Lake Simtustus, Oregon Camping Trip
Aug 19-21, 2022
Written By: H.Couch
Have you ever flown somewhere to go camping? Well, that was our plan for the weekend. Fly from the Rocky Mountains of Denver to high desert plains of Madras Oregon. We’re off to camp with some of our friends for a summer, hooray! We were even lucky enough to have Lauren and David join us. Lake Simtustus here we come!
Thankfully we have some amazing friends and friends of friends who take care of everything and all we really need to do is show up. However, at Lake Simtustus Resort you are not allowed to tent camp and we procrastinated on booking a parked trailer so we ended up three minutes down the road at PGE Pelton Park. Lake Simtustus Resort, sits high on the edge, overlooking the lake. There is a winding road that takes you down to the boat dock and you can rent golf carts to chauffeur yourself and supplies up and down the hillside. If you are on the ball and reserve your sites, probably 12 months out, you can get camping spots right down near the lake and boat docks. There are trailer camp sites scattered all over the hill along with very cute cabins mixed in here and there. If you don’t have your own RV or trailer, you can rent one for the night for that true glamping experience.
After we arrived it was time for a little welcome visit, snacks and then time to hit the water. The afternoon agenda was to relax and float with a plethora of floating options. It was like a flotilla island of tubes, paddle boards and a kayak. Who could ask for anything better! After a few hours of floating, it was time for a Mexican dinner fiesta. There were meat and fish lover options, even some vegan options (remember I said we have great friends, who look out for us). All washed down by Costco margaritas that I had to fly in from Denver. Yes, you can get margaritas anywhere but not as good as the premixed Kirkland margaritas from Costco with real tequila. After our feast it was time to play some games and visit. One of the guys, Mike, had brought a light up Botchy ball set so we ran around in the dark chasing bright colored balls in the dark. It was a lot of fun, we will need to invest in some of those for sure.
Because we had to stay at a different resort it was time to leave for the evening or else we would be sleeping in our cars. PGE Pelton Park is a nice place to stay right on the lake but because it was only a pit stop to sleep we didn’t really spend a lot of time there. Pelton Park is a nice quiet campground right on the lake near the dam. There is a boat ramp and dock next to a small store and restaurant. I am not sure if they have sewer or water hookups but we did see electrical. The yurt was fairly big and had two bunk beds inside that could sleep 5 or 6 people but would be crowded. Other than a small table and chair that was it inside. There was a rope light and electric if you needed to charge any devices. I would definitely check this place out again in the future if we had our trailer over in this area.
Saturday morning is upon us and it was time for the shenanigans of the day. A super breakfast topped off with mimosas. Fueled and packed up with coolers worth of drinks and snacks it was time to hit the water. But this day wasn’t going to be just about the floaties. Two amazing pontoon boats had been rented and were waiting for us to motor away into the canyon for our day’s adventure. It was going to be amazing as one of the boats included a slide. The only question was who was going to go down the slide first or jump off the deck first. After finding a spot where the two boats could be tied together, it was time, time for that first jump. Away I went into the cold brisk water of the lake. After the excitement of everyone taking that initial jump, a reduced flotilla came out and we had a blast floating around the boat and socializing. We even had our own water waiter in David who brought us drink refills and moved our floats away from the rocky edges. It was amazing and really fun. After a few hours it was time to take a little break and pop open those coolers and snack it up. The day was still young and more boating and floating was had. After a full day in the sun, it was time to head back to shore and get our dinner on.
Italian night here we come. Lasagna (meat lovers and vegan, of course!), Salad, garlic olive oil bread, fettuccini, shrimp orzo salad and homemade meatballs. No one was going to go hungry on this trip that’s for sure. After dinner everyone was so tired from all of the days play that it became a very quiet evening. Music, conversation and a few cocktails lead into a beautiful milky way night.
The most amazing thing about being out in the desert away from any light pollution is the sky. Gazing upon millions of stars shining back at us makes you feel like just a blip in the universe. But wait, there’s more….is that a UFO! Omg, omg we are witnessing a UFO! Um ok not really after a little smarts came out from the initial wonder. It was Starlink, a chain of 60 satellites all in a row moving together in formation that just looks like a UFO. This has got to be one of the most interesting things that I have seen in my lifetime. Go to this website to see when and where you may be able to view this https://findstarlink.com/
And just like that the weekend was over and it’s time to hop back on that plane to reality.
Thanks for wandering with us,
The Wandering Couchs
