La Pine State Park - La Pine, Oregon

Glacier National Park Road Trip (Fall 2022)

September 27-30, 2022

Burns to La Pine, Oregon

Daily Mileage: 194

La Pine State Park

Site: #114 (ideal sites #139 and #149)

Duration: 4 nights 

Cost: $26 per night + $8 reservation fee

Weather: Sunny with light rain one morning (70s)

It's always a little bittersweet to reach the tail end of a road trip, so we planned to spend four nights at one of our favorite campgrounds in Oregon. We got lunch in Bend the day we arrived, wandered around Sun River on another day, and met up with friends for lunch in Sisters. 

This was our second visit to this state park and we reserved the same site as last time. It's quite large with a lot of space between us and our neighbors. There's no WiFi in the park, but we were able to get a weak cell signal that we bumped up with our new WeBoost (cellular booster), resulting in 2 bars for Verizon and 1-2 for T-Mobile. The shower facilities were clean and private (individual rooms) with plenty of hot water (and no annoying push button to keep the water flowing). We had full hook-ups and the dump station is located at the entrance of the park. 

Note: The Costco in Bend does not have a fuel center. However, there is a Fred Meyer with a fuel center, but don't confuse it with Fred Meyers Road when loading the search in your GPS. (Ask me how I know...)

 Hwy 20 (Burns to Bend) is 

very straight & extremely windy!

Brewed Awakenings in Sunriver

Small inventory, 

but look at all those face-outs!

Found something I couldn't live without.

Cove Palisades State Park (Part Four)

Central Oregon Road Trip

Monday, May 23, 2022

The Cove Palisades State Park (Crooked River Campground)

Sunny and warm

I took a lot of photos on our final day at this campground, so I'm dividing the day into two posts. 

After lunch we took a drive over to the Deschutes Campground on the other side of the park. There's a wonderful beach with lots of picnic tables, but after driving around the campground, we decided we liked Crooked River Campground better. It has more grass, trees, and space between sites.

Before heading back to camp, we drove up to the viewpoint on the mesa where we discovered we had a great cell signal. We spent a little time relaxing with some ice cream as we caught up on our emails and the news.

Beach area on Deschutes River

We were the only ones around,

 but I bet it's crowded in the summer.

From The Cove Rattler:

The amazing basalt boulder is called the Crooked River Petroglyph, and used to reside on the western flank of the Crooked River, not far from the northern tip of The Island. The 18-ton rock was nearly covered by water as Lake Billy Chinook filled in 1964, but was rescued and put on display.

The carvings, called petroglyphs (whereas paintings are known as pictographs), are at least 2,000 years old but reflect a style of carving that is nearly 6,000 years old. People often ask what’s pictured on the rock, but the truth is, we don’t know. Some of these carvings were done by participants during profound spiritual ceremonies; other carvings were designed to warn of particular danger, or to represent an entity protecting the area. 

Ship Rock

Crooked River

Happy campers!

Cove Palisades State Park (Part Three)

Central Oregon Road Trip

Monday, May 23, 2022

The Cove Palisades State Park (Crooked River Campground)

Sunny and warm

I took a lot of photos on our final day at this campground, so I'm dividing the day into two posts. 

It was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine and comfortable temps. After breakfast, we enjoyed a walk around the wetland loop, and later spotted an osprey on top of a power pole by our campsite.

Not sure if this is a salamander or a skink.

I wasn't about to pick it up for a closer look!

Northern Harrier

I watched this osprey for

 at least 15 minutes. So cool!

I guess he was watching me, too.

All photos were shot with my new Canon EOS and Canon RF100-400mm F5.6-8 telephoto lens. It's exactly what I wanted for wildlife photography!

Cove Palisades State Park (Part Two)

Central Oregon Road Trip

Saturday, May 21, 2022 

The Cove Palisades State Park (Crooked River Campground) 

Sunny and 66 degrees

After being on the road for a week, this was a good day for some housekeeping. We washed windows, cleaned the grill, and vacuumed (yes, I travel with a cordless Dyson vacuum). It doesn't take long for the RV to get dirty, but it doesn't take very long to clean it, either. Once we were finished with our chores, we relaxed in the sun and had some lunch. Later that afternoon, I decided to check out the Wetlands loop, which is a short 1/4 mile "hike" and very easy. From there, I walked along the main road, which looks out over the river. 

Pretty dry for mid-May!

Looking down on the wetlands

Crooked River

From the Oregon State Parks Organization:

Violent volcanic eruptions, oozing lava and raging river torrents battered this region for millions of years, carving dramatic cliffs of volcanic basalt that tower some 500 feet above the water. What is now a lake was once a rocky, plunging canyon, dry and desolate but for the narrow, life-giving Crooked River. Native Americans battled the harsh terrain in order to fish, hunt and trade here. Pioneers attempted to homestead and farm in this inhospitable region--not many succeeded.

With progress came the need for the Round Butte Dam, built by Portland General Electric in 1964. The hydroelectric facility, co-managed by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, generates approximately 800,000 megawatts of electricity per year for the Portland metropolitan area.

I watched over a dozen turkey vultures soar around this part of the canyon, but couldn't get a good shot, even with my telephoto lens. They were too fast for me!