Welcome to Lake County!

Lake County is located in southern central Oregon bordering California's Modoc county, and Deschutes, Klamath, and Harney county in Oregon.  Lake County is known as the Oregon Outback!  Lakeview is the county seat in Lake County and it is known as the "Tallest Town in Oregon" because of it's elevation at 4,800 feet above sea level.  Bend, Oregon is about an hour drive away from Lake County. 

Lake County caters to the outdoor enthusiast.  Warner Canyon ski area is owned by Lake County and features 200 acres of terrain, from beginner to advanced and even has a half-pipe!  There are miles of snowmobile trails and un-groomed cross country skiing trails.  For the sport fisher, there are over 500 miles of streams and lakes in Lake County for year round fishing.  The most common fish is the rainbow trout and the lakes here are stocked yearly!  Small mouth bass, striped hybrid bass, brook trout, catfish, perch, crappie, and red-band trout are other species of fish which can be caught here in Lake County.  For the hunter, there is wild game hunting for mule deer and dove, quail, chucker, pheasant, ducks and geese.

The Hang Gliding Capital of the West is another name for Lake County.  Every summer near the last part of June, early July there is a one week festival "Annual Festival of Free Flight" which is nationally recognized and para gliders and hang gliders come from around the nation to join the celebrations and catch some good wind!  This year the "Umpteenth Annual Festival of
Free Flight" and it takes place June 30 - July 4, 2006 in Lakeview and there will be competitions, pig roasts, community barbeques, and fireworks!!!

Natural attractions come in many different forms here.  Abert Rim, a a 30 mile long fault which rises 2,000 feet above Lake Abert is one of the longest exposed falut escarpments in North America.  There is also the Crack in the Ground which is 2 miles long, 70 feet deep, and 10-15 feet wide. Lake County has many hot springs including Hunter's Hot Springs Resort which is home of Old Perpetual, the only hot water geyser in the entire Pacific Northwest.  Old Perpetual shoots a plume of 200 degree water over 60 feet into the air every 90 seconds (seasonally).

There is plenty of sun here with an average of 265 days of sun per year, and annual precipitation of 15.8" per yer.  Summer temperatures range between 75 to 90 degrees while winter temperatures range between 25 to 40 degrees.  The growing season averages 100 days per year! 

These next twentyfive pictures were taken on our journey to Lake county in September, 2006. What a beautiful time of year to visit! The abundance of freshly baled hay stacks, rows of freshly cut grass, tractors and the beautiful yellow fall colors made for a beautiful setting!

These four pictures were taken of the Christmas Valley Golf Course and the lake. We stopped in and had a nice lunch and got a chuckle of the guys that drove their huge hay balers right into the parking lot for lunch!

These next three pictures are the local businesses in Christmas Valley and a hay truck hauling a big load through the middle of town!

Beautiful yellow fall colors in the brush!

We met this very nice gentleman farmer and his son while out exploring land. They press the hay to be shipped overseas.

Sevan Lake, located in the pretty subdivision of Sevan Lake Estates.

Some of the locals out enjoying a tasty lunch!