Devils lake - this weekend

Well it looks like i'll be hitting devils lake this weekend. Hopefully I'lll have the weather on my side. Any advise or spots you would like to suggest on this lake?

Weather looks to be not very good.  ( http://www.wunderground.com/US/OR/Lincoln_City.html )

Rain all weekend and crappy weather in general.  The lake itself can be a bit windy, generally more windy around the lake then the general forecast is.

About the best launching point I've found is the Regatta Grounds.  I have yet to launch anywhere else, but keep in mind I've only been out about 6 times.  I've been local to the area for about 14 years total.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=44.973652,-123.99834&spn=0.002656,0.005021&t=h&z=18

Zoom out of that and you'll see how to get there.  It's a mostly protected place to launch as far as the wind goes.  It's also the easiest.  Plenty of parking, and while it is the busiest boat launch, there's a soft launch right next to the regular boat launch, so you can launch the kayak even when there's people using the boat ramp.  With your Mini-X though, you can just toss that thing off the dock and call it good.  It's a city park, so there's a large playground, restrooms, and such

Devil's Lake State Park, on East Devil's Lake Road is probably the next best.  It's not protected from the wind for the most part, but the boat launch is never busy.  Pretty much only the locals use it, as it's an out of the way drive for tourists, and it's not really a city park.  It does have restrooms though, and a picnic table or two.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=44.967375,-123.997235&spn=0.002657,0.005021&t=h&z=18

My least favorite choice is Holmes Road Park.  It's kind of steep, the parking is weird, and again, it's not really protected.  But feel free to drive by and form your own opinion, as it's only like 2 minutes from Regatta Grounds.  If the wind is funky, it might be calmer there then Regatta.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=44.989433,-123.995385&spn=0.002656,0.005021&t=h&z=18

Those are really your only options.  You might try one more though.  Depending on the weather, Blue Heron Landing might be open, and they do rent kayaks if you have others in your party that would like to go out on the water.  They don't have any fishing kayaks as far as I'm aware, just the normal sit-in kayaks, or canoes, paddle boats, etc.  I did rent a couple of kayaks from them about 5 years ago.  I'm sure if you decided to rent a boat from them for anyone else in your group, they wouldn't care if you dropped your personal kayak in there.


As far as the lake goes, keep in mind that Devil's Lake is an urban, populate lake, with very little land not developed.  In fact, the only State Campground in Oregon that is inside a City Limit, is here in Lincoln City.  But anyway, your supposed to stay 200 feet away from private property on the lake, but I consider that to be mainly for power boats.  If you tip over and need to get to shore to get back in, using somebody's dock or property is technically trespassing.  Though I doubt anyone would get really mad at you.  Just thought I'd let you know.

I don't plan on going out, due to the bad weather.  I normally go out on nice days on Thursday and Friday.  I work weekends, and I don't go out on workdays.  With my present storage setup, it's simply too difficult to load up the kayak for a short hour out on the lake before work.

Thank you - for all the information. Is there anywhere else you would say i should try by there? This is my first time out and do look forward to it. Thoughjt it might be a good spot to paddle around... Once again thank you so much!

Scott