Silver Lake Resort … camping!

October 19, 2020

Silver Lake Resort was my last camping trip of 2020. I loved this trip! Come on along with me for five wonderful days on the shores of Silver Lake. We’ll get into 2021 soon enough. 🙂

Silver Lake is in southern Washington. It’s just a few miles east of the small town of Castle Rock, and just a few miles east of Interstate Highway 5. Some people might say there’s not much out in this neck of the woods, except forests and rivers and a lake or two and a few small mountains. Not really much to see, but it’s pretty. Somewhat boring I suppose, but it should be relaxing. Oh, wait, I almost forgot! Funny me. Here’s the deal. If you turn off of I-5 at Castle Rock, and head east on a wide, two-lane, paved road, then that road goes past Silver Lake (and the campground), keep following that road, keep going east, just keep going, it’s quite a few miles but keep going … you will eventually get to the Johnston Ridge Observatory and, if the weather is clear, here’s the spectacular part, if the weather is clear, you can see directly into the throat of an active volcano … Mount Saint Helens. And THAT’s what I came here to see. It’s not boring!

Why do we think it’s an active volcano? Especially here in the cool Pacific Northwest? We know it’s a volcano because a great number of us here in the Pacific Northwest (including me) saw it erupt in 1980. We saw it blow. It blew it’s top big time! We know it’s still active because steam is still coming out the top … because a center lava dome is again building … and because of seismic activity on and around the mountain.

I went camping at Silver Lake hoping the weather and clouds would be kind and permit the stunning view from Johnston Observatory directly into the part of the mountain that had erupted in 1980. And yet, even if the clouds didn’t clear off enough for that, Silver Lake is a really pretty lake, and it’s a really pretty area, with many different things to see and do. And it’s a nice drive from the campground up to Johnston Observatory. I’m hoping for maybe, please, pretty please, even just one clear day while I’m here. We shall see if that happens.

The image above shows you where my HOME is and where Mt. St. Helens is. I drove south on I-5 (the yellow line), down to Castle Rock which is right next to I-5, then I turned east and headed to Silver Lake.

The image below shows more detail … Castle Rock is adjacent to I-5 … Silver Lake Resort is about six miles east … then it’s about 45 miles from the Silver Lake Resort to the Johnston Observatory just north of Mt. St. Helens.

You never know what the clouds are going to be doing on top of or in front of Mt. St. Helens. Even if the sky all around the mountain is clear, there can be clouds right on/in the volcano/mountain such that you can’t see it. You just plan for the best weather you can and then hope for the best.

Friends of mine were going to arrive here this first day too, camping in their Escape trailer. They had only two nights and one full day to spend here, but we would drive up to see what we could see on that one full day and hope the mountain/volcano would be cooperative.

We camped at the Silver Lake Resort, a small, privately-owned campground/resort, not too fancy. We liked that; it suited our purposes just fine. The only thing they didn’t have that we wished for was a steady internet connection. The resort’s internet was cabled into their office — when the office was “open” and their router was on, we could get a weak internet signal at our campsites. But when the office was closed, we had no internet, not even a really weak signal. Other than that, we were perfectly happy, particularly since we were the only guests in the campground during the entire five days that I was there. A few local folks would come and go during the day, to fish off the resort’s dock or to put their own personal small boats in the water to go fishing, or they’d stop by just to chat with other locals. This seemed to be a comfortable local gathering place during the day. But everyone went home around 5pm and then we had the place to ourselves. The friendly locals were great … and the nighttime peace and quiet was perfect.

Photo above … I arrived late afternoon on the first day and got set up. I was in the campsite that had the best view of the lake. The tan building to the left of my trailer was a group event sort of place, but was not being used while we were there. The next building to the left, the dark red building with the white railings, held the main office on the lower level, and had suites for rent on both levels, all facing the lake, and each of them with a private balcony out over the lake.

 

I parked the truck so it wouldn’t block my view from my trailer’s windows where my dinette is. And then I walked to the office in that red building to check in.

After checking in, I walked out on the dock for a look at the lake. It was now after 5pm, in October. The sun had turned the whole world a pretty shade of pink as it slowly set in the west. I think I’m going to like it here!

I stood out on the dock and enjoyed the view for several minutes. But, sigh, eventually I turned around and headed back to my campsite.

Hey! My friends had arrived! What great timing. 🙂

They were in the campsite next to mine. Their spot was a bit higher uphill than my spot so they too had a bit of a view of the lake. Truth-be-told, this late in the year, the sun doesn’t rise too early in the morning, and it likes to head to bed quite early in the evening. During daylight hours, we were usually on the road driving up towards Mt. St. Helens, or out and about exploring other areas, not sitting around the campground looking for a view of the lake, so we were all very happy with our campsites.

Take a close look at the photo above. My friends got set up, leveled, plugged in, things from the car put into the trailer. In the photo above, look just below their open trailer door and you’ll see a small doggy waiting patiently for some kind of action, maybe a treat!? (Click on photos to enlarge them.)

The dog’s name is Finn. I called to him, not thinking he’d respond, but I called … “Finn! Hey Finn! Over here!” This was his reaction below … wow, did he respond!

He was moving so fast, my camera couldn’t get a focus on him. He flew over to greet me with a big smile on his face. As much as he seemed happy to see me, he didn’t pause for a nano-second, not even for a brief pat. He raced in a circle around me and then headed back to that door and continued to stand there waiting for his treat. He knows what’s important.

We had the best spots in the campground, with a view of the lake, and with lots of green space behind us.

Both rigs got settled and and tidied and checked in. Finn got his treat. All of us took a walk out onto the dock to see the setting sun which was fading rapidly. And then we got around to the really important part of the day … the campfire. One of these two friends of mine is especially adept at creating a perfect campfire. I have now learned … no, not how to build a campfire … I have learned to bring lots of firewood with me any time I go camping with these friends. And it pays off.

We had the best campfire ever. 🙂

 

The very first time I looked at the photo above, I was so intrigued by the flames at the TOP of the photo, where the flames are separated from each other. How does that happen? And then I noticed the flames near the bottom of the fire … where there’s an extremely sharp edge to the flame in several places. How does that happen? And then finally, I noticed the face in the fire … that’s amazing. Humans used to believe that fire was alive, a living being. Hmmm. Who’s to say?