Fall can be a magical time for adventures in the outdoors. The Labor Day weekend in early September marks the traditional end of summer, and serves as a last hurrah for the summertime crowds at recreation destinations throughout the state.

But Mother Nature doesn’t follow that calendar. Late summer and early autumn can offer fantastic weather to enjoy the outdoors, and often with little competition for the prime locations.

My wife Julie and I decided this would be a perfect time of year to plan a houseboat vacation. We gathered up a group of family and close friends, and set out to discover a new place for us — Lake Don Pedro.

Set in the rugged Sierra Nevada foothills just south of Sonora, Don Pedro is a beautifully scenic and surprisingly expansive reservoir. It encompasses 20 miles of the steep Tuolumne River canyon, along with dozens of fingers and bays meandering in every direction. These myriad nooks and crannies provide more than 160 miles of shoreline to explore.

Our group arrived Friday morning at the Lake Don Pedro Marina to check in. It was a beautiful October morning, with temperatures that would reach the low 80s by afternoon. The friendly and knowledgeable crew brought us immediately to our boat to check out the amenities and start loading our gear, while they assisted another boat into dock.

This vessel was very impressive, to say the least! I’ve been on other houseboats in the past but nothing quite like this one. The 70-foot Millennium model is ideally set up for couples.

There was no need to wrestle for the prime sleeping spots — all of them were really nice! The boat features four queen-size bedrooms in a split-level design, with two rooms a few steps down from the main level just above the water level, and the other two just above them a few steps up (really an excellent use of space). Each room has closets or cabinets, room to stand up and walk around the bed in, a window to the lake, and a pocket door for privacy.

After a brief orientation on how to operate the many features on the boat, we were on our way. I must say, driving a vessel of this size is really a blast!

It is powered by two 175-horsepower, four-cycle outboard motors, so it’s got plenty of power. The top speed of around 10 miles per hour may not sound very fast, but it’s really the perfect speed for cruising the lake and enjoying the voyage.

Just outside of the harbor is one of the main open areas of the lake. But with all of the steep hills, islands and winding river channels, you can’t get the full picture of how huge this lake really is from any one point.

We headed out in the direction which I thought was the main channel towards “Middle Bay” — it wasn’t until the next morning that we realized we actually had gone into “South Bay.”

My good friend Duane Dougherty had picked up a personal watercraft at the marina for the weekend, and used it to explore ahead to locate a nice, secluded canyon to beach the boat for the night.

I carefully nudged the bow up to the shore, and our “anchor crew” hiked up the bank to sledge-hammer in the big spikes so they could attach the ropes that would secure us in place.

Once we were situated, Julie and our good friend, Wendy Atkins, immediately had to try out the water slide. Screams of joy echoed through the canyon as they slid down from the top deck and into the water, the temperature of which was still comfortable at just under 70 degrees.

In the afternoon, I decided to check out the bass fishing scene. I had brought along my bass boat, which traveled very nicely tied up alongside the houseboat.

When the lake was created, many of the trees below the water line were left standing. I picked out a tree 100 yards out from shore with about 30 feet of it showing above the surface. I was surprised to find the water was 50 feet deep here!

Fishing a Senko, I picked up a nice 2-pound spotted bass suspended about 20 feet down next to the tree.

The next morning, I was able to land a nice

3-pound largemouth on a surface popper close to shore.

The lake’s deep channels (in some places nearly 400 feet deep) make ideal conditions for the resident trout and silver salmon. Don Pedro also holds Florida Strain largemouth, catfish and a variety of panfish. Giant carp can often be seen bombing through the water as well, frequently leaping above the surface with a head-turning splash.

On day two, once we got our proper bearings, we set out up the real main channel. We switched the controls up to the “captain’s flying bridge” on the top deck for a different perspective. It’s amazing how much better the view becomes with just nine extra feet of elevation.

When you’re motoring along with a gentle breeze in your face and nothing but the panorama of the lake in front of you, it feels like the lake is all yours.

And that wasn’t far from the truth.

Even on such a beautiful, warm weekend as this, we saw just one other houseboat the entire trip.

Occasionally a ski boat or bass boat would zip by, but otherwise the water was all ours. It’s exactly what we had hoped to find on a fall houseboating adventure.

The lake is a great place to see wildlife. In the skies overhead we saw eagles, herons, woodpeckers, several kinds of hawks and much more.

On the hillsides we spotted deer and coyotes, and in the marina parking lot we even encountered a big tarantula sidling across the road.

There are two marinas at the lake: The Lake Don Pedro Marina at the south shore near the dam, and the Moccasin Point Marina in the northeastern arm.

Both marinas are operated by Forever Resorts, which also took over Pleasure Cove Marina at Lake Berryessa in 2005 and is in the process of finalizing a long-term contract for that resort.

They have facilities at Lake Oroville, Trinity Lake, Whiskeytown Lake and many other marinas and resorts around the country as well.

Forever Resorts builds all of its own houseboats, which they have available for rent at most of their marina facilities.

For more information on these resorts and the houseboat models available at each, visit www.foreverresorts.com or call (800) 255-5561.

Guy Carl is a CPA and partner with BDCo Accountants and Advisors in St. Helena (www.bdcocpa.com).

Contact Guy at GC.outdoors@sbcglobal.net.