Day 13: Wallowa Lake, Joseph Oregon to Wallowa Lake, Joseph Oregon

Brrrrr… a rough, cold nights sleep! The dogs had all converged into our twin bed and tried to suck the heat from me! I was so worried about knocking one of them off or rolling over on one that my night was pretty restless, Matthew slept like a baby. Mikey sleeps down below on a couch pretty much, he doesn’t ever pull out the bed, but the dogs decide they want the warmth of our comforter tonight and they all sleep on my side. Honestly though, its okay. I have been on vacation for 2 weeks now and I feel it, I love being out in the woods with trees, weather and nature and cannot complain! Matthew and I stay true to our word and we get up and stretch and head out on our morning ride in the brisk chill of morning. It isn’t as cold as yesterday and the sun is already out so the 47degrees feels more like 54 and we hit the road up hill towards the hydro electric plant a couple miles up the road. I am definitely feeling the altitude and wonder if my lungs will spare me just a little extra breath to make it up the never ending hill climb, ha ha. We pass some beautiful horses that remind me of the trip our family took to Wallowa when I was probably 6 years old and I had some trouble with a horse on a trail ride, I love being back hereJ We finally make it to the top and there is another pack of horses geared up for someone’s early morning trail ride, the 6 of them were checking out Matthew and I so I went to pet them, they were very friendly but Matthew preferred to admire from a distance, ha ha a little timid of the big beastsJ On the way hauling about 35 mph back down the hill we stop at a little coffee stand that someone converted from an old milk delivery truck, we like to support the little guys! Back to camp, full of vigor we decide to take the canoe on its first adventure on Wallowa lake! it’s a blue bird day and we are excited to catch some dinner! 5 fish later, all trout we don’t even keep one, too little we decide to fish a little deeper for the big dogs at 60 feet, we are kinda struggling with the wind and the canoe float since we don’t have an anchor. Matthew paddle us out to the swim float and we try our luck there. Skunked, the only thing we catch is a high octane buzz off of like one cheep beer and a healthy dose of sunshine, in reality we are pretty satisfied with that. I paddle us back to shore and we head back to camp to claim a new spot and do some laundry and shower up before another putt putt rematch. Life is not rough. Mikey meets up and tells us he spotted a 6 point buck in his path along the lake as well as plethora of fresh raspberries! I love it here. The camp is beginning too fill up with weekend warriors and people congregate between RV’s for happy hour and dinner, after about 8 pm it is lights out and we think everyone goes inside to watch TV, so weird ha ha. We gain the lucky experience of having deer come to our campsite and munch on the grass behind one of the cabins right behind the campsite! I actually came within about 3 feet of one of the beautiful creatures to snap his picture! Time to cook our fish dinner thanks to Mikey and a nice neighbor who hooked us up with a trout, I make the rice and veggies while Matthew stuffs the trout with peaches an grapes to keep it moist on the grill, we keep our promise to a healthy meal with some local Oregon Rogue River wine. Now its time for the putt putt rematch! This time I know it really close and we’ve pretty much conquered the course except for a few tricky holes! Dang, Matthew wins again by one and tomorrow we are going wilderness camping and I’m positive there won’t be any sign of putt putt out there. Gonna have to break out the gin and rummy, if I had only brought scrabble I would be reigning champion! Ha ha! Another awesome day in the Wallowa National Forest!