Camping at Sparks Lake? Nah..

Surprise! It’s daylight savings today. I always say I’m going to ignore it and wake up earlier, but never do. This time I’m really going to try. It’s 8:40 and I’m ready for bed.

After doing a bit of research on the hikes around Bend, I decided to start the day up at Sparks Lake. This was one of the other free camping spots that had good reviews. I chose the location I’m at because it’s so close to the city and I’m glad I did.

The road into the lake is rough. I’ve driven thousands of miles from Florida through South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, etc. and I’ve driven down some rough roads. This one is bad and it’s over a mile down to the lake. That’s not to say I wouldn’t be able to make it down there with my trailer, it would just have taken a lonnnnnng time.

The camping spots are all along the road down to the lake. All pretty small and very close to the road. It is an extremely beautiful spot but not practical for anything bigger than a van unless I missed something. Then you have to deal with the traffic coming to and from the lake which I imagine can be pretty heavy because it’s such a pretty spot. In case anyone actually reads this, I’m referring to the boondocking spots. Not sure whether there is a fee campground there.

The hike itself was beautiful. There is a loop about 2 miles through the forest and cool lava rock formations that leads to a gorgeous overlook of the lake with two mountains in the background — South Sister and Broken Top.

I love taking pictures of birds and I had a little bird follow me around for a couple minutes. I definitely want to come back here around dusk one of these days. I think this was a black-capped chickadee.

After the hike I came back home and let the cats out. They’re loving wandering around outside. I don’t keep them on a leash anymore and for the most part they don’t stray too far. One loud noise and they sprint back inside. I’m not feeling too great myself. Hoping it’s not the ‘rona.