The Cleveland Show

 

Nope, not the spinoff from The Family Guy but 7 campgrounds in Cleveland National Forest.

After whacking the Mullein at Palomar Mountain State Park I headed south for 50 miles to Oakzanita Campground, another Thousand Trails spot. With my my tent membership still having a few months left, it only cost me $3 a night. Such a deal. I planned on staying for three nights but left after two. You will see why later.

Heading down the mountain there is an overlook where you can frequently glimpse some raptors. None showed while I stopped by but you do get a nice view of Lake Henshaw.

I set up camp, ate some tacos, and hit the sack. Oakzanita Campground is located on CA 79 about 10 miles south of Julian. I was in this area briefly last May and visited Cuyamaca Rancho State Park and it’s two campgrounds.

A fire went through this area a few years ago but it has rebounded nicely. In addition to regular campsites,

Green Valley has over a dozen equestrian ones.

A few miles north on CA 79 is Paso Picacho.

But that is so last year. This time I drove one of the best loops in SoCal. CA 79 south to Old Highway 80 east to the Sunrise Highway north which joins back up with CA 79. The elevation varies from from 3000 feet to over 6000.

On the Sunrise Highway (AKA County Road S1) there are two big Forest Service campgrounds in the Laguna Mountain Recreation Area bookending the tiny town of Mount Laguna.

First up is Burnt Rancheria.

The campground was closed when I walked through it. There were oak leaves and acorns all over the roads and campsites. It was GREAT! The empty acorn shells crackled under my boots. Several squirrels stopped doing whatever it is that squirrels do and checked out the interloper. The colors were beautiful and so were many of the campsites.

OK, that site had no acorns or leaves. But it is nice. (#17)

I stopped next at Laguna Campground.

This place has direct access to the Big Laguna Mountain Meadows. Especially site #14.

Hikers paradise. Yes, that is a reservation sign (or two) that you see. The Meadows Loop is very popular so make your picks early.

If you have a 40 foot rig, here is the hot ticket. Site #86. No reservations needed. Just get there midweek.

It’s a straight back-in and level. Easy turn around to exit as well.

I spoke to a gentleman in site #87 and he told me that his outdoor thermometer dropped to 17 degrees on Sunday night. I had noticed that it was a little chilly for me 1200 feet lower. With the sky clearing, Monday night was going to be cold.

Very cold.

Those are pictures of my tent fly the next morning. Frozen condensation. Cold night. So I took off a day early and visited 5 more campgrounds on the way home.

I left at 7:30 am and took some photos at Lake Cuyamaca on the way north.

I noticed some mist rising from from the lake so I zoomed in a bit.

Made me feel cold again so I jumped in my car and continued north on CA 79. Back to warm (er) high desert.

Just off the side of the road in Oak Grove was the conveniently named Oak Grove Campground.

I was pleasantly surprised with this one. A short drive south from Temecula gets you a very nice campground.

Two days before turkey day there were only 2 sites occupied. By brothers with big trailers. They and their families were going to spend Thanksgiving there. And loving it. They also asked me not to promote this campground so don’t tell anybody.

Closer to Temecula is Dripping Springs.

I could really use a trailer like that. If you must have lots of shade, site #19 has you covered.

They have revamped the upper loop to improve the equestrian sites.

From there I skipped north to CA 74 (Ortega Highway) to check out 3 more campgrounds on the last part of this trip.

I have driven by these three campgrounds for over 20 years and never really checked them out. There used to be a Lower San Juan that I thought I camped at but that was back in the 70”s. Enough said. Maybe it never existed.

Blue Jay is 5 miles down a narrow twisting road near the crest of CA 74. Well worth the drive.

The scenery reminds me of the oaks around Santa Barbara. Particularly on Paradise Road near the Cold Spring Tavern.

There were 50 campsites but I could only get the first 39. Seems that some old goats were getting frisky.

I didn’t want to bother them and risk getting head butted.

Back on the 74 right below the road to Blue Jay is El Cariso.

It has only 24 sites but is within walking distance of El Cariso Village and the Cleveland National Forest Visitor Center. More oaks and acorns as well.

Last up was Upper San Juan Campground a few miles down the road.

A small campground with only 15 sites, but there is a seasonal stream that runs through it. Some nice campsites like #7 make this a popular place.

We are in the pre-planning stage for the big trip next year. Stay tuned as it will be spectacular!

Regards,

Greg

Invasion of the Mullein!

 

It had been almost one month since I last slept in my tent when I received an intriguing email. The California State Parks Foundation in conjunction with the Friends of Palomar Mountain State Park were having an invasive species removal effort on Sunday November 18th and were looking for volunteers. The offender – the evil Mullein. No, it’s not the tree, it’s the stalks in the foreground.

Free camping on Saturday was a bonus so I enthusiastically signed up.

The weather was looking ominous as I headed out on Saturday morning. After cresting CA 74 (Ortega Highway) I took this photo overlooking Lake Elsinore.

80 miles later I was heading up Palomar Mountain.

And then entered the clouds.

Luckily the campground was just below the cloud level so I could see while setting up camp.

Eight of us risked the weather to spend the night and were rewarded with free firewood and no rain. The next morning we met up with the other volunteers, park rangers, and people from California State Parks Foundation and Friends of Palomar Mountain State Park.

There were over 30 volunteers so we split up into small groups and went to work.

The day started off cloudy but ended up vacillating between sunny and cloudy and the fall colors were brilliant.

The goal was to uproot and bag the seed carrying adult plants as well as uproot the babies which look like this:

Invasive plants wreak havoc on the local ecosystem. The native insects cannot deal with them so they die off, which affects the birds that eat them and so on up the food chain. Not good. Speaking of food, I saw some wild turkeys. Since it was so close to Thanksgiving they were understandably skittish.

Our group ended up hiking several miles in pursuit of the evil Mullein.

Lunch was offered when we were done, but since I was going to keep camping for a few more days in the Laguna Mountain area I split.

Hey, when you are coming off a 5 month camping trip one night doesn’t cut it. Plus, there were campgrounds in the area that I wanted to photograph.

If you would like to volunteer in California State Parks go to this link:

http://www.calparks.org/ Phoebe Oelheim is the SoCal coordinator.

To help out at Palomar in particular, Rick Barclay has this website:

http://www.friendsofpalomarsp.org/

Even though California found over $50 million of State Park funds in the sock drawer, it is not enough. It never is. So go volunteer. You will be glad that you did.

Regards,

Greg

2012 Summer Trip Recap

 

I was looking through the blog posts from this trip and after a few good laughs I decided to pick out my favorite photos and condense the five month trip into one last post. There is nothing new here except the final photo, a self-portrait I took at Tuolumne Meadows.

My first glimpse of the ocean was at Harris Beach State Park in Oregon.

Notice the color of the sky? It is blue. For the next 70 days I would only see the sun seven times. The drive north on the Oregon and Washington coasts is aptly called the “Pacific Coast Scenic Byway”.

I crossed over the Rogue River Bridge and visited Cape Blanco and it’s lighthouse.

I stayed at Bullards Beach State Park where the sun was nice enough to come out and dry my tent.

I crossed two more bridges, Coos Bay and Yaquina Bay and spent some time at the harbor.

There are two lighthouses in this area, Yaquina Bay and Yaquina Head.

Can you tell that I like lighthouses and bridges? Next stop was at Depoe Bay where I observed a seal and a seagull engaged in a spirited debate.

A rare sunny day showed up so I spent some time at the beach.

Followed by a trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

All you can eat cheesy goodness!

I also like funny signs. This one still cracks me up.

At the northwest corner of Oregon I spent some time at Fort Clatsop.

I had watched the Ken Burns documentary about them just before starting the trip. It was neat to walk in their footprints and see what they saw.

I crossed the Columbia River on the Astoria Bridge and visited two more lighthouses, Cape Disappointment and North Head.

I passed through South Bend, Washington, the “Oyster Capital of the World”.

From there I headed north into Olympic National Park and all it’s green glory.

Near Hoh Rain Forest I was stared down by a wild taco and later at Fairholme by a duck.

Near Elwha campground was beautiful Madison Falls.

My last night in Olympic was at Staircase campground. I had a spot right on the river and the birds provided nice background music.

I looped around Puget Sound getting a far off glimpse of Mount St. Helens and continued on to Mount Rainier National Park.

I passed by some more signs.

The one above makes me laugh. If there were no warning signs then that sign shouldn’t be there. I camped at La Conner and got the evil eye from a bald eagle eating a salmon in the pouring rain.

While there I checked out Admiralty Head lighthouse and Deception Pass bridge.

I enjoyed a nice sunset and the next morning found an old weathered boat on my way to the Canadian border.

I visited Peace Arch Park and took a stroll on Canadian soil.

I headed east and spent some time in North Cascades National Park.

I used my new stove for the first time, making a batch of tacos.

I also complained about the terrible working conditions I had to endure.

Leaving the park I took some photos of Diablo Lake.

I passed through the towns of Winthrop and Leavenworth on my way to Crescent Bar.

You can read the post about what happened to me here: LINK

My tent took a beating and ended up looking a little different.

I passed through Toledo, Washington, picked up a “camping god”, and camped at Silver Falls State Park in Oregon.

I wish I could have spent more than one night there. There is a trail of about 10 miles that takes you by 10 waterfalls. I only had time to visit one, South Falls. The trail goes behind the waterfall for a unique perspective.

I visited two calderas, topless volcanoes that had water inside. Newberry National Volcanic Monument was a surprise. Located around 35 miles southeast of Bend, Oregon, this was probably my favorite camping area of the trip and I did not even stay there. There are two lakes inside and you can camp right next to them. And the beach…

Beautiful! Crater Lake National Park was nice in it’s own way. The campgrounds are a few miles from the lake and there is only one steep trail down to the water.

I liked the view from the south rim looking south in the morning light.

I arrived at Lassen National Park in California just in time for a forest fire. I packed up and left the next morning.

Another hidden gem was Van Duzen, a Humboldt County campground near Fortuna, California. There were giant redwoods and some great swimming holes.

Speaking of swimming holes, two campgrounds just off Interstate 80 near Yuba Gap had some great ones. Hampshire Rocks,

and Indian Springs.

I camped four nights near Oregon House, California, on the South Fork of the American River. I met some nice people and ate some interesting food.

I finished up at Yosemite National Park.

I spent 3 nights at Tuolumne Meadows hanging out with my friend Glenn.

Finished up the trip with five nights in Yosemite Valley.

On the way home I passed by Tenaya Lake and went down Tioga Pass.

As I was heading south on US 395 I kept hearing a squeaking sound from my left rear wheel. I pulled over a found the problem.

So there you have it. The “Reader’s Digest” version of my trip. Beats reading all 30 blog posts. Am I forgetting anything? Oh, the self-portrait. I am always behind the lens, never in front, so I thought I would share this with you in case you were wondering what a camping fool looks like. Enjoy!

Regards,

Greg