Battle Ground Lake State Park

In January, I had made reservations for last weekend at Battle Ground Lake State Park. Terry and I wanted to check it out last summer, but since the campground consists of only 35 sites, it was booked up every weekend. We were excited to hit the road on Friday afternoon and check out this campground for the first time. We left our house a little before 3:00 and headed south. We didn’t hit any traffic and made it there in about 3 ½ hours. It was a nice drive even though most of it was on the highway and I even drove for a little while.

Once we made it to camp, we got registered and headed to our campsite, site #14. It was a partial hook-up site, so as we unloaded, Terry also hooked up the water and electric. We decided on just having fried chicken from QFC for dinner since we knew we would arrive late. After getting the campsite ready, we decided to take a quick walk around the campground and go down to see the lake. It was a small lake with a lot of trails going around it. When we got back to camp, Terry made a nice fire and we both enjoyed some s’mores before heading to bed.

On Saturday, we woke up early and decided to go fishing. We found a nice spot on the lake near a picnic table and cast out our lines. Terry caught a small trout that we opted to give away and after about 3 hours of fishing, I didn’t catch anything. However, I did get some reading done. After a few hours of fishing, we walked back up to our site for breakfast. I made sausage and pancakes for breakfast. It was nice having the hook-ups as I was able to bring my electric griddle for the pancakes. They turned out really good. I also got dinner started. I had brought meat for chili verde, so put it in my crock pot on low for the day in hopes of tender meat.

After breakfast, we decided to go on a hike. We started on the upper lake trail and then did a loop on the lower lake trail. It was a pretty walk and since the lake was small, it didn’t take too long. Along the lower loop, we came across and eagle perched on a piece of wood in the lake. It seemed so close that it was unreal. There were also lots of momma ducks swimming around the lake with their babies following. When we got back to camp, I took a quick shower and then spent some time relaxing with Terry. We also took another walk around lake in the afternoon before dinner.

Dinner turned out great. The chili verde was very tender. I also made rice, beans and Terry helped make a salad. After dinner, we decided to head back to the lake. There was a little shop we stopped at along the way and got an ice cream to share. It was fun sitting by the lake, watching people and eating ice cream. There was also an eagle circling around the lake which was neat to watch.

When we got back to our site, I decided to make a fire. Terry really wanted to give me advice and I told him to give me a chance. Amazingly, I did end up with a nice fire. We roasted some marshmallows and had s’mores before heading to bed.

On Sunday, we woke up and decided to try fishing again. We got off to a later start, so the place we were the previous day was taken. Luckily, we found a nice spot along the lower lake trail. There were some rocks we were able to sit on while we fished. We didn’t catch anything on Sunday; however, the eagle had better luck. As we were fishing, we could watch an eagle circle the lake. It dove down a few times and finally came up with a fish in its talons. I had never seen an eagle catch anything before, so it was quite exciting.

When we were done fishing, we headed back to our site where I made veggie scramble for breakfast. After eating, we slowly started to pack up our gear to head home. We stopped quickly on the way out of the park and dumped the tanks before hitting the road. We made it home without incident. It was a nice, relaxing weekend away; however, I don’t know if we will plan another trip to Battle Ground Lake since it was over 3 hours away and not as special as we were hoping.