Mirror Lake Hike

Ack! It's September already; the days are getting shorter, the trees are starting to turn, the Fireweed blossoms are almost to the top!

And that can mean only one thing - summer is nearly over.  Thus begins my annual rush to cram as much 'summer' into the next month or so as I possibly can.  I'm eating heirloom tomatoes, garden cucumbers and zuchinni at practically every meal.  And, I'm biking, walking, camping, home project-ing in every spare minute.

I had to try hiking - even though my knee (the temporarily non-titanium one) has been acting up.  For once, the knee went along with the program and didn't hurt (much) on the moderate 3 mile loop up to and around Mirror Lake - so called because of the fantastic view of Mt Hood and it's reflection in the lake.  I didn't get a picture of the great reflection however, too many tired and hot hiking dogs were playing in the water.

Sorry, I didn't get any pictures of the hike up to the lake.  I was too busy huffing and puffing through the many switchbacks.  There were lovely views of Zig-Zag Canyon.




North Waldo Lake - minus the mosquitos

One benefit of the drought - fewer mosquitos!





I was worried about the number of mosquitos - my last trip to Waldo was sharply curtailed by the swarms of mosquitos at dawn and dusk.  Despite the beautiful setting, the great paddling on this crystal clear lake, I couldn't hack the 'skeeters'.  The mosquitos were quite light on this trip - so this campground gets a note to reserve after mid-August!

However, this is the first year for online reservations for North Waldo - and their campground descriptions do have bugs.  I reserved a '29 foot' campsite, but when I got there found that it would have been a tight fit for a VW bug!  Fortunately, there was an open site right next to it that would, just barely, fit my rig.  A quick trip to the camp host (Bill), and the trade was made.



Campsite with xpen set up for Molly

Continuing the 'dry-camping' experiments

The learning curve is steep!  First, I forgot to top off the fresh water tank, so we ran out of water.  This required numerous trips to a campground spigot and a somewhat sloppy transfer to the onboard tanks.  Having water inside again was short-lived as the battery gave out - no water pump, no lights, not even enough power to keep the fridge going on propane!  So, we really felt like tent campers again.  Fortunately, I had brought the big cooler filled with ice (I knew I'd need ice for my creaky knees) - so all the food stayed safely cold.  I still don't know why the batter discharged so quickly.  I'll have to get it checked - this is just making me want to invest in some solar panels sooner. 

Good sized picnic area, unfortunately on the wrong side of the trailer.  Many of the lakeside campsites have HUGE picnic areas between the camp and the lake.

Molly - looking a little worried.  This trip she had to share the trailer, sleep in the car, and spend a lot of time outside on her sleeping bag.  The prima donna prefers a little less roughing it and a few more creature comforts.

Beautiful sunsets and the Perseid Meteor Showers - what a great weekend!