Cascade Lakes Highway

On our way out of La Pine SP we stopped to dump and deposit trash and recycling. At the dump we met a delightful couple from Pennsylvania who also have a Sprinter conversion. Theirs is even a longer wheelbase than ours and they are thinking about their next build. They have been camping, mostly in sno-parks west of Bend but are headed back to the Lassen volcano in California. They were waiting for the snow to melt there., and then will head east.

After briefly stopping at our campsite in Soda Creek CG to determine the mosquito situation (bad — we texted Amanda and suggested that she and Bo stay home), we headed further west to a pull off in the Soda Creek Meadow where we could send up the drone for great views of Broken Too and Bachelor. We have been along the Cascades Lakes Highway before, two years ago, but never took drone pictures. We continued along with stop to view Devil Lake — it has the milky green hue of a glacier fed lake. We turned around at the bridge over the Deschutes then made stops at the Elk Lake trailhead the Sister Mirror trailhead for drone shots.

Back at our campsite we prepared for dinner and then wanted a walk. We found that if we stayed in the sun and sore bug spray, we could enjoy a walk. We headed across the meadow toward Sparks Lake. There are many well-worn paths through the grass and one fortunate log across the creek which allowed us to go out further into the meadow. When we reached the trees there were blazed on some of the trees indicating that at least at some point this was a designated trail. In the distance we could hear Sandhill cranes on the lake. Posted information indicated that there are two kinds of rails and two kinds of coots on the lake. We were still too far away to see them.
We returned to the van for a dinner of sliced beef, bread, onions and yellow squash, and salad. Only about 2/3s of the people who had reservations in the CG arrived. One couple came with three kids, but I think they surveyed the bug situation and moved on. It was a quiet night.&

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)