Waldo Lake - Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day gave us just another excuse to fill our weekend with camping and mountain bikes (Like we really need an excuse)! Leaving Bend Friday night, Ben and I headed to Charlton Lake, off highway 58, near Waldo for a night of peacefully sleep, nestled between the Pacific Crest Trail and the shore of a hidden gem of calm, reflective water. The lake and camp spots are about an 1/4 of a mile from where you have to leave your car, so not many people choose to haul their stuff in; we on the other hand celebrated to opportunity to get away from "car camping" and avoid the RV scene. By the time we set up camp and had dinner, the sun was setting and the bugs were out in full force. The Flying Babe (our trusty MSR Hubba Hubba tent) welcomed us as we hunkered down for the night. Our friends Hailey and Aaron were scheduled to meet us at our camp on Saturday morning for a mountain bike ride up "The Twins" and around Waldo Lake and just as planned, they arrived while we were packing up and having breakfast. After a little bush-whacking and rough navigation, we found our trail and were our way. The weather was not as warm as we had anticipated so our bare fingers and knees took the brunt of our under preparedness, especially on the incredible downhill section from the peak of the twins trail. We picked huckleberries, rode sections we weren't able to complete last year and challenged ourselves with picking the more difficult line. When we popped out at the Waldo Lake North Camp Ground, just a few miles from our car, I was honestly disappointed, as I so often am, that the day's adventure was coming to an end. A short ride back to our cars, a clothes change and a bag of Kettle chips later, we were on the road again, heading to Oakridge and night of camping at Salmon Creek Falls.