motor craft. There is a no wake area around the shore, but most of the lake is a playground for water-skiers.  We headed for the southern part of the lake first, which is where the lake flows out into Lake Creek. We were able to get away from the main part of the lake for about 1/4 mile, before it got too shallow. The current was not swift at all, and we...

  Waldo Lake is infamous for a few things. Beauty. Clarity. Mosquitoes. All are justified. The boat ramp at North Waldo is large and well maintained. There is plenty of parking, and there are relatively new composting toilets all through the campground, including the boat ramp. We ended up kayaking 2 days here, so this post includes both days. We stayed at the North Waldo Campground. The sites are large, well spaced, and come complete with friendly chipmunks and birds. Especially when you have food out. The mosquitoes were very annoying. We used a lot of mosquito repellent, and had 2 citronella candles burning most of the time. The campfire also helped. Between all 3 of those precautions, and the long sleeves and pants, the mosquitoes were manageable. There are quite a few first come, first serve campsites, which is what we got.  The boat ramp is in a small bay, with an island in the middle, so it is well protected from the wind. Once you pass the island, you are subject to wa...

 We spent the 4th of July at Larison Cove , just outside of Oakridge, Oregon. It's been quite a few years since the water level in the reservoir has been high enough to provide good kayaking, but this year, the water level is higher that it's been in many years. We stopped by the evening before to check out the boat ramp, and make sure it was accessible. The sun was just setting, and we were treated to a gorgeous sunset. The boat ramp is a bit rough, with potholes in the dirt, but was manageable. There is also a toilet available in the small parking lot. We went out with our 2 youngest. Leanna was pulling Amity on her paddleboard, while Mason was using a borrowed kayak. There were not many people around, although a few more showed up later in the afternoon. It was very quiet. I headed toward the western part of the cove, away from the boat ramp. The cove stretches out the long way. Near the end, I found a lot of butterflies. You can see them in clumps on the bank. There was als...