Banks Lake

We finally planned our annual family camping trip!  2 years ago we went to Bumping Lk, last year we just could not coordinate a weekend.. this year Eric/Andrea chose Banks Lk as our destination.  And we were going to be boating in!  Meaning we could not bring our camper and since we do not have a working boat at the moment, we would have to make 2 trips to get us all out there.  We loaded the car up, full to the brim with all our stuff.  It was 97 degrees when we arrived at the boat launch.  Eric & Derek headed off in Eric's boat and 15 minutes later, dad finally got his boat going and he and sarge headed off to find them.  Mom Andrea and I were left behind and watched as dad pulled away, wondering if he and the dog and the gear were going to make it!  He was loaded down pretty good and the dog had to lay on a table, and their clothing bag teetered on the edge.

45 minutes later Eric arrived pick us up, and we headed out to our camping destination.  As we are getting closer, Andrea is commenting that this spot was not where she was thinking.  I see a crappy beach with a 3 foot drop off to get down to the water and a bunch of trees.  I then see Derek standing there with a very leery look on his face, he did not appear happy at all.  Andrea was telling Eric he needed to go check out the other spot she was thinking about, so we dropped off mom and went in search of a better location!

10 minutes along the lake and we found the spot!  It was a big cove with a huge long perfect beach, a big shade tree, established fire ring and only a couple groups of day-users occupying part of the area.  So we moved in, unloaded and set up camp.  It was awesome I thought!  Derek was a much happier camper for sure.  The previous area was so buggy, you could hardly stand it.  So we ended up having a great weekend.

This was our camping and beach area.

 It was a very hot 3 days!  We did minimal fishing, got minimal fish..  :)  I hooked a 3 inch fish in the eyeball..  That was the extent of my catches.  But Derek and I didnt put in a lot of effort.   I did do a lot of swimming, well I should say floating.  When we got too hot or had to pee, we would just jump in the lake!  :)  It was a lot of work to boat in, but I think this spot we found was worth it.

Derek & I have now officially down-graded our camping status to "tenters".  We sold the camper, bought a new tent and hope to consider buying a bigger camper next year, but who knows if that will happen.  I will miss my camper....