Lake Billy Chinook & Smith Rock

I was invited along with the Smiths for a couple days camping and boating at Lake Billy Chinook. At first it was mentioned that it would be like having another parent around to keep the hoods in line, but after careful consideration of this statement (about the blink of an eye) it was restated that it might be more like having three kids. Although this statement hurt me deeply, i wasn't about to miss out on a chance for camping and boating with a "little" fishing thrown in on the side.



For those of you who have never heard of Lake Billy Chinook, it's in central Oregon, a little north of Redmond. The lake is at the bottom of a large ravine and extends off in several arms. It's a great lake for water sports since it's fairly well protected from the wind. Along the walls of the ravine, you can see the incredible rock formations - i don't know enough geology to describe how they were formed, what kind of rock it is, etc, but it's incredible to look at.



There are a couple rivers that feed the lake (or are sourced from there, not sure which) - the Metolius is one of them. There are several smaller creeks/streams that end up in the lake, some creating cool waterfalls.



The small mouth bass population in the lake is out of control, so we did our best to bring it down a notch. I lost count of how many fish we caught, but i would cast & hook the fish and Abi would reel them in. I didn't get any shots of the fish, but they were a blast to catch. It was also fun to tool around the lake and watch other boaters and see what animals we could spot on the shore. If i recall, we saw quite a few wild horses, a couple deer, a couple otters, a mink/marten, a couple bald eagles and a goat that was on an impossibly steep cliff (not a wild goat, it had a collar on it).



In the way back home, we stopped off at Smith Rock since it was on the way. We didn't spend too much time there, but it's definitely a place we'll have to go back and check out.