Detroit Lake Camping Trip

During the second week of June, Roger had an unpaid furlough at work. We decided to make the best of it, so I took a couple of days of vacation from my job, and we went camping during the week. We chose to spend our time at Detroit Lake, near Salem. Usually on weekends, this lake is a zoo, but during the week we found it to be fairly calm. Don't get me wrong, there were still people around, but it wasn't total chaos! We got lucky and nabbed a nice lakeside campsite.

It's nice when the most noise you get is from the wildlife. In this case, we were awakened each morning by the loud quacking of ducks. There are tons of ducks at Detroit Lake, and they are not shy about scavenging for food around the campground! Roger said it was the first time he's ever been woke up by a duck.

Roger relaxes after dinner at our campsite.

In addition to the ducks, there were also lots of geese hanging out on the lake. We saw lots of goslings. The goslings were really cute. I got lucky when a flock of geese came searching for food right next to our campsite. I was ready with my camera and captured this photo of a goose family.




Roger fired up the boat, and we motored around the lake the next morning. Roger got out the fishing pole and tried his luck. I kept my eye on the fish finder, both for water depth and fish. But there were not many fish to be found in Detroit Lake that day. It was disappointing in a lake of this size that there were not more fish.

We did get in good hike that day. We hiked up to Pamelia Lake. It was an easy 2 miles to the lake. We were going to hike further, but found the trail under water from snowmelt! Oh well, we headed back to our camp for dinner.




It had been kind of cloudy all day. We knew there was a great view of Mt. Jefferson at the east end of Detroit Lake. The mountain had been teasing us all day, giving up occasional glimpses of its base. Then, right before sunset, the mountain started to come out from behind the clouds. The alpenglow was timed perfectly with the retreat of the clouds, and we got a nice show. All within view of our campsite!

The following day, Roger dropped me at the Tumble Ridge trailhead, which was a short distance from the lake. While Roger tried to fish and pack up camp, I hiked up a really, really steep trail. After three miles of climbing I was beginning to wonder it it was really worth all this work. Then I came to a clearing, and before my eyes was a drop-dead view of Mt. Jefferson. After many clicks of the camera, I hiked up even farther, past a huge field of trilliums, to a birds-eye view of Detroit Lake and a view of Mt. Washington and the Three Sisters. I was happy that all of my efforts had been rewarded.

Roger said he'd pick me up a the trailhead at 1:00. So I had to hustle to get down the trail in time. But - talk about perfect timing - just as I was approaching the trailhead, Roger was pulling into the parking lot. I jumped into the suburban, took off my hat, and a big tick fell off onto my lap! I quickly threw the little bugger out the window, and Roger and I spent the rest of the two-hour drive home anxiously checking out every little itch and tickle on our bodies! Luckily, that was the only tick to be found that day.

It was nice to get away for a couple of days. Hopefully we can do another camping trip again soon before summer passes us by!