Waldo Lake Adventures, aka The Skeeter War
For a vacation this year, we decided to go dry camping at Waldo Lake for 10 days. We didn’t know if we’d actually stay that long-it’s unlikely-but we wanted the option so we made reservations.
This vacation started off quite rocky, with a late start and difficulties at my work. Though, Mike reminded me that many if our great vacations started the same way -sabbatical and London. He was right, things improved.
Waldo Lake is southwest of Bend; we got to it by driving through Eugene and then north. It’s a fairly rustic campground, with no power and small sites, but well-maintained. The lake is crystal clear. It’s the second deepest lake in Oregon and, from what we’ve seen so far, one of the clearest. It’s a beautiful area with one problem-the skeeters.
As soon as we arrived and tried to back in the Casita, we were ambushed. The skeeters won the first battle. I had three casualties on my legs. But, we had come prepared. We heard skeeters might be an issue and loaded up on Deet (no light, organic, Earth-friendly spray for us) and Mike bought the “Camp Fogger”. After escaping inside the Casita, we took action and dropped the Fogger bomb. Round 2 to the Smiths.
The next morning, we went for a 4-mile run. There’s a nearly 20-mile trail that circles the lake. The run was good, a little hard. The elevation here is over 4000’. Iris loved it! She loves hiking and was off leash for most of the run. She set a fast pace for us. We were surprised to learn that I had gotten bit through my running pants. Mike was fairing pretty well.
Actually, they skeeters are not as bad or as big as when we were in Fairbanks, and we’ve learned the sun really helps. We have a great weapon against them- the fan inside the Casita attracts them so we can quickly eliminate the enemy from inside the Casita. Unfortunately, while we were prepared for war, we were not prepared for the casualties. So, on our first full day camping, we had to go to town to buy the pink lotion.
I used the opportunity to work-I have a trial in 5 weeks and am crazy busy at the moment. We also found a really good BBQ place that only had a couple beer options, but they were good options. And, importantly, there was outdoor seating in the shade. The temperature was in the high 80s. It was a beautiful day! After loading up on pink lotion and BBQ, and capturing as much time with cell service as possible (in fact more because I had to ask Mike to turn around on our way back so an email would send), we returned to the campsite for our afternoon nap.
That afternoon, we decided to hike to Charleston Lake. We thought the sign said it was only one mile-it was actually 2 miles, which we discovered when we were nearly there. We may have interrupted a romantic encounter as we approached the lake. A couple moved quickly when we arrived. We chose the route away from them and found a spot where Mike and Iris could swim. It had been a hot and sticky hike. The swim refreshed both, they were so cute, and we headed back. Unfortunately, our defenses were down and Mike had rinsed off some of his spray. The skeeters saw an opportunity and attacked. They won the battle. In fact, Mike just found three bites on the inside of his hand.
One thing we are really enjoying is our new portable solar panel. Mike spent a lot of time fixing our battery situation and installing the solar panel connections and an inverter. It works like a charm. He’s been monitoring how quickly the solar panel charges the battery and has been impressed. Our battery needs replacing (it was literally stuck in the Casita since sabbatical so we didn’t unplug it during winters) but the solar panel is keeping us in the light and using our devices. So, blog on.
