Travel Tuesday: Paulina Lake, Oregon
Nature inspires me, so I love to get out in it whenever I can. Immersing myself in the mountains and forest helps me get in touch with my characters and add authenticity to my settings. Last year we went camping at the cascade lakes, a gorgeous gathering of lakes in the once volcanic area of Central Oregon not far from where I live. We camped near Paulina lake.
A hike around the small lake on a chilly September morning revealed a landscape littered with obsidian. Huge chunks of it shone beneath the glacial blue waters and dotted the mountainside and even the trail itself. It was reminiscent of a primeval forest with a mixture of stone and towering evergreens growing out of layer upon layer of ash.
The scenery inspired a chapter in the third Hemlock Hollow novel (the second novel of which is coming this summer!). Afternoon highs in the eighties called for a paddleboard trip that immediately revealed so much as a toe in the crystal clear waters for any length of time would result in hypothermia. Sadly, this girl doesn’t quite have the internal body temperature of the werewolves she writes about. It was by far the coldest body of water I had been on in late summer. I recommend a wet suit any time of the year for this lake.
The next day, we hiked the big obsidian flow early in the morning to beat the ninety degree weather that we knew was coming. It was so beautiful in the morning that we couldn’t resist going back that afternoon for another hike to get pictures with the sun fully up. Now I have firsthand knowledge of how it feels beneath a magnifying glass. But it was worth it to walk on those hills of shining black glass. Powerful sunscreen and serious hiking boots are a must! From exhilarating hikes to lazy moments spent around a camp fire reading and recounting the days’ fun, it was an adventure that will fuel my inspiration for a long time.
Pick up Once Bitten by Heather McCorkle for just 99¢!
Giving in to desire could destroy them both.
One night was all it took to change everything. One moment of weakness, and now I’m becoming. Werewolves were supposed to be things only seen in movies, not things that exist in real life. Instead of med school and homework, my life is filled with a laundry list of things that were once impossibilities. Groups fighting over whom I belong to. The possibility of dying if I don’t learn everything before the next full moon. Figuring out how to survive in a world I never knew existed. But the biggest danger? Ty: history professor, super sexy Viking werewolf, and the man who’s been assigned by the Council to teach me how to survive becoming a werewolf.
Heather is an award-winning author of paranormal, steampunk, and historical. Becoming a published author has been a life-long goal that she has known she wanted since she was twelve. At that age, she wrote her first book and has been writing and working on her craft ever since. When she is not writing, she can be found on the slopes, the hiking trails, or paddle boarding. As a native Oregonian, she enjoys the outdoors nearly as much as the worlds she creates on the pages. No need to travel to the Great Northwest though, you can find her on her website and her many social networking sites. You can also find her the first Monday night of every month at 6:00 pm PT on the #WritersRoad chat on Twitter. Sheis the co-creator and moderator of the chat. Entertaining readers, protecting endangered species, and uncovering stories and points of view that haven’t been covered are her passions.
About Author
Leave a Reply