Friday, July 20, 2012

Searching For Lake Billy Chinook

Today we took a drive towards Madras in search of Lake Billy Chinook.  The map we had was not very good, and as we discovered there don't appear to be any road signs pointing to the lake either.  We first took a turn towards the Pelton Dam area and found this little reservoir.

I think it's the area behind the Pelton Dam but I'm not sure.  

It could be Lake Simtustus, but again, I'm not sure.  We were a little lost.


We continued on the road that somewhat follows the river/reservoirs/lakes/canyon and eventually ended up at the Round Butte Overlook Park just above the Round Butte Dam.  It was pretty amazing!

I think we found Lake Billy Chinook.







So apparently there are three "fingers" that merge at the dam.  The only signs we saw were for The Cove Palisades State Park.  Nowhere did we see anything that said "Lake Billy Chinook", except on our sorry map.



Anyway, it was very pretty.  You can see the lake is an emerald green.  There are a lot of campgrounds and even though there were a lot of people it didn't seem crowded.  Also there were boaters enjoying the lake and there is even a place to rent houseboats.



I think we'll be back!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps they saw your CA plates and gave you the map they (OR) give to us foreigners!! Once you get your cool Oregon plates I am sure you will get the 'good' maps and hear all sorts of good fishing spots, restaurants...
:0)
It sure looked pretty and peaceful too. Might be nice to look into the price of the houseboat, how relaxing would that be!
Patti

Anonymous said...

If you go past The Cove Palisades State Park, and continue down to the boat ramp, that will get you to the lake. Lake Billy Chinook is really just the name for the water that the three rivers feed into. I go there multiple times every year and it is an awesome place. Your pictures look very nice as well : )