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:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

Other sites:

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:

Other sites

Lake view from site 21:

Lake view from site 21

Campground entrance, with a tight corner:

Campground entrance

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

A view of the lake from behind the bathrooms:

View now

From the website, much the same view from many years ago when the lake was full:

View then

Another view now:

View now

And the same view then:

View then

Some more years-ago views of the full lake:

View then

A similar view of the much lower lake now, from our site:

Lake view

More lake views from our site:

Lake view

Sunset:

Sunset

A truck stuck in the mud (see a timelapse video of it getting stuck and unstuck):

A truck stuck in the mud

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:

Lake view

And an animated GIF of the water level dropping:

Lake view

(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:

Lake view

Looking back up at our site:

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

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:

Map

An interactive map:

Toading up in the maintenance area, as usual:

Toading up

“Welcome to Boring, Paired with Dull, Scotland”:

Welcome to Boring

Our favorite garden center in the Sandy area, Tony’s:

Tony's Garden Center

Willamette River:

Willamette River

Joining I-5 South, with heavy traffic:

Joining I-5 South

Rest area:

Rest area

I-5 South:

I-5 South

Lunch stop at Coburg Crossing Cafe at a TA Travel Center in Coburg, Oregon:

Coburg Crossing Cafe

Coburg Crossing Cafe menu

Breakfast for lunch

Rail bridge over North Umpqua River:

Rail bridge over North Umpqua River

“Slow Down” for a sharp curve:

Slow Down

Rest area:

Rest area

Nice Southern Oregon view:

Nice view

A glimpse of Mount Shasta from I-5 South:

Glimpse of Mount Shasta from I-5 South

A glimpse of downtown Ashland:

Glimpse of downtown Ashland

Emigrant Lake entrance:

Emigrant Lake entrance

The lake was very low (and has been for a long time):

Emigrant Lake

Unstaffed fee station (campers continue to site):

Emigrant Lake entrance

Entrance to The Point RV Campground (with a disconcertingly tight corner):

The Point RV Campground

Our site:

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:

Map

Interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

We were disappointed to discover that the Dragonfly Cafe & Bakery was closed down, having enjoyed their food during previous stays:

Dragonfly Cafe & Bakery

Tiny homes:

Tiny homes

Other sites:

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

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:

Route map

An interactive map:

A bay near Shelton:

Bay near Shelton

I-5 South:

I-5 South

Rest area:

Rest area

Another rest area:

Rest area

Deer next to the freeway entrance:

Deer next to freeway entrance

I-5 bridge:

I-5 bridge

Roadworks on another I-5 bridge, which caused major traffic delays:

Roadworks on I-5 bridge

Yet another rest area:

Rest area

Entering Oregon:

Entering Oregon

PDX airport across Columbia River:

PDX airport across Columbia River

Welcome to Oregon:

Welcome to Oregon

A glimpse of Mount Hood:

Glimpse of Mount Hood

Arriving at Mt Hood Village:

Mt Hood Village

Campground

Our site:

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:

Shed

With the doors open:

Doors open

Inside:

Shed

Roof rafters

Window in door

Door latch

I caulked the joints:

Caulked

Then Jenn and I painted it, starting with the main color:

Painting

And the trim:

Shed

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:

U-Haul pickup

At the storage unit, before loading the truck:

At storage unit

(Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of the loaded truck; it was full, just big enough.)

The truck at our shed:

At shed

Looking in the empty truck after we had unloaded it:

Empty

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:

Burgers and fries

Pizza

Julio Rodríguez exercising, having been on the injury list until this game:

Julio Rodríguez exercising

Marking the batting boxes:

Marking the batting boxes

Jenn with inflatable trident:

Jenn with inflatable trident

Pitching:

Pitching

Batting:

Batting

Cal on base:

On base

ESPN Sunday Night Baseball:

ESPN Sunday Night Baseball

Pitching:

Pitching

Run scores:

Run scores

Salmon Run:

Salmon Run

Salmon

Home run:

Home run

Two runs score:

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:

Exploring the ballpark