For this trip, we made reservations for 2 nights at Mallard Marsh Campground at Hosmer Lake. My SIL and BIL joined us for the weekend, and managed to get the campsite next to us. So let's start with the drive and area, then the campground, and then move on to the lake and kayaking.
The Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway deserves a paragraph of its own. This leads from Hwy 58 to Hwy 97 near Bend, giving access to some great mountain lakes and hiking trails. It's a beautiful drive, the road is in good condition, and the views are amazing. You get close up views of Mt. Bachelor and the 3 Sisters.There are 2 campgrounds at Hosmer Lake, Mallard Marsh and South CG. The MM campground has 15 good sized sites. Lots of room to spread out. The campground also has no water, so you have to bring your own, and it's a bit dusty and dry. There are large trees that give a lot of shade during the day. We had to go to one of the nearby resorts to get wood. Elk Lake has some, but Lava Lake Resort is cheaper and easier to find parking at the store.
At the edge of the sites is a small trail that leads to a small dock, and a very narrow water path through the reeds to the main part of the lake. It looks like water levels have dropped, and there are reeds everywhere.
There is also a small trail between sites 14and 15 that leads to the dock, so you can unload there and carry them in. There is also a boat dock down the road. We brought our kayaks down here and left them during the day when we were taking naps!
From this small dock, this is how you access the lake. It's not too far, and easy enough to maneuver. Unless you are staring at the view while you paddle.
We decided not to bring our pedals on the lake for our first trip, and then just never brought them on our subsequent floats, so this was our first paddles only trip.
On Friday evening, after setting up camp, and while waiting for Jo and Rus to arrive, we turned south. This is the end the boat ramp is on, and there are good views of the mountains, as well as marshy areas with reeds and lilies.
These marshy edges are teeming with wildlife. We saw ducks, geese, cute, fluffy ducklings, like these all in a row. Fish were jumping, smaller birds were in the reeds, and we saw some large deer between our campsite and the lake. Not a lot of raptors, which was surprising.
On Saturday late morning, we headed North, with Jo and Rus, and a whole bunch of other people. The North end of Hosmer Lake is where it's at! For one, it's huge. It's not very deep, and the water is very clear, so the color of the lakebed shows white in some places, dark in others, mottled here and there. The mountains are closer, there is more shoreline to explore, a few islands, although signs tell us not to use the islands.
I was hoping to find a good swimming spot, but those seem to be few, since the shoreline is mostly reeds and marsh. Parts of the lake are shallow enough to stand up to your waist, so that would be an option.
In the late afternoon, after lunch and naps, we went back to the South end, since Jo and Rus had not been yet. The boat ramp seems large enough, with a decent parking lot. Not sure if there is trailer parking. People were coming back from the North end while we lazily floated around.
Definitely a fun place to explore, and big enough for a few days. Have fun!
Comments
Post a Comment