We spent a couple refreshing nights at Merrill Campground on
Eagle Lake in Lassen NF, refreshing because it was quiet and peaceful, warm and
dry. We needed that after 10 days of
cool, damp, crowded and noisy campgrounds on the OR coast. Eagle Lake is quite large, surrounded by
timbered hills, at 5200’ altitude.
Bonus: white pelicans soar over the lake and hang out along the
edges. These huge birds fascinate me, so
ungainly looking you’d think they couldn’t fly at all, but oh so graceful and
pleasing to watch as they glide in loose drafting formations over the waves.
Looking across the mostly empty campground.
This is ponderosa pine country, which continues southward to
Lake Tahoe. Older readers may
recall the Bonanza TV series, wherein
the ranch was called The Ponderosa. The series was filmed near Lake Tahoe and the film-set
buildings became a theme park after filming ended; the park closed in 2004, but the buildings are supposedly still there.
Eagle Lake in background
‘Scratch, scratch, scratch.’
What the hell? It was 1:30 AM when I heard the noise. It wasn’t Trish and it wasn’t the dogs, had
to be some little critter that found its way into the basement or lower
framework of the Cougar. I got up,
dressed and went outside to investigate, opened all the storage area doors, but
didn’t see it. Trish came out and joined
me. We thought we heard it in the BBQ
bag, opened it carefully, no critter. We
finally gave it up for the night, will investigate again in the morning.
Why is Lassen Park empty??? Don't those Californians know what they've got? Ron and I drove through Lassen on a trip to Tahoe a few years back and some of my prettiest photos ever came from there.
ReplyDeleteThe Oregon coast was misty and cool when we were there a week ago, but it still felt like a relief from the high temps in the Willamette Valley. Misty and cool was okay with us...