Heading for Training Camp

We had planned almost a week to get us from Gardnerville, NV, to Ochoco Forest Camp, in Oregon, for Tailgate Training camp, so we had plenty of time to visit some of our favorite places from years past.

We spent the first two nights at one of our favorite hide-aways, Ramhorn campground, east of Susanville.  This is my first and favorite post about the area. I wrote it after our first visit in 2008.

The area is a variety of volcanic rock, steep slopes, and creek beds. . . a good place to try out Shiner's new boots.

She seems to have tender feet, and gravelly ground makes her limp on her front feet. She accepted the new boots without too much hesitation, and they stayed on until the last down-hill bit of our hike. I bought bright red, so they are easy to find in the brush.

The area is really dry this year, with practically no water in the creek. It's the driest we've seen in a long time. The grasses looked ok though, so we weren't too surprised to see a couple of cattle trucks go by, heading east out into the open desert.

Just as we were getting supper started on Friday evening a couple of trucks pulling horse trailers pulled in. The cows we saw go by were theirs - they have the grazing rights for the area, and they were going to camp the night before heading back to their ranch.

We got to to talking to one of the guys and he looked down at Watch and said "That's a fine looking McNab you have there". He explained the breed to us, and we later looked it up online. The traits all fit, better than any mix we've been able to guess at, so we're going to go with it until proved otherwise. His official name now is Watch McNab. (more about the McNab breed here)

Working our way north, toward central Oregon, we stopped briefly at another of our favorite stops, Junipers RV park in Lakeview, Oregon.


It's on a working ranch, tucked away from the highway on a small reservoir. There are ample opportunities to walk the dogs and enjoy the surroundings as well as the beautiful clouds that always seem to appear in the afternoon.

We took a walk up the road outside of the parking area, through what a sign designates as "Beaver Marsh". This is the view looking back toward the reservoir, and below, the dogs checking out the marsh.

From Lakeview our next stop was North Davis Creek, Oregon, for three days of quiet and relaxation.






This campground is on North Davis Creek, which was as full of wildflowers as it always is, but the lake (Wikiup Reservor) was the lowest we've ever seen. The dogs were happy to get their feet wet though, so we were all happy.

As usual the campground had only one or two other inhabitants, making for a very private experience. We try to camp here whenever we're in Oregon. It's hard to beat the combination of a fast running creek, wildflowers, and a lake that, most years, is good for canoeing.

The view downstream from our site

The "falls" where the creek meets the lake

Next was 2 days at Lapine LaPine State Park, Oregon to catch up on laundry and shopping, then it was on to Training Camp!


Friday, July 15, Ochoco Forest Camp, Training Camp for Duck Tailgaters!

Even though we've all given up our season tickets, we still cheer them on. This gathering is a long-standing tradition. I think it's in it's 13th year this time around.

We've been meeting in this same group camp since 2008, but the camp had several other locations before we found this one. The close proximity of Walton Lake is convenient for the fishermen in the group. The Altrees did pretty well this year!

We have a great time sharing the cooking chores, catching up on each other's families, and just relaxing.

Chris and John are famous for their breakfasts, but John went fishing this time and left Steve in charge of supervising the operation. Actually, I think Chris does just fine on her own!


The camp roster included five dogs this year, two under a year of age, so there was a lot of wrestling and romping.

Heidi is a consummate ball fetcher, and when she doesn't have a ball she'll make do with something else, a pine cone in this case. She's also very patient. She waited for a long time for Grayce to wake up.

All those wriggly animals made the final, group photo a bit of a challenge. At least we have evidence we were there!