Waldo Lake
Oregon Cascades
Nestled in the Oregon Cascades is the beautiful and tenuous Waldo lake.    Waldo is not large nor is it a notoriously famous lake, which makes it ideal for kayaking and canoeing.   The waters are beautifully clean and clear, reflecting a tropical blue in the deeper water, deep navy blue out in the center of the lake.

One starlit evening I had the thrill of paddling out into the middle of Waldo and it was like travelling through space.  The stars were perfectly reflected from below and above.  I glided right through the milky way suspended magically in my boat.  I've been on more than a few midnight paddles over the years but this one definitely stays in my minds eye.

I'm not going to go into much detail on how to get to Waldo.  You'll have to figure it out yourself, or contact me and I might share.  As soon as some place like Waldo is discovered it gets crowded and I know that the people who keep up the public part of the lake have enough to do without having to clean up after unseasoned campers who cluelessly don't pack out their trash and erode the shoreline.

Although the lake currently has a no-wake law, I've found it to be ignored by several boaters - out for their own fun and impervious to such a pristine place.  Soon the lake is to be closed to all motor traffic and will be a much better place for it.  We can thank a few irresponsible people for the inconvenience of many.  

Because of the cleanliness of the lake, fish are very few.  I've seen a few die-hard fishermen out there though. Since the water is so clear it's hard not to tell where the fish are.  We boated up near the west shore right over a nice sized school of fish, just 20 yards away from some fishermen in a dory, and they hadn't seen a fish all morning.  I said "Wow, look at all the fish," and added to their frustration a bit.  I thought we might have actually herded some of the fish their way but to no effect that we could see.  

My pictures here of Waldo are over several trips in 2008.  I've introduced a new photo manager so I can get more content to the site in a more timely fashion.  Please re-use these pictures with permission.

Russ Woodward