Today we headed down into the place we are staying; Cove Palisades State Park. This is probably one of the most remarkable places we have visited in the last two years. As a matter of fact, this is the second time we have been here in the last 18 months and we don’t really do repeats in most places except TT campgrounds. This park is located a bit south of Madras, OR, and if there weren’t signs telling them where to go, most folks would miss it even passing within 500 yards. The park consists of three enormous gorges coming together where their rivers (Metolius, Crooked and Deschutes) reach a confluence in Lake Billy Chinook.
Our spin for today took us from the park’s Crooked River Campground down an enormous switchback to the east shore of the Deschutes. According to my Garmin, the lake is some 500 feet below our campground up on the edge of the gorge. The road continues along the edge of the water beneath tall cliffs composed of basalt postpiles mixed with thick layers of volcanic ash that have big chunks of lava protruding from the surfaces. A small suspension bridge takes you across to a part of the park called “The Island” which is actually the peninsula between the Crooked and Deschutes River. After some more switchbacks, the park’s Deschutes campground and 10 mph roads, another even smaller suspension bridges takes the courageous across to the peninsula between the Deschutes and Metolius River watersheds. This is truly a great drive for low speed because of the roads and the scenery.
Amazing and bizarre rock formations mixed with pine and juniper forests make for a spectacular drive. We spotted deer, two very large bald eagles, many hawks and a variety of other birds. The geology of this area is probably not similar to any other spot in the world. The vistas are spectacular and change with the lighting which changed rapidly during our drive from merely cloudy to light rain to heavy rain mixed with lightning and thunder before it started to drop soft, gooey hail and then going back to merely cloudy. It was pretty spectacular.
Our two stays here have been when the kids were in school and so we can’t comment on the conditions when the park is full but both times we have visited this place we noted the scrupulously clean restrooms with family showers available, grass camping areas with paved RV spots, 50 amp electrical hookups, gorgeous grounds with fruit and lilac trees flowering, a $28 per night fee and, strangely, the best designed and operating dump stations we have seen. Your receipt from this park can be used to avoid paying the fee at nearby Smith Rock saving another $5.
We liked this park the first time when we accidentally stumbled on it 2014 and eagerly awaited our return. Now we have been here twice, it has moved pretty far up our favorite places to go and quietly enjoy nature. This place is a keeper.
Some pix can be seen by clicking here