ODELL LAKE VACATION

WE WENT CAMPING AND FISHING

On Monday we took off for Odell Lake, nestled atop Willamette Pass. We took the boat, a couple tents, couple coolers of food and spent several days in the woods camping next to the lake. We had a great trip once we got there.

A little about Odell Lake. It is very deep at 282 ft deep at the deepest point. It is 6 miles long and 1.5 miles wide. This is a lake that sees all forms of water sports, from fishing, to skiing, to wind surfing. But no matter what you do you are surrounded by pure beauty every where you look.

Diamond Peak still covered with snow...taken from the boat.
We had a scary moment on the way up the mountain. We had stopped to use the restroom and found that we had lost 3 lug nuts and ruined a rim on the boat trailer. We changed the tire to the spare and headed back into the town we had just left and an had the trailer fixed. We might have made it another 15 or 20 miles before we lost the tire and had a wreck. Boy were we lucky.

The Kokanee(fish) were supposed biting and people were supposed to be getting great catches for the day. Hmmm, not quite what we found once we got there.

See we really did try to catch some fish.

We would hit the lake by 6:30 or 7 each morning and head back in to land around noon. There were a couple days that the wind picked up earlier than normal so it was best to head in before the normal 2 pm. Most people that fish Odell know to be back on land by 2 pm, because the winds pick up and the waves get big and choppy.

Our camp site...the big tent, before the tarp went on.

On Wednesday afternoon, Scott had gone to the dock to fish. He was gone for maybe an hour when he came back saying a storm was coming. So we put the tarp over the big tent and got the firewood tarped. Boy did it rain, great big huge pea sized drops. It was over almost as soon as it came. I was just glad to have had the tarp in place.

This is the view from our small tent...that is the lake just beyond the trees.
The rest of the weather was well, mixed. We had a couple really cold nights, 38 for a low, not the best when camping in a tent. We had highs of mid 70's and beautiful blue skies. The worst part was that wind, 25 to 30 mph winds can really make building a fire rough. Heck the first night it took an hour an half to make a pot of coffee on the camp stove. But because of the winds we spent the evenings in the middle of the big tent playing dice and talking, great quality time for us.

Our little visitor in action.

We had a couple little visitors each day. The chipmunks would come and see if Frank left food in his dish and then would steal what was left. On Friday morning we shared peanuts with them. We would toss them out and watch the little guys come ans carry them off. Once in a while they would eat them right there in our campsite. They sure were fun to watch.

We had a sailboat on the lake as well as the normal fishing boats. I was in awe of the gracefulness it displayed scooting across the water. The captain did have a rough time getting it out of the slip and banged the dock several times, but once it was under way it was almost magical watching it sail around.

Sunset from our camp site.....so pretty

While I was ready to come home I really wanted to stay even longer. I forgot how fun camping can be. Maybe next time we will actually catch some fish ;)

Looking straight up the trees.