Trips

Trips and Campgrounds.

A Taste of London & Encountering Asses in Arizona  

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A Taste of London & Encountering Asses in Arizona
December 7th – 12th 2024 (5 nights)

What started out as a planned weekend to celebrate our Uncle’s birthday in La Quinta, California evolved into a trip leading us, in some aspects, across the globe and, then, onto an old gold mining ghost town inhabited by wild burros.

La Quinta
Our first stop was La Quinta, a desert resort community located between Indian Wells and Indio (and close to Palm Desert and Palm Springs – one of nine cities in the Coachella Valley).  About a two and a half hour drive from San Diego, it’s an ideal place to visit in the winter because the days are generally sunny and warm (around 81 degrees high during our December visit).  Many snowbirds come and stay here to escape harsh winters at home and enjoy golf, swimming and other outdoor activities.  We had planned to stay at Lake Cahuilla Veterans Regional Park Campground in La Quinta.  However, when we learned there was going to be a marathon here with restricted access during our visit, we changed our plans and parked our 2020 Scamp 13’ on our cousin’s driveway.  After a really nice family birthday weekend, we departed for Lake Havasu, Arizona (a three hour drive from La Quinta).

Lake Havasu
We stayed at Lake Havasu State Park, which is a beautiful campground directly adjacent to the lake.  We had campsite #22 (electric/water, $35/night, free Central Dump) which is very well spaced out (the view of the lake at this site is mostly blocked though by shrubs at the water’s edge).  Campsites directly on the beach are possible, but very popular and need to be reserved well in advance.  Verizon cellular service is very fast here.  Popular things to do at the lake are water activities like boating, kayaking, swimming, paddle boarding, and fishing.  There are nice trails (like the Mohave Sunset Trail) and bike paths which wind throughout the lowland desert and shoreline.  There are around 28 miniature replica working lighthouses along the lake helping watercraft navigate at night which are modeled after famous lighthouses throughout the United States.  There’s also the Arroyo-Camino Interpretive Garden which showcases the diverse life that exists within the park and this area of the desert.

Just a short drive outside the park, there is the English Village and London Bridge.  Park at the Visitor’s Center parking lot and walk into the English Village.  The Visitor’s Center is a good starting point (located on the mainland side of Bridgewater Channel).  The center sells souvenirs, offers free maps, and there’s a video worth watching detailing how London Bridge was created at Lake Havasu in 1971.  Additionally, there’s a tourist guide who is eager to share information on area highlights.  Right outside the Visitor’s Center is a waterfront shopping area with plenty of boutique and souvenir shops as well as restaurants.  Lake Havasu was created by construction of the Parker Dam on the Colorado River between Arizona and California between 1934 and 1938.  Factoid – Parker Dam is the world’s deepest dam, with 235 feet below the riverbed! London Bridge was moved to Arizona in the late 1960’s as a publicity stunt to attract people to the new community of Lake Havasu City.  The bridge was disassembled and shipped (individually numbered blocks) from London and reassembly was completed at Lake Havasu in 1971.  The bridge is lit up by colored lights for different holidays throughout the year.  During our visit, the bridge was lit up red and green to celebrate Christmas.  There’s a walking path, Shoreline Trail, that meanders along the water offering views of the bridge from different perspectives.

Oatman, Arizona
Oatman is an old gold mining town about an hour from Lake Havasu.  Since there aren’t any designated RV campgrounds in the small ghost town of Oatman, we stayed overnight at Crossroads RV Park in Mojave Valley, Arizona (full hookups, $60/night, fast Verizon internet).  This RV park is a large square cut out of the desert where people mostly come to ride out the winter and tend to stay for months.  Although there isn’t much here, it’s a short easy fifteen minute drive up to the mountain town of Oatman.  Be careful driving up the main highway as it’s common for wild donkeys to stand in the roadway, completely blocking the lanes.  This happened to us, as we had to stop for a few donkeys blocking the road.  We rolled down the window to get a better look and a wild burro and her baby walked right up to us and the mother stuck her face right into our car.  We weren’t really expecting this from wild donkeys.  Later, when we reached Oatman, a shopkeeper told us that the only time one is allowed to pet and feed the donkeys is in the town.

Oatman, Arizona was once a booming gold mining town.  In the early 1860’s, gold was discovered in these Black Mountains.  In 1915, two prospectors struck gold worth $10 million and the town’s population quickly grew to over 3,500 in one year.  The town was named after Olive Oatman, a 14 year old girl who was captured (along with her younger 8 year old sister, Mary Ann) and enslaved by Native American Indians in 1851 (who killed her parents and four siblings, known as the “Oatman Massacre”).  Her older brother Lorenzo was left for dead but survived. He tried to get help, but wasn’t successful in rescuing his sisters.  Olive and her sister were held captive for one year and then traded to the Mojave people.  Mary Ann died of starvation and Olive spent four years with the Mojave Indians, during which time they tattooed her chin with blue ink to signify her tribal enslavement.  Olive was repatriated to American society five years after the attack.  She became an oddity in 1860s American culture because she was the first known White woman with a Native tattoo.

Oatman is now a ghost town, a reflection of the early American Wild West.  Now, the main street is lined with tourist shops selling t-shirts, western leather products, and other souvenirs.  The old post office and jail are small relics of the past which still remain.  There’s even a wild west gunfight (times change daily, so best to call Outlaw Willie) in front of the old Oatman Hotel (the site of many alleged paranormal sightings).  Despite its fascinating history, the main attraction here are Oatman’s wild donkeys (as it’s one of very few places in the United States where it is legal to feed and pet them).  Each burro has their own name and they display unique and interesting personalities.  A young burro, named Diego, is known to kick his front hoof against shop doors which sell donkey food (many stores here sell a bag of donkey pellets for around $1).  We witnessed Diego in action and, fearing the glass might break, the shopkeeper opened the door and gave Diego some food (further reinforcing this behavior).  We saw another donkey walk inside a shop and block its entrance!  There are posted warnings that these donkeys are wild and may bite and kick, but we didn’t witness any menacing behavior.  On the contrary, all the donkeys we pet and fed had very sweet temperaments.  We even overheard one tourist say that these donkeys are tamer than the one she keeps at home.  It is wise though not to stand behind any donkey because they sometimes get into quarrels amongst themselves and sometimes kick back from their hind legs.  And, when feeding them, keep the food in your palm with hands wide open so fingers are not nibbled along with the snack!  The donkeys were surprisingly gentle with our hands, not biting the hands that feed them.

After a great trip, we chose to stop in Newberry Springs at The Barn 66 (a Harvest Host location free for members) on the way back home to make the 5 ½ hour drive more manageable.  The Barn 66 is a notable bar restaurant on the old Route 66 and is in the middle of nowhere (almost halfway between Oatman, Arizona and San Diego with Barstow being about twenty minutes away).  We read they have great pizza and burgers, but we found their hours to be variable and the Barn wasn’t opened when we arrived for a late lunch.  Route 66 was decommissioned in 1985, however its decline started in 1956 when President Eisenhower signed the Interstate Highway Act.  The new interstates, especially the I-40, diverted traffic away from Route 66.  Today, only about 85% of Route 66 can still be driven.  The transition away from Route 66 was a death blow to many small towns including Newberry Springs where The Barn 66 is located.  We parked our Scamp 13’ in the Barns 66’s dirt parking lot, surrounded by old dilapidated buildings adjacent to Route 66 (now with only occasional car traffic).  The I-40 interstate is visible in the distance from the parking lot with car and truck traffic buzzing non-stop 24/7.  There are also trains which run at all times of the day and night and were sometimes very loud with their horns blasting (note to light sleepers!).

We had a blast relaxing at Lake Havasu and discovering the old west in Oatman, Arizona.  It’s amazing there are so many places to uncover which have such unique history.  And, having a small travel trailer lets one immerse oneself in these bygone eras.  Learning about a significant piece of London history located in Arizona on the Colorado River was really interesting!  And, playing with the burro descendants of the gold miners and watching their funny antics made a lasting impression.  Although this was a short trip, it expanded our horizons.  And, we learned that being a wise ass isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

 

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything

Falling for Color in the Eastern Sierra  October 13th – 20th 2024 (7 nights)

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Falling for Color in the Eastern Sierra
October 13th – 20th 2024 (7 nights)

One of the most spectacular places in the country to see the annual fall leaf color change is in the high Sierra.  Leaf peepers from all over the world come to the Sierra to feel the chill in the crisp fall air and observe the vivid colors which pop in yellows, oranges, and reds.  October is usually the month to go, but the actual timing per location varies.  One notable website tracks the color changes by offering onsite reports (the website published two feature articles about our adventure on their website during our trip).   The first article was about our experience at Sabrina Lake — click here to see the article with our photographs.  The second feature was on our visit to Lundy Lake Campground — click here to see this article with our photographs.

In order to get a good chance of seeing some fall color, we scheduled stops at various locations in the Eastern Sierra.  Our leaf peeping locations included two sites in the Aspendell area (above Bishop at around 9,000 feet elevation–at Sabrina Lake Campground and Four Jeffrey Campground), a stop at Lundy Canyon Campground an hour north near Mono Lake (elevation 7,800 feet), and lastly a visit to Convict Lake Campground (7,500 feet) near Mammoth Lakes.

Many of the campgrounds are either closed or closing at the middle to end of October, so it’s very important to research which campgrounds are still open if planning a visit this time of year.  Winter can bring extremely strong storms, including snow, and this area often becomes inaccessible after the first storm or two.  And, it’s not uncommon for a surprise snow storm to hit even in early October when campers are still at the campgrounds so it’s important to pack accordingly (this happened to us at Lundy Canyon Campground)!

Come prepared with your propane tanks full (ideally two tanks) as the weather can get very cold at night.  It was sunny and pleasant during our visit with temps in the high 60’s / low 70’s, but the evenings and mornings were cold (in the high teens and low 20’s)!  We set our furnace to keep us warm at night and early mornings, and were very glad we were sleeping in our 2020 Scamp 13′ instead of a tent!  We set a record on this trip by burning through an entire tank of propane in just six days!

Fuel stop tips:  we discovered a few good low priced gas stations during our drives — 5 Points Petroluem (Adelanto, CA), Fort Independence Travel Plaza (Independence, CA), and Yuhubi Nobi Gas Station (Bishop, CA).  Gas stations in Mammoth Lakes and Lee Vining (which we avoided) were significantly more expensive (around $2 more per gallon) than the service stations listed above.

Food stop tips:  the Alabama Hills Café (can be crowded on weekends) for great American food (Lone Pine) and the Lemon Food Truck for great Mexican food (Independence) make good stops for nourishment and help break up the long drive into the Eastern Sierra.  Glen’s Taqueria Food Truck (Independence) was also recommended to us, but we didn’t get a chance to try it.

Lake Sabrina Campground
This is a first come, first served campground with about 20 campsites.  There is no cell phone service here, but they do have potable water spigots, trash cans, and vault toilets.  Note:  the Cardinal Village Resort down the road offers free Starlink WiFi service (good enough even for phone calls).  We arrived at around 2:45 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, figuring most people would have left the campground by the end of the weekend.  However, when we arrived, we found only two sites available!  Fortunately, the site we selected (campsite #20, $34/night) was not easy to spot, yet a very good one (we drove right by it on our first pass and the campground host showed us where it was)!  Make sure to bring either cash or a check for the iron ranger box.  The campground is very scenic and is situated along the Middle Fork Bishop Creek.  The abundant aspens in the campground had already starting turning color, with popping yellows.

The trail at the end of the campground off of North Lake Road led us through some spectacular fall foliage in magnificent red, orange, and yellow leaves.  We also drove up North Lake road to North Lake (a small lake popular for fishing) and enjoyed some stunning scenery of the fall color changes.  Sabrina Lake is about a mile and a half up the road.  There’s a trail that goes around the lake as well as a boat rental house.  The high Sierra mountains pose magnificently in the background thousands of feet above the lake.  One of the most popular activities here is fishing for trout, and even in October we saw a number of fishermen and fisherwomen.  But, probably the most popular activity in this area was taking photos in front of the lake and several leaf peeping worthy backdrops.

Another trip highlight included testing out a new tech toy.  We purchased a Starlink Mini for this particular trip and had ample opportunity to try it out at Lake Sabrina Campground.  There is no phone service near here and it was nice to conduct some additional research of the area, stay up to date on the news/weather and emails, and contact friends and families via calls and texts when not hiking or exploring the area.  The Mini is great because it is very compact (about the size of a laptop), the router and power supply are internal, and it uses low power (we can run it for hours on our Jackery 500).  We are able to store it in the small closet cabinet we constructed in our 2020 Scamp 13′ along with our laptop and tablet.  To set it up, just point it north and use the app to make fine adjustments.  We found the speed to be very fast (over 100Mbps download and around 10 Mbps upload).  We chose the roam plan which, at the time of this writing, is $50/month for 50GBs of data (additional GBs of data cost $1/GB).  We only used 11GB of data during our entire eight day trip (including streaming a few news broadcasts from Sling).  The plan can be paused (by the month) when not travelling. The upfront cost of the Starlink Mini hardware is currently $599.

Camp Four Jeffrey
Just about fifteen minutes down the road from Sabrina Lake Campground towards Bishop, Camp Four Jeffrey is off South Lake Road in the direction of South Lake.  Camp Four Jeffrey is a larger campground (with only the first 30 campsites reservable during the time of our visit) and has potable water spigots and an RV dump station (with two dumps) — dumping is free if you are camping here.  There’s no reliable cell phone signal, but signals come and go throughout the day and night in various locations throughout the campground.  For a more reliable cell phone signal, there’s a utility access dirt road across the main road that climbs for about 1/2 mile and overlooks Forks Campground down below.  We’ve found a reliable signal here on this as well as a past visit.  (Link to previous report).  Additionally, there’s a cell phone lot between Camp Four Jeffrey (although we didn’t try it) as well as the free Starlink service at the Cardinal Village Resort.  Or, if you have Starlink yourself, it works great at the campground.

This is one of the most dramatically scenic campgrounds we’ve been to as it’s surrounded by high Sierra mountains (covered in snow most of the year, with very little snow visible this fall).  Also, aspen trees grow throughout the campground, and were presenting full fall yellow popping color.  There’s a creek that runs through the campground and many campers enjoy fishing here.  We chose campsite #45 (not sure why we were able to reserve it since it’s not in the first thirty campsites and no other campsites were able to be reserved in this loop when we made reservations) because it sits high above all the other campsites and has dramatic views.  Some of the water spigots at the entrance are threaded and we used one to fill up our Scamp 13’s fresh water tank on the way into and out of the campground.  There are also unthreaded water spigots through the campground.

We spent a couple of days here and enjoyed hiking through the fall colors in the area as well as at Cardinal Village Resort.  While staying here, we decided to go back up to the Sabrina Lake area (since it is only about 10 minutes away from Camp Four Jeffrey) and drove up North Lake drive to North Lake.  We were rewarded with vibrant fall foliage at the lake.  There were quite a few people wading into and fly fishing in the lake.  After exploring, we enjoyed a satisfying burger lunch at the Cardinal Village Resort (they make pie daily here too).

Lundy Canyon Campground
After a couple of beautiful days at Camp Four Jeffrey, we made our way down the mountain to refuel in Bishop (Yuhubi Nobi Gas Station) and then drove north on Hwy 395 for an hour to Lundy Lake Campground (passing Mammoth Lakes and June Lake) .  We heard the leaves were changing color here too.  The campground is up Lundy Lakes Road just past the town of Lee Vining and Mono Lake.  Cell phone coverage ends shortly after entering the canyon and climbing up towards Lundy Lake (Lundy Lake is about five minutes past the campground, with hiking trails).

Lundy Canyon Campground (7,660′ elevation) is primitive with rough roads and no amenities.  There’s not even a camp host.  Instead, once we found a campsite we liked (#10) at this first come first serve campground (36 campsites along a 0.8 mile long scenic bumpy road), we took our cash ($16/night) for our two night stay and deposited it in the iron ranger box which is located near campsite #20.  Campsite #10 is surrounded by aspen trees that were bright yellow during our visit.  Most of the campsites were empty while we were here midweek in mid-October.  An evening rain storm made many campers leave as we were arriving, including a camper with a Scamp who left early fearing the Tioga Pass could get closed by snow.

After lunch, we drove around with the intention of checking out Lundy Lake, but the storm was fast approaching with fog and drizzle making hiking and taking pictures challenging.  So, instead, we headed down the canyon road to Mono Lake to check out the Tufas!  The Visitor’s Center was closed for the winter, but we briefly surveyed the gift shop which had a lot of books, t-shirts, and other souvenirs available for purchase.  After our store visit, we drove to the South Tufas, which are incredibly otherworldly rock like figures which naturally inhabit the shores and waters of Mono Lake (a must see).  Parking is either $3/person or free with an America the Beautiful Pass (which we displayed in our windshield).

Tufas are formed when calcium flows up from springs under the lake bottom and bonds to carbonates in the lake water, forming calcium carbonate (a type of limestone).  The calcium carbonate builds up on itself over time, gradually forming a tufa tower.  When the lake level drops, the exposed tufa stops growing.  A visit to the South Tufas is a fantastic way to explore the scenery and observe the magnificent and fascinating tufas.  There are paved paths and boardwalks which meander along the shore for at least a quarter of a mile.  There is free dispersed camping in the area near the lake, but the bookstore was unable to provide a detailed camping map.  Certain areas are off limits to camping, including the South Tufas and Navy Beach (where you can kayak), so further research is needed before planning a camping visit near the Tufas.  There are a lot of trails in the area including Panum Crater, so lots to do for a fun few days.  We hiked the rim of Panum Crater (entrance is one mile from the bumpy dirt road and driving speeds are less than 10 miles/hour). It was, however, worth the drive to see the stellar views of Mono Lake below.  The crater was formed by a volcano that blew its top, leaving a ring around a crater and a plug (volcano top) in the middle.

A cold rain storm swept through at night.  It was about 30 degrees around 7 a.m. in the Lundy Canyon Campground and our car was covered with slush.  By 11 am the sky had cleared, it had warmed up to 60F, and we travelled up the road to Lundy Lake and took the Lundy Canyon trail hike.  The road going up to the trail head was in disrepair with large holes and big deep puddles, so we parked right outside the Lundy Lake Resort (closed for the winter) and hiked up to the trailhead.  We spent a couple of hours walking the road and then up the trail to the third lake and back to our car.  The most scenic part of the hike was the lower part just above Lundy Lake Resort — there’s a pond and a fantastic view of a tall newly snow-capped mountain top.

On our last evening at Lundy Canyon Campground, the wind blew and we could only see white looking out our Scamp’s windows.  We enjoyed a good movie with our furnace keeping us toasty inside our Scamp.  The wind howled all night.  The campground and mountains were blanketed with snow the next morning.  The temperature was down to 19 degrees at 7 a.m.

We met a couple of ladies at the campground who encouraged us to drive 30 minutes further north to Bridgeport and walk the charming town with shops and especially the trading post (they had purchased some fine Navaho turquoise jewelry there which they were proudly wearing).  They also recommended taking a soak at the Travertine or Benton Hot Springs in that area as well.  We filed this information away for a future trip as we were just about to leave camp!  Next: Reservations at Convict Lake Campground were awaiting us!

Convict Lake Campground
Convict Lake is beautiful location with dramatic mountains surrounding a pristine lake.  The area has been featured in some commercials including Nature Valley and Delta Airlines as well as a number of movies including Star Trek: Insurrection (1998).

On the way up to Convict Lake, make sure to use the free RV dump station (if necessary).  This RV dump station is not labeled and easy to miss (we drove right by it on the way up to the campground).  The dump station is on the left just past the Convict Lake Resort (on the right side) and is notable for a number of orange metal posts.  There are two dump stations (side by side) along with a separate area for potable fresh water (threaded hose).

Convict Lake Campground has views of dramatic mountains which tower over the lake.  From the campground, it’s easy to walk to the lake and the Convict Lake Resort (which has a fine dining restaurant {$$$$} as well as a bar / lounge for simpler less expensive food).  A number of the campsites here are first come first served which can make the campground look fully booked when trying to reserve a site online even though there may be first come first served spots available.  We found that there were plenty of open campsites on the weekend and we selected campsite #7 ($37/night).  Campsite #7 has good space around it and spectacular views of the mountains (the lake is slightly above the campground, so it’s not visible).  There’s minimal to no cellphone service here (but free WiFi at the resort as well as an open sky for great Starlink).  There are water spigots within the campground as well as bathrooms.

We had a great salad and pizza dinner at the Convict Lake Resort next door (the bar/lounge section).  In the morning, we enjoyed taking the easy 2.5 mile hike around the lake (which took us about an hour).  Convict Lake is about fifteen minutes away from Mammoth Lakes; so, it’s easy to spend time doing other fun things in Mammoth Lakes if one has extra time or wants to try some different eateries, ride bikes and/or do some shopping (see our June trip report for more information on Mammoth Lakes).

Since it’s a long drive back home from Convict Lake (about eight hours with stops), we decided to split the trip in half and spend the night at either Fossil Falls Campground (BLM, $6/night) or Red Rock Canyon State Park Campground.  We first tried Fossil Falls (which we have stayed at in the past) on a late Saturday afternoon, but it was full (there are only a limited number of campsites that suitably accommodate RVs – sites 4, 5, 6, & 8).  The dirt rocky roads at Fossil Falls were in much worse shape than when we previously visited, so we would no longer recommend a stay here. Instead, we continued on about an hour further south to Red Rock Canyon State Park campground.  It’s a beautiful desert campground with towering red rock cliffs.  Many of the campsites are at the base of the cliffs.  The campground was almost full when we arrive late Saturday afternoon, but we did find a nice pull-though spot (#24 / $25/night)!  More information on both of these campgrounds can be found on our previous trip report here.  We are really glad we broke up the trip home as it made the drive much easier.  We left Red Rock Canyon SP early on Sunday morning (5:30 a.m.) and were home for breakfast (9:30 a.m.) and with plenty of time to wash our Scamp 13′, Volvo XC40, and do our laundry!

This trip was remarkable in many ways.  There’s something special about travelling off season in the fall with crisp mountain air and beautiful fall colors.  We were very fortunate in that the leaf color change was peaking at most of the locations we chose.  The fall colors were so dramatic during our visit that it was inspiring.  And, experiencing a surprise snowstorm at night and waking up with snow covering the ground was awesome!  We also learned about new locations which we may explore next July when travelling to Lake Tahoe (these locations include Mono Lake dispersed camping, Bridgeport, the Travertine hot springs, and Bodie Ghost Town).  We expanded our communications options to include satellite (with our new Starlink Mini) and will never look back.  Each of the locations on this trip had very limited or no cellphone reception and we greatly appreciated the ability to connect when off grid for an hour two each day (including the additional safety having communications provides).  Lastly, getting up in the Sierra mountains brings a form of serenity which is hard to achieve anywhere else.  The remote location, natural beauty, and fresh air reinvigorate the soul. John Muir described this feeling well in his quote: “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.  Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.  The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”

 

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything

Oregon Coast Adventure September 5th- 25th 2024 (20 nights)

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Oregon Coast Adventure September 5th- 25th 2024 (20 nights)
The fall is usually when we take our biggest trip of the year.  The weather is generally optimal and places normally aren’t as crowded as during the summer.  This year our plan was to explore Oregon’s coastline.  We had made it up to Coos Bay in the past, but wanted to go further north.  So, we decided to head to Portland and then cut over to the coast via Astoria.  We joined Harvet Hosts again (annual membership was $79 on sale) so we could stay at some winery’s along with way.  Our first stop in Oregon was supposed to be a winery in Jacksonville, but the weather didn’t cooperate (98F degree temperatures were forecast for the two days we planned to be there).  So, instead, after stops in Santa Barbara and Oakland (it’s a long way to Oregon from San Diego), we detoured to the coast and stayed at Sue-meg State Park in Trinidad, California.  This turned out to be one of our all-time favorite campgrounds!

Sue-meg State Park (Sept. 8th – 10th)
The drive from Oakland was a long one.  It took us about eight hours with a couple of stops (including a farm honey purchase in Hopland, California) to arrive at the campground.  Sue-meg State Park is about one hundred miles south from the Oregon border.  It was foggy and around 60 degrees at the campground when we arrived in the late afternoon — perfect weather for hiking.  We had campsite #120 ($35/night + $8 reservation fee) at Agate Campround (there are other campgrounds as well within this large park), a lush and very private site.  The sites at the campground are very spaced out and there are water spigots throughout the campground.  Verizon coverage was fair but useable, even to text images and make phone calls.  There’s a free rv dump station one highway exit south at the Northbound Trinidad Rest Stop.

The first thing we did after a late lunch was head down to Agate beach for some treasure hunting.  Agates are semi-precious stones and part of the quartz family.  The stone is known for its striking translucence and colors.  It’s popular in jewelry and has a smooth polished surface.  Agate has been used in jewelry since ancient times.  The name “achates” comes from the river in Sicily where agate was discovered.  The agate is often formed when silica-rich fluids are sealed within volcanic rock and evaporate.

Agate beach is very long and wide.  There were only a few people on the entire beach when we descended the steep trail and stairs and stepped onto the sand.  The sunset was just breaking through, low over the ocean, when we started our search for agates.  We had watched a number of Youtube videos on agate hunting before our trip, so we had an idea of what to look for — translucent looking stones.  We brought our little bright flashlight with us (a phone flashlight may also be used for this) to verify the rocks we picked up were translucent (by placing the light behind the rock — light should be visible from the front of the stone).  We were amazed how many agates we were able to find — we filled up a couple of zip lock bags of them.  The stones are beautiful and come in different colors (white, amber, green ….).  The white ones are very easy to spot on the sand because they are so brilliant white.  The stones we found varied in size from one half inch to over 4 inches long.

In addition to agate hunting, Sue-meg SP has a lot more to offer.  There are miles of hiking trails through lush spruce forests and a lot of wildlife to see.  We climbed up to the elegant Ceremonial Rock to get a beautiful view of the bay and hiked along the Rim Trail.  There are a number of ocean overlook areas along the trail, including Patrick’s Point, Rocky Point, and Palmer’s Point.  If you are lucky, you might see whales and/or orcas swimming at Palmer’s Point.  There’s also a steep trail that goes down to Cannonball Beach where there are tide pools at low tide.  We saw a lot of wildlife, including a deer just a few feet away from us, squirrels, sea lions and harbor seals, and at night…bats flying.  We were warned by the ranger that bears had been seen within the campground, but we didn’t see one.  It seemed like we just scratched the surface of things to do and see here even after a couple of nights.  But, with a full schedule, we had to move on.  On the way to our next stop, we were treated to a sighting of a large heard of Roosevelt Elk crossing the highway near Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.

Cottage Grove, Oregon (Sept. 10th – 11th)
Our first stop within Oregon was at Baker Bay Campground at Dorena Lake (just outside Cottage Grove).  We had campsite #8 ($33/night), a beautiful spot adjacent to the lake with expansive lake views.  There are threaded water spigots within the campground and we were able to fill our Scamp’s fresh water tank at our site by using three zero-G rv and marine hoses attached together (25+50+50 feet hoses).  The dump station was closed for repairs during our visit, but there are waste water drains in which grey water can be dumped.  We used our grey water jugs and dolly to offload all the grey water after our visit.  There is no Verizon mobile phone service here, but there is coverage within a short drive to the historic town of Cottage Grove.  There are a number of leisurely walks within the campground.  Wild sweet blackberries are a delightful sweet treat when walking near the lake — just watch for the thorns when picking them.  And, if you bring your bikes, there is a 36 mile, mild to moderately skill level, paved bike path a few miles down the road which runs along the lake and past the historic covered bridges and into the Cottage Grove downtown area.

Sometimes called the “Covered Bridge Capital of the West”, Cottage Grove is a small quaint town with six covered bridges.  Some of the bridges were built in the early 1900’s to carry rail traffic hauling logs across the the Willamette River.  There’s also the “Swinging Bridge”, a historic suspension footbridge right in town.  We had fun walking its length and swinging up and down as we crossed.  The historic downtown area is small but charming with its shops and eateries.  We found the ice cream tasty and the townspeople very friendly and welcoming to tourists.

Portland Area (September 11th – 13th)
We couldn’t find any public campgrounds within the city of Portland and many of the private ones had reviews indicating crime is a potential issue.  So, we decided to stay just outside the city at two wineries (Harvest Hosts).  The first one we stayed at is a beautiful farm called Helvetia Winery in Hillsboro, Oregon.  We were able to park our Scamp 13′ out on a field in front of the owner’s home.  The owner, John, is very personable and gave us a detailed tour of his winery and offered wine tastings ($40 per person).  John gave us a background on the wine making process as well as a walk through his fields and look inside the wine room where the wine is made.  We also enjoyed playing with his labrador, Buddy (Chief Security Officer, vineyard dog).  After spending the night, we had a great breakfast at the recommended Longbottom Cafe and then moved onto the next day’s Harvest Host winery, Columbia Gorge Vitners.

To arrive at the Columbia Gorge Vitners we drove to the opposite side of the Columbia River, into Washington state.  This farm property, owned by Ray and Cheryl, is also very scenic and expansive.  We had a lot of fun walking through the vineyards and getting to know the farm’s horses, steer, sheep and guard dog.  There are rows and rows of apples here and we were given free reign to eat the sweet varieties.  In the afternoon we strolled through the wealthy town of Camas, Washington know for its competitive schools and expensive real estate.  We had a tasty dinner close by at the Washougal Times restaurant (excellent fish & chips and burgers).

Back at the farm, we got to know their very friendly Great Pyrenees guard dog, Whitey, quite well. He alone guards the animals and acres and acres of land all night long.  He’s two years old and since he’s been on patrol there have been no further bear, mountain lion, bobcat, or coyote sightings.  The last time a bear visited the farm, the apiary was completely robbed of its honey.  Now, the animals and the people can rest soundly at night knowing Whitey is on patrol as they sleep.

Astoria (September 13th – 15th)
Driving west about two and a half hours, we reached Astoria, where the mouth of the Columbia River meets the ocean.  A charming coastal community with stately Victorian homes, Astoria is the oldest American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains.  Its streets are saturated with themes of the Lewis & Clark expedition and all things “coastal military” (coast guards, Columbia River bar pilots, and old forts).  Established in 1810 as a fur trading post, it was once the salmon canning capital of the world.  Its Astoria-Megler Bridge is the longest three-truss bridge in the world.  Many movie fans will know the area as a filming location for the movie “The Goonies“.

We stayed at Fort Stevens State Park campground in nearby Hammond, Oregon.  Located at the mouth of the Columbia River where it joins the sea, Fort Stevens is the only military installation in the continental U.S. to be fired upon by a foreign power since the War of 1812.  At around 11:30 P.M. on the night of June 21, 1942 (during WWII), a long range Japanese I-25 submarine surfaced just south of Fort Stevens and began firing shells in the direction of the fort.  U.S. fort soldiers located the submarine by its gun flashes, but were told to hold fire.  No reason has been given why the hold order was given.  It might have been that the fort commander didn’t want to reveal the fort’s position.  The sub fired nine shells over approximately sixteen minutes before submerging and retreating beneath the waves.  Fortunately, none of the shells caused any damage.

Walking through the old fort and above its batteries built into the hillside is a glimpse back in time.  Some of the big guns still remain and at least one is still trained vigilantly out onto the bay.  Standing high above the batteries, facing the water, one doesn’t even have to close their eyes to imagine scenes of the surprise Japanese naval attack on the fort during WWII.  Each of Battery Russell’s two 10-inch rifles was manned by a team of 35 men.  A well-trained gun crew could fire a 617-pound shell up to 8 miles away, once per minute.

Fort Stevens State Park campground is very large.  There are multiple loops of campsites with 174 full hookup sites ($47/night), 302 electrical/water sites, 6 tents sites and 15 yurts.  We had campsite H15.  As a corner site, it provided us partial shade and full hookups as well as a bit more spacing between campsites than other choices.  The campground appeared full when we visited in September, but was still quiet throughout the day and night.  There is only marginal Verizon mobile service here.  A coin operated laundry is located right outside the park but we were advised by a park volunteer to drive about ten minutes to Marlin Avenue Coin Laundry in adjacent Warrenton, Oregon (he told us the one near the campground has a reputation for having sand in their machines due to its proximity to the beach).  There is a great paved, level bike trail network within the park that allows riders to travel from the campground to the Battery and other areas within the park.

Some of the highlights of our trip to Astoria included a visit to the historic Fort Stevens Battery, viewing the Peter Iredale (British) shipwreck from 1906 at the beach, walking around Coffenbury Lake where we saw big elk, exploring downtown Astoria by foot, and especially taking the Astoria Riverfront Trolley ($1 per ride or $2 for all day).  The trolley is a 3-mile heritage streetcar line that follows a former freight railroad track along the Columbia River.  The trolley does not have any overhead lines, so it uses a portable diesel generator (in front) to supply the electricity to move it.  Parallel to the trolley, the Astoria Riverfront Walk (4-mile paved trail from the Port of Astoria to Pier 39) is a long path which follows the river and makes for a scenic walk, run or bike ride.

Cannon Beach (September 15th – 16th)
After a quick drive from Astoria to Cannon Beach (less than an hour), we arrived at the Cannon Beach RV Resort.  It’s a private resort with amenities like a swimming pool and spa, gas station (full service only), basketball court, playground, pet area, and EV chargers.  The reason we chose this campground is that it is located within a fifteen minute walk to downtown and the famous Haystack Rock on the beach.  Check in is a fairly strict 2 p.m. (we arrive at 1:40 p.m. and they let us in but commented on our early arrival time).  We had site #13 ($86/night) which is on a curve in the road and has a little more space between spots than other locations.  Elk can often be seen wandering just outside the campground.

We walked into town from the campground (about 15 minutes) and explored some of the well-groomed shops and galleries along the main street, Hemlock Street.  There are many restaurants as well in the downtown area.  The area has an upscale beachy Del Mar / La Jolla vibe with an approximate 6 block city center and high end homes along the water (mostly beach rentals now).  After a quick tour of the downtown, we walked onto the beach toward Haystack Rock.  Similar in appearance to Morro Rock in Morro Bay, Haystack Rock juts high up out of the water.  You can practically walk right up to it during low tide, however, the rock is an environmental preserve and is roped off to protect the birds and animals.  There are also tide pools near the rock which can be observed for sea life at low tide.  Haystack Rock is one of Oregon’s famous landmarks and has been featured in many movies.  Tufted puffins can be seen on Haystack Rock from early spring to mid-summer offering the most accessible viewing of these puffins in the Northwest.  Many other varieties of birds can also be seen on Haystack Rock.  Like Morro Rock, Haystack Rock was formed millions of years ago from volcanic activity.

We visited Ecola State Park on our last day in Cannon Beach.  It’s a beautiful coastal park along 9 miles of coastline.  There are a couple of main parking areas which allow for hiking through forests of Sitka spruce and hemlocks sprinkled with breathtaking views of the Oregon coastline.  Terrible Tilly, the lighthouse just offshore, can also be seen from the park.  Lighthouse workers named the Tillamook lighthouse “Terrible Tilly” because the trip out was so difficult due to the unusually rough seas.  Many movies were filmed in Ecola Park, including “Kindergarten Cop“, “Twilight“, “The Goonies” and “Point Break“.  Indian Beach stood in for Bells Beach, Australia, in the story finale of “Point Break” , where Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swaze had their final showdown.

Cape Lookout State Park (September 16th – 18th)
Just an hour south of Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast, Cape Lookout State Park is just west of the town of Tillamook (yes, the cheese and ice cream giant).  The Tillamook factory is the main tourist draw in this town of Tillamook, Oregon.  Tillamook Creamery invites visitors to tour its cheese plant operation and purchase food and items from its gift shop.  There are paid as well as free self-guided tours available.  We took the self-guided tour with the highlight being the view from above the cheese factory floor.  Visitors can look down over the cheese factory workers though big windows on the second floor.  We were told there is no tour of the inside of the ice cream factory which is located in a building next door.  The Creamery can get very crowded with tourists, so if you want to visit then plan to arrive right when it opens and preferably on a weekday (it opened at 10 a.m. when we visited in September).

The town of Tillamook, however, also is home to the Blue Heron French Cheese Company.  The Blue Heron produces French brie cheese on its large farm.  The 1930’s Dutch colonial barn now houses the deli and gift shop.  There’s also a wonderful petting zoo on the farm with a miniature donkey, sheep, a cow, and other farm animals.  Guests can purchase food to feed the animals for $1.  The gift shop has a lot of great items produced in Oregon at reasonable prices (e.g. honey, preserves, toffee, brie, hot chocolate mix, t-shirts, ….).  There’s also a deli which, among other items, serves hot brie sandwiches (featuring their French brie cheese) and also has wine tastings.  Lastly, there is a field set aside for Harvest Host members to stay overnight for free in their RVs.  We didn’t stay here because we prefer to stay in state parks whenever possible.  We found the Blue Heron French Cheese Company to be the highlight on our visit to the town of Tillamook.

Cape Lookout State Park is about twenty five minutes outside the town of Tillamook, located on a sand spit between Netarts Bay and the ocean.  The campground is right behind a big sand dune, which separates the beach from the campground (no ocean views from campsites).  There are 38 full hook-up sites, 170 tent sites with water nearby, one electrical site with water, 13 yurts, six deluxe cabins, a group tent camping area, a hiker/biker camp, flush toilets and hot showers, and an central RV dump station.  We had tent site C1 ($28/night), which is an end campsite and is spacious with it’s own backyard and picnic table.  We used our three hose system to transport water from the closest spigot (two campsites away) all the way to our Scamp 13′ (to refill our fresh tank and fill our auxiliary water jugs).  The Verizon service here was very good.

Cape Lookout State Park is remote and only the campground can be found in this area (no stores or gas stations).  The beach, a few steps away, is a beautiful stretch for long-distance walking, as it goes on for miles.  There are also some long distance hiking trails that leave from the campground into the forest (including one that goes along Netarts Bay).  The signature hike is the Cape Trail (it can be reached from the campground, but it’s a long hike just getting to the trailhead).  Instead, drive to the Cape Trail parking lot a few miles away.  The Cape Trail itself is around five miles round trip from the parking lot and is rated as easy to moderate.  The 5-mile round-trip Cape Trail features views of the ocean and shore peeking through Sitka spruce and hemlocks on the way to the tip of Cape Lookout.  We found the first part of the trail to be mostly flat and easy, but the second half is riddled with large tree root obstacles and bogs of mud.  One has to be very careful in these sections not to slip or trip.  There are also a couple of sections of trail which are along sheer cliffs hundreds of feet over the ocean on one side (which are not roped off).  This hike took us about 2.5 hours, but allow three hours to be conservative and time for photos.  Walking miles on the beach along the Netarts Spit every morning was very relaxing and meditative.

A big storm came in on our last evening with strong wind and rain, but was gone by the morning.  We left Cape Lookout State Park heading south and in the direction of our next destination, Newport (about 1.5 hours south).

Newport, Oregon / South Beach State Park (September 18th – 20th)
Newport has a lot going on, with an old historic district featuring many fishing town shops and restaurants and even a first class aquarium.  Before arriving, we made sure to stop at Depoe Bay and the Yaquina Head lighthouse, both must-see attractions.  Depoe Bay is a small seaside town known for having the world’s smallest harbor as well as whale watching.  The downtown consists mostly of a street facing the ocean sprinkled with tourists shops and restaurants.  The draw for visitors are frequent sightings of whales that pass close by the coast here as well as a blow hole right along the main street.  We found a small city parking lot a few blocks back from the front street where we could park our Scamp 13′ for free.  We didn’t see any whales during our visit, but we did enjoy watching waves breaking into the rock channel forming the blow hole and shooting water straight up into the air!

After a short visit at Depoe Bay, we continued onto Yaquina Head Lighthouse.  The parking here is free with the America the Beautiful pass (otherwise it’s $7/vehicle).  There’s a informative visitor center which has some nice photos and historic information about Oregon’s tallest lighthouse as well as a short movie.  After learning about the lighthouse, we walked the quarter mile paved path down to the lighthouse.  There are currently tours of inside the first floor of the lighthouse, but the rest of the lighthouse, we were told, would be on tour after renovations.  We were able to see multiple whales swimming by from the fantastic views in front of the lighthouse!  There are also tidepools at a cobble beach below (if the tide is low — check tide table for planning your visit).

We stayed at South Beach State Park campground in Newport, Oregon.  This is a small city with a rich fishing history.  Accordingly, the Newport marina filled is filled with impressive large fishing vessels.  The campground is just a few miles south of historic downtown Newport, over the Yaquina Bay Bridge.  It’s located in a quiet isolated area surrounded by forests and the sea.  The campground is huge, with 227 elecrical sites with water, 60 tents sites, 27 yurts, and three group tent camps.  We had campsite D1, $44/night (electric & water), which is a good spacious and fairly private site.  Despite the campground’s size, we found it to be quiet at night (other than sometimes hearing the fog horn and sea lions).  The internet was great on Verizon’s network, with speeds able to stream movies.  There is a network of paved paths for bikes, and dirt trails for hikes, that run throughout the campground to the beach as well as all the way to the South Jetty (a large channel that boats traverse through when going from the marina out to sea).

We only spent a couple of nights here, but could easily have stayed a week.  There’s just so much to do and fun to be had.  We took walks to the South Jetty and road our bikes from the campground to the Oregon Coast Aquarium.  The aquarium is great and the highlights for us included seeing the Tufted Puffins, sea otters, sea lions, walking through the clear underwater tubes and observing sharks, rays, and other fascinating sea life swimming around us, and meeting Percy the Giant Pacific Octopus.  There’s also a hands on tidepool exhibit where one can touch star fish, sea anemones, and other tidepool creatures.

After a fantastic visit to the Oregon Coast Aquarium we had an excellent lunch at Clearwater restaurant (halibut fish chips, crab cakes, and chowder).  The restaurant is right in the historic downtown area and directly above the dock where the male sea lions like to hang out (from late August until June).  Watching these animals is hilarious — they are very loud and vocal and fight for spots on the dock.  Seeing these large animals up close is a special treat.  Don’t forget to visit Local Scoop if you still have room for ice-cream (it’s the locals’ favorite)!  When visiting the Welcome Center at the campground, the host volunteer triggered us by showing us her polished (rock tumbled for 30 days) agates she collected while treasure hunting on the beach.  After seeing her rocks, we had to try for ourselves.  She pointed us to Seal Rock (small parking spots at Quail Drive) and wished us luck.  Although not as fruitful a beach as Agate Beach was for us in California, we still managed to find some unique beauties!

We headed to the central RV dump on our way out of South Beach State Park campground at around 1 p.m. (check out time), only to find a long line of RVs (perhaps 10) waiting to dump (only one dump station for hundreds of campsites!!!).  We estimated the wait to dump would be over an hour!  Never before had we ever encountered such a thing … Since our next stop, Cape Perpetua, has no amenities, we knew it would be best to dump after spending a couple of days here.  We made some calls and found that there is a city RV dump station just a couple of miles away in Newport (and were told it is open 24/7 and free).  We left our place in line and arrived at the well-appointed city RV dump in Newport (run by their Chamber of Commerce) just minutes later with no one around!  We dumped quickly and left!

Cape Perpetua Scenic Area (September 20th – 22nd)
Cape Perpetua is perhaps one of the most scenic areas on the central Oregon coast.  This is where the forests meet the sea with large rock formations right off the coast.  Additionally, volcanic activity in the area has created unusual natural rock formations right at the shoreline which produce unique water features (e.g. Thor’s Well, Spouting Horn, and Devil’s Churn).

We spent a couple of nights at Cape Perpetua Campground (run by the National Forest Service).  It’s a small campground in a valley across Highway 101 and the ocean.  We stayed in campsite #37 ($38/night), the farthest site on the end (almost a mile from the entrance).  It’s a pull-in site and close to the group camping area (there’s also a site across from #37 as well).  There were lots of wild fresh blackberries to pick right at our campsite which we enjoyed with our morning granola!  There are water spigots here, but no RV dump station or electrical hookups.  There’s no internet at the campground, but free Wi-Fi at the Cape Perpetua Visitor’s Center.  We also were able to get Verizon internet a little way up the St. Perpetua Trail.  We arrived fully prepared, with completely empty grey and black tanks and a full fresh tank (along with two 6-gallon jugs of fresh water).  The campground is long and narrow in a valley and it tends to be dark as it is in a forest of tall trees.  Because it’s so dark at night in the campground and we had a pull-in campsite right off the campground road, we decided to set our LED underlighting to a “Warning Orange” color and left them on all night so anyone driving by would easily see our Scamp 13′.

Spending a couple of days here seems like the perfect amount of time for a visit to the area.  We hiked to the top of the St. Perpetua Trail (about 2.2 miles round trip / moderately difficult) and enjoyed the amazing views at the top.  We also walked around the coastal town of Yachats a few miles away.  The ocean’s awesome natural water features are another close by attraction to see (note — the America the Beautiful Pass is accepted at these scenic viewpoint parking lots in place of paying the day use fees).  Thor’s Well and Spouting Horn are right next to each other.  There are great views of these eroded natural fissures from viewing platforms above.  However, some people walk down onto the rocks which can be risky (large waves can come in without notice).  Thor’s Well is a large carved out section of rock where waves rush in and create a choatic basin of water smashing into rocks.  Spouting Horn is an ocean geyser where waves crash into the rocks which have a fissure carved out allowing the water to accelerate and then blow up through a hole in the top.  And, Devil’s Churn is a narrow chute carved out of the rock which allows waves to funnel up the shoot and crash into each other, creating a massive churning of white water.  All the of these effects are best observed at high tide.  In case you don’t have a tide chart, the Cape Perpetua campground host writes the time of high tide on the board near the host site each day.

We found Cape Perpetua very welcoming and beautiful.  We enjoyed many hikes in the area (including a free guided Ranger tour on Giant Spruce Trail, with a view of a 550 year old Spruce tree) as well as the natural ocean sights described above, just a few minutes drive from the campground.  Being in nature (with no cell coverage in the campground) was very calming and centering.  And, as a bonus, as we were leaving the area the next morning, we were treated to a free sunrise view of the Heceta Lighthouse at one of the view points going south on Highway 101.

Grants Pass (September 22nd – 23rd)
We chose Griffin Park Campground on the Rogue River in Grants Pass as just an overnight rest stop on our way back into California.  However, it turned into an adventure in its own right.  After a four hour drive from the coast to Grants Pass, we pulled into Josephine County Parks’ Griffin Park Campground.  It’s a very small campground with only 14 full hookup sites, 4 tent sites, and a yurt.  The campground is in a beautiful setting with a large grass field adjacent to the Rogue River (and all campsites have river views).  We set up our Scamp 13′ at campsite #6 (full hookup, $35/night).  It’s a pull through site that isn’t level and even with our Anderson leveler, we couldn’t quite get level side-to-side (although this didn’t really affect us).  There is good Verizon internet here.

After situating our Scamp 13′, we drove about fifteen minutes to the Rogue Creamery Dairy in Grants Pass (an organic farm).  It’s famous for its award winning cheeses.  We sampled their cheeses and took their free 2 p.m. tour (it’s short – we watched robots milking cows and observed cows in the barn eating).  After the tour, we ate a lunch on the farm, which consisted of their specialty (and only) item — grilled cheese sandwiches.  They are very good!  They also have a cheese counter with most of their cheeses available for sale.  We purchased their Caveman Blue Cheese.

Following the creamery, we headed to Grants Pass downtown area and took a stroll.  There are a lot of nice shops and restaurants in the historic district.  They have an iconic sign that says “It’s The Climate”, installed in 1920 as a slogan and tribute to its great weather.  If it’s warm and you feel like some Grants Pass ice cream, make sure to check out Udders Handcrafted Ice-cream for a fantastic selection of delicious flavors.

At the end of a fun day, we relaxed at the Griffin Park Campground and walked along the Rogue River.  We saw fast jet boats racing up the river and families playing in the park.  And, to top off our trip, when looking at the sand bar stones, we discovered a treasure trove of large agates!  What a fantastic way to end a wonderful three week adventure!  We had so many great experiences these past three weeks, that we can’t wait to plan our next trip!

 

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Big Sur Beauty & Adventure August 3rd – 10th 2024 (7 nights)

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Big Sur Beauty & Adventure
August 3rd – 10th 2024 (7 nights)

Searching for a last minute August trip was challenging.  Most campgrounds are either too hot in the summer or booked months in advance since school is out and people are on summer vacation.  We had a big summer home renovation project and didn’t know when it would end, so we weren’t able to make our trip plans six months in advance per our usual strategy.  Regardless, we decided to give last minute trip planning a try since our schedule opened up earlier than expected and we had some free time.  The first thing we did was identify locations that are beautiful and temperate.  Big Sur rose up immediately to the top of our list:  natural beauty, cool summer weather, and accessible (with a caveat).  We had wanted to further explore Big Sur for some time and try a couple of campgrounds that are new to us — Plaskett Creek Campground and Kirk Creek Campground.  The catch is that these campgrounds are extremely popular (Kirk Creek Campground is reportedly harder to get into than Yosemite).

We decided to use a reservation scanning website since both Plaskett Creek and Kirk Creek campgrounds were completely booked on our desired travel dates.  These types of websites scan park campground reservations systems and notify users when there is a last minute cancellation.  Many of these services have a fee.  However, at least one, Campflare, is a free service that scans select reservations systems every fifteen minutes and notifies users by text and email when a cancellation is detected.  Since we had nothing to lose, we signed up.  Minimal personal information is required to use the system.  Simply identify the campsite you are looking for and the date range you would like to travel and provide your email (and mobile phone number if you want to receive a text).

We received an email and text within a few days of setting up the notifications!  We reserved two nights at Plaskett Creek Campground almost immediately after receiving the email /text (which came in shortly after 5 a.m. one weekday morning).  Fortunately, I was up early, so I reserved the site right away.  It’s a good idea to have your sign in credentials for Recreation.gov ready to go for both your computer and mobile phone (in case you are out when you get notified).  I learned this the hard way, as I received a text while taking a walk that a campsite had become available at Kirk Creek Campground.  I didn’t have my Recreation.gov credentials saved on my phone, so I ended up running home (about two miles)!  Fortunately, the campsite was still available when I got home and I was able to reserve it.

On this trip, we stopped to visit family in both Pacific Palisades and Santa Barbara on our way to Big Sur.  Big Sur is about a three hour drive north of Santa Barbara.  We took a break for lunch at Zorro’s in Pismo Beach (about half way up to Big Sur) for some great Mexican food.  We made sure to fill up our gas tank in Morro Bay before driving up the coastline to Big Sur as gas is hard to find and very expensive there.  Plaskett Creek Campground was our first stop in Big Sur.  The campground, run by the US Forest Service, sits across the street from the beaches.  We had site #43 ($49/night) which is nicely separated from other campsites.  There’s also a water spigot close to this site (note, the water here is frequently turned off due to quality issues, so it’s best to check if the spigots are available before arriving, or better yet, bring your own water).  We arrived with a full tank of fresh water in our 2020 Scamp 13’ along with three 6 gallon jugs of fresh water just in case none was available.  There is almost no mobile phone service here (although we found we could text near the Group campsites and also receive internet walking along the bluffs above Jade Cove).  For future visits longer than a few days, I think we would come with the new Starlink Mini to allow for phone and internet connectivity.

There are a bunch of adventures available at Plaskett Creek campground, so there’s plenty to do for a three day visit.  Sand Dollar Beach, one of the most beautiful beaches on the Big Sur coast, is a short walk down the road from the campground.  It’s a wide sandy beach and great for walking, swimming, surfing, rock hounding, tide pooling, fishing, hiking, picnicking, ….  There are about one hundred stairs to get down to the beach from the top of the bluff.  We expected to find sand dollars on the beach due to the beach’s name; however, we didn’t see any!  Jade Cove is another great adventure within walking distance to the campground.  It may be hard to find since there are no trailhead entrance signs (we were told the locals take them down to keep people out).  Fortunately, we have Gaia GPS on our phone and the route is clearly visible on the map (and your progress can be tracked as you walk – you are represented by an arrow).  Note – make sure to download any maps before you come to Big Sur because there is limited to no internet reception here.  Watch out for poison oak on the trail and take care not to brush against bushes as there are also ticks on the bluff trails.  Getting down the trail to the beach is a bit treacherous as the trail is very steep at the bottom and ropes are needed to descend onto the beach (the ropes are already secured in place).

Jade Cove is the perfect place to come if you are looking for Big Sur Jade (aka Bubble or Grape Jade), a rare and unique gemstone found only in the Big Sur region of California.  Jade Cove contains the only concentrated underwater deposit of quality nephrite jade in the world.  Once on the beach, spend time sifting through the rocks and look for emerald green stones.  We found a couple small pieces and were told it is extremely hard to find it on the beach (it may be best to look right after storms).  The easiest way to find the jade is to go into the water and dive (only advisable for experienced divers when conditions are calm).  The jade is also difficult to identify as many rocks look like it.  Serpentine, agates, and sandstone can be mistaken for jade.  The real jade is extremely hard and won’t crack apart if slammed against other rocks or drilled for making jewelry.  Jade is often very smooth and a dark emerald green in color.

Hiking the Salmon Creek Falls Trail is another adventure close to Plaskett Creek Campground.  Salmon Creek Falls is a stunning 120 foot natural waterfall.  The trail entrance is about a fifteen minute drive south on the coast highway.  It’s a short hike (.25 mile round trip from the highway) to the waterfalls and the last section is very rocky.  When you reach the trail split, stay left to the reach falls.  The trail on the right goes up higher to a secluded camping area.  We saw many people swimming in the large pool below the falls.  Getting close to the base of the waterfall requires climbing on boulders.  Willow Creek is another place to explore (about a fifteen minute drive from Plaskett Creek Campground).  It’s a creek that drains into the ocean.  The beach is rocky and we were told one might find Big Sur jade here (although we didn’t find any).

After spending a few days at Plaskett Creek Campground, our next stop was Kirk Creek Campground (only about 10 minutes’ drive north).  Since check out time was noon at Plaskett Creek Campground and check-in time was 3 p.m. at Kirk Creek Campground, we asked the campground host what we should do.  He advised us to stay at our campsite an extra half hour (which we did and ate lunch during that time) and then explore Sand Dollar Beach a bit more (we parked our trailer on the side of the highway for about an hour).  The coast highway here is very quiet because it is still closed just north of Kirk Creek Campground due to landslides.  We arrived at Kirk Creek Campground around 2 p.m. and found our campsite, #30 ($53/night), to be ready for us.  Site #30 has a spectacular ocean view of the stunning Big Sur coastline.  We could see white water views down the coast, even inside our Scamp!  There are no water spigots here and no mobile phone reception.  There are trash cans (which the infamous raccoons open and strew trash everywhere at night) and bathrooms here.  We were advised to be very careful with food as gangs of raccoons have been known to boldly walk into peoples’ campers to grab food (even with people inside)!  There are a couple of trails at Kirk Creek Campground (a short one goes down to the beach and a very long one, Vicente Flat Trail, which can take over four hours, goes to an old Redwood forest inland of the campground).  During our visit, the beach trail was overgrown with poison oak.  We ended up just enjoying the views and relaxing at Kirk Creek Campground.  The location offers some of the most beautiful coastal scenery in the world.  Many people come up to this campground and stay for a week, just sitting in chairs outside their trailers and marveling at the stunning coastline views.

Big Sur is one of our favorite places to visit in the summer.  The weather is cool and the scenery can’t be beat.  There are plenty of adventures to be had, including treasure hunting for Big Sur jade.  We can’t wait to go back for some more exploring and next time will bring a plastic shovel and bucket (and rock ID app).  The campsite host at Plaskett Creek Campground told us some kids dug out 14 pieces of jade right at the campground using such tools!  We find Big Sur to be beyond Sur-real!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything

Mammoth Lakes, California: June 8th – 14th, 2024 (6 nights)

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Mammoth Lakes, California
June 8th – 14th, 2024 (6 nights)

Mammoth Lakes, located seven hours north of San Diego by car, is an outdoors playground high up in the Eastern Sierra (almost 8,000 feet above sea level).  During the winter and spring, there is fantastic skiing/snowboarding at the world famous Mammoth Mountain ski area as well as opportunities for cross country skiing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing and sledding nearby.  Spring, summer, and fall allow for camping, hiking, mountain biking, fishing, horseback riding, canoeing, paddle boarding, as well as many more activities (such as leaf peeping when the leaves change colors to vibrant yellows and oranges in the fall)!

Although we have visited Mammoth Lakes many times, this was our first stay in town at New Shady Rest Campground (note – there is also Old Shady Rest Campground right next store).  New and Old Shady Rest campgrounds are run by the Inyo National Forest service.  The campground is right in the middle of all the great things Mammoth Lakes as to offer, so it makes for an excellent location for exploring.  There are no hookups at this campground, but there are water spigots and central dump station ($10). We reserved site #76 ($30/night) which is very spacious and is heavily shaded by tall Jeffrey pines.  We received two bars of Verizon mobile phone service (although texting was not consistent – e.g. sometimes text would say downloading but never come through).  There is a water spigot close by site #76 and the spigots are threaded:  so, we were able to use our hoses to pump the water uphill to our trailer, instead of having to use our dolly.  Joining our 25’ and 50’ Zero-G lead free drinking water safe hoses together was still just a few feet too short from being able to fill our 2020 Scamp ’13 directly, so we filled a water jug instead.  Since this was at least the third time where our hoses have been just a bit too short to reach our Scamp 13’s fresh water fill port, we ordered an additional hose for future trips.

New Shady Rest Campground is within the town center of Mammoth Lakes and the 7.8 mile paved Town Loop bike path is right at the campground as well.  The Mammoth Lakes Welcome Center is walking distance and offers a lot of information on things to do (including trolley maps) as well a nice tourist shop.  We brought our mountain bikes (hitched to the back of our Scamp 13’) and enjoyed riding from the campground through town as well as on the paved Town Loop bike path.  The path leads high up above town and offers spectacular views of the Eastern Sierra (still snowcapped in mid-June).  We road our bikes to the Warming Hut restaurant one day for lunch and enjoyed some great meals!  There’s also a nice mostly flat paved trail that goes from the campground through a Jeffrey Pine forest to Shady Rest Park (about 1 mile each way).  We enjoyed walking this path every day during our stay.  The smells of the pines are wonderful.  Although we were warned about bears, we never saw any.  The last bear seen in the campground was about two weeks before our arrival.  The black bears are mostly regarded as a nuisance in the campground by foraging for food, but are rarely aggressive towards people.

Our Carlsbad neighbor and friend Rob surprised us with a visit (on his way up to Bend, Oregon for a family gathering).  He spent a couple of nights at New Shady Rest campground in his Honda Odyssey van which he converted into a camper van.  Rob is very familiar with the area as he has spent many years skiing and fly-fishing here.  We were fortunate to have him give us a tour of some of his favorite places, including a hike around beautiful Convict Lake and a viewing of the Minarets (mountain peaks) from Minaret Vista (the highest lookout point in Mammoth Lakes, elevation 9,276 feet).  The vista offers panoramic views of the famous Minarets, the backside of Mammoth Mountain, and the magnificent Sierra landscape.

Mammoth Lakes has an excellent free trolley system which traverses all over town as well as to the lakes.  Some of the trolleys even look like the old fashioned bright red trolleys with open sides!  Each trolley route is designated with a color, so it’s important to get a map at the Mammoth Lakes Welcome Center (or view online) to determine which colored route is the right one for your destination.  Some of the trolleys even have bike racks, so you can bring your bike with you.  The trolley stop right up the street from the campground is designated #12.  We found most of the trolleys, regardless of colored route, go to The Village, where one can catch the Lake Basins trolley to the lakes.  The Village is designed like a posh European alps village and has various stores and eateries.  We had fun taking the trolley up to the lakes and hiking the spectacular Panorama Dome, which features spectacular views of the mountains, Twin Lakes, and waterfalls.

Although we only stayed five days in Mammoth Lakes, there are so many fun things to do, that one could easily spend a couple of weeks here and not get bored.  In the late spring, there is great biking, fishing, hiking, boating, shopping, restaurants … to try.  Don’t forget about taking the shuttle to the Devils Postpile National Monument and hiking to Rainbow Falls.  And, Yosemite is less than an hour’s drive away!  We also found it very relaxing sitting in a comfortable chair at the campsite and watch the puffy white clouds pass high above the tall Jeffrey pines.  Whatever, you choose to do, make sure to get outdoors, inhale the fresh air, and wonder at the beautiful natural surrounds.  The sign at the entrance of town has it right as it says, “The mountains are calling, … John Muir”.

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything

2024 Morro Bay Kite Festival: April 26th – 30th, 2024 (4 nights)

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2024 Morro Bay Kite Festival
April 26th – 30th , 2024 (4 nights)

Every year in April something special happens in Morro Bay – the annual kite festival!  It’s a free annual event that invites everyone interested in fun to come out to Morro Rock and fly kites.  And, there are some fantastic kites to be seen in the air.  The event started on Friday night with LED light up kites and then there was kite flying all day on Saturday and Sunday with kite flying exhibitions throughout the days.  Candy drops were made twice on both Saturday and Sunday.

Because the drive to Morro Bay is long for us coming from San Diego (about six hours), we stopped overnight at our cousin Jon’s house in Santa Barbara both on the way up to Morro Bay and on the way back home.  This year we had a special treat in that we got to meet Toby, our cousins’ 12 month old Sheepadoodle puppy.  It turns out that Toby is a giant dog with an equally big friendly personality and high intelligence.  We had fun training him to go down the slide at the kid’s park and he loves playing catch and running with other dogs at the dog park.  We also got a chance to try out East Beach Tacos, which is excellent and highly recommended.  You walk up to the window to place your order and then sit on their outdoor bench seating.  All the tacos we tried were fresh and delicious.

Morro Bay Strand Campground is about a two hour drive from Santa Barbara.  There are both full hookup and non-hookup campsites here.  This was our second time at this campground and we again chose the non-hookup site #1 ($35/night).  We love this site because it is right next to the beach and fairly private.  Because the site is non-hookup, we ran our propane to operate our refrigerator and hot water heater, made sure our Fresh tank was full when we arrived, and used our lithium battery for power.  There are water spigots at this campground, but no central dump (we used the central dump down the road at Morro Bay State Park campground when we left).  Because we now have a DC-DC car charger and lithium battery, we always arrive to campsites with a 100% fully charged battery (which can generally last us up to 10 days without recharging since we only use about 10% of the 100Ah battery’s capacity per day).

One of our favorite activities is riding bikes from the campground to Morro Rock (about a 45 minute bike ride on a flat trail adjacent to the beach).  It’s a beautiful ride.  This time we had our kites packed with us and we locked our bikes above the beach where the kite festival was being held.  If driving, it’s best to park on the street before the Morro Rock parking lot and arrive early (around 11 a.m.)  as there can be a lot of slow moving traffic during the festival.  The sand closest to Morro Rock is reserved for “sponsored” kite flyers (blocked off by yellow tape).  We walked down the beach and launched our kites (elephant, octopus, scuba diver, and parafoil) along with our kite reel.  The wind on Sunday was perfect (Saturday was gusty following an extreme windstorm Friday night).  One of the sponsored kite flyers offered to send up our scuba diver on one of his manta ray lines. This turned out to be a very beautiful arrangement as the scuba diver was “diving’ next to two manta rays.  Spectators below on the sand were treated to an underwater type of view when looking up featuring the scuba diver and two manta rays swimming above.  Click here for a video we made of the 2024 Morro Bay Kite Festival.

Set against Morro Rock, the annual kite festival is a wonderful event for anyone who enjoys the outdoors and flying or watching spectacular kites.  We had so much fun; we are already excited for our visit next year!

 

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

Ojai Spring Experience: March 23rd – 29th, 2024 (6 nights)

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Ojai Spring Experience
March 23rd – 29th, 2024 (6 nights)

Ojai is a great place to explore nature and enjoy small town life.  The city is located about forty-five minutes south of Santa Barbara and at about 745 feet about sea level.  In town, there are luxury hotels, spas, great restaurants, hiking, biking, horseback riding, boutique stores, art galleries, wine tasting rooms, and many other fun things to see and do.  There are also serene mountain campgrounds high above Ojai in the Topatopa mountains about 15 miles north of town, with one, Rose Valley Campground, boasting a spectacular 300 foot two tier water fall (Rose Valley Falls).  It’s fun to combine both flavors of camping into one trip!  We spent a couple days at each location.

We started the trip at Rose Valley Campground, about a thirty minute mountain drive from Ojai.  The mountain road winds and climbs up into the Los Padres National Forest to about 3,450 feet above sea level.  The campground is very remote with the closest stores and gas stations located back in Ojai.  The roads leading to the campground are paved, but we did have to drive across a couple of creeks to enter the campground.  Click here to see us crossing one such section of creek.

Rose Valley Campground is a primitive campground (US Forest Service) with almost no amenities (only trash cans and a vault toilet).  We saw a ranger only once during our visit (he knocked loudly on our door shortly after we arrived and asked if we had a reservation).  There is no water or cellphone/internet reception here (except maybe if one has Starlink).  We made sure to arrive with our Fresh tank full and also brought an additional 6 gallon water jug (which we used) as well as 4 gallons of drinking water.  Since our Scamp’s house battery is lithium, we didn’t bring our solar panels (we use only about 10% of our lithium battery’s 100ah capacity per day and recharge them when we drive at 30% capacity per hour via our DC-DC car charger, click here to read more about this).  The campground is very small, with only 8 campsites (some of which cannot be reserved, but are only available first come, first served).  We reserved campsite #3 ($30/night) which we think is the best campsite for those with small travel trailers.  This campsite is fairly private and has a fantastic view of the Rose Valley Falls.  Campsite #2 is great for tent campers, but because access is across a small section of creek and there is no place to turn around — it would be very difficult to back in a travel trailer.  For larger trailers and RVs, campsite #1 is a good choice (but is a first come first serve site).

If one wants serenity, to unplug, and a place to relax, Rose Valley Campground is the place.  Looking out our Scamp 13’s back window up at the 300 foot Rose Valley Falls made this place seem almost Yosemite like.  It’s a great place to get close to nature.  We could hear the creek and frogs from within our Scamp.  And, we saw plenty of animals and birds including hawks, red-winged black birds, egrets, ducks, and many other bird species, squirrels, snakes, … Coyotes, deer, bobcats, and mountain lions also live in this area, but we didn’t see them.  Bears have been occasionally sighted too.

There are many great hikes originating from Rose Valley Campground.  The featured hike is the one of “Rose Valley Falls” and starts at campsite #4.  It’s short (less than a mile or 30 minutes round trip) and overall easy, with one creek hopping required.  The falls were raging during our visit (as California has been having a lot of rain this year).  The bottom 100 foot tier of the falls, lower falls, can be seen from the base, where this hike ends.  Hiking to the upper falls is not recommended as there are not well maintained trails and there is a lot of loose gravel.  We hiked up a portion of one of the routes, but decided it was too treacherous due to the condition of the muddy earth and loose shale rock.  In addition to Rose Valley Falls, there is a pleasant road walk from Rose Valley Campground which passes the 3 local lakes: Upper Lake, Middle Lake, and Lower Lake (it’s an easy roughly two mile round trip walk — although there are a couple of creek crossings along the way which require careful traversing due to slimy and slippery algae beneath).  Fishing is allowed at the lakes with a fishing license.  On our last day, we drove a few miles up to Piedra Blanca Trailhead — features three popular trails (a $5 Adventure Pass or Interagency Pass is required to leave in car at parking lot): leave all valuables at home says the sign at the trailhead.

After a couple of days of being unplugged and roughing it (hardly) at the remote Rose Valley Campground, we made the thirty minute drive down the mountain and pulled into Camp Comfort with full hookups at each campsite (run by Ventura County Parks).  Camp Comfort is only a few minutes’ drive from downtown Ojai, which makes it an excellent base for exploring the town.  The first thing we did when arriving was dump our Grey and Black tanks (although we had to do it at another site as a few sites here, #13-16, have the hookups on the wrong side — passenger side! Oops!)  The ranger couldn’t explain what happened, other than a supposed mistake was made during the construction of the campground.  Other than that, our campsite #13 ($49/night) is a fantastic site–only one of three campsites adjacent to the creek.  Campsite #11 is probably the top pick here (with #12 coming in 2nd).  This campsite has amenities: full hookups, a raging creek, and super-fast free wifi (no sign in is required).  It’s located in a nice park setting and the campground itself is a small parking lot (but still plenty of space between sites).  Camp Comfort was extremely quiet during our visit at the end of March.  We enjoyed falling asleep to the sounds of the creek flowing and the frogs, crickets, and birds (with owls hooting in the trees above early morning).

We spent our first day exploring downtown Ojai.  We visited a very unusual bookstore, Bart’s Books, that has many of its used books on outside shelves facing the street!  The books are left outdoors and payment after hours is on an honor system with a can left out to accept money!  There is also the main street, called the Ojai Arcade, with nice stores, eateries, art galleries, and wine tasting rooms.  After spending a couple hours walking around downtown and refreshing ourselves at Sanders & Sons with their delicious gelato, we visited Ojai Meadows Preserve and took a nice hike within the wetlands preserve.  On day two of our visit to Ojai, we explored the wondrous estate of the Ojai Valley Inn, a beautiful hotel on sprawling grounds.  The estate is so large that the staff hands out maps to help visitors navigate the area.  The gardens, Wallace Neff architecture, restaurants, and other facilities on the property are enough to keep one entertained for hours.  We enjoyed a soap making class at their Artist Cottage & Apothecary center, bringing home six of our own soaps!  We picked up a simple Mexican lunch at the Ojai Tortilla House (a very small establishment, known for its homemade tortillas, that can hold only about two or three people inside to place orders for takeout only.  The line outside was not long).  We walked to the town park, Libbey Park, down the street and relished our quesadilla and tacos on a park bench (we saw a few other people there doing the same).  We ended the day at the Ojai Community Farmer’s Market (Thursday afternoons 3 – 7 p.m.) and purchased some quail eggs (an elusive find).  With more time and a treasure chest full of money, there are a many more highly enjoyable adventures to be had in Ojai.  There are excellent hikes, bike rides, shows (Ojai Art Center), art galleries, workshops, music events, wine tasting rooms, stores, horseback rides, restaurants, spas, golf, tennis …. April starts the Pixie Tangerine month in Ojai…maybe next time!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

Whitewater Preserve (Palm Springs Area) February 12th – 14th, 2024 (2 nights)

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Whitewater Preserve (Palm Springs Area)
February 12th – 14th, 2024 (2 nights)

Located only about 20 minutes northwest of Palm Springs, Whitewater Preserve (2,851 acres) is situated in a beautiful canyon with spectacular views of the mountains and Whitewater River.  This preserve is just one of many throughout the State of California managed by the Wildlands Conservancy.  Whitewater’s campground, park, and Visitor Center and Ranger station were built on the foundation of the historic Whitewater Trout Hatchery (which closed in 2006).

We probably never would have heard about this place had it not been for our friends Colleen and Perry.  They roll their Oliver travel trailer out of their home base in Ontario, Canada every Fall and often make Palm Springs and its surrounds their winter basecamp.  Once they discovered Whitewater Preserve, they told us we had to come and visit.  So, we organized a two day trip to meet and explore Whitewater Preserve and its trails.  There are no fees at this private preserve and camping is free (call to make reservations (760) 325-7222).  There is a large grass field for tent campers and a parking lot for trailers (and day use).  They have a 20 foot trailer length limit, but the rangers were flexible with our friends’ 24’ Oliver trailer (they were able to park across multiple parking spaces lengthwise between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m.).  The park is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.  (free admission).  Camping is also free ($0/night).  We chose to stay two nights.

This preserve doesn’t seem very well known and there were not many people here during the week.  The winter weather was perfect (pleasant days in the high 60’s/low 70’s and cool nights in the high 30’s).  We and our friends were the only campers the first night.  A car camper and a van camper shared the large parking lot with us on the second night.  There are water spigots (potable water) in the campground, but no electricity, sewer, or trash services.  Numerous trails originate or are very close to the campground and offer spectacular hikes.  Some of the trails follow the river and others climb high onto ridgelines overlooking the valley.  One of the trails leads to the Pacific Crest Trail.  There are also nice meandering paths along some of the ponds within the park.  The park puts on many scheduled events, including the morning ornithology tour we went on.  A biologist led the bird watching group and took us all on a long trail walk, pointing out and naming different birds along the way.  There are many species of birds at which to gaze.  We noticed the binoculars of choice among this bird group were those produced by Swarovski Optics.

The sky became pitch black soon after the sun set behind the mountains.  The stars came alive and we could hear a symphony of sounds produced by the frogs and other animals along the river.  This is one of the special treats offered to campers who are allowed to stay in the park after it closes to the general public at 5 p.m.   There are also plenty of other animals that might be roaming the campground!  The area is also home to bighorn sheep, California black bears, coyotes, mule deer, raccoons, roadrunners, mountain lions, bobcats, and coyotes.

After spending the first day hiking around Whitewater Preserve, we joined our friends in Palm Springs to enjoy some of what this iconic city has to offer.  We did a very special hike at Tahquitz Canyon.  On the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation, visitors (for a $15 fee) can enjoy a self-guided hike up a scenic canyon to a seasonal 60-foot waterfall (swimming is allowed).  The path also features rock pictographs made long ago by indigenous peoples.  After the moderate two mile hike, we had a great lunch at Low Desert Modern Mexican restaurant.  We ended our day in Palm Springs before returning to Whitewater Preserve visiting the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum ($10/person).  This museum is dedicated to showcasing the culture of the Agua Caliente People.  There are some very interesting presentations which feature projection systems to create a very immersive experience (highly recommended).

Although this was only a short two night stay, Whitewater Preserve was just what we needed to rejuvenate our souls after being in the city for the past several months (a lengthy time for us).  John Muir once wrote:  “I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”

 

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

Utah National Parks & More Adventure

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Utah National Parks & More Adventure
October 13th – 29th, 2023 (16 nights)

The primary goal of this adventure was to see Utah’s national parks (except for Zion which we visited on a previous trip).  We were able to reserve some of the national parks long in advance, except for Bryce which was first come first served during the time of our trip.  However, for those national parks where reservations weren’t available, we found alternative locations, such as surrounding State parks and private campgrounds.  Because our home base of Carlsbad (San Diego) is far from Utah, we traversed through the states of Arizona and Nevada on this journey.  We didn’t make reservations in advance for Arizona because we wanted some flexibility in selecting cool locations in case the weather didn’t dip down in time for our trip.

Days 1 & 2:  Prescott, Arizona
The night before our trip, we checked weather for our first planned stop, Painted Rock Petroglyph Site and Campground (about five hours from home).  It turned out temperatures were still in the upper 80’s.  Since we had no reservations here, we looked at our route and, instead, headed for the mountains to Prescott, Arizona (low 70’s daytime temps, 40’s at night).  We made calls on the way and found a private campground, Point of Rocks, nestled up in the Granite Dells area near Watson Lake (only about 8 minutes from downtown Prescott).  We were offered site #50, a premium site which butts up against granite stones (part of the Dells) (around $60/night).  The site has full hookups (water, electric, and sewer) and there is free WiFi (which was fast — we were able to stream movies).  The area is spectacular with stunning scenery of granite stone formations.  There is a trail right from the campground that leads to Watson Lake and a series of trails that follow the lake’s perimeter.  One could spend days hiking here.  We also enjoyed walking through historic downtown Prescott.  There is a town square with a clock tower and historic court building.  We walked streets lined with old Victorian homes (built in the 1800s) which are beautiful.  The farmer’s market (Saturday mornings 7:30 -Noon) was also really interesting — we purchased catsclaw honey, concord jam, Aebellskyvers (Swedish donuts), homemade berry pie, and turkey eggs!  We enjoyed our first day so much, we asked if we could stay another night and, luckily, they accommodated us!

Day 3:  Flagstaff
Our next stop was supposed to be Sedona (a must visit for anyone who hasn’t seen the spectacular red rocks here).  However, like our initial planned stop, the temperatures in Sedona were in the upper 80’s.  So, instead, we continued to head to a higher elevation with cooler temperatures.  At over 7,000 feet, Flagstaff is a cool place to visit (daytime temperatures during our stay in the low 70’s, mid 30’s at night).  We found out the the state campgrounds had just closed their season (around Oct. 10th), so, again, we researched some private ones and found a nice one very close to downtown Flagstaff (Woody Mountain Campground).  We chose one of their very private campsites (A70), which is dry ($49/night) (although they have many with hookups for not much more money, but the sites are closer together).  There is free WiFi, but we found it to be very slow at our campsite.  However, our Verizon here was extremely fast (over 100mps download), so we opted to use it instead of the campground WiFi.

Flagstaff is a university town (Northern Arizona University) and, thus, the downtown is very busy with lots of students.  There are numerous shops and restaurants and the famous Route 66 runs through downtown.  There is an Amtrak station in the middle of town and over 100 trains a day pass through!  We spent a couple of hours walking around and perusing the shops before heading back to and enjoying our quiet campsite.  There are a number of interesting things to do in Flagstaff, including visiting the world famous Lowell Observatory.  The Visitor’s Center at the Amtrak Station provides a lot of good information.

Day 4:  Monument Valley, Utah
Back on our regularly scheduled itinerary, we arrived in Monument Valley, Utah at one of the few campgrounds within the valley — Gouldings RV and Campground.  Gouldings is a private campground which also has a lodge as well as individual homes that can be rented that overlook the majesty of Monument Valley.  We had campsite #66 ($65/night) which has full hookups.  The site is spaced out ok, but, if we came back, we would ask for campsite T10, which is priced the same as #66 but is an end spot overlooking the valley.  The campground provides Wi-Fi, but it is very slow.  However, when we tried our Verizon service, we received even slower data rates (even though we had 5 bars!).  We’ve been in other remote areas before (e.g. Death Valley) where Verizon shows 5 bars but the service is barely useable.  Gouldings is a full resort and campground reservations include access to all the amenities (e.g. movie theater, indoor swimming pool, laundry room, etc.).  There are also some nice nature trails that originate from the campground.

Monument Valley is Navajo country and one gets a feeling of the old West when visiting.  Gouldings warns campers not to leave their shoes out as wild dogs may chew on them in the night.  We encountered a number of roaming dogs (likely from the Navajo reservation) in the campground and on the trails.  However, they were well behaved and kept their distance.  The main draw for visiting Monument Valley is to take in the grander of the magnificent rock formations (e.g. buttes, spires, mesas, …) and beautiful sunrises and sunsets.  If one has time, Gouldings sells tours through Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park — a seat on one of their open air trucks (covered by tarp) that last 2 or more hours (about $80/person).  Alternatively, one can buy entrance into the park ($8) and drive the 17 mile road on their own (although it is unpaved and can be bumpy).  We didn’t have time for a tour, but found plenty of excellent scenic viewing areas while driving out of town on the way to our next stop, Dead Horse Point State Park.  We left early so we had plenty of time for photographing the dramatic rock formations within Monument Valley.  While taking some aerial images along the road, a herd of wild horses ran by us!

Days 5, 6, & 7:  Moab, Utah
Moab is the town that is home base for many tourists and rock climbers/boulderers flocking to the area to explore.  There are nice hotels, shops, restaurants, and numerous adventure outfitters.  Tour companies here offer off-road buggy trips into the desert among many other outdoor adventures.  And, Arches National Park is located only about ten minutes outside town.  Of course, if one has a small travel trailer, it’s not necessary to stay where most of the tourists congregate.  Instead, numerous campgrounds provide more natural and uncrowded surrounds.  We did explore Moab a couple of times — once when driving into the area on our way to our campground (we had lunch and bought some t-shirts) and another time after visiting Arches National Park to have lunch (try Quesadilla Mobilla for an awesome quesadilla!) and do laundry (Moab Laundry Express, which is across the street from Quesadilla Mobilla).  Make sure to fill your tow vehicle when in Moab as there are no gas stations outside the town (in the state and national park areas and campgrounds).

We chose to stay at Deadhorse Point State Park (DHSP), which is about 45 minutes away from Moab.  The location is ideal because the state park is located between two of Utah’s five national parks.  Arches National Park is about a 45 minute drive in the direction of Moab, and Canyonlands National Park is about 20 minutes’ drive in the opposite direction of Deadhorse Point State Park.  There are at least a couple of campgrounds inside Deadhorse Point SP, Wingate Campground and Kayenta Campground, as well as some dispersed camping.  Of the two organized campgrounds, we chose Kayenta Campground because of its beautiful natural surroundings on a canyon rim.  We stayed in campsite #3 ($50/night) for three nights, which has a spectacular view of the canyon.  The site has an electrical hookup along with a firepit, BBQ, picnic table and pavilion.  This is the first time we used our 30A extension cord — it came in handy in allowing us to back our 2020 Scamp 13′ all the way next to the picnic area pavilion (which provides shade), while at the same time being able to reach the electric hookup pedestal.    There are no water spigots, but we were able to attach our portable drinking water safe hose with water filter onto the threads at the dish wash station to fill our water jugs (for shower and sink water).  The campground does have a free central dump station.  There is almost no cellular service here, but the Visitor’s Center close by has free Wi-Fi (along with a nice gift shop) and we also found some signal up at Deadhorse Point Overlook.

There is plenty to do just inside Deadhorse Point State Park itself for a few days without even considering the national parks nearby.  We are glad we scheduled three nights here but could have been very content and busy doubling that time.  The best view of the Colorado River as it snakes around a bend is up at Deadhorse Point Overlook.  We watched a sunrise and a couple of sunsets here.  We found sunrise the best time for photographing the river against the bright orange backsplash of buttes, spires, and mesas.  Visitors are only allowed to fly drones here November through February (with a permit).  There are a number of trails connected to the campground.  The West Rim trail is a recommended highlight as is mountain biking (if that’s your thing) on the Intrepid Trail.  Make sure to leave a half day for exploring Canyonlands National Park and another half day for hiking through Arches National Park.  Having an America Beautiful Pass ($80 annual pass) makes things convenient and avoids the $30 vehicle entry charges (if you are 62 years old or older, get the Senior Pass as it is a lifetime pass for the same price and gives 50% discounts at many campgrounds).  Reserving a timed entry slot ($2) at recreagtion.gov is necessary for Arches National Park if you want to visit the park anytime between 7am to 4pm (we made ours using the Visitor Center WiFi the night before our visit —  a limited number of slots open after 6 p.m. the night before for last minute reservations but up to 3 months in advance for those planning way in advance).  A timed entry reservation isn’t necessary if arriving before 7 a.m.  If possible, plan to go as early as possible to avoid the crowds and the heat of the day.  We reserved a 7 a.m. – 8 a.m. slot at Arches, arrived at 7:15 a.m. (no line), and finished our tour of the park by around Noon.

Both Canyonlands and Arches national parks have nice visitor centers with great stuff to buy, including cool t-shirts and souvenirs for those friends and family holding down your home fort.  Our highlights at Canyonlands were visiting Mesa Arch (0.6 mile walk), Buck Canyon Overlook, Grand view Point Overlook (1.8 mile hike), and Upheaval Dome 1st Overlook (0.6 miles).  Our favorite stops at Arches were Balanced Rock (view), Windows Section with 2 arches (0.5 miles easy trail), Delicate Arch (difficult 3 mile trail, but families with small kids do it!), a petroglyph panel, and finally Devils Garden (with the widest arch of the park, Landscape Arch) (1.9 miles, moderately easy).

Days 8 & 9:  Goblin Valley State Park
We left Deadhorse State Park heading to Goblin Valley State Park, one of the most remote places in the United States, without any assurances we would have somewhere to stay.  We tried to make reservations at the campground at the earliest possible time (months in advance), but due to the popularity of the place and limited availability (only 24 campsites and two yurts) we were unable to secure a campsite.  We crossed our fingers that perhaps the campground sets aside a few “first come first serve” campsites (like we had seen at other campgrounds).  Our backup plan would be to look for a free dispersed campsite outside the park (which we had read about online).  We made sure we used the dump for our Scamp 13′ before leaving Deadhorse Point SP and fully loaded it with water (plus our three 6 gallon water jugs which we filled at the DHSP dish wash station).  These supplies would allow us to stay several days without hookups if necessary.  Note:  there is a free drinking water pump at the Goblin Valley State Park entrance adjacent to the Visitors Center and campers not staying in the park can dump here for a $15 fee.

We arrived at the Goblin Valley State Park (GVSP) entrance station about 11 a.m. on Friday morning.  But, our campground hopes were quickly dashed by a park ranger who told us no GVSP spots ($45/night) were available.  He recommended trying the free dispersed campsites down the road and mentioned the park had purchased surrounding land from the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) last year and had created defined sites out on the dirt land off the main road, each with a firepit.  He said anything that was cleared was a legitimate free site (e.g. no parking directly on shrubs).  So, we drove back down Goblin Valley Road, the one we had just driven to get into the park, about 6 miles from the park entrance and turned left at the first dirt road we saw (a clue was that there were travel trailers parked out in the area).  Luckily, after just a very short drive down only a slightly bumpy dirt road, we were able to secure a really nice free spot (first come, first serve) with a great view (click here for video).

We were also able to intermittently get one bar on Verizon service to send and receive texts at this spot.  The tradeoff was having to drive about 10 minutes to get into the park, and we did have to pay $20 for a 48 hour access pass to the GVSP park.  Note:  on our second day, we saw another expansive area of free state park dispersed camping on the road leading to Little Wild Horse Canyon trailhead (although it seemed like there was absolutely no cellphone signal with Verizon in this area).

The main draw inside Goblin Valley SP are the goblins of course!  These magical stone hoodoo structures, formed from deposits laid 170 million years ago by a vast inland sea, stand like giants in a remote forest full of goblins.  There are three main connected valleys, named appropriately:  Valley 1, Valley 2, and Valley 3.  We only explored Valley 1, but one can keep hiking for miles to meander through miles of these stone hoodoos.  Even though we visited in October, the sun was intense midday and hiking around for an hour or so was enough until dark (the fun doesn’t end at sunset here — we were told the park pass allows one to stay inside the park until 10 p.m.).  So, we came back after dark on our first day to explore the park at night.  We attended a really interesting ranger station talk about scorpions.  After the talk, the ranger led everyone on a trail and used a black light to find and show everyone scorpions (they glow under the light)!

Goblin Valley State Park is so remote that it gets really dark here at night.  In fact, it is one of the darkest places on Earth and is a certified Dark Sky Park (offering unparalleled views of the Milky Way, especially in the summer months).  A trip here wouldn’t be complete without wandering through the goblin fields under the light of a billion stars.  One of our favorite activities during our visit was to photograph some of the goblins under the stars (particularly the Three Sisters formation) on a warm Fall night.

On our second and last day here, we hiked the Little Wild Horse Canyon trail (just outside the park about 5 miles down a side road).  Instead of hiking the entire 8 mile loop (which can take up to 8 hours), we turned around after about 2 miles, returning the same way we came.  This took us about two hours going at a steady rate (it’s difficult to go very fast because of uneven stone flooring and fun obstacles on the path).  This is one of the most amazing hikes we have ever done and is a must when visiting if one is able to do some climbing over small boulders and walk on uneven terrain.  The canyon walls are like varied works of art, with different colored earth hued tones smoothly blended onto one another, crafted by millions of years of water erosion. One shouldn’t have claustrophobia to do this hike, because there are parts of the hike which may require turning to one’s side to get through the narrowest parts!  The hike is rated as “easy to moderate”, a mostly flat and shaded walk, and we saw many families with kids doing it (the trail is like a jungle gym and obstacle course for both kids and adults).  But, this doesn’t mean anyone can do it.  Being agile and sure footed is mandatory, as the rocks are slippery due to fine sand!  One can always try for a while and turn around if it gets to be too much.  It’s important to note that slot canyons can be very dangerous during rain storms as flash floods through the narrow canyon walls can be tragic to hikers caught by surprise.  So, always check the weather and make sure there’s no chance of rain (not just in the immediate area, but surrounding areas that may affect the canyon).  We were told to avoid hiking in these canyons entirely during the area’s monsoon season (June – September).  Also, take plenty of water on your hike and stay hydrated.  Note:  we wanted to buy some tshirts at the Visitor Center after our hike.  But, there was a long line of cars which looked like over an hour wait to access the Visitor Center parking lot and park entrance and only one lane (e.g. meaning campers and park pass holders still had to wait)!  So, instead of driving in, we parked our car at a close trailhead outside the park and walked past the waiting cars which were at a standstill waiting on the main road.  At this point we were really glad we weren’t staying at the park campground!  After buying a shirt, we walked back to our car and drove down the road without any wait!

Make sure to stop by the Visitor Center before leaving!  They have some excellent souvenirs, including great t-shirts, caps and arrowheads.  It’s also a good place to get connected with free Wi-Fi (and make Wi-Fi calls/emails/texts).  Lastly, drone permits can be purchased for $10 which allow pilots to fly and conduct photography missions over the Goblins!

Days 10 & 11:  Capitol Reef National Park
An often overlooked national park (4th most popular out of 5 in Utah), Capitol Reef National Park (CRNP) is definitely worth a visit while on the Utah National Park circuit.  The outstanding scenery includes impressive colorful rock formations, petroglyphs, and historic fruit orchards.  Capitol Reef NP is also a dark sky area, providing a vivid night time window into the galaxy.  Along with the scenery, there are some very cool hikes to explore.  The area is named for both the Navajo sandstone rock formation which resembles the US Capitol building’s shape and the reef-like towering cliffs which were formed over millions of years by geologic forces (known as the Waterpocket Fold).  In addition, there are arches, bridges, and twisting canyons among other natural wonders.

The first thing we noticed when pulling into this national park was there are no entrance gates or anyone to collect fees or ask for passes.  One is able to go directly to the campground and pull right into one’s space.  We reserved a campsite in the Fruita Campground months in advance.  We arrived a bit early for the 11 a.m. check-in, so we parked across the street from Gifford House (gift store featuring historic items, including their famous fruit pies) in the large dirt area known as Jorgenson’s Pasture.   Not wanting to waste time, we wandered into the historic Gifford House and purchased some home-made souvenirs and a mixed berry and a cherry pie (we were told pies sell out usually by 1 p.m, especially on weekends).  The pies are delicious (cherry, mixed berry, apple crumb, pumpkin, strawberry rhubarb, peach right now) and definitely a must try while visiting.  The following day we purchased the apple as well as the peach pies and can verify that these are also excellent!

We reserved campsite #23, a shady spot with a nice close-up view of impressive colorful cliffs.  The campground has a park like feel.  Most sites do not have hookups, and our site didn’t either.  We used the free central dump when arriving and departing.  There is also potable water at several water fills, and a general sink for grey dump and/or dishwashing.  The camp host Karen was very kind, and told us that in August 2023 the campground flooded on her watch, due to monsoon rains, and emergency procedures were enacted.  There is absolutely no cellphone signal here, however free Wi-Fi is available just a mile down the road at the Visitors Center.  We were able to make phone calls over Wi-Fi.  Mule deer roam the campground, giving the area a very natural feel.  Feeding the deer is prohibited (as they are not shy) and the general rule is to give them at least 30 feet of space.  Some of them are quite large with antlers.  The deer families seemed very calm and mostly just grazed or sat on the lawns.

One could easily spend a week here with all the things to do, but since we only scheduled a couple of days we had to pick and choose some of the favorites recommended by local rangers and campers.  We explored Jackson Orchard (which is one of many historic orchards in the Fruita Historic District where the Fruita Campground is located) and picked Red Delicious apples.  You can eat all the fruit you can pick for free as long as you are in the orchard, otherwise it’s $2/pound (cash only, self pay).  Since we were visiting in October, all the other orchards were already closed and Jackson was on its last few apples.  Fruita orchards have apple, peach, pear, plum, apricot, and almond trees.

We took the Scenic Drive which is about 8 miles each way from the campground, and it highlights the natural towering cliffs.  At the end of the Scenic Drive there is a dirt road which goes on for a couple of miles (family cars can handle it) and ends in a small parking lot at the trailhead to Capitol Gorge Road / The Tanks.  The hike starts out easy along a river wash and within a narrow slot canyon (but not nearly as narrow as Little Wild Horse Canyon).  The last short bit (which is optional) goes up a steep stone section that leads to The Tanks (holes in the rocks which hold water).  Some hikers before us told us they had just seen big horn sheep hiking to The Tanks.  The entire hike took us about one hour to complete at a moderate pace.  Since this is considered a slot canyon, all the advice about weather safety applies, aka not for rainy season times (and there are warning signs along the way).

The Fruita Visitor Center is only a 1.2 mile easy trail walk from the campground, so it makes for a good morning walk for some free Wi-Fi, pies, and souvenirs.  Amazingly, our GMRS radios were able to communicate well between our Scamp 13′ and the Visitors Center (despite the mountainous terrain)!  The Visitors Center has some nice souvenirs, as does Gifford House (which is adjacent to the Fruita Campground).  Our favorite things at Gifford House were unique soaps, apple pie, Fruita inscribed kitchen towels, homemade bread and butter pickles, jams, and syrups.

There are a lot of great hikes which can be done directly from the Fruita Campground.  We enjoyed the Fremont River Trail.  It’s a moderate 2 mile hike which includes an easy walk along the river and then climbs up quickly to a viewpoint high above.  The trail was, at times, poorly marked so having Gaia GPS really made things easy!  This hike took us about one hour to complete.  Next, right down the road, past the Visitors Center, are the Petroglyphs (it’s a quick stop with boardwalks for observation).  Our last hike during our visit was to see the Hickman Bridge (again the Gaia GPS app really saved us on this one as the trail lacked markings in places).  Hickman Bridge is a close drive and starts at a trailhead in a small parking lot.  This hike is labeled as moderate as the trail ascends up to a good elevation.  Hikers are rewarded by a view of Hickman Bridge, which is basically a stone arch.  This hike is about 2 miles round trip and took us about one hour to complete.

At the end of our second day here, we felt like we had just scratched the surface of Capitol Reef National Park.  But, with so many places to visit, it was time to move on!

Days 12 & 13:  Kodachrome Basin State Park
After a big drive over the mountains (9,600 feet elevation peak), we reached Kodachrome Basin State Park (which was named Kodachrome by National Geographic in 1949 with the consent of Kodak Film Corporation).  Take one look at the magnificent colorful cliffs and towering red and white stone monolithic spires and the name seems an obvious choice.  There are about 67 spires in the park and one can use their imagination to guess what each resembles — for example, one of the monoliths is called “Fred Flinstone” and another “Ballerina”!  Click here for an aerial flyby made at sunrise.

The first thing we noticed when driving into the park is that the Visitors Center is super nice (it’s the park’s pride and joy after its natural wonders)! They had just done some renovations in the last year and it really shows.  There is a great store with unique t-shirts and souvenirs along with archery bow rentals, a mini frisbee golf course, a small rock climbing wall, many flavors of ice cream for scooping into cones or cups, a really nice fire pit with comfy chairs in front, and open extra-long hours.  There’s a seated bar inside for visitors wanting to have something to drink and perhaps work on their laptop.  This Visitors Center makes one feel as if everyone is their special guest and they have tried to make one feel very welcome!  Guided horseback riding is also available with reservations ($65/hour or $103/2 hours per person — 435-679-8100).  The Wi-Fi is fast & free (we made Wi-Fi calls since there is no cellphone service in the park, with the exception of some trails — we found signal at the top of Panorama Point Trail).  We enjoyed early morning walks along the main road to the Visitor Center from the campground (about 1.3 miles / 30 minutes each way) to catch up on emails and news while sitting in front of the roaring outside fire pit.

We had a really nice partial hookup spot, #K-33 (at Basin campground — one of three campgrounds here) ($35/night), which is very private and has water and electric hookups.  There is a free central dump as well.  Having electric hookups was great here because it got down into the 20’s at night and having electric power at the campsite meant we could use our small ceramic heater all night long as well as electric water heater and avoid burning up our onboard liquid propane.  There’s also an awesome laundry building, called the Red Dirt Laundry (open 24/7!), on the road between the Visitors Center and the campground which we used during our trip.  We have found just packing enough clothing for about 8 days on long trips is a great way to travel light because usually there are campgrounds (or areas close by) that have laundromats (we do laundry once per week).  Note:  always make sure to carry some detergent, dryer sheets and a few $10 rolls of quarters with you!

This is a great park to ride your mountain bikes because there are plenty of accessible trails (not all trails allow bikes, but the two major ones d0).  Having bikes meant that we could cover a lot of terrain in one day which would have taken us several days of walking.  Our favorite rides were the Grand Parade Trail (1.5 miles, easy for hiking and biking), the Panorama Trail (3 miles, easy/moderate, hiking or biking) and the Panorama Point (1 mile extension to the Panorama Point trail, breathtaking views).  Note:  some parts of the trails (even the easy ones) had some erosion with steep ruts and might require one to dismount the bike and walk over the area.  There are plenty of other great trails here as well if time permits!

Days 14 & 15:  Bryce Canyon National Park
Only about a 45 minute drive from Kodachrome Basin SP, Bryce Canyon NP is just a short hop away.  Because our visit was in late October, the campgrounds had already changed from reservations to first come first served.  We arrived at the campground around 11 a.m. and there was no wait at the entrance of the park.  We pulled up to the gate station, and once we showed the attendant our America the Beautiful Pass we proceeded directly to Sunset Campground (one of two campground in the park).  The other campground, North Campground, is right near the Visitor Center at the park entrance.  We chose Sunset Campground, just about a mile and a half down the road from the Visitor Center, because many of the main trails are within walking distance of the campground (and parking space at the trail parking lots is difficult to find even in late October unless one arrives very early).

Because nighttime temperatures had started dropping very low (into the 20s), the park decided to close all RV loops within Sunset Campground with the exception of Loop A on the day of our arrival.  The free central dump (located at North Campground) was also closed due to freezing weather.  We had dumped when leaving Kodachrome Basin SP, so we had no issues for the two days of our visit.  Most of Loop A was vacant when we arrived on a Thursday morning.  The procedure is to pick a site (all are dry sites with no hookups) (make sure no one has taken it already / no tag clipped to post), park in it, and then go to the Iron Ranger at the entrance to Sunset Campground and fill out an envelope (add cash, $30/night for RVs), and put it into the payment box.  Then, go back to the campsite and attach (clip) the tear off section from the envelope onto the campsite post.  We chose campsite #240 because it is an end site (a bit more privacy and less chance of noise and smoke) and was long enough for our Volvo XC40 and Scamp 13′ with room to spare.  There is a water spigot at the central bathroom.  We found cellphone coverage through Verizon to be good here with fast speeds (fast enough to stream video).

We found the Visitor Center here to be large and very crowded.  There’s also a lodge, which has a dining room (tourist prices).  In contrast, the campground provided good solitude from the more trafficked tourist areas.  And, there were tourists visiting from all over the world — we heard a lot of different languages spoken on the trails.  Going early morning for hikes meant less people (and easier parking if driving).

We found Bryce Canyon NP to be amazing.  The geologic wonders of the rock formations (spires and cliffs) and the number of these formations throughout the park is remarkable.  The red rocks and varying hues provide dramatic color to the interesting shapes.  There are two main hikes that are a must if one is capable (otherwise, there are observation points along the canyon rim).  The Queen’s/Navajo Combination Loop is the most recommended hike and is a complete loop that passes through dramatic scenery of spires and other interesting rock formations.  We recommend starting at Sunset Point (an easy walk from Sunset Campground) and dropping down the steep switchbacks of Navajo Loop and then making the way around with the final ascent of Queen’s Garden to Sunrise Point (Sunset Point>Sunrise Point).  Then, walking back along the rim from Sunrise Point to Sunset Point provides nice overlooks of the hoodoos below (and then onto Sunset Campground).  This is the opposite direction recommended by the park (but we found that it was less busy and avoids the quite steep ascent of Navajo Loop to Sunset Point at the end of the hike).  Along the way, there are hoodoos which represent Queen Victoria and E.T.!  It’s also fun assigning traits to other hoodoos seen on the hike!  This hike is rated as moderate as there are some steep walking sections.  We spent about 3 hours on this hike (including about 1/2 hour stopping) travelling 5.8 miles on this route (with an ascent of around 625 feet going from the valley floor back up to the rim).

The second “must” hike (if one can do it), which was our favorite, is Peekaboo Loop.  It is rated as strenuous because there are many switchbacks and a climb of about 1,560 feet (more than double the climb of the Queen’s Navajo Combination Loop).  It’s best to get to the parking lot at Bryce Point before 9 a.m as the lot is small and fills up quickly (it’s a bit far of a walk from Sunset Campground).  Overall, we found the hike to be thoroughly manageable for people of all ages (as long as they stop for rest when needed).  Our new friend Dwight, who we met (along with his wife Sharon) at Capitol Reef NP (click here for their website), joined us on the hike (since they also came to Bryce).  Just like the first hike, we opted to do the hike counterclockwise (instead of the recommended clockwise direction) and felt this was a good way to go.  We took our time and spent 3 1/2 hours hiking the loop (which included about 30 minutes of stops along the way).  We thought this hike is the most dramatic as the valley is densely filled with hoodoos (including the Wall of Windows, The Alligator, and Hindu Temples).  And, every turn is filled with an awe inspiring photo-worthy sight!

Day 16:  Lake Mead National Recreation Area
About a half hour outside Las Vegas, Boulder Beach Campground is an oasis within Lake Mead National Recreation Area.  The entrance fee is covered by the America The Beautiful Pass (or, without a pass, there is a $25 per vehicle entrance fee).  We reserved campsite 83 ($20/night), which has no hookups and panoramic lake views.  There is a free central dump at the entrance and water spigots are located throughout the campground.  The campground overlooks Lake Mead and is connected to many lake side communities via a paved 34 mile bike path.

Having only a day to spend, we drove to the Visitor Center about two miles down the road from the campground.  It’s well-staffed and we received maps and recommendations on things to do.  We spent the day riding our bikes from the campground toward the Visitor Center and then along the flat DG-paved Historic Railroad Trail.  The trail can be walked or biked and follows the path high above Lake Mead that was carved out in 1931 by construction firms working for the federal government to build nearly 30 miles of railroad connecting Boulder City with the Hoover Dam.  The railroad was used to bring construction materials to build Hoover Dam.  The connection to the Hoover Dam became public in 2007.  The Historic Railroad Trail is 3.7 miles (one way) plus getting to it from the campground along the paved bike path is about 2 extra miles.  So, the ride to and from Hoover Dam from the campground is about 12 miles round trip.  There is only a slight grade going to the dam and we found the ride to be fairly easy.  There are fantastic views of the lake along the trail and five train tunnels which are really fun to walk/ride through (click here to see our video).

There are a couple of sections of short climbs when approaching the dam parking area.  We used our bike locks to secure our bikes while we took a tour of the Hoover Dam.  The 30 minute tour cost $15/person and gives an interesting look inside the dam, including views of the turbines which are used to make electricity as Colorado river water passes through them.  Biking back to our campground was a bit quicker due to the slight downward grade.  Overall, this stop exceeded our expectations by offering excellent lake views (and great weather), fantastic bike riding on a historic trail, and an interesting inside look at Hoover Dam.

Final thoughts:
This was a fantastic journey and highly recommended for anyone who enjoys nature and transcending scenic beauty.  We found creating this trip by linking the national parks and complementing the gaps between them with state parks is a great way to build an epic adventure.  There were so many highlights on this trip that it seemed like we had been travelling for months, rather than just a couple of weeks.  And, having to be spontaneous due to weather and finding unexpected treasures in new locations added to the thrill of unique and exciting travel.

Preparation was the key to making the trip easy.  Before the trip we had our Scamp 13’s bearings repacked (which we do every two years) and also had our Volvo XC40’s rear brake pads replaced.  Packing plenty of food and water to last two weeks allowed us to focus solely on seeing the sights.  Many of our favorite stops didn’t have water, so carrying three extra 6 gallon jugs filled with water for the Scamp fresh tank (along with 12 gallons of reverse osmosis drinking water) was mandatory and allowed us to stay hydrated and showered daily.  Plus, the lithium house battery and DC-DC car charger we installed was a real game changer (see DC-DC charger article).  First, we saved a lot on campground costs by not having to find sights with electrical hookups.  And, we were able to run our 12V refrigerator when driving between locations, keeping our food chilled, and always arriving with 100% charge on our battery.  We did not need to take our solar panels on this trip and never would have needed them, providing valuable extra space in our tow vehicle!  Gaia maps was essential during many of our hikes when trail markings were poor or non-existent.  Having downloaded maps for each location (often no cellular service in these areas) meant we always had detailed geographical views of each trail.  Additionally, the record feature on the app makes it easy to back track one’s path if necessary—like leaving breadcrumbs!  The Victron shunt installed on our lithium battery was also invaluable in showing our lithium battery’s state of charge (SOC), even when driving!  The GRMS radios were also very useful.  Not only did we use the radios for backing up into campsites, but they came in handy for staying in contact when one person stayed in the Scamp and the other took walks (we experienced a little over 1 mile line of sight range, which was often the perfect distance between our campsite and a visitor center where one of us used Wi-Fi to catch up on email and news).

This trip reaffirmed how travelling over land with a travel trailer is an excellent way to see natural sights.  Being able to stay within national and state parks provides the best possible location and the ability to experience these parks at night when the stars and many animals come out.  Additionally, the costs tend to be much lower than staying in hotels/motels (without the travel and time costs to access the parks daily).  There is also an affinity among campers staying at the campgrounds, and, in turn, it’s easy to make camper friends.  On this trip, we met Dwight and Sharon, at Fruita Campground within Capitol Reef National Park, and later met up again and hiked with them at Bryce Canyon National Park.  It’s not uncommon seeing the same people at campgrounds again and again when doing a tour of area parks.  We have made a number of good camping friends over the past four years who we never would have met had we been staying at hotels.  Now that we are home, the only thing left to do is to plan our next adventure!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

Four Jeffery Campground, Eastern Sierra

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Four Jeffery Campground, Eastern Sierra
September 18th – 22nd, 2023 (4 nights)

While looking for somewhere cool to go (as California was experiencing very warm weather), I did a Google search for towns in California with the highest elevations (figuring higher altitudes would mean lower summer temperatures).  Jumping out at number 3 on the list (8,500 ft. elevation), the small town of Aspendell (pop. 100) stood out as a great place to go.  It’s easy to get to (only a 25 minute drive up into the mountains from Bishop) and has stunning scenery, excellent campgrounds, magnificent hikes with beautiful lakes, trout fishing, boating, horseback riding, and some great places to eat.  We had never heard of this location before, but it turned out to be one of our all-time favorite places we have ever visited!  We chose to stay at Four Jeffrey Campground.

The drive from our home in Carlsbad, California to Four Jeffrey Campground is about six hours straight.  However, we chose to break it up by spending the weekend in Los Angeles with family.  It took us about four and a half hours to drive to the campground from Los Angeles.  The drive goes up Highway 14 through Mojave and surrounding desert communities and then up Highway 395 past Lone Pine, Independence, Big Pine, and finally to Bishop.  We stopped in Lone Pine on the way up to eat lunch at the Alabama Hills Café (the burgers are great as are their homemade pies).  https://www.alabamahillscafe.com/  Note:  we spent a week camping up in the Alabama Hills on a previous trip which we really enjoyed.  We stopped in Bishop for gas and an RV dump (free if you fill up there, otherwise a monetary donation is requested) at Speedway Bishop. From Bishop, it’s about a twenty five minute drive up into the mountains on Highway 168.  There are many campgrounds in the area, but the biggest is Four Jeffrey Campground which has water spigots, an RV dump (free if staying at the campground, otherwise $10) as well as flush toilets.

Four Jeffrey Campground is spectacular, featuring stunning views across the Eastern Sierra.  There was snow in the mountains even in late September due to the high elevation (Four Jeffrey Campground is at 8,300 feet elevation).  We stayed in two campsites alongside Bishop Creek ($30/night, note:  America the Beautiful Senior Passes (age 62 or older) are accepted for half priced camping @$15/night)  – we were at campsite #10 the first night and then moved over to campsite #8 the next couple of nights.  When talking to regulars, we learned campsite #8 is a favorite.  There are a couple of campsites right across from campsite #8 which can accommodate large trailers.  There’s almost no internet service here (we encountered 1 bar on Verizon in certain areas when walking around the campground).  However, there is a short 10 minute hike up a utility service access road across the street from the campground which leads to a spectacular view over the valley and has about 4 bars on Verizon.

We felt like we were in the mountains of Switzerland while camping at Four Jeffrey Campground.  The air was crisp and cool (60’s during the day and 30’s/40’s at night).  The campground is in a valley surround by high mountains.  The evenings were filled with dark skies and brilliant stars (although we were also gifted a dramatic thunder and lightning show one night!).  We had fun spending one night outdoors photographing the stars and Milky Way (best seen in dark sky locations during the summer).  The South Fork of Bishop Creek runs through the campground and many of the campers brought their fishing rods and reeled in a lot of trout.  Everyone seemed very happy here.  The campground was not crowded during our stay, but perhaps that was because it was mid-week and the end of the tourist season in the Sierra.  It was cold at night and we ran our propane furnace to keep the Scamp warm inside.  We had a great hike from the Bishop Pass Trailhead past South Lake up to Long Lake.  The trail is clearly marked but somewhat difficult due to rocky and steep terrain.  There are many connected lakes and some people tent camp outdoors overnight when hiking to farther areas.  It took us a few hours round trip from South Lake to Long Lake and the hike was one of the most scenic hikes we have ever done.  The scenery of the lakes and mountains is stunning – seemingly untouched and unknown.  After our hike, we went to the Cardinal Café, in the small town of Aspendell, and had a tasty meal.    We also had a chance to take a horse / mule ride up to South Lake using the services of Rainbow Pack Outfitters ($100 per person for 2 hour ride at the time of this article).  The horses / mules are friendly and the guide was very good at getting us up on the animals and leading us along the trail (even beginners are welcome).  Rainbow offers longer trips as well as overnight trips into the backcountry.  We had such a great time up in this area of the Sierra, we didn’t want to leave.  There are enough activities that one could easily stay a week or longer.  And, for those without a travel trailer, Parcher Resort (adjacent to Rainbow Pack Outfitters) has cabins which can be rented.

Instead of driving straight back to San Diego, we stayed overnight at Red Rock Canyon State Park (about halfway to home).  We had camped here before and really enjoyed the area.  This campground is first come, first serve, but was easy for us to get a choice spot during the week when arriving around noon.  We chose site #29 ($25/night), which is one of the best campsites at the base of the bluffs.  There is plenty of room between campsites too.  There is a water spigot across from site #29.  The only cellphone service we found was at the visitor’s center, along with free WiFi, which is about a ¾ mile walk from site #29.  There is also a private RV dump across from the visitor’s center ($20).  The visitor’s center is stocked with some great souvenir values (we purchased a Red Rocks t-shirt and sweatshirt).

Red Rock Canyon State Park is true to its name, featuring brilliant red bluffs which are especially vibrant at sunrise.  There are trails that go up the bluffs, offering spectacular views of the surrounding desert.  It was around 85 degrees when we arrived, so we waited until sundown to hike.  The wind kicked up in the early evening, but didn’t exceed 30 mph and the gusts were minimal.  As we were getting ready to leave the next morning, we were treated to a beautiful sunrise (and the sounds and sights of two large owls perched on the bluffs directly above our Scamp 13’ hooting a friendly hello to start the day)!

We enjoyed this trip so much; we definitely plan to go back.  There is an area of free dispersed camping on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land, called the Buttermilks (between Bishop and Aspendell), which we were told are similar in their unusual rock formations to the Alabama Hills.  The Buttermilks access road was closed during our visit so we couldn’t check them out, but we plan to on a future trip!  The area acquired its “Buttermilks” name in the 1970’s when a dairy operated here, but the rock formations also look like piles of curdled buttermilk so the name stuck.

In a crown of jewels (camping areas of special parks offered in California), Four Jeffrey Campground and surrounding areas in the Eastern Sierra are hidden gems — few talk about and even fewer experience the magic of this place.  Highly recommended for the trip of a lifetime!

 

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly.