06-21-2025 June Trip to East Lake Oregon

Before I begin writing on this very warm late June afternoon about our recent camping trip, I want to share a few things that make me happy.  Sometimes it is easy to slip into negativity about this or that, about the state of the world or the state of my health, or simply the fact that I will be 80 in a very short time.  But then, even without trying, "grateful" will kick in.  

Can you find the kitty? I'm grateful for our neighbor's kitty, who seems to like spending the night in our yard, ensuring our resident gophers don't take over the pasture.

I decided to keep track of those grateful moments that come unbidden, another little thing for which I am truly grateful.  Does anyone remember the popularity of the old "Gratitude Journals," which were part of the New Age Movement back in the 80's?  I kept one for years, and found it recently in an old drawer of journals that escaped the fiery purge I did a few years ago when I decided my kids didn't need to see all my neuroses from my youth.  The journal is wonderful and a delight to read.

I am grateful to the young woman who carefully dusts all the ceiling fans every two weeks

Incredibly grateful that the same young woman cleans the floors and the rest of the house so nicely, and that at this stage of my life, we can afford to buy a bit of help.

Speaking of floors, I am so grateful for the luscious silkiness of the finish on our oak floors every time I walk on them barefoot, which is often, because we are a shoeless home.

Sometimes, standing in the kitchen in the evening after supper and wiping the counters, I am so grateful for the cool smoothness of the granite (actually gneiss) counters that we chose so carefully more than 8 years ago. For the teapot from my sister, the knives I bought one by one for the new house, and the beautiful antique tiles that Mo packed around for years before they found a home in our kitchen.

Beyond grateful that there are the resources to build a new fence when we decided that the trees recently removed between our house and the neighbors left us just a little bit too open.

But now it is time to focus on the real reason for this blog.  Another trip in the MoHo to another favorite lake.

Mo and I have loved East Lake ever since we first camped there back in September of 2008.  At that time, Mo's brother and wife Nancy lived in La Pine, Oregon, just down the hill from the Newberry Crater, where the lake is located at the bottom of the Newberry Caldera.

An especially sweet memory of our trip to East Lake in 2008 since Roger is no longer with us

Mo and I have returned to East Lake a few times since then, and every single time we have loved the campground and the lake. The lake is one of the twin lakes that occupy part of the Newberry Crater (caldera) in Central Oregon. It is located in the Deschutes National Forest east of the city of La Pine. The caldera was formed over 500,000 years ago from volcanic eruptions. East Lake's water comes from snow melt, rainfall, and hot springs only. The average depth is 67 feet, 180 feet at the deepest point, and it covers about 1,044 acres. 

East Lake has two main camping grounds along the lake shore as well as East Lake Resort. The resort has cabins and boats for rent, in addition to a general store. Mo and I have explored Paulina Lake and the other campgrounds in the area and have decided that East Lake Campground is our favorite.

Trout were first stocked in the lake in 1912. The lake offers fishing for brown trout, rainbow trout., Kokanee, and Atlantic Salmon. East Lake is one of the finest and most traditional fisheries in Oregon, regularly producing brown trout over 10 pounds. The lake record for brown trout is 22.5 pounds.

Notes from my journal on the day we arrived:

 "We just arrived at East Lake about 20 minutes ago. It started snowing between the six-mile and the 12-mile snow park once we passed the unmanned entry gate. The snow was coming down rather in earnest, but it was still mixed with rain. And right now, as we look out over the fog-shrouded lake, it is either raining or snowing, I am not sure which."

In spite of the weather, we were content.  We had charged batteries, plenty of food, our site was perfectly level, and the propane furnace was going strong, keeping us toasty.,

When we first pulled in, we didn't unhook the baby car, and simply pulled right into our spot. As luck would have it, there was a sharp angle between the MoHo and the Tracker, and the little car didn't want to come off the hitch.  Lucky for us, we were able to do some jockeying around with the motorhome,  got the Tracker a little bit straighter, and finally got the hitch unhooked. 

We decided that with the snow coming tonight to leave the slide closed so that we wouldn't get any snow accumulation on the slide topper. 

Site 3 at East Lake Campground in the Newberry Caldera National Monument

We were settled in by 3:20 in the afternoon, watching the snow.  The previous night was the first of three we reserved, and we didn't make it to the campground because of all the overnight snow on our route through the Cascades.  With only one night left after tonight, we hoped to get an additional night.  The campground looked fairly empty, but all the sites had reserved signs on them when we walked through the park to check for open spaces for Monday.

We arrived on a Saturday, and the weather for Sunday was predicted to be a bit better, and then by Monday, it was going to be clear and warm once again.  Things shift fairly quickly in the mountains. 

We enjoyed an indoor supper after 6, an easy dinner of leftover burger patties in a rich onion gravy with green beans and tiny little boiled yellow potatoes.  The rain dissipated a bit as the evening progressed, and the wind came up, so we debated some more about opening the slide.  Things are so much roomier when the slide is open, but with the inclement weather, we decided to leave it closed.

After supper, we took a walk with Mattie around the park, hoping to check in with the camp host and ask about Monday night. Even though there was a camp host sign, and the trailer in that spot looked inhabited, there was no sign of a human and no answer to the knock on the door.,

After some dominoes, we settled into our warm bed to enjoy the sound of the wind and the rain on the last day before summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and technically the beginning of summer.

The next day, June 22, was middle daughter Deanna's birthday.  She was celebrating at home in eastern Washington with her husband and grandkids, and her sister Deborah, who traveled from Grants Pass to visit for a few days.  There was no way to wish her a Happy Birthday because at East Lake, there is no phone service, no internet, and no text messaging.  We were completely off-grid, something I had forgotten about camping here, and it does take a bit of getting used to.

We both slept fairly well that first night, waking up around five and staying in bed till 7:30. There was nothing particularly exciting to get up for. We couldn't turn on the generator until 7, and that's when we made our coffee. In the old days we used to make coffee in a French press with boiling water, but we got tired of the mess, and we got tired of the hassle. So, now we just wait for power to use my Keurig and Mo's electric pot, and we have nice hot coffee by 7:30. 

Our plan was to go kayaking that morning, but we woke to a little bit of a breeze on the lake and snow just above us on the hills across from the lake. It wasn't really conducive to jumping in the kayaks. We had breakfast, and then we unloaded the kayaks, in readiness for a shift in the weather.

On this trip, Mo brought enough wood for plenty of campfires, and we decided that a daytime fire would be great.  That was our plan for the morning after breakfast...sit by the campfire and enjoy the beautiful view of the water from our site. We brought enough wood for three nights, and we doubted there would be enough dry weather to use all the wood.

We unloaded the kayaks, locking them to a tree by our site, with hopes for a shift in the weather by afternoon.  We readied the BBQ for supper pork chops, and laid out the tablecloth for dinner. Sometimes the lovliest part of a camping trip is simply quiet time in front of a lake by a campfire.

By mid-afternoon the weather shifted, and the winds were calm enough that we launched the kayaks

There used to be a really nice spring along the shoreline of East Lake, but over the years it has shifted. When we first visited years ago, the springs were easily accessible by kayak on the east side of the lake.  The springs were also accessible via a trail along the bluff above the lake, but the shoreline trail was usually under water.  The water was hot and clear and about 2 feet deep.  

East Lake Hot Springs in July 2013

In 2013 Nancy and I kayaked over to the spring from the campground and Roger and Mo hiked the upper trail to look down on us from the bluff above.  At that time, the water felt great.

This year, however, the springs appeared lower along the shoreline, due to water level shifts, and only 6 inches of water bubbled a bit. Still, it was fun to kayak to the springs and remember when we could soak our feet in the hot sulphur water.

We stayed on the water for a couple of hours, enjoying the glassy surface, the birds, and the stormy skies with view of Paulina Peak to the south,

Still attempting to identify this bird.  There were dozens of them flying around us, almost landing on the boats

Paulina Peak, south of the campground 

If you look close, you can see the MoHo to the left of the boat launch and right of the white rig

Plenty of signal at the viewpoint looking toward the Cascades and the Sisters

After we returned that afternoon, we decided we were tired of having no communication with family and no internet, so we drove up the hill and then back down to the Twelve-Mile Sno Park where Gaelyn camped in 2023 and where we knew we could get a bit of internet.  It was important this time around, with things going on with family that we wanted to be sure we were aware of.  It didn't take long, and it was a bit of a relief to discover that all was well, but it is surprising how difficult it can be to have no contact. Sometimes I like it when we are off-grid, but this wasn't one of those times.

Our evening fire felt good, but not so good that I didn't need my fuzzy sweater beneath my lined rain jacket and a warm wool hat to sit and enjoy it.

The next morning dawned clear and gorgeous, and before breakfast, I took Mattie for a nice walk along the shoreline toward the springs.

Look closely and you will see the icy frost along the trail where we walked

Mo and I didn't kayak on that day because once again, I drove to a phone signal site and called the dermatologist about the surgery wound that didn't seem to heal. She said "Can you be here tomorrow morning?".  We decided it was best to simply pack up after just two nights on the lake and travel over the mountains toward home.

Before we left Mattie got to play with a very nice dog named Trish.  Such a calm sweetheart that dog was, even though Mattie intimidated her a bit.

By the time we returned to Grants Pass, the skies were clear, with no sign of the crazy weekend storm that covered most of Southern Oregon the previous weekend.  

I won't include any photos of the dumb wound but will say that the doctor gave me a resounding approval and said it was healing well.  Mo and I were both relieved and glad that we managed to get back home for the last-minute appointment.