Waldo Lake Summer Fun
There are some weekends when you just
have to take off of work a little early and take your best friend and
partner to the clearest lake in the world. And this is the story of
one of those weekends.
View Rhododendron Island Trip in a larger map
One of the cool by products of
vulcanization (not the rubber making) is the creation of lots of
places that water just naturally wants to pool. We have already
visited Hosmer and Sparks but we have not yet visited Waldo Lake
(hell, I think we did Waldo last year, but NOT with a partner. Well,
not with a girl partner. Things get so complex). Waldo is the second
largest lake in Oregon (next to Crater) and has a water story similar
to Crater lake. The Story is: There is no major in flow stream or
river source. All of the water seeps in through the volcanic soil and
so it doesn't have a lot of dirt or debris in it. It is crystal
clear. So clean and clear that fish can't live in it (hey, there are
trout in Crater lake). In an effort to keep Waldo pristine, gas
powered engines are prohibited. So you can use Electric, you can use
wind, and you can use muscle. As such, Waldo is a favorite for
Kayakers. Hell, it seems like every other car on the way up and back
had at least 2 kayaks loaded on the top. So many Subarus !!
On this particular trip, my partner and
I are traveling as official members of OOPS. The Oregon Ocean
Paddling Society. More on them later. For now, suffice it to say that
getting reservations at the one of the national park campsites in
the summer is pretty hard and it was wonderful to be able to rely on
the organizational skills of the OOPS club. I hope you guys liked the
spaghetti !!
My partner and I arrived after a very
quick transit from the Portland area at around 5:00 (just 3 hours of
driving). You must head south from Portland, make a left with the
Willamette (right after Eugene) and follow the Willamette highway
pretty much due East until you hit Waldo. Well, first you hit the
thriving metropolis of Oakridge, be sure to check out the General
Store and the Plutonium Discount Market. I got 3 grams of refined
Plutonium for only $5,000,000 !!! Cheap !! (dear NSA, this is a joke
centered around the coincidence of the name of the town and the name
of the WWII secret Nuke base. You would have got the joke if you
weren't off-shoring your intelligence translation to foreign call
centers).
Oh, and Oakridge is your last chance
for Diet Dr Pepper and Gasoline. So fuel up.
As a travel advisory, at the time of
this writing, the highway tunnel just 20 miles east of Oakridge (and
4 miles short of Waldo Lake turn-off) is under construction. It is
closed nights during the week and has only one lane of traffic (i.e.
a flagger) during all other hours. So..... some delays. Unless you
have our luck, then you just slow a little and drive right through.
Sweet.
This year the OOPS gang had
reservations on the South side of the lake in Shadow Bay. The camp
sites there are very nice, though rustic. So very nice trees, and
decent vault style toilets, but no hot water or electricity. Bring
plenty of propane and batteries. And paper towels.
But Don't bring any Firewood. Why?
Because there is a big push in Oregon (and perhaps the entire fraking
world) to Burn Local. Don't import fire wood, because that is a
disease and insect vector. Why do you think they chopped down that
tree? Because it was dead !! And why was it dead? Because it had a
disease or a bunch of tree eater bugs. And where are those diseases
and bugs? In the Wood !! And what happens when you Burn that wood?
The disease and bugs are ALL KILLED. Hmmm. Wait. No..... They RUN
OUT INTO THE FOREST !! yeah, that's the ticket.
Anyway, firewood is $5 a bundle at the
camp host place. Just like it is at Fred Meyer in Portland, so why
not?
A lot of the OOPS people arrived on
Thursday. So they had all been out doing major paddles all day and
were just starting to wander in, many wearing their emersion gear and
looking tiredly happy. We said hello to those we know (well, my
partner knows them from her trip to Mayne island. Did you know, she
is writing a guest blog about that trip. Should appear right here on
these very pages just a few weeks after she gets back(that was
humor) (update: Mayne Island trip) ) and then wandered around looking for a open campsite. We
actually were looking for an open tent setting up place, because all
of the campsites had at least one group in them to hold the area. We
found a very nice and secluded place back in the back of the loop.
Far away from any other tents. This is good because we are a very
newly minted partnership and often stay up to late hours laughing and
playing cribbage.
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| Hard at work setting up camp |
So what kind of camping/sleeping
devices do you use? I have been looking for the right sorts of
bedding for like a year now. I had settled on a nice queen size
Areo-bed. They are very comfortable and, if you carry a 120 volt AC
source (which I do) very easy to inflate. But I have learned the hard
way (and continue to learn, evidently) that they have a insulation
rating of 0. Which means thermally, they are just like sleeping on
the ground. Which can be cold. They are pretty much death in the
winter, unless you put other pads on top of them. This trip I thought
would be warm, but damn if I didn't underestimate what the
temperature drop would be at 5000 feet in the Cascades in August. We
got a bit cold the first night.
Friday evening, the OOPS people had a
get together to talk about the paddles of the day and to describe the
trips that were coming up for Saturday. OOPS is very organized. They
have a bunch of group paddles, of various difficulty and distance
ratings, planned for throughout the day. My partner and I picked the
half day paddle to Rhododendron Island. Mainly because it was
starting at 10:30, which was later than any other planned trip and we
wanted to enjoy the morning. I went over to talk to the guy that was
leading it. There is this Dam thing someplace on the lake which has
to do with some strange plan to drain the lake and I wanted to see it
and read the sign. He told me (in a deep melodious voice) that we
were going to stop there. But there was no hurry. OK. Sounds like the
trip for me.
And we went back to our campsite to
cook our stew. And the sun started to set. And the Mosquitos came
out. Oh Mammy, save your baby. I guess a couple of weeks ago the
mosquitos were really bad. This weekend, they were mainly a benign
nuisance . They buzzed and flew all around, and tried to eat you, but
they were pretty slow and easily shooed or smashed. And once the sun
went down, and it started getting cold, they were gone. Snow
Mosquitos. They tolerate the cold so well you can even find them out
on top of the snow during the day. But they can only be active when
it is warm enough for their cold blooded biology to operate. And,
like other mosquitos, they don't like the light, so they need warm
darkness. At Waldo lake that means just at sunset and sunrise.
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| This keeps away Mosquitos. The Smokey Fire, not the singing |
The OOPS experience is pretty casual
around the campfire. We had someone wander in to our campsite with a
box of wine to share and she sat and enjoyed our fire and
conversation. OOPS is an interesting organization. Seems to be made
mainly of older professionals. Lots of Doctors, Lawyers, Mental
Health Professionals, and Intel Engineers. People out to have good
safe but serious adventure. Very organized. Very friendly. Sometimes political. The political aspect of this weekend was this new idea
that was being pushed through that everyone that goes out on an OOPS
trip should have some minimum amount of safety training. To wit: each
person should be certified as able to wet-exit their boat and then be
able to assist in their rescue (i.e. get back into their boat if
someone was holding it). On the one hand, it sound pretty reasonable.
Just show you won't die. Right? But on the other hand, many people go
kayaking for years and NEVER flip their boat over. Why should I prove
that I can do it to some guy that decided he is authorized to certify
me. I mean, I took the safety course from the store where one of the
certifiers works, isn't that good enough? This is how I imagine the
arguments were running. Personally, I love doing rescue drills, if
someone wants to come out and watch, and thereby make me and my
friends safer and wiser, I am good with that. In this case, the guy
that certified me and my partner had some particularly insightful
comments. Hey Free Lesson !! (well, sort of).
We got up with the sun (and the
mosquitos) and had some breakfast. Blueberries are still in season
and we have been gorging on them the last few weeks. Yogurt and
Blueberries and Granola. Yum. Then we loaded our gear into our kayaks
and strapped them to their wheels and rolled them down the road to
the beach where we met up with the rest of our paddle trip. All told,
there were six of us. A perfect size for leisurely little trip around
the south end of the lake.
I almost didn't get to go. I have been
having a hell of a time with the stern hatch cover on Journey and
this morning I just couldn't get the damn thing to go on. It took
like 10 minutes and no one had any good ideas on how to make it work
right. But we did finally get going. And that was good, because that
is when I really got to see the lake. Oh my.
This lake re-defines Blue. I mean,
forget what you have ever seen. Paul Newman's eyes have nothing on
this lake. So Blue. So Deep. I guess this is the color when you have
a few hundred feet of really clear water. Wow. It would have been
nice if the water had been completely calm, we would have had a
wonderful mirror effect. But what we had was a pretty good wind out
of the south west and a 6 inches to a foot of chop pushing us around
and breaking over our bows. Kept threatening to get my camera wet
when I stopped and took it out of it's dry box (note: Foreshadowing).
Waldo lake has a very dynamic bottom
shape. Where we launched, it was very shallow. A couple of feet deep
out for like 100 feet off shore. Then we ran into some very deep
water (at least very deep blue) and then out in the middle it shoaled
again and there were rocks just below the surface (I really should
have gotten out and stood up. But I wasn't sure it would be funny
enough to risk the waves). Then there are other places where it is
very deep right up close to shore. Off in the distance, looking east,
you can see the Sisters and a big dead grey area that is what is left
after a big burn like a decade ago. When you look on Google Earth,
the dead area looks like it may be a lava flow. You can even see
places where it looks like a liquid flow type pattern. But I guess
that liquid flow was Fire.
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| The Burn. And a Tree. |
When we got up to the west side the
coastline blocked the wind and the lake quickly took on a wonderful
quiet aspect. Up on the shore, in a few places, we could see canoes,
kayaks, and tents, where people had paddled around and set up camp.
There are something like 50 primitive campsites set up around the
lake perimeter. They have picnic tables and perhaps fire rings and
you can't get a reservation for them. You need to paddle (or hike)
around the lake until you find an empty camp that you like, and then
go for it. Paddle or Hike; there is a trail that goes around the
lake. Maybe 20 miles? But there is no road on the North, West, or
South sides of the like. Just one that runs up the East side. But the
camping looks to be incredible.
We turned the corner on another point,
working our way North, and there we found our midway destination;
Rhododendron Island. This is the only really big (has a nice stand of
trees) island on this end of the lake. There are 2 developed
campsites on the island (nice picnic tables) but camping is no longer
allowed out there. It was just too nice a place and got over camped.
The 6 of us stopped for a look see on the protected sandy beach on
the South West side. Walking toward the trees on the north end we
encountered a little stand of blueberry surrounded by nice plump
mountain huckleberry. The huckleberries were huge and purple, not the
little red ones you get down in the coast range.
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| Rhododendron Island |
While we were
hanging around, resting, and enjoying the sun, another group of
kayaks joined us. At first I thought it was another of the OOPS trips
that was circumnavigating the lake (counter clockwise) but when they
got within 100 yards I could tell it couldn't be our club, no grey
hair. It turned out to be 10 or so freshmen enrolled at Lewis and
Clark (my Partner's Alma Mater) out on a Freshmen orientation trip.
Freshmen Orientation Trip? At MIT all we got was some Senior showing
us where the Student Center was and advising us to get over to our
temporary dorm and get a room. Not a week of kayak camping in one of
the most glorious spots on the planet. Makes me want to go back to
school. Except, of course, I couldn't afford it.
Onward. We are now heading around the
south end of the lake counter clockwise. The wind is whipping up
again, so we hug the coast until we get to a very pleasant little
bay. It has a rock beach, but we know how to get out of our kayaks in
the shallow water. There is a large flat natural log bench on the
beach and we sit in the sun and enjoy our lunches.
My partner has been bugging me (hell,
everybody) for the last hour about wanting to get wet. She just wants
to go for a swim, to flip her kayak, to have some fun, to GET WET.
She is always wanting to be getting out of her boat. She can't stand
it anymore and strips down to her suit and goes into the lake. I am
much too much of a coward not to join her. We swim out to some local
rocks and in general have a good time in the chill (but not too cold)
water. Then, since we were already wet, we grabbed the kayaks and
she practiced her roll and we both did some bow rescues. You know a
bow rescue? This is where you flip over upside down (yes, on purpose)
but you stay in your boat (upside down). Your boat won't flood
because you are wearing a skirt that seals around your body and
around the cowling on your boat. You then lean forward and bang on
the bottom of your boat (which is sticking up in the air) and wave
your hands in a search pattern hoping against hope that your partner
will ram her bow into your boat (and your waving hands) before you
run out of air. Such Fun. Oh yes, once you grag the bow, you use that
to easily haul yourself upright. Easy Peasy.
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| Mermaid Attack !! |
When the rest of the gang joined us we
paddle further south until we come to this very interesting (and
perhaps unique) lake feature. There is a man-made and man-plugged
tunnel sticking up out of the rock. It has 5 or 6 control handles on
it and was clearly made to let water into,....... something... there
in the side of the moutain. Turns out it was a strange plan in the
early 1900's to use the lake water to run a hydro-electric plant and
to provide water for irrigation to the Willamette valley. These
engineers drilled a tunnel through a few hundred meters of rock to a
little creek on the other side of the hill. They were all poised and
ready to go but they couldn't get the funding they needed to complete
the project (presumably to install the turbines). Why? Because
electricity just wasn't in that high a demand and because the farmers
were afraid of getting addicted to someone elses water. So the
project was never finished and the forest service eventually
cancelled the license and took over the tunnel and sealed it up. Damn
good thing too, since someone did the calculations and figured that
in one year the tunnel would have lowered the lake by 25 feet and
that it would have taken 10 years to fill back up. Just as a
reference, 25 feet would have put the tunnel above the level of the
lake. So that would have been that.
This next section of the lake was the
bluest yet. Such an amazing color. Our group lead said that this was
the deepest section of the lake. Wow. Go there. See Blue.
Our next (and last) rest stop was at
south beach. A low lying area at the south end that must be down wind
most of the time since there was a lot of scum built up right at the
edge of the sand. This is where the certifier caught up with us and
my partner and I convinced him to take us out to deep enough water
and let us do our OOPS certification. Just show him that you can exit
your boat with and without the crap strap and assist in your own
rescue (which means don't drown while your boat is emptied and then
crawl back in whilst your partner holds the things still).
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| The last picture my camera ever took. |
I went first. Why the hell not. Flip
right over. Grap the strap. Pop out the other side. Don't bother
emptying the boat this time, since I am just going to flip again. So
get back in. Roll back over. This time don't use the strap. Just grab
the.... well grab the side... grab it and. Crap.... where the frak is
the the..... ah....and come rolling out. I guess this is why we
practice. Hey. I need a picture of this. I flip my boat back up
upright while floating in the water reach up to grab my waterproof
case that contains my good camera. My partner will take my picture !!
Just hand her my waterproof case that contains.... nothing. It is
empty. Where is my........... FRAK FRAK FRAK, my not a bit waterproof
camera is in my PFD pocket. And completely swamped. And ruined. Sigh.
This was by far the most expensive
kayaking lesson I ever had.
But we finished up. My partner did her
dumping (she had my waterproof camera in her pocket) and I rescued
her and since the wind was blowing and we are both really wet and
tired, and now very cold, we head back for the launch site.
This entry is getting much too long.
DINNER. SLEEPING. WAKING. RAIN. STUFF.
The End.
