Coldwater Cove camping

We camped at Coldwater Cove campground this week, thus completing our trifecta of favorite summer spots (Nehalem, Timothy Lake). I'm so glad we could make it to all three this summer; between Covid and wildfires, I'm not taking our beautiful summer destinations for granted. It was a glorious few days filled with fun: hiking to the Blue Pool, biking the Clear Lake and McKenzie River trails, kayaking and paddleboarding, dunking ourselves in the 45 degree lake, throwing sticks for Jasper to swim and fetch, playing Uno and Scrabble, and lazing about the campground in our hammock and tent, reading books.

We arrived around 5 on Tuesday evening and immediately got to work setting up our campsite (time-lapse of tent here). We are faster every time; in June, we have inevitably forgotten some small detail of how to do it, and make mistakes. We were at site 13 and it was spacious and private and beautiful.

 

After setting up, we walked down to the lake and along the shore trail, letting Jasper jump in and swim and admiring the beautiful sunset.

 

We ate some dinner and then inflated our new toy, a standup paddleboard. It's super lightweight and takes very little space, so we were able to fit all the camping gear, a two-person kayak and the SUP (with lifejackets and paddles), food, clothes etc. into Tessy (with three bikes on the back). It's pretty amazing how much we can stuff into our new car and we're thrilled with it. And I was thrilled to test out the SUP on Clear Lake -- first kneeling by myself, then standing, and then with first Liesl and then Jasper as passengers. I wasn't expecting Jasper to be quite so obedient and willing to hop on board, but he put his paws on and climbed on, lying down to enjoy the ride. Short video of my maiden voyage here (kids were really hoping for something worthy of America's Funniest Videos, but I did not oblige).