Kayaking and Hiking Adventures

 The second leg of our anniversary trip found us at Wallowa Lake, near Joseph, Oregon. This is a destination lake, meaning it's not really on the way to anywhere, and it's quite the drive to get here. So you'll probably need someplace to spend the night. We chose Wallowa Lake State Park , which has a nice campground. While we were heading to Wallowa Lake, we heard there may be thunderstorms the next day, and so we did try to find a hotel nearby. No luck. Make sure to plan ahead. There are two public boat ramps for Wallowa Lake. One is a small park at the North end of the lake, when you first see the lake. The other is at the State Park Marina on the South end of the lake, which is what we used. This has two "lanes" for trucks to back down, and a nice wide turn area for those waiting.  The West side of the lake is a no wake zone. This is the side with trees, and also vacation homes with private docks. While we did see some deer wandering around, there are plenty of

 For our anniversary, we decided to take a longer camping trip to some places we had never been before. So our first stop was where the Deschutes River terminates at the Columbia River, at the Deschutes River State Recreation Area .  We had reserved a campsite right by the river. The campground is nice enough. Vault toilets, and there were showers available. We could not have a fire, but that was understandable. There are some hiking trails. Trains run nearby both along the Columbia and Deschutes.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to put our kayaks in the river on this side. We had to go to  Heritage Landing  on the West bank. There is a ramp for boats, and one for rafts, since it is the end of a popular rafting section. When we were there mid week, there was almost nobody around. There is a permit ($1) to access the river, and another permit to access the small island nearby.  The weather was perfect. Lots of wildlife, including pelicans. The river here is pretty slow and wide. The