Around Diamond Lake

Hi Blog! Today is Monday, September 16th. We decided to stick around camp this morning and do some exploring.  Our campground is located in the Umpqua National Forest. This is our first experience staying in a national forest. Usually, the campgrounds in the national forests and national parks don't provide utilities, so you have to boondock.  We prefer campgrounds that have 50 amp electric, water and sewer, since this our home.  The managers of Diamond Lake RV Park have a license from the Forest Service to operate a full service park, so we have all the utilities (except cable TV).  They even provide free WiFi.  Being right in the national forest gives us access to all sorts of hiking trails, ATV trails, forest roads and lakes right from our front door.

This morning, we took a coffee walk down the North Crater Trail.  It was a little cloudy, but by the time we got down by the lake, the sun was starting to peek through the clouds.  Here is Mount Bailey poking out from behind the clouds and a duck family trying to get as far away from us as possible.

While the RV Park is big, it is tiny compared to the primitive campground which stretches for a couple miles along the East shore of Diamond Lake.  Here Kathy is lounging in one of the empty sites watching the fishing boats to go by.  That's quite an easy chair, Kath!

After breakfast, we took a ride down to Toketee Ranger Station.  We got some great tips from the ranger on places to go and things to do.  There are at least six waterfalls within an easy drive from camp.  I can feel another blog coming on.  She also gave us lists of all the trailheads in our area.  We were excited to learned about the Dellenback Trail, an 11 mile PAVED biking path around Diamond Lake.  As we drove back to the RV Park to have lunch, we decided a bike ride this afternoon was in order.  The Dellenback Trail started right across the street from the entrance of the RV Park, and passed through the South Shore Picnic Area and Broken Arrow Campground.  Here is our first view of the west side of Diamond Lake.

The trail weaved its way through the forest, past the marshes and along side two small lakes - Teal and Horse.  Here is a view of Teal Lake from the bike path.  It looked more green than teal.

The trail soon crossed Silent Creek on a really nice wooden bridge.  Here is Dave taking in the beautiful setting.

Here is the view looking down the creek where it empties into Diamond Lake.

The trail took us up and over the shoulder of Hemlock Butte and provided a great view of Mount Thielsen.  As we biked around we could see subtle color changes.  Fall is not far away.

We worked our way up the west side of the lake and the north shore soon came into view.  We tried valiantly to reach this part of the lake when we kayaked, but ran out of time.  It would have been fun to poke around in the reeds.

At the North End, Lake Creek empties Diamond Lake through a spillway.

Here Kathy is saying hello to another duck family.  These were the ducks we raced with our kayaks the other day.  They were so happy to see us again, they all dove under water.

The trail winds its way through the Diamond Lake Resort, a fully service facility with motel rooms, cabins, restaurant, store and marina.  We stopped to admire one of the many carvings made from old tree stumps.  This fishy is right next to the docks.

We had a great ride and are looking forward to getting out on more trails.