Lookout Point Lake

We woke up at 5 am this morning which we thought was pretty good.  We had managed to stay awake until 10 pm last night allowing us to sleep in a bit this morning.  We read in bed until 7 am when we heard Mark & Cindy moving around.  Mark made an excellent coffee cake for breakfast which we all enjoyed. 

After cleaning up we all planned a little for a trip to the mountains on Monday and Tuesday then Mark & I drove to Lookout Point Lake near Dexter, OR to look for a series of geocaches along West Boundary Road.  The road was a beautiful drive along the backside of the lake opposite US 58 and is partly paved and partly gravel.  There were a lot of runners and dog walkers out on the road.  

Mark & I found 70 of the 73 geocaches along the road and saw several blacktail deer, many Stellar Jays, ground squirrels, geese and ducks.  The bigleaf maples were turning a beautiful yellow and the thick layer of ferns in the forest were starting to turn yellow as well.  Most of the trees in the area are firs and cedar but the sprinkling of maple and alder makes a pretty contrast of colors.  The lake was drawn down to winter pool which was much lower than the summer pool level.  Many of the stumps of trees that were in the canyon before the lake was constructed in 1953 were now visible. The Willamette River was flowing fast as it ran into the lake and trout were hidden in pools all along the river.

We got back from our geocache outing around 3 pm and watched a little of the football games on television this afternoon.  Mark barbecued some boneless ribs for dinner along with roasted potatoes and asparagus.  Everything was very good. We want to try to stay up until 10 pm this evening if we can.  We plan to leave tomorrow by 8 am or shortly thereafter to get in the Madras, Oregon area for some sightseeing.

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