Oregon - Crescent to Summer Lake

North end of Winter Rim, Summer Lake

Traveling down the road from Crescent to Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge was only about 80 miles – a nice easy 90-minute drive. Not too early for our start and an early end to the day, still gives us time for some exploration.

 

We did a slight detour to see what Tom called the “Ayers Rock” of Oregon, Fort Rock.  I did have to agree with him on that one.  Out in the middle of nowhere is this large rock. We did agree that it’s not as impressive as Uluru/Ayers Rock, but it still is impressive!

 

Another 30 miles down the road got us to the Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge, our home for the next 3 days. There are three camping areas, one with hookups, and two that are primitive.  We opted for the primitive and were the only ones out there… besides the birds!

 

Our biggest concern this time of year has been the forest fires.  Unfortunately, there is one close by, just outside the town of Paisley.  We could see, and smell, the smoke on a couple of days,  but the wind kept it mostly blowing away from us.

 

Smoke plume from WatsonFire near Paisley

The smoke in the air kept the brilliance of the colors in the wetlands subdued, but it was very pretty nonetheless.

 

This refuge covers 19,000 acres over this valley floor.  Dikes and roads on the top of the dikes have been created for traveling around the different ponds and creeks.  

There are lots of birds to watch all over the wetlands.  Several of the rangers noted that many have started their migrations early.  We'll now up our weather watches for snow in the north!

We had a lovely three days camping out here.  Our daily plan is to balance the fun to work ratio, much as we had done when on the boat. We do a chore or two for the good of the trailer, a small project or continuing of one and then some fun or relaxation or both! So far, that system has worked well. We need to pick up a couple of small items for projects at a hardware store, so it’s off to Lakeview!

 

A spectacular sunset over Winter Rim