Cove Palisades State Park - August 2014

COVE PALISADES STATE PARK

What a delightful find this was.  Back in December we got a phone call out of the blue from Jay Walters, Ranger at Cove Palisades State Park.  He was looking for additional help for the coming summer and we settled on being able to host there in August.  Always amazed at how the stars align so everything works out.

So off to North Central Oregon we went.  The park is about 40 minutes north of Bend or south of Mt. Hood.  There are two campgrounds here, Crooked River and Deschutes.  Crooked River is the newer of the two, if you can call being 20+ years old new.  The campground is above the river, all grass except for the pads and working here could not be easier.

Our Site

Our site is a very large, grassy corner lot at the beginning of the loop.  Our counterparts, Sally and Dale Jackson, are across from us and are a hoot.  We taught them to play Farkle and had daily 3pm Margarita Farkle games.

Dale and Sally Jackson

Lake Billy Chinook

The lake is man made, fed by three rives, Deschutes, Metolious and Crooked Rivers.  Round Butte Dam was created in 1964 which backed up the three rivers creating this great sports lake. The lake is named for Billy Chinook, a Native American of the Wasco tribe who traveled with explorers John Fremont and Kit Carson in 1843 and 1844.


 There is a butte, Round Butte, just outside the park that offers some spectacular views of the lake.

Round Butte Dam

Lake Billy Chnook from Round Butte

Deane on the mower

Unlike other parks we have hosted.... our day consists of dousing fire pits left with hot wood/coals, litter picking (which is minimal), answering questions and making sure kids wear helmets and campers are following the rules because of the high fire danger right now.  Deane was asked to mow and water the grass, which could require a full day of riding the mower.

Unlike other campgrounds where people come to camp, most of the campers here come to spend the day on the lake.  Every site had some sort of water craft, boats, jet skis, party boats, etc. as well as any inflatable to be towed behind.  Therefore, they would be gone from their sites by 10am and would not return until around 4pm or later.   That left the campground very quiet, giving us all the time in the world to get our work done.

On the roof, trying not to break
solar panels.

We do get some odd requests.....Deane was asked if he could retrieve a flip-flop from the roof of one of the bathrooms.  By the time we got there, a camper had successfully retrieved it.  But we were stopped and asked by a couple of boys if we could get their soccer ball from the roof, stuck behind the solar windows.

If the Rangers had seen what Deane did next, we probably would have been fired!  He did get the ball down, as we all held our breath!

Sunsets behind Mt. Jefferson

The view from our campsite could not have been better, and watching sunsets over Mt. Jefferson
were breathtaking.  When we arrived there were still forest fires in the mountains, which made for spectacular colors.


We were treated to a number of wildlife sightings in the park, most of them right in our site.  The

Bald eagle we saw the first day we arrived, the family of deer did not seem to be too afraid of people as they grazed right near us.  We also were treated to watching gray squirrels and cotton tail bunnies.




We did spend one very fun day on the lake with friends Susan and Deb Chaney.  Deb rented us a patio boat and we rented a jet ski.  The day started off just fine until I asked the young man instructing us on how to maneuver the boat and jet ski, to take a picture of us.  He had my phone, was backing up on the pier trying to get the best shot when he tripped over the end of the pier and fell into the water.  It all happened in slow motion, with Susan, Deb and Deane laughing while I buried my face in Deane chest silently screaming NOOOOOOOOO!

Lake Billy Chinook

The water was too deep for them to recover it, so there it lays......  But the day was not all lost,we took the toys up the arm of the Metolious river to a place called Three Rivers.  Had snacks, played farkle, rode the jet ski and enjoyed the warm summer day.

Another real treat that day, was seeing a bald eagle swoop down to the lake, grab a fish and fly off. On our way back to the marina, we were treated to seeing a herd of horses maneuvering down a steep slope to get a drink of water.

The day we pulled out of Cove Palisades  we found an envelope  on the windshield of our car.  We have never gotten a thank you note from the rangers before.  Was quite touching.   They worked hard trying to convince us to come back next year.   Just not sure what our plans are going to be..

We are on the road again, heading to Portland for a few days for doctor appts., then we start our way south.