Well, we're back from 2 consecutive weekends of camping. Both were quite fun, and quite different.
Timothy Lake is near Portland, therefore more crowded & 'used'. We arrived Thu. evening to blue skies & fairly warm wx; if we really wanted to swim this was the time.. but we didn't. It turned out that we were the only family here that day (my sister was in an adjacent campground).
Friday we hiked to the other camp & found my sister's site pretty fast; we visited for awhile then decided to take a longer walk. Without food or map, we proceeded toward Clackamas Lake; it was a pretty walk but we turned around when the lake failed to appear in a timely manner. Bugs were fairly few this weekend, but cooler air & clouds began to take over. The rest of our extended family began arriving as the day waned, but we were pretty spread out between the two camps. We visited several of them before turning in.
Drizzle and fog greeted us Saturday; good thing firewood was reasonably priced! It was too cool for swimming, and the campground wasn't convenient for other pursuits.. so we did some driving. First stop was Clackamas Lake, probably 15 minutes past our hike's turnaround point; it's an interesting jade-green lake and worth a visit. I had seen it a few times in the 1970s, possibily even paddling on a rubber raft there. From there it was on to Little Crater Lake, an amazing sight even after a couple of decades. It may not be a tiny volcano.. but whatever it really is, the color is reminiscent of the big one.
We returned to the camp, gathered our taco-salad ingredients & proceeded to the other campground, where others in the family assembled their contributions and covered the table. A fine meal followed, then the huge family photo. After a while by the fire (and three pretty poor birthday-songs to people who deserved better), we headed back to camp. Hard to believe the camp trip was already over! The next day we broke camp, headed home for 2 days of cleaning gear and clothes.. and set out again!
Images at http://picasaweb.google.com/alphaPDX/August08 -- the first half of the photos are from Timothy Lake.
