Hosmer Lake and the Cascade Lakes Highway

Our campsite view

A week at Hosmer Lake, one of our favorite haunts in the Oregon Cascades - what at treat! It's apparently become a favorite of more than a few other people too, judging by the traffic down at the boat launch. A favorite for generations with fly fishermen and canoeists, it's rapidly becoming too busy for the peaceful sort of fly fishing I envision. The little plastic kayaks seem to have taken over, on the weekends at any rate. We've counted 10-15 automobiles in the boat launch parking lot every time we've gone down, and on weekends they stack up and have to park clear out on the access road.

Weekends seem to be filled with groups meeting up here. We had quite a bit of entertainment watching campers pull in, set up, change their minds and walk fully assembled tents down to another site. This game of "musical campsites" lasted most of Thursday and Friday, and by Saturday everyone seemed to have settled in to the serious work of having fun in the water.

Shiner taking her daily swim at the boat ramp

Weekdays seem fairly quiet though there's still plenty of activity down at the launch site, and as we have planned for several days here we have ample opportunity to soak up the gorgeous views, enjoy the birds and other wildlife, dip the canoe in the lake, and take a few scenic drives.

Hosmer is one of several lakes along the Cascades Lakes Highway (a designated Scenic Byway), also known as Century Drive (because it's about 100 miles round-trip from Bend to Elk Lake). Originally paved with red cinders, it was also known at one time as the Red Road. Many side spurs are still paved with the red cinders, obtained locally, but the highway is standard asphalt now. Not as picturesque, but much more durable.

An interactive version of this map is available here

There are many opportunities in the area for day trips, so we tucked a few into our heavy schedule of resting and relaxing.

Elk Lake Guard Station

I was happy to be able to add the Elk Lake Guard Station to my collection of "Uncle Sam's Cabins". The volunteer guide on duty gave us a tour and told us about the history of the site. She'd been living in the station for her 2 week stint, and was about to go back home. The volunteers for this site work in two week blocks, a shorter commitment than most volunteer positions require. (Volunteers are provided through the Passport in Time program) 

The guard station was built in 1929 to provide services to the increasing number of tourists visiting Elk Lake. It was restored between 1997 and 2001, and is in beautiful condition. It's smaller than many we've visited, and has some unique construction features. Historically staff came to the station in the spring and one of their responsibilities was repairing winter damage to the old wire telephone lines that were strung from tree to tree. There's an example of a "telephone tree" on the porch, and the original phone still hangs on the wall inside.

Elk Lake is clearly still popular with visitors. While out on a drive on Saturday we had thought to go into the resort to check out their little store and see what else was there, but after looking at the road in to the resort we changed our minds.

We went back on Tuesday and found things much more to our liking, so stopped in to browse the lodge and environs.

Elk Lake Resort

The Elk Lake Resort has both summer water sports equipment and winter snow sports equipment available for rent. The lodge has a full service restaurant and bar, and a great selection of local microbrews for those who are so inclined. The schedule inscribed on a blackboard suggests a full schedule of live music all summer, too. A cool place to visit, especially for the younger set.

Shiner has really enjoyed her daily routine of playing fetch at the edge of Hosmer Lake. She's still a bit too impulsive to take out in the canoe, but she's learning about all the equipment and sounds down at the boat ramp, so next year she'll be ready for a trip herself.

We walk down almost every morning and visit with folks as they launch their kayaks, canoes and float tubes. The crystal clear water sparkles in the early morning light, and there are always a few ducks meandering around.

By Tuesday morning it was a different story, however. Possibly because the weather had been so warm for the last few days, the surface of the water was covered with what appeared to be a slimy light green algae. In some places it even made little clumps, and early morning boaters came in complaining that it was all over the lake. One woman admonished her Husky for getting herself all covered with the green algae when she went swimming. I don't really think the dog understood the difference!

Daph and Shiner at Little Lava Lake

We avoided the situation by taking a short trip to explore a few area campgrounds, and stopped at Little Lava lake, right next to Lava Lake, so Shiner could have her daily swim there. She's getting quite good at retrieving large chunks of wood, and seems quite proud of herself when she's gotten her "rescue" back to shore.

We had a brief moment of panic one afternoon when the sky over the lake began to fill with smoke. After checking multiple news sits and asking around we determined the wind had sifted and blown in smoke from a fire up on Willamette Pass, several miles away. It soon cleared out, but as fire is a constant danger in the mountains this time of year we have to pay constant attention to smoke, especially if there's been a recent lightening storm.

Situated in deep forest, it's hard sometimes to remember that these lakes are in volcanic country. The rocking cliff to the right of the Hosmer boat ramp is Red Crater, a very precisely shaped volcanic cone. Seen clearly on this satellite map, just at the south edge of the lake. A larger view of the area shows numerous cones and flow ridges. When seen from the road, all covered with fir trees, the ground looks looks like it rolls gently, but if you strike out among the trees to hike it soon becomes rough going. I always marvel at early explorers who managed to make their way across all this to the coast. Until the wagon roads were established it must have been tough going.

There's a forest thinning operation going on in the area around Hosmer, so some of the many lava ridges are now exposed, revealing just how much of the area is covered by rough lava flows.

Click for larger view of logging pics

The thinning operation is actually good to see, after the many horrible wildfires and bug infestations the area has endured. The top photo to the right shows just how dense and tangled the seedlings become if they don't have adequate light and space.

The thinning will allow the remaining trees to grow stronger and more disease resistant, and will slow the progress of ground fires. Once the area is opened up so sunlight can reach the forest floor the shrubs, grasses and wildflowers will fill in providing food for the deer. The middle photo at the right shows the recently thinned area. In spring the wildflowers and shrubs will start filling in.

Eventually of course there will be ground fires, which will clear areas where tree seedlings will sprout. Some of them will become deer food too while young, then others will grow, again becoming too crowded to remain healthy and strong, so either fire or thinning will bring back a balance. All the logs collected during this thinning project are tagged as "biomass" meaning they'll either be chipped for use as chipboard, heating pellets, and other similar products. The bottom photo shows the log deck, waiting to be picked up and taken to a mill for processing.

All the agencies connected to forest management have been jointly working on plans for the best utilization of forest products that may result from damaging events such as storms.

Wednesday morning we pulled up stakes and headed for LaPine. Another chance to do laundry, shop for groceries and get civilized before our annual Tailgate Training Camp in Ochoco Forest Camp. 

More pics of the area in the Cascade Lakes album.