Depoe Bay to Diamond Lake, OR

Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Depoe Bay to Diamond Lake, Oregon
Distance: 234 miles
Campground: Diamond Lake RV Park
Cost per Night: $34
Site #A8
Duration: 2 nights
Weather: Sunny and upper 70s with some smoke

After months of research and planning, we are finally on our way to Texas! We left Depoe Bay shortly after 10:00 and after topping off the gas tank in Newport, we headed out I20 to Corvalis. We had a beautiful drive with no problems and once we reached I5, we headed south to Eugene. The sun was shining, which always makes for a nice day of driving. We drove on OR58, stopping for a picnic lunch at the Dexter Reservoir, where I spotted either an eagle or an osprey and hopefully got a couple of good shots with the Olympus. (I'll have to add those later, since I left my cable at home!)

Looking west

Lowell Covered Bridge

Lowell Covered Bridge is the widest covered bridge in Oregon and is now used as an interpretive center, rather than one which can be driven through. I've only seen 2 covered bridges in Oregon and I believe there are 56.

Looking east

We pretty much had the place to ourselves.

There's just a little bit of snow remaining on Diamond Peak (8,744').

The sky became very smoky (from the Miles forest fire) as we drove along the Willamette Highway, causing our eyes to burn and our lungs to feel wheezy. Once we got over the pass, the sky cleared and we no longer smelled any smoke.

We arrived at the Diamond Lake RV Park around 4:00 and got checked in and all set up without any problems. The sites in our loop were fairly close together with very little privacy in the way of trees or shrubbery, but we met our neighbors (a very nice couple from Alaska who are just starting out as full-timers) and enjoyed getting to know them over drinks after dinner.

We knew we wouldn't have a view of the lake from our campground, but it was an easy walk down the road, which we did after dinner. We caught the last glimpse of a sunset over Mt. Bailey (8,363').

The cell service for Verizon, AT&T and Sprint was pretty much nil at the campsite, but we were able to get a couple of bars down by the lake, so we could send out a couple of short emails. All in all, it was a great day!

Click on photos for a larger view.