Three Creeks Lake (Sisters, OR) August 2009

After a busy July we resumed our camping in earnest on the first weekend in August with a 3-day/2-night trip to Sisters, OR (30 minutes north of Bend). Our destination was Three Creeks Lake and the lakeside campground that is located there. When we arrived at the lake what we found was a mostly full campground with sites that were dug-in to the sloping lakeside hill and that again had only a handful of sites that I would even call Teardrop firendly. Most sites involved leaving your car/taerdrop in a parking spot and walking down about 25 feet to the site. In addition, we found that there were several large groups of "young folks" camped out there and given past experiences, I always look to neighbor up to some nice geriatric looking folks for peace and quiet. So we drove back down the road to what was listed as the lake's horse camp and found that a) there were no horses there, (b) each campsite was approximately 2 acres in size, and c) most of the campsites bordered a beautiful wildflower pasture with a meandering bubbling brook flowing through it with the ridge of Tam Macarthur Ridge serving as backdrop to the whole scene...it was like camping in a groovey Bob Ross painting. We did a great hike up along the ridge of Tam McArthur Rim early Saturday morning and by the time we got back to camp began getting some sporadic rain showers and thunder storms that regularly pop up in the mountains of Bend. It was our first time squirelling away into the teardrop during the day to escape rain and it was great. We watched an episode of MadMen, then read our books some and I even grabbed a little nappy nap. After the weather passed (about 90 minutes or so), we got out drove back into Sisters to grab a late lunch bite at the new Three Creeks Brewing the headed back up to camp. We had a glass or two of wine and enjoyed the scenery from camp and then made a light dinner and hit the hay early. Sunday was our getaway day and of course we scored some great coffee for me and ice cream for Lisa for the 2 hour drive home. And some pics...

Some shots from the hike up along the Tam McArthur Rim...

Back in camp for an evening sunset show...

Hosmer Lake (Bend, OR) July 2009

The Teardrop is 2 years old now and besides a couple longer trips to Vancouver Island, BC (2007) and California's Lost Coast/Point Reyes National Seashore (2008), the first year didn't bring as many weekend trips as we had hoped, so in 2009 we were pretty determined to get it out on weekends to our go-to recreation mecca... Bend, OR.

After a unremarkable camping weekend at Tillicum State park on the coast of Oregon, we began lucking into some great camping spots along with some equally great hikes. Our first trip was a 4-day/3-night trip on July 4th weekend to our favorite old standby - Hosmer Lake in Bend. Hosmer Lake is one of the dozens of beautiful lakes dotting the Cascades Lakes Scenic Highway that leaves from Bend. Hosmer Lake actually has 2 campgrounds (South Hosmer and Marsh). We favor the Marsh campground as it is smaller (16 sites) and has a handful of A+ sites that look right out on the lake. On this trip, all of those sites had been taken and the remaining sites, though still nice were not particularly Teardrop accessible (not back-in sites) or were to close to other sites for our easily agitated dog. In typical 4th of July weekend panic mode, we tried South Hosmer campground (about 5 minutes away) and found a nice site at the very beginning of the string of campsites that offered very good seclusion, although no lake view (or other view to speak of). It was however secluded, quiet, and close enough to the lake (our favorite lake to canoe in the area) to walk down to with our gear. This trip was a canoe-centric trip with day paddles on Hosmer Lake and Sparks Lake. Overall, a nice way to start the summer in the mountains. And a couple pics....

This last pic is actually from our last tent camping trip to Hosmer Lake. That is the lake directly beyond the tent.