Fulltime RVing, Oregon, Work camping

Prineville Reservoir State Park

45 Comments

As stated in our previous post, we are currently the interpretive hosts at Prineville Reservoir State Park, 17 miles south of Prineville, Oregon.  This is a high desert climate, with sage and juniper dominating the land.  Afternoons can get blazing hot and nights chilly, and the humidity is next to nothing. The Crooked River was contained by the Bowman Dam in the late 1950’s to create a 3000 acre lake that sits 3200 feet above sea level.  Quite a difference from our last location on the Pacific coast!

Our campsite is one of the nicest host sites we have ever seen.  We sit at the highest point in the tent loop, and we have a view of the lake from our patio.  The juniper trees provide us with plenty of shade most of the day, so the 100+ degree mid-day temperatures are not an issue.  

The Eagle’s Nest Amplitheater and Discovery Center complex is one of the two areas of the park where we help out.

We take care of a few critters in the Discovery Center, including a smallmouth bass, a gopher snake, and two fence lizards…one of which is seen here.

We assist the Interpretive Ranger Mariah with her educational programs.  She is enthusiastic and enjoys sharing her wealth of knowledge about Oregon’s natural resources.  It’s fun to watch her interact with park visitors!

Diana is enjoying helping with the park’s Junior Ranger program.  Here she is administering the oath to a new group of Junior Rangers!

We also run the star gazing programs at the observatory next to the beach.

This is the park’s 16″ deep space telescope.  It resembles a circus cannon!  We can easily see the bands on Jupiter with this.  We had 62 people attend a sky viewing on Saturday night!

We also have a 6″ Orion tracking telescope at our disposal.  We are going to be learning how to use the tracking feature sometime this week.

We’ve also met a lot of new people and learned a lot of new things!

Here we are with a woodland firefighter and Smokey Bear!  We’ve also met a pair of search and rescue specialists and we are going to go on a hike with a geologist this weekend.  

All in all, it promises to be a great couple of months here in Central Oregon!  Stay tuned to see what new vistas we find to explore!

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45 thoughts on “Prineville Reservoir State Park”

  1. Oh, what I would give for next to nothing humidity! 🙂 Your site looks great! Prineville is a pretty place that just seems to spring from the desert. So glad you’re’ enjoying your time there.

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  2. We’re so happy you are enjoying yourselves this summer! Bob & I are hoping to get by there after the first of next month on our way south. Wrapping up our camp hosting stay here and looking forward to hitting the road again. Hope to see you soon!

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  3. Glad to hear you enjoy Prineville. If you look in the storage for “Big Doug” the 16″ telescope our names are on a board. We were the first interpretive hosts for the astronomy program. John and Jeanie Hoyle.

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      1. We also spent two winters as host in Prineville.. Talk about silent beauty..when the lake froze over and snow covered the ground. WOW!

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    1. It really is exciting to see things like that in the night sky, Kelly! We are also loving the new things we are learning through Mariah’s programs. We’ve always geeked out on ranger-led talks in the national parks, and we are amazed that this exists at a state park level. First class all around!

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      1. Bonnie is doing the blog posts.
        She is still working on PA & OH areas.
        I do a lot of Facebook post at each stop we make.
        We are in St. Louis now, so this is the starting point of our Lewis & Clark trip. Should be fun.
        St. Louis is cool. A cross point for Old Rt. 66, Great River Road, and Lewis & Clark. So lots to see and do.
        Bye for now.
        Fred

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  8. Your attire is certainly different from the multiple layers and ear covers of the coast! Your spot looks and sounds wonderful. That’s awesome for a two month stay 🙂 I know you two are in heaven with all there is to learn and teach. Glad to see you’re having another good hosting experience!

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    1. Yeah, time to stow the earmuffs! It’s really helping the propane bill also, Jodee! We are loving these temps and lack of humidity…and we definitely are in the right groove, gig-wise! 😀

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      1. The Prineville areas is one of my fav drives. A little dry for me to want to consider long term, but really lovely. And I love the aroma of pines in the air!

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      1. I can’t wait until we are done with our family circuit (doing our family rounds for our first year full-time RVing)–I want to volunteer at places like Prineville. It looks like you are having a blast–and it has to be so rewarding. Thank you for sharing!

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  19. Looks like you’re enjoying your work-camping position. What a beautiful place to be grounded for a few months. I love stargazing and you two have the right equipment! Awesome!

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