A short timelapse of Emigrant Lake in Ashland, Oregon, showing the water level visibly dropping over several hot days.
Author: David
Emigrant Lake – The Point RV Park
We stayed at Emigrant Lake – The Point RV Park in Ashland, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A nice county campground, very convenient to Ashland.
Dates:
- Check in: 2024-08-31
- Check out: 2024-09-08
- 8 nights
Weather:
- Mostly sunny
- High temps 79-100°F, lows 51-64°F
- A little wind, gusts to 19 MPH
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train horn noise
- Negligible neighbor noise
Site:
- #19, back-in, asphalt
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
- Somewhat unlevel site; high on back and driver side; used hydraulic leveling and extra blocks under the front
- Asphalt driveway about 50 feet long by 15 feet wide
- 18 feet to neighbor on driver side
- No neighbor on passenger side
- Picnic table
- Fire pit
- Some trees
- Clean site
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 75 PSI water, conveniently located
- Loose sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 57 Mbps down, 11-18 Mbps up, 32 ms ping
- AT&T: 35-72 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
- Verizon: 5-22 Mbps down, 14-22 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Lake
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Perfect park close to Ashland
This is a great spot to stay and explore Ashland and the local area. It’s a shame the lake is so low, but that’s just the reality of the West these days. We still enjoyed the view from our site, regardless. Access to the campground is a little dicey for big rigs, but it is doable. Just watch out for the final turn into the campground, where you have to navigate between a rock wall and a barbed wire fence that comes close to the road. Our site (19) had a terrific view of the lake, and I think the only better view would be from site 21 (a pull-through site), which sits at the bottom of the loop. We camped at Emigrant Lake – The Point RV Park in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Ashland has one of the best dining scenes in the PNW, so be sure to explore some options (Cocorico was our favorite this time). Take in a show at the OSF, even if it’s just the Green Show, which is free. The Oregon Cabaret is a fun experience as well. And don’t forget to tour the many different wine trails in the area. We’re partial to the Applegate Valley…
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Utilities:
Other sites:
The very end of the point is site 21, a pull-through site; we would have preferred to have this site, but it wasn’t available:
Lake view from site 21:
Campground entrance, with a tight corner:
Bathrooms:
A view of the lake from behind the bathrooms:
From the website, much the same view from many years ago when the lake was full:
Another view now:
And the same view then:
Some more years-ago views of the full lake:
A similar view of the much lower lake now, from our site:
More lake views from our site:
Sunset:
A truck stuck in the mud (see a timelapse video of it getting stuck and unstuck):
A couple of shots of the same part of the lake, where people enter it; the first one taken soon after arriving, and the second towards the end of our stay; if you look closely, you can see a significant drop in the water level:
And an animated GIF of the water level dropping:
(Check out today’s timelapse video of the lake level dropping noticeably during our stay.)
A view from below our site, that should have been underwater if the lake were full:
Looking back up at our site:
The very low water level was rather sad; the lake would have been much nicer if full. But still a nice place to stay.
We plan to stay here again next year. Hopefully in site 21 next time, but site 19 would be a good second choice.
Video: Welches, Oregon to Ashland, Oregon motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 321 miles from Welches to Ashland, Oregon.
Travel from Welches, Oregon to Ashland, Oregon
We drove our coach 321 miles, about six hours of driving, from Welches to Ashland, Oregon.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:
An interactive map:
Toading up in the maintenance area, as usual:
“Welcome to Boring, Paired with Dull, Scotland”:
Our favorite garden center in the Sandy area, Tony’s:
Willamette River:
Joining I-5 South, with heavy traffic:
Rest area:
I-5 South:
Lunch stop at Coburg Crossing Cafe at a TA Travel Center in Coburg, Oregon:
Rail bridge over North Umpqua River:
“Slow Down” for a sharp curve:
Rest area:
Nice Southern Oregon view:
A glimpse of Mount Shasta from I-5 South:
A glimpse of downtown Ashland:
Emigrant Lake entrance:
The lake was very low (and has been for a long time):
Unstaffed fee station (campers continue to site):
Entrance to The Point RV Campground (with a disconcertingly tight corner):
Our site:
Mt Hood Village RV & Camping Resort, yet again
We stayed at Mt Hood RV & Camping Resort in Welches, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Our third visit to this nice Thousand Trails Encore park; we stayed here last year in September, and the previous year in late July.
Dates:
- Check in: 2024-08-25
- Check out: 2024-08-31
- 6 nights
Weather:
- Mostly sunny
- High temps ranging between 64-88°F, lows around 43-61°F
- Only a little wind (fairly sheltered); gusts to 20 MPH
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train noise
- Negligible neighbor noise
Site:
- Hemlock Meadows #94, back in, gravel
- Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach (on gravel)
- A little unlevel; high on passenger side and front; used hydraulic leveling
- Gravel driveway about 50 feet long by about 22 feet wide, plus about 20 feet wide
- 15 feet to neighbor on driver side
- 18 feet to road on passenger side
- Picnic table & fire pit
- Somewhat clean
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 70 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, a little inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 20-35 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
- Verizon: 1-5 Mbps down, 1-3 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
- AT&T: 2-6 Mbps down, 0.05 Mbps up, 300-2,500 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Indoor pool
- Unfortunately the onsite restaurant has closed
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Same as it ever was, minus the restaurant
We stay here every year to do errands in the Portland Metro area. We requested a site in the newer Hemlock Meadows area so we could use our Starlink, but our original assignment was in the trees in a site that would’ve been too short for us as well. Since we’ve been here several times, we knew we needed to confirm these things at check-in, and they were able to move us to a more appropriate site. The newer Hemlock Meadows sites are more open than some of the other areas of the park, so there’s no separation between you and your neighbors…but if they keep letting the weeds grow unabated, they may eventually give you some privacy between sites. The biggest disappointment was that the onsite restaurant closed, and I had been looking forward to their eggs benedict. Alas. We camped at Mt Hood Village RV Resort in a Motorhome.
The campground map:
Interactive map:
Our site:
Utilities:
We were disappointed to discover that the Dragonfly Cafe & Bakery was closed down, having enjoyed their food during previous stays:
Tiny homes:
Other sites:
See our previous visit and the one before that for lots more pictures.
We enjoyed our stay here, and would definitely stay again in the future.
Video: Shelton, Washington to Welches, Oregon ome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 187 miles from Shelton, Washington to Welches, Oregon.
Travel from Shelton, Washington to Welches, Oregon
We drove our coach 187 miles, about four hours of driving, from Shelton, Washington to Welches, Oregon.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:
An interactive map:
A bay near Shelton:
I-5 South:
Rest area:
Another rest area:
Deer next to the freeway entrance:
I-5 bridge:
Roadworks on another I-5 bridge, which caused major traffic delays:
Yet another rest area:
Entering Oregon:
PDX airport across Columbia River:
Welcome to Oregon:
A glimpse of Mount Hood:
Arriving at Mt Hood Village:
Our site:
Shed
As mentioned, we bought a shed for our Washington home, to store stuff we want to keep for the future, but not carry around the country with us (storage space even in a 40 foot motorhome is limited!).
We got the shed from Home Depot, a 10 x 8 foot wooden shed with shingles on the roof. The purchase included delivery and installation, since we would not be home at the time; we wanted to have it ready for when we arrived.
Here’s the shed as installed, unpainted:
With the doors open:
Inside:
I caulked the joints:
Then Jenn and I painted it, starting with the main color:
And the trim:
Nice.
U-Haul to move stuff from a storage unit to a shed
Ever since we started preparing for our current RV lifestyle, we’ve had a storage unit in the Portland area, somewhat near our old homestead. But paying for ever-increasing storage rental was getting old. So we bought a shed for home, and one of our projects during our annual visit home this year was to move the contents of the storage unit to the shed.
To do this, we rented a 15 foot U-Haul truck near the storage unit:
At the storage unit, before loading the truck:
(Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of the loaded truck; it was full, just big enough.)
The truck at our shed:
Looking in the empty truck after we had unloaded it:
Not too hard. Nice to have our stuff at our Washington home.
Baseball: Seattle Mariners vs New York Mets
The second Seattle Mariners game vs the New York Mets, at the Mariners’ ballpark, T-Mobile Field was originally going to be an afternoon game, but was pushed back a few hours as it was featured on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.
We were there very early, having done the ballpark tour beforehand, so had ample opportunity to sample more ballpark food:
Julio Rodríguez exercising, having been on the injury list until this game:
Marking the batting boxes:
Jenn with inflatable trident:
Pitching:
Batting:
Cal on base:
ESPN Sunday Night Baseball:
Pitching:
Run scores:
Salmon Run:
Home run:
Two runs score:
Even though I’ve been in this ballpark more times than any other over the years, and had explored in the previous game, plus the guided tour, I still wanted to explore some more, to take pictures from other angles and places:
“Hotdogs from heaven”, a Mariners innovation where they drop hotdogs on little parachutes:
The wave:
Cal Raleigh is nicknamed “Big Dumper” (because he has a big butt), and they played on that by having him read out messages to dump people:
The M’s did rather well:
Mariners win:
Sweep:
Cal interview:
