Tailgate Training Camp 2017

From Goose Lake it's about three hours north to LaPine State Park. LaPine is a good staging ground before departing for the woods. We stayed two nights in the north loop, where the spaces are slightly larger than in the other two loops.  Access to the trail along the river is easy, and there's a large fenced dog park not too far away, so it's easy to take the pups for an outing. The dogs are constantly on high alert in this park, as the chipmunks are numerous, and they love to taunt the dogs. One ran directly at Watch, and then froze for a moment before he ran up a tree. Watch and Shiner spent the next hour staring at him on his very safe branch high above them. We caught up on internet work, picked up a few groceries, then moved over to North Davis Creek Campground.

North Davis Creek Campground is one of our favorite out of the way places. We've been trying out each of the sites along the creek on the north side, this time we stayed in site #10.   The campground turned out not to be so "out of the way" this time, as almost every site was occupied by the weekend.

We chatted with many of the other campers as we walked the dogs and the most popular topic of conversation was, "I've never seen so many mosquitoes here!" They were bad, which really was no surprise considering the wet spring. It gave us a good chance to try out our new screen room - Coleman "instant" screen room. It's not exactly instant! but much easier than any other we've used, and we really enjoyed the bug free lounging (so did the dogs!)

They also very much enjoyed the higher water level in the lake, as it's a great place to swim and fetch logs. They never get enough of that activity, but since the water is very cold we have to make sure they don't spend too long swimming.

North Davis Creek flows into the northwest arm of  Wikiup Reservoir, which provides a great opportunity for small boats and fishing, when there's enough water in it. After the wet spring this year the levels were way up and we saw several boats where none could go for the past several years.

A reservation system is coming soon to North Davis Creek, which is managed  by the Hoodoo recreation company. The link is to the Hoodoo site where there's more information. The map on their site is inaccurate, but does show which sites will be available for reservation. Most of the  sites on the outside of the loop either back up to a creek or have a view of the lake, the map doesn't reflect that.

The North Davis Creek album is here.

We spent four relaxing days here, then hopped back to LaPine State Park to do the final prep before we headed for the Ochocos. This time we were situated in a nice pull-through in the south loop. The spaces are a bit tighter in this loop, but the pull-through made setting up easy.

We caught up on last minute shopping and other chores (like scrubbing all the bugs off the front of the trailer!!), met some friends from California for dinner, then headed out to Ochoco Forest Camp for the annual gathering we call Tailgate Training Camp. (It's either the 14th or 15th, it's hard to keep track.)

The Team

We do manage to keep ourselves entertained while at camp. In addition to managing the 9 dogs (and one cat) in residence there are several things to do in the area.

Dave and John had a successful day fishing up at Walton Lake, several folks went hiking on the Steins Pillar Trail, and a few of us sewed on projects we'd brought along.

Some of us also took a short day trip over to the Visitor Center in the Sheep Rock unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. It's only about an hour and a half drive and is worth a trip over if you've never been there before. The monument is situated in a rather isolated part of the state and many people don't even know it exists, but it's fascinating, and so different from most of the Oregon scenery you wouldn't know you are in the same state!

We all love to cook almost as much as we love to eat, so we had plenty of great food. Trading recipes and sharing in the meal prep is part of the fun.

We had beautiful weather, and the little creek had plenty of water for the puppies to splash in, and lots of good conversation.

You can't beat a campfire and colorful sunset to finish off the day, and a perfect camp experience.

Follow the link to the Tailgate Training Camp album

At the end of camp we departed for a one night stop at the Crook County RV Park in Prineville to regroup. We made a quick stop at  The Quilt Shack, picked up a few groceries, and then had dinner at El Ranchero. Their food never disappoints and the service is always quick. The location is really convenient as the fairgrounds next door and the park across the road provide plenty of opportunity for the dogs to romp.

The RV park is in the process of adding laundry facilities. It's still under construction but the facility so far is a nice looking building that should hold several machines. We look forward to that the next time we pass this way.