Camping

I had the last day of 2015 off today, so I took advantage and went up to the mountain to set up snow camp for tomorrow. I found a nice snow camping spot along Clear Creek not far from Skyline SnoPark a couple weeks ago, so Katie, Julian, and I plan to snow camp for one night on New Years Day 2016.

My parents love Central Oregon and booked a long weekend at the Fall River Guard Station over my Mom's birthday. Lucky for us, their plans changed and they gave us their reservation for the cabin. The Fall River Guard station is on South Century Drive off of hwy 97 at the headwaters of Fall River. It is only a couple miles from the Fish Hatchery, close to where I love to fly fish. The cabin is available to rent from May through October.

It has been awhile since we last camped at Rock Creek Reservoir, so we booked a couple sites and took off early Friday for a fun weekend of camping. It was one of the only weekends I was able to find sites suitable for our trailer. Rock Creek Reservoir is a 100 acre lake (when full in the Spring) located in Tygh Valley within the Mt Hood National Forest (SE side of Mt Hood). The lake is about 6 miles WSW of the town of Wamic and is stocked several times each Spring with rainbow trout.

John's friend Joe plans an annual guys camping trip near Lake Harriet every year around the trout stocking schedule. This years trip fell in the middle of April and John invited me to join them.

Lake Harriet is a 22 acre reservoir on the Oak Grove Fork of the Clackamas River. It is located about 47 miles Southeast of Portland. There is a campground on the East end (upriver end) hosting 11 primitive sites.

I wanted to take advantage of the snow while it's around, so I planned a snow camping trip with my friend John. I had Friday after New Years off, so I went up alone and spent the day scouting out a spot and setting up camp for the weekend. I had to make two trips pulling gear behind my snowmobile since I was alone. I found a secluded spot just below Frog Lake Buttes (right above Green Lake). The weather was pleasant Friday and the snow still deep up higher.

Its looking like another late year for snow unfortunately. I have had a snow camping trip planned for months with friends, but it was shaping up to be more of a wet weekend than a snowy one. We waited until the last minute to choose our destination hoping snow would come. Unfortunately that was not the case. We all took Friday off and I headed up early in the morning. Our destination was High Prairie just below Lookout Mountain at about 6,000 feet elevation. High Prairie is East of Mount Hood about 45 minutes (26 miles) from Government Camp off Hwy 35.

Katie and I took a couple days off to enjoy a longer camping trip with our Mini-Adventurer. We planned on camping in our travel trailer along Barlow Creek near Barlow Crossing Campground. This weekend also happened to correspond with my friend's annual birthday camping trip, so it worked out perfect. Barlow crossing is located close to the junction of NF-43 and NF-48 South of Mt Hood. The actual campground is small with only four sites, but there are numerous dispersed camping sites farther down road 3530 along Barlow Creek.

After a disappointing several months looking for a new home, we finally made time to go camping with our one year old Mini-Adventurer. Katie and I decided to celebrate our 10 year anniversary with our son while staying in a yurt at Devil's Lake State Park near Lincoln City, Oregon. Normally we camp in a tent or our trailer, but decided to try something different. This was our first time in one of the many yurts available in campgrounds across Oregon.

Ever since learning about the Warm Springs Cabin on forest service road 42, I have wanted to snowmobile to it and spend the night. My cards finally lined up and I planned a trip this weekend with a couple friends. The Warm Springs Cabin is maintained by the Mt Hood Snowmobile Club. It's a log cabin with a concrete floor, large wood stove, and sleeping loft.

There is still no real mountain snow, so we drove to Hideaway Lake on Saturday which is at about 4,100' elevation. We planned to take our 7 month old Mini Adventurer, Julian, on his first camping trip (in the winter no less!).

I am still waiting for winter to really hit the Oregon Cascades, but we found a little snow up high at Bonney Meadows (around 5,200'). Bonney Meadows is on the Southeast side of Mt. Hood about 1.5 miles Northwest of Boulder Lake off forest road 4890. I took half a day off work Friday to go snow camping with my friend Kyle and his buddy Matt over the weekend. We met up in Sandy around 1 PM and hit the road after grabbing a quick bite to eat.

My friend John and I decided we were due for a camping trip and took advantage of the nice weather this weekend. We planned to camp on Barlow Creek near Barlow Crossing Campground after first going on a short hike to Green Lake (not to be confused with Green Lakes in Central Oregon). Green Lake is located in the Mt Hood National Forest to the East and just below Frog Lake Buttes. Green Lake is near Catalpa Lake, but about half the size.

We spent Memorial Day weekend camping in our travel trailer at Rock Creek Reservoir near Wamic, Oregon. Katie and I were both fortunate enough to get Friday off, so we made it an extra long weekend and left Portland Thursday after work. Rock Creek Reservoir is a small, 100 acre lake (when full in the spring) located in Tygh Valley within the Mt Hood National Forest. The lake is about 6 miles WSW of the town of Wamic and is stocked several times each Spring with rainbow trout.

I took Katie on her first snow camping trip this weekend. She agreed to go as long as I kept the wood stove going all night to keep her warm. We had originally planned on going to Mt Saint Helens, but the weather forecast was not as good as we would have liked. Instead we planned on going to Bonney Meadows which is on the Southeast side of Mt. Hood about 1.5 miles NW of Boulder Lake.

Winter finally decided to arrive and snow continues to fall in the Northern Oregon Cascades. With a forecast calling for over a foot of new snow, my friend John and I decided to go snowmobiling and snow camping near Bennett Pass Sno-Park. This SnoPark is about 9 miles East of Government Camp, Oregon across from Mount Hood Meadows ski resort off Hwy 35. The trails at Bennett Pass are popular with cross country skiers and snowshoers.