Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2007 20:58:39 -0700
Reply-To: Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Long Trip Report
In-Reply-To: <c4e7c5f90707202034w21984dfdr4455ac6de66689ef@mail.gmail.com>
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Hi Neil,
We have one campground that we are very familiar with, about a two-hour
drive from here, one site at which is our mostest favoritest one in the
whole world, and it is reservable. So we reserve that one. Many places
we go are new to us and there's no sense reserving a specific site
unless one knows the place, so we don't bother. I do a lot of research
online and in camping books before we go someplace to try to get an idea
which CGs might be worth visiting. I enjoy exploring new areas to camp.
Most of the places that are special to us (site 7 at Kirk Creek CG, near
Big Sur; site 11 at White Tank CG in Joshua Tree; and now site 32 at
Highland Lakes) are not reservable. All a fellow can do is try to show
up on the least-busy day of the week (Tuesday, in my experience) with
fingers crossed.
If we might be driving to some super-popular place (unlikely as we like
privacy and quiet, but just saying) which might be totally full when we
arrive after a day of driving, then I'd probably make a reservation.
--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
KG6RCR
neil typed:
> Michael, nice report and good read.
>
> Since I'm still somewhat of a newbie to camping in a Westy, I find it
> interesting to see that a "Fly By The Seat Of Your Pants" trip, in
> terms of not booking sites ahead of time, works well.
>
> I prefer this method, as it takes me where it does, and is more
> relaxing in a way. I have done this a couple times in the off season,
> but haven't tried in the summer season.
>
> I guess it depends on where and what type of camp sites you go. i.e
> going to a busy lake-side camp site or not.
>
> Did you reserve any sites ahead of time?
>
> Do you find that this kind of FBTSOYP trip works every time? In summer?
>
> Curiously,
>
> Neil.
>
>
>
> On 7/20/07, Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Long trip report:
>>
>> I left home at 4:30 am on Sunday morning week and a half ago. By noon I
>> was in Lone Pine, CA, and it was over 100 degrees. Mellow Yellow does
>> not have AC, and I parked in the shade of some little sycamores at
>> Tuttle Creek campground to wait out the heat. Sweated a lot. Tried to
>> nap. Drank fluids. Told myself I would stay there until 5 pm or when the
>> temp dropped below 95.
>>
>> By 4:30 it hadn't dropped and I was purely bored so I cruised up to
>> Bishop and ate some pizza, figuring the temp /surely/ would start to
>> drop when I was finished, but no -- it was still hot. Decided to drive
>> up the grade to Tom's Place anyway and Mellow Yellow did just fine even
>> though the cheap-o bimetal temp gauge I have Velcro'd to the inside was
>> registering 109 by the time I reached the top. Turned left and climbed
>> up 1800 additional feet into the mountains and found a cool spot to
>> spend the night at East Fork campground. I was hammered -- dehydrated
>> despite having a Styrofoam cooler between the seats with ice and soft
>> drinks in it into which I dipped a lot. But I was very pleased at how
>>
>> It was much cooler in the morning, low 40's. I left early and wandered
>> up 395, driving through recommended and interesting campgrounds
>> (Deadman, Glass Creek, Convict Lake, did NOT take the time to visit the
>> Mammoth Brewing Company [because I had plenty of craft brews with me
>> anyway], June Lakes Loop, and Lundy Canyon [Drillock]. Before I turned
>> west at highway 89 to head into the mountains I filled up at the Topaz
>> Resort.
>>
>> I followed 89 through Markleeville and Woodfords, then onto 88 to check
>> out Woods Lake campground, passing through Woods Lake was a
>> disappointment - the lake itself is very pretty, but the CG was not to
>> my liking, feeling close and dark, and has no sites from which the lake
>> is visible. I spent the night there anyway.
>>
>> The next day I decided to visit Wrights Lake down I-50 on the west side
>> of the Sierra. I figured I had enough gas to get there, and assumed that
>> I could find gas along the way. There was none to be seen and the drive
>> from I-50 to Wrights Lake was longer and climbed more than I expected,
>> so I began to keep a close eye on the gas gauge. Wrights Lake campground
>> looked to be very pretty, but it was full. Drove all the way back UP 50
>> and over Echo Summit (Mellow Yellow plugging along quite happily) and
>> decided to visit the Blue Lakes, about which Pete (pete952@comcast.net)
>> here on the list had once described and shown a pretty picture of.*
>>
>> But I was led astray by my GPS (DeLorme Topo 6). Instead of showing me
>> the easy way in (off 88 via Hope Valley), Topo 6 decided that a 4WD road
>> leading past Red Lake near Carson Pass would be more, uh, "direct" I
>> guess is the word. I didn't have enough sense to check its reasoning.
>>
>> There is no way that an overloaded 2WD Westy could get in on that road
>> -- the potholes could swallow a collie -- but while I was trying to
>> horse Mellow Yellow around them I figured that either I was a weenie
>> driver or the road had fallen into disrepair. It wasn't until several
>> days later that I went and re-read the description of how to get there
>> (Best of Tent Camping, Northern California) that I realized my error. We
>> could have gone back to visit the Blue Lakes later, but we found a sweet
>> spot that we liked. But that's getting ahead of myself.
>>
>> Saw a lot of bicyclists with high-end road bikes cruising along the
>> highways and over the passes.
>>
>> After giving up on the Red Lake road route with my furry tail between my
>> hind legs, I began to wonder if I'd find a place I liked near enough to
>> Reno to pick up Mrs Squirrel several days later when her conference was
>> to end. I went looking up highway 4 and found a nice quiet site at
>> Silver Creek campground below Ebbetts Pass. The day I arrived it was
>> sort of overcast, and the next day was mostly cloudy. I deployed my
>> solar panels in spots of sun where I could find them (trees and clouds
>> in the way) and for two days it clouded and weakly thunderstormed and
>> drizzled in a fairly disorganized fashion. But every day I was able to
>> bring the aux battery back up to fully charged, so the little solar
>> setup works fine keeping up with the Norcold and my reading lights.
>>
>> Made some bread, drank some wine, chatted with the campground host. At
>> no time were there more than three other campers in the campground.
>> However, I learned that the highway would be closed from 5 am until 3:30
>> pm for the annual Death Ride (http://www.deathride.com/) on the day I
>> was meant to pick up Mrs Squirrel. That explained the cyclists cruising
>> all over the Sierra that I had been seeing -- they were in training.
>>
>> There was no cell service anywhere up highway 4 and I had to drive all
>> the way nearly back to Markleeville to reach Mrs Squirrel to discuss the
>> matter. She suggested I pick her up one day early. I headed back to camp
>> with about a quarter tank of gas to camp until pick-up day.
>>
>> Left the campground, with camp set up, at 3:30 figuring on spending a
>> bit of time in Minden, hoping to find a hardware store (needed some wood
>> glue to repair a failed shower deck (http://tinyurl.com/34c8b4) which
>> split at a hinge screw. When I got to Minden I was running on fumes
>> (there is $4.50/gallon gasoline at Markleeville, but I didn't buy any
>> out of principle, I guess) and tried to find the Ace hardware the host
>> told me was there, but gave up after about 20 minutes of searching and
>> made the long drive up to Reno.
>>
>> Unlike the highway south of Minden, which is mostly open road, 395 north
>> of Minden is the main street through several towns and communities. It
>> was evening rush hour and basically took forever to get to Reno through
>> all the traffic lights and stop and go traffic. Some hefty grades, too.
>>
>> The short of it is that I picked up Mrs Squirrel and we hit an
>> Albertsons supermarket for basic shopping and dry ice for the cooler
>> (she likes lots of perishable food items), then Trader Joes for what you
>> can't get at a regular supermarket (sun dried tomatoes in oil for a
>> recipe she had in mind, a couple bottles of good wine). By the time I
>> got her up to Silver Creek it was well after dark. We went quickly to
>> bed.
>>
>> The next day we watched cyclists climbing up and racing down the highway
>> road, and Mrs Squirrel napped a lot, which is how she always starts a
>> camping trip.
>>
>> On Sunday we decided to leave, as Silver Creek is just an okay camp
>> ground, not really memorable. But which way to go? We perused the camp
>> guide books (whereupon I found my mistake in re Blue Lakes and felt
>> silly) and all night long I debated whether we should head north and try
>> Blue Lakes again, or pop over the top of Ebbetts Pass, drop to the west,
>> and try our luck at Highland Lakes (see this guy's blog entry:
>> http://kevingong.com/Hiking/200307HighlandLakesTrip1.html ).
>>
>> I chose the latter, and we were not disappointed despite our campground
>> host telling us that he'd stayed at Highland Lakes once and would never
>> go back due to the wind. The road in is dirt, but easy. When we got
>> there we were not real enthusiastic about the camp sites, all of them
>> being exposed to the prevailing westerly wind and very open without any
>> privacy. But Mrs Squirrel is tenacious and soon had us driving into the
>> upper campground. All the sites there face west, where the wind comes
>> from, so any wind screen that a fellow might erect would not only block
>> the afternoon sun, but the view of upper Highland Lake. There were a
>> couple of other parties there, and when you see the folks bundled up
>> like it's below 40F outside, sitting in chairs facing a smoky fire,
>> hands in pockets, you know it's not comfortable.
>>
>> But, as I say, Mrs Squirrel does not give up easily. She had us drive to
>> the farthest upper rear corner of the campground, and we found a sweet
>> spot, site #32. It was over the crest of the hill so the wind was
>> blocked, it had a spacious view of the lower Highland Lake, and starting
>> at our feet and sweeping down to the lake was a carpet of grasses and
>> wildflowers.
>>
>> We spent several days there. I had purchased and brought along a little
>> Sevylor inflatable kayak to poke around the lakes on (the 120V pump
>> draws about 17 amps from the battery through the inverter, took about 20
>> to 30 minutes to fill the boat, but the panels were always able to bring
>> the battery back to full by 1 pm at the latest).
>>
>> Made more bread, erected a screen house to keep out the bugs (not my
>> kind of a place, I had originally planned to camp with the kids and
>> grandkids and I got the screen house for the wimmins and chillens, but
>> those things feel too confining and isolating for me); and kept an eye
>> out for any Mr or Mrs Bear that might want to chow down on unguarded
>> food. We hauled the cooler into and out of the van depending on whether
>> we were there or not to act all threatening if someone of the ursine
>> persuasion were to eye our foods with an appreciative and curious eye.
>> But no bears. No critters at all.
>>
>> After a few days it became much cooler, and mostly cloudy although the
>> wx channel out of Reno (WXK58, Slide Mtn., 162.550 MHz) never mentioned
>> it. Mrs Squirrel was fretting about being out of touch with one of her
>> sons for so long (a separation/child custody drama that was occurring)
>> so she and I felt that leaving our lovely campsite was in order.
>>
>> By noon we were back on the road, by 7pm I put us back in Tuttle Creek
>> for the night ($5/night, such a deal), where we would overnight before
>> the final push back home.
>>
>> This would be Mrs Squirrel's first desert camping experience. The sun
>> had just gone down behind the Sierra escarpment and the campground was
>> in shade and cooling. The charming little creek was splashing and
>> burbling. She was looking around curiously when the campground host
>> stopped his Jeep out on the street to casually mention that there was a
>> raccoon that had been raiding camps for food ("Okay," I said, trying to
>> wave him on, knowing how Mrs Squirrel feels about loose critters), and
>> by the way, a bear had been spotted a couple days ago ("We'll be
>> careful," I said, hoping he would leave), ... oh yeah, he added, someone
>> saw a rattlesnake recently.
>>
>> At this point Mrs Squirrel climbed up into the van and said that there
>> was no way we'd sleep with any open windows. I shot that man a look that
>> if looks could kill he would have left in a basket.
>>
>> "Thanks a lot," I thought.
>>
>> Of course there are raccoons -- they are little food scroungers but not
>> aggressive.
>>
>> Of course there might be a bear coming by once in a while to check
>> things out and look for freebies.
>>
>> And of course there are rattlesnakes: it's the frickin' southwest desert
>> for crying out loud! I consider rattlesnakes to be gentlemanly guys who
>> always warn you if they are getting nervous about you getting too close,
>> and they don't range about attacking people. Rattlesnakes that have the
>> poor luck to land near a campground have very short lifespans.
>>
>> But try to tell that to a woman. That fool did nothing more than scare
>> my wife and put her off desert camping. I'll need to do a lot of repair
>> to overcome the damage he did.
>>
>> Anyway, I reassured her that having the poptop screens open would be
>> safe. But even so, it was over 80 in the van, and I knew I'd not be able
>> to sleep in such heat, so I then convinced her to let me open the rear
>> hatch and snap in the mosquito screen. I had to close off the bottom of
>> the screen with our adjustable shower curtain rod at the foot of the
>> mattress. This, of course, was nothing more than cosmetics, but it made
>> her feel safe.
>>
>> A cooling breeze blew over us all night long. In the morning we found
>> raccoon feetsprints on the windshield. Little burglar had been trying to
>> find a way in. So THAT'S what Mrs Squirrel was investigating in the
>> middle of the night with her flashlight when she said she heard
>> something! I just said it was a moth beating its wings against the
>> screen, rolled over, and fell back to sleep.
>>
>> Mellow Yellow performed flawlessly the whole trip, even after I baked it
>> on the climbs, and ground the sh^t out of the auto transmission trying
>> to force us up the steep hills of that 4WD road to Blue Lakes.
>>
>>
>> * Pete also kindly provided to me a wealth of information about
>> restaurants, camping, routes and insider information about the area
>> around Calaveras Big Trees, where we had originally planned to camp for
>> a couple of nights with the kids and grandkids. They bailed (decided to
>> go to Disneyland instead) so our plans became a lot less structured.
>> Never had a chance to meet Pete, but my thanks to him for all that he
>> did.
>>
>> --
>> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
>> 71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
>> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
>> 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
>> KG6RCR
>>
>
>
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