Where is Waldo Lake??

We are at Waldo Lake in Oregon!! From shortest to tallest: Toli our chocolate lab who's 1.5 years old, Quillan (aka Mudslide Sydney aged 6), Finn (aka Long Legs MacCormack aged 8), Max (my sweetie GF) and me (aka AlyTheRed, Alysse, Mama)

Ok let's march this trail! Hike that waterfall! Chase that chipmunk! Make a new friend! Hup! Hup! Hup, two three four!

Top of the beautiful Salt Creek falls.....

Max, Toli pup, and Quillan showin off the view....

Down near the base of the falls now... see all that shale in the background? We decided to scramble down that "trail" to get closer to the bottom of the falls. It involved some getting stuck, lots of sliding, some "are you SURE this is a good idea??", several bouts of crying, and when we got back up to the top shaking and sweating? Everyone agreed that was a thrilling adventure, but I was the only one who declared I'd never EVER want to do that part of the climb again! It was officially off the trail, people, and rather dangerous. I noticed the only other people bringing their kids down that far were DADS......

The Wee Rangers

Back at the lake side that afternoon....... beautiful handmade canoe that someone else brought. Waldo lake is special and popular because it's the second most pristine (Crater Lake being in first place) lake in Oregon. You can see right to the 120' bottom when paddling across. No algae, no fish, nothing but blue blue water and patterned rocks!

In these afternoon photos the sun is at the other angle making the water look dark grey.


Toli loving some off-leash luxury time. He is a lab and LOVES to swim and play with other friendly doggies.

Yes, this is Finn and Quillan using the two person kayak we brought! Their first time in it by themselves and they did great! Finn in the front paddling and Quillan in the back steering is pretty much their team philosophy in life. Very symbolic. What makes this Waldo lake and Islet campground a great place for kids is the shallow water in the bay. They can play, swim and boat all around safely. In this photo, they are in knee deep water.

Back at our campsite: view from the tent. Kids spent their five days collecting sticks and tending the fire. When the mozzies (tht's our Aussie word for mosquito) showed up, the kids dropped moss in the fire to smoke the mozzies away. Despite my herbal efforts, they still got an impressive amount of bites on their wee faces.

They slept in their own tent for the first time! We were so impressed!!!


Finn the Elf feeding our camp guests bread from his hand. What fun to feel the wild birds hop down and snatch bread from our hands!


Quillan the Gnome awaits breakfast in bed. We woke to a cold and damp morning! Hot cocoa and oatmeal got us going.

Shut your eyes for a few moments. What do you see in your mind's eye? I always see what I've been busy with that day. Or see a bunchof images of things I did or need to attend to. Camping is such a break from all the thinking and over stimulation of modern life. It's not "relaxing" by any means. We had an incredibly active trip. I'll share photos of our journey across the lake on another day. And there's tons of work in setting up camp, making and cleaning up food with rustic equipment, keeping the fire, hiking, playing, getting warm, getting cooled off, caring for the kids, reading Harry Potter book one by the campfire! It's not relaxing, but we came home so happy, smelling of campfire smoke, and when I shut my eyes, I could only see sticks, pine needles, and the continuous lapping of lake water. THAT is a vacation!