Lucking out Camping at Timothy Lake with Olive

When I was unpacking from my last camping trip without her, Olive got in the van and wouldn’t get out. I took this as her letting me know that she wanted to go on another adventure in Squeaky.  Since I know she doesn’t do well driving very far, I looked for a place close to home.  The weather in Portland has been so hot, I decided a lake would be nice and I’d just seen an Instagram post of someone camping at Timothy Lake and thought it would be a good place to check out.

I found an opening mid-week, one night only at Gone Creek campground on Timothy Lake.

I had only ventured up to Timothy Lake once in all my years living in Portland and that was just for a day trip and hike.  I booked it and got info from a friend of some dispersed sites nearby, in case I wanted to stay longer than one night.

Timothy Lake is a two-hour drive from Portland. Even two hours in the car is a long drive for Olive these days. She started to howl and whine about an hour into the drive. I pulled off at a beautiful rest area on the Salmon River where I let her stretch her legs and cool off in the river.

Check in wasn’t until 4, but my site was empty when I arrived at 2pm. Gone Creek is a Forest Service campground run by PGE. It’s very basic with pit toilets and no hook ups. We had a great site with full shade and great privacy. Some of the sites have lake views, but I was fine without one, since most of my time was spent at the lake and not at the site.

As soon as we pulled in and set up camp, we walked down to the lake. We scampered down the first spot we saw to get in the water. It was rather steep and I got a little dusty, but the water rinsed that off easily enough. The water was shallow and pretty warm for a mountain lake. Olive did her usual wading from side to side. I contemplated diving in, but didn’t until the next day.

When we got back to our site, the camp host was there to give me window tag. I asked if they had any openings for the next night. I lucked out! They had one cancelation and I could have the site. She let me know the new site was a little wonky with a steep entry and exit. I checked it out and figured I could make it work. Better than heading back to the city.

As I got dinner ready, my rear neighbors had moved in. I was a bit nervous with all the fire danger in the area, when they lit a propane fire pit. Wood fires were banned. But as I sat at my picnic table, I overheard their conversations and one of them said he was a firefighter. This made me feel a lot safer, knowing they were probably responsible with their fire pit, and also camping next to a firefighter during the kind of wildfire season we’re having felt comforting.

I did some writing on the picnic table until it got too dark. No bugs! A friend texted me about a USA Women’s Olympic basketball game. I was delighted that I had enough ATT bandwidth to watch the game live on computer. That was a first for me while camping. I’d never streamed live TV before.

The next morning we moved early to our new site, since it was vacant. The site was not as nice as our first one. There was very little shade and privacy. I had to use my levelers to get flat.

Olive was pretty tuckered day two, but I dragged her down to the lake a few times. She waded. I swam. She barked at me from the shore. She does not like it when I swim, but she’s never willingly swam herself.

Timothy lake was so beautiful and reminded me of my childhood on Sixberry Lake in New York. I felt so happy and peaceful being there. I put Olive in the van with the air conditioner cranked and went out for about an hour in my inflatable kayak. Swam a little more.

Normally I don’t set up my awning when camping, but did at this site to get a little shade. I’m usually so active when I’m camping, hiking, exploring, but Olive’s slowing down has really slowed me down too. I cracked a gluten free beer and a book and sat and read under the awning for several hours. It was quite pleasant.

I slept great both nights at Gone Creek. I got up and left fairly early. On my way out, I checked out the dispersed sites my friend told me about. They were great, but about a mile from the lake. It was worth it to me to pay the $22 to be right on the lake. Olive couldn’t have walked that far.

On our way home, we stopped at Little Crater Lake, a tiny green gem of a lake. Deep and clear and cold about the size of a parking lot.

Overall, I had a great time solo camping at Gone Creek campground on Timothy Lake. Olive has slowed down so much, even since May, but it was nice to see her enjoy herself, even if she was super pokey. I’ll definitely add Timothy Lake to my list of places I want to return.