Cheers

 

I left Lake Minden on Thursday and headed east to Lake of the Springs near Oregon House, CA. This is another Thousand Trails campground and is quite nice. The tent area is right next to the lake while the RV’s are farther away.

On the left side of the photo is the lake. Here is a better view, my view actually.

Walking straight ahead takes you to the beach and swim area.

These photos were taken on Sunday morning as I was doing laundry. All day Saturday that beach was packed with folks enjoying the water.

I am using this campground as a base to go visit the Little Grass Valley Recreation Area 40 miles farther east near the town of La Porte, CA. I went there on Friday knowing it was going to be filled with campers. Unfortunately there was a problem with the water supply and all the restrooms were closed and there was no drinking water or dump stations available. This will be fixed by now but what it meant is that the campgrounds were almost empty, which is better for photos anyway.

There are campgrounds on the east and west sides of the lake. Let’s start on the east side. First up is Little Beaver.

All the campgrounds on the east side have lakeside campsites. Really nice big ones. Next up was Red Feather.

The three campgrounds are situated next to each other along the shore. There are bike paths and hiking trails that link them together. Finally I went to Running Deer.

I was weird to see all the empty campsites at this time of year. There are over 220 on the east side with maybe 30 campers using them.

I was a bit disappointed with the smaller campgrounds on the west side, Wyandotte and Peninsula Tent.

 

Wyandotte is set on a ridge without direct lake access. It does have a very nice day use beach that it shares with Peninsula. It is more open and sunny as well.

Peninsula is a walk in tent campground. Supposedly there are 25 sites but I could only find about 20 of them. The walk is at most 200 feet and there is lake access from here.

I camped at Little Beaver in 2006 and 2008. I really like this place. You can get basic supplies in La Porte which is only 4 miles away. The water level can fluctuate a lot. The next two photos are from 2006.

I had a blast canoeing around the trees. These photos are from 2008.

In 2006 I had the pleasure to meet Tim and his wife Barbara who were reopening a historic building.

I hung out there for a couple of days taking photos of old photos and retouching them so they could be printed and displayed on the walls. The history in this area is quite fascinating. One of my favorites was of Reilly, the original owner.

So I tried to recreate it as best I could with Tim.

If you go camping in the area be sure to stop by here for a great meal or a cold drink. Look at all the old photos on the walls that I remade. Tell Tim you know me and he will give you a free lunch…just kidding.

One final thought about the age we live in. Saturday evening I was sitting in my chair reading my Nook while looking out over the lake. A man was fishing on the shore and yelled out to his sons who were walking by if they knew what time it was. They replied that they didn’t have their phones with them and didn’t know. I tapped the screen of my Nook and hollered that it was 6:15pm.

I don’t have a watch. The man did not have a watch. The kids didn’t either. Does anyone still wear a watch? I find myself looking at people’s wrists now. I can’t stop.

Regards,

Greg

Folsom Prison Blues

 

I only stayed for three nights in Humboldt Redwoods State Park as I needed to charge up all my batteries and process a bunch of photos. I had heard that there was power here in the bathrooms but there was not.

I cruised down the Avenue of the Giants approaching the campground.

They are so majestic and otherworldly. Almost mystical.

I was the first to arrive at 9:30am and set up camp in a nice sunny spot.

We had a potluck dinner on Saturday night and I headed out early the next morning.

Northern California is basically on fire right now and my planned route along CA 20 heading east had just reopened. This fire is in the vicinity of Clear Lake, CA. The hills were still smoking a bit but the crews were keeping a close eye on things. Below are some photos from the highway.

I was heading to a Thousand Trails campground at Lake Minden which is 20 miles south of Yuba City. I passed by Sutter National Wildlife Refuge and the Feather River.

I was the only one in the tent area of the campground and since it was a bit warm they put the sprinklers on for me.

On Tuesday I went and visited Beals Point Campground in the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area. Nearby is Folsom Prison where Johnny Cash played two shows on January 13, 1968. His song Folsom Prison Blues contains these memorable words:

“When I was just a baby,
My Mama told me, "Son,
Always be a good boy,
Don't ever play with guns,"
But I shot a man in Reno,
Just to watch him die.”

Folsom Lake is considered Sacramento’s backyard. It’s a very popular place year round with good fishing in the spring and fall and water sports all summer long. The campground has a tent loop and an RV loop. Since I was there midweek in mid-August with the mercury hitting 105 degrees it was not that crowded.

There are a variety of campsite layouts here ranging from pull throughs to spurs to walk-ins.

In fact, campsites 35, 36, 37, and 38 are on their own small loop and would make a great place for a family reunion or group outing.

The day use area has beaches and a snack bar. The water was low so the beach was huge.

Last night nature put on a little show for me. At dusk small flies and some mosquitos showed up. Then a huge herd of dragonflies arrived and began feasting on them. That was soon followed by birds (looked like swallows to me, maybe swifts) chomping on the dragonflies. At one point I swear I saw a dragonfly munch a small fly and immediately be eaten by a bird. Much better than television.

Regards,

Greg

Smoke on the Water, Fire in the Sky

 

What, you thought the trip would keep running smoothly?

I left Klamath Falls Sunday morning after posting to my blog. I decided to take the scenic route through Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge and Lava Beds National Monument.

The sky was a little hazy due to the fire in Lakeview, OR, east of Klamath Falls. But it made the Devil’s Homestead look downright devilish.

I didn’t have time to do any exploring as I had about 250 miles to drive to Lassen National Park. I was really looking forward to spending 4 days there to explore. The sky had cleared up after leaving Lava Beds but when I started to get close to Lassen things took a turn for the worse. Near Old Station, which is 15 miles north, I started seeing lots of fire crews and equipment parked alongside the road. I looked up through the trees and saw some smoke but it was blowing east so it was not too bad.

I entered the park and was confronted by this sign.

Wait, what does that orange one say?

Are you kidding me? Apparently not.

Yep, one mile into the park the road was shut down.

Now I saw the the smoke from the fire as well. Not a good sign. Manzanita campground is one mile into the park and was the only campground not yet closed. A ranger told me that Summit Lake North and South were closed last week and that Crags, which is 5 miles away, was evacuated at 9pm a few days ago with the campers being sent to Manzanita. Well ain’t this a hoot. I can still take photos here and there are a couple of other campgrounds along Hat Creek that I could check out. It was almost 5pm when I set up camp. I was tired after the long drive so I had a few tacos and read my book by a campfire. Yeah, they were still allowing campfires..

I awoke the next morning coughing and with my eyes burning. The wind had switched and the smoke filled the campground.

Everyone was packing up so I did as well.

My eyes are still red as I write this on Wednesday. I was extremely disappointed with this latest development. I had planned on doing laundry here as well before my week at Humboldt with the Camping Fools. (A bunch of nuts from the Honda Element Owners Club) I looked in my handy dandy camping guide and found a place called Old Lewiston Bridge RV Resort. I called them up and found they did have some tent sites open so I headed west for 3 hours past Redding to the town of Lewiston. I had not been following the weather but it seemed rather warm on the drive there.

I set up camp and put my chair in the shade. I figured I would hang out here for 3 nights until I went to Humboldt. They have laundry facilities here so I was good to go. But it kept getting warmer. And warmer. By 4pm there was a hot dry wind blowing through the campground. The sweat immediately evaporated off my bald head and left it covered with salt crystals. This was not going to work for me. The campground itself was fine if you had an RV. There are over 50 sites with full hookups and the place was very well looked after. I’d recommend it if you want to explore the Lewiston/Trinity area and want to be plugged in.

I headed out early the next morning and heard on the radio that Redding had hit 112 degrees. I figured I would keep heading west and stay at either Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park or Van Duzen, a Humboldt County campground. They are 5 miles apart and 15 miles from US101. I stopped at Grizzly first.

Being a few miles from the 101 this campground doesn’t get packed like the ones in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. It’s small with only 30 sites but it’s very nice and is alongside the Van Duzen River. The are some groves of giant trees you can stroll through as well.

What I found kind of funny is that this is one of the State Parks that California  Governor Brown had put on the closure list. Humboldt County took it over temporarily to keep it open and the first thing they did was drop the fee from $35 to $25. It is generating more money now. I think it’s called the “Law of Diminishing Returns” or something like that. You can’t keep raising prices and think that will increase the revenue. You will lose visitors and end up generating less money. In the last 7 or 8 years the California State Park fees have jumped from $12 to $20 and now they are $35-$45. That has priced me right out of camping at them. But I did hear that Sacramento found a couple of hundred million in the sock drawer so maybe that will stop them from holding campers hostage unless they vote for higher taxes. Sorry for the rant but it just irks me.

Anyway, I headed west to van Duzen and that is where I will be staying for the next two nights.

They call it Swimmers Delight because of the swimming holes on the Van Duzen River. I found a giant campsite next to the river. I mean HUGE! You could fit 10 tents in it.

You can barely see my tent in the back. I put it in the shade but I ended up sitting in the sun as the temperature was a nice 75 degrees. I even have my own steps to the river.

And it has trees. Big trees. Can you see my car? Look hard.

Really big trees.

This morning (Wednesday) I wandered down to the river to take some photos. There was a nice sunrise.

Then I took some shots of the river and walls on the sides.

I like the colors and textures on this one:

OK, that’s it for now. I am going to drive 15 miles to Fortuna, CA and do some laundry and find a place to post this.

If anyone is planning a trip to Lassen National Park in the near future make sure you call or check out the NPS website to verify that it is all open. I will definitely be heading back that way again as there are lots of great campgrounds in the area including Eagle Lake and Lake Almanor, both within 50 miles or so.

Regards,

Greg