Originally posted by Ripsnort
Bumped for SOB
Hey, SOB, this looks like a great spot. I'm considering a trip down to Oregon this summer. , any fish in that lake? Is there a boat ramp nearby?
It's a really beautiful spot and there are plenty of trails to hike and you can easily walk around the lake. No boat launch that I recall, but it's a small lake and there are no motorized boats allowed...or needed, really. The shelter we rented from the forest service was pretty simple, which was nice, and was on one side of the lake by itself, while the camping spots were on the other side of the lake. It even had a clean and odor free outhoused (until a couple of rangers came and tossed in a dead body or some bacteria stuff to break down the filth, we weren't sure which
)
However, I really can't recommend it. It's quite a drive up there, and the last 3 miles is a winding gravel fire road that has nonstop water runoff grooves perpendicular to the roadway - it's like driving by brail the whole way and you can't go more than about 10 mph. There are swarms of bees there that appear anytime you bring out meat or anything sweet - they weren't particularly interested in stinging, but were quite annoying. The mosquitos were incredible though, and were in full force from sunup to sunset. I got at least 40-50 bites and a couple of my friends had more. Two of us brought poles (me included) and never got a bite, though we didn't bring any live bait. I talked to a guy on the other side of the lake who had the same experience (he was out in a canoe every dusk fishing). I'm pretty sure they stock the lake though, so there's probably something in there at some point during the summer.
So it's really beautiful, but there are probably quite a few other beautiful places that don't have the same problems. Check the web site in the link above for all of the options in the Willammette National Forest, and you can check the
Oregon Parks Service website too.
