Sailboats and Spanish Moss

The weather in Oregon has been less than conducive to RVing for the past several months. We have got out a couple of times to visit Champoeg State Heritage Area. It is one of our favorites because there are miles of trails for walking and biking.

When I found that we had a couple of days of reasonably dry weather in the forecast, I decided it was time for a getaway. So, yesterday we hooked Blue Suede up to Black Beauty, rolled her out of the garage and hit the road. We went all of about 60 miles to Richardson County Park on Fern Ridge Reservoir near Eugene.

Our favorite space at the park is #12, which is closest to the water's edge and the marina. There was a little hiccup in the process. Having been away on a men's retreat over the weekend and seeing that the weather was encouraging, I got on the park website to make a reservation, but I was a little bleary-eyed and thought that Sunday was May 1st. Consequently, I booked us in for May 2nd- May 4th.

We showed up at the park on May 1st, and after I sheepishly explained my error, the camp host was kind enough to change the dates of our stay. So, here we are parked among the trees about 50 yards from the marina.  The park is well maintained and very pretty. It is situated on the Northeast corner of Fern Ridge Reservoir.

Here's a description from the reservoir website:

Fern Ridge Reservoir has five developed recreation sites. Orchard Park and Richardson Park are located on each side of the dam on Clear Lake Road. Both provide full recreation facilities during the summer months including picnic and beach areas, swimming, boat launch and moorage sites, and restrooms.

Richardson park also has a campground that provides both primitive camping and RV hookup sites. Kirk Park is located at the west end of the dam on the north side of Clear Lake Road. The Long Tom River and Kirk pond both provide easy access sites for fishing. Picnic tables are located throughout the open parklands. Perkins Peninsula Park is located on the south side of the lake on Highway 126. This park offers boat launch facilities, picnic areas, swim beach, boardwalk nature trail, and fishing access. Zumwalt Park is more of a natural setting park located along Jeans Road on Jeans Peninsula. The south portion of this park has picnic facilities and relaxing open spaces while the northern sections have woodland trails for access to the reservoir shore.
 The parks are all open daily through the summer months. During winter while the reservoir is maintained at low pool, vehicle access is limited to parking areas at gates. Walking access is allowed year-round.s

This morning we took a walk from our campground to the dam on the north side of the reservoir. I would guess it is about a mile or a bit less each direction. Lulu was happy as a lark running in the grass and then splashing in the edge of the lake. She was worn out when we got back and hasn't been a bit demanding since.

The marina has lots of sailboats and a few power craft. The lake 

is quite large and not hemmed in by mountains, so it makes a  good

place to sail, with steady winds, which were not blowing today.

Looking back toward the campground from the dam. The marina is at the right

and there is a yacht club to the left. 

There was one spillway open in the dam today. You can see the tail race  in the photo. 

I don't know whether this dam provides any hydro power.

One of many oak trees around the lake. This one is covered with Spanish moss.
Jill said it reminded her of her recent visit to New Orleans.

Here is a blurb from Wikipedia about the dam:

The Fern Ridge Dam was completed in 1942,^[3] and is currently one of 13 multi-purpose dams operated by the Corps of Engineers in the Willamette Valley. The dam provides flood control, irrigation, recreation, navigation, and improved downstream water quality. The water level is kept high from May through September for recreation purposes.

Throughout the summer, the water level is lowered by up to 3 feet (0.91 m) to provide for downstream irrigation needs, and is further lowered after September to provide necessary water storage capability to prevent possible downstream flood damage during the Willamette Valley's rainy season.^[4] The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ major repair effort of Fern Ridge Dam on the Long Tom River near Eugene began in June 2005 and was completed in late October 2005. The internal drainage system was repaired and the embankment dam was rebuilt.

And here is a photo taken in nicer weather (also from Wikipedia).

I can't say we will have any further adventures here, but stay tuned, and find out!!