7/10 Emigrant Lake Again (and Again)

Emigrant Lake Recreation Area near Ashland, OR, is becoming one of my "go-to" places.  I have been here several times over the past four or five years and will come back again.  It has several advantages:

• It is not too far off I-5, which makes it convenient on the way from California to Oregon and Washington.
• The full-service, meaning full-hookup, sites are open all year. 
• Sites are well-spaced apart and relatively inexpensive for full-hookup sites. 
• Sites and roadways are paved, so no dust.
• It has a great view from all sites, looking over the lake and surrounded by mountains on all sides. 
• It is not too far from Medford and major shopping.  
• There always seems to be a nice breeze blowing and the elevation is a bit over 3,000' so it is cooler than Medford and the areas in California to the south. 

 It also just feels comfortable, which is one of the things I cannot define, but makes me want to come back here again.  

There is a nearby college, so there is also a rowing club that practices every morning.  Funny to watch the crews rowing with the guy in the small boat following them yelling instructions!

This campground has two levels.  The first time I came here, I made a reservation for the lower level because it was closer to the lake.  I did not realize then that the sites farther from the lake were higher and actually had better views.  The last couple of times, I chose this site or the one next to it.    

This shows the roadway on the lower level, looking up at my rig to the left on the upper level.  Besides a better view, the upper sites are quieter and usually have a nicer breeze, which is important when it is hot. 

View from the lower roadway.  I took a walk around the campground, as I usually do in campgrounds, every evening when it cooled off.  Actually, though, it was not really that hot here for the week I stayed. 

And a couple of views from the top. The first time I came here, I could barely see across the lake because of the smoke from nearby fires.  We were never in any danger, but the smoke did make me cough a bit, but then got better the second and third days.

And looking down toward the boat ramp.  One disadvantage to this campground in the summer is that on the other side of this bay, there is a pool and slide, so you can hear screaming kids on some days.  There is also an older campground on the small hill in the distance, but it cannot handle larger rigs and has no electric, which is important to me because I like to have air conditioning and watch TV.  It is also too wooded for satellite, even if it had electric hookups in any case.