This summer we made a COVID-inspired family pledge to stay local. For us, that meant cancelling our regional reservations and forgoing our annual trip to see family in Bellingham. Fortunately, we live in a National Scenic Area, so it really wasn't a hardship to find alternatives. And we got to discover some great places which were new to us!
The camp sites here are first-come-first-served and they sit steeply along the north side of the shore giving a lovely view of the lake below. This is site #9. We camped in this one for 5 nights in mid-July.
The shore is a mix of rock and sand and the water temperature was cold, but swimmable, especially on the warm and windless days.
One of the reasons we picked this lake is because there are lots of fish. It is stocked regularly with catchable size cutthroat, rainbow, and brown trout. The only bugs we experienced were of the non-blood seeking variety of gnats, mayflies, and flies.
The lake is popular with day-users on weekends with good weather so for our first camping trip we opted to arrive on a Sunday afternoon and the scene was much more mellow. It felt like we had the lake to ourselves.
It was on this trip that we discovered the BEST marshmallows for roasting. I thought all marshmallows were basically the same--variations could be attributed to how long a bag had been opened, but certainly not ingredients. These are different. They toast slowly and puff up to 6x their original size and with a little patience, can turn into caramelized candy.
If you see this brand at your grocery store, snatch them up---you won't be disappointed!
Smore Joy!
One of the best parts of this camping trip was that Ezra slept great. He can be a bit of a night marauder while we are at home. But spending the day exploring the textures of the woods and splashing in the lake followed by family snuggles in the tent, cool air, and cozy bedding...and we have a sleeper again!
All that exercise makes for sleepy little dudes.
The huckleberries were ripe so it was fun foraging for native berries to add to our breakfasts.
Another perk of staying local was the option for my Dad to join us for a night. We provided food and he obliged us with the most awesome babysitting gig: he shuttled us to the top of Falls Creek Falls so Jonah, Jesse, and I could do our first family mountain bike ride. Dad met us at the bottom with Ezra and Daisy.
Jonah is such a talented rider--I really enjoyed following him and see him playfully launch his bike off jumps.
It was a lot of fun---and beautiful too!
Back at the lake---Ezra's turn for splashing.
For my 40th birthday we bought two inflatable Stand Up Paddle (SUP) boards.
They are fabulous! We weren't sure what Ezra would think about staying on them, but he cooperates and has been content to lay down on the bow and feel the water flow by with his fingers and toes.
Ezra does a lot of laughing on the boards and towards the end of the trip started to request that we go out by leading us to the boards.
The whole family enjoys using them, even Daisy.
On our first excursion to Goose Lake we were planning to stay just a few days. But we ended up having such a great time, we decided to stay longer. Jesse drove back to the house to pick up more of Ezra's supplies, additional food, and ice.
Uncle Paul & Aunt Susan happened to be visiting Nanna during this time, so they made a day trip out to see us. Nanna loved seeing Ezra beeline to the water. It was wonderful to spend time with family--even if we couldn't hug.
Perhaps the biggest development of the summer has been Jonah's interest in fishing. We have dabbled in fishing before, but Jonah has really made a big leap. He has been studying fishing guides, learning about bait, knots, habitat, researching fish types---the biggest factor of all has been his dedication. He is exhibiting a level of patience and perseverance that we have not seen before.
Jonah tried all kinds of fishing strategies. In the photo above, Jonah is trolling with Jesse on the SUP board.
Thanks to some rigging advice from Uncle Paul, Jonah caught a 10" trout. Now instead of wanting to buy a toy light-saber or hoverboard, Jonah thinks he would like to spend his savings on a fly fishing rod.
I would say that his fishing hobby has fully emerged.
Ezra's hobby is still climbing things.
The steep topography was an advantage in keeping Ezra contained to our general area.
Beach lunch.
The boys asked to go for another Falls Creek Falls shuttle so, this time, I did the drop off.
View of Mt. St. Helens right from the forest service road.
Ezra and I played at a creek for a little while before meeting back up with Jesse and Jonah.
Having such a great first trip made it easy to decide to return.
We returned to Goose Lake last weekend. This time we stayed in site #11. We spent the first 10 minutes just picking up litter around the area. As more folks get into camping as a way to safely cope with the isolation of the pandemic, there has been been an increase in novice campers and people who don't realize the importance of leave-no-trace etiquette. I mention this because it is something that must be taught. We always make a point of having Jonah collect litter so that we leave the forest better than the way we found it.
Besides needing to do a little pre-camp cleaning, the biggest change we noticed by returning in late August was the water level of the lake. It was more than 2 feet lower. There was more beach and new islands in the center to explore. Check out how far Jonah can cast...that little ripple is his spinner lure hitting the water.
Most folks use different varieties of powerbait when fishing here. We would hear conversations float over the water about how many fish, how big, type of bait, etc. This trip, Jonah selected a spinner lure, changed the existing setup, tied it on himself, and headed out to fish in the morning before Jesse and I really wanted to get up. Well. He caught the biggest trout that I've seen anybody pull out of the water at Goose Lake. A 14" Resident Cutthroat Trout!
It made a delicious breakfast.
Camping is a lot of work, but it sure can be fun.
Daisy turns 15 years old! What a good girl.
Daisy still gets frisky and sprints around the beach when she's off-leash.
Jesse getting fancy by putting a beach chair on the SUP for fishing comfort.
One afternoon we got a surprise visit from Dave, Steph, Tess, and Fritz. We are so glad they found us!
Barefoot marshmallow roasting---most of the days were so warm we wore our bathing suits the whole day.
The wonderful part of fishing in the mornings and evenings is that the light is so beautiful.
Jonah's fishing interest has prompted Jesse to start fly fishing. Jesse hooked his first trout on a fly rod just moments after this cast. It was so exciting! Jonah also caught a 9" trout using Jesse's fly rod.
They released both.
Our last evening was so calm you could see the reflection of the stars in the water and I'm glad that the long exposure on my phone captured that.
Goodnight Goose Lake.
