Trips

Trips and Campgrounds.

Southern Arizona Fall 2022

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Southern Arizona Fall 2022
November 13th – 22nd, 2022 (9 nights)

Late fall and winter bring cool temperatures to most U.S. locations, prompting many campers to place their travel trailers into storage until spring.  However, southern Arizona’s weather is very welcoming during this period (usually 60’s-70’s during the day and cool nights) and, in turn, lots of snowbirds flock here for the pleasant temperatures.  We wanted to capture the best weather southern Arizona has to offer, so we planned a trip along its southern border.  We chose six locations across the state and kept most drive times to three hours or less.  Our longest drive was from our home in Carlsbad, California (San Diego county) to our first campground, Painted Rock Petroglyph Site Campground in Arizona (about 4 ½ hours).  We chose Painted Rock as our first stop because we needed to break up the drive and it sounded interesting.

Painted Rock Petroglyph Campground is about 1 ½ hours east of Yuma on the 8 Freeway.  There’s a gas station in Sentinel, AZ (they sell Middle of Nowhere t-shirts) about thirty minutes away from Painted Rock Campground, which is a good place to fill up before leaving the 8 and turning off at Painted Rock Road to the campground.  The campground is about 12 miles up Painted Rock Road (paved road, with a small gravel section at the very end) and is an easy drive.  There are no facilities here (no water, electric, or sewer/dump station), so come with your fresh tank full and black and grey tanks empty.  We received good Verizon cellular phone signal here at this very isolated and desolate location.  The fee at this BLM campground is $8 per night (payable to the “iron ranger”, metal box).  However, the fee is only $6/night with an “America the Beautiful Pass” and $4/night with the “Golden Age or Access passport”.  We paid $8 for the night despite having the “America the Beautiful Pass” because the discounts were only posted at the Day Use section of the campground!  So, most people driving in will pay $8/night since the discounts are not posted at the RV campground entrance.  We did save $8 by not making a reservation and avoiding the reservation fee.  We read in advance that the campground usually has a lot of empty sites and since we were going on Sunday afternoon we figured we wouldn’t have an issue getting a spot.  As it turned out, the campground was mostly vacant with only a handful of campers spread out over a very large area.  We chose site #27 which is a great open location.  There is a camp host here, but we only saw someone in the morning near the host trailer riding a tractor and playing with a dog.  We enjoyed the remoteness, quietness, and privacy at the campground, the stars at night, and walking around the volcanic stone mounds trying to decrypt the petroglyph symbols (ancient graffiti) displayed on the rocks.  This stay over was a perfect place to get a great night’s sleep and refresh before the drive to our next stop, Catalina State Park.

Catalina State Park is a two and a half hour drive from Painted Rock Petroglyph Campground and is located in the upscale community of Oro Valley (Valley of Gold), about fourteen miles north of Tucson.   The campground is at the foothills of the beautiful Santa Catalina Mountains and only a quick bike ride to the nice town of Oro Valley.  We immediately noticed on our drive into Oro Valley the vast network of bike paths alongside the roads, a large number of popular stores and restaurants, a Ritz Carlton resort, a large hospital, and nice homes all set within the stunning backdrop of the Santa Catalina Mountains.  This place obviously is a well thought out planned community, where many families and retired people call home.  The first thing we did when arriving at Catalina State Park was to use the free central dump on the way to our campsite.  Our site, #18 ($35/night), has electric and water hookups with a spectacular view of the mountains.  Verizon cell coverage was poor, but a useable signal was obtainable by walking around the campground.  The daytime temperatures were in the 60’s, but our water filter was icy the next morning which slowed water flow inside the Scamp (overnight temperatures in the 20’s), so we switched to our internal fresh tank the next night and had no issues.  Fortunately, the fresh tank is inside the Scamp 13’ (underneath the right side bench seat), so it stays warm even in freezing temperatures (assuming the interior of the Scamp is kept heated).  We spent a couple of days here enjoying numerous hikes, including the Romero Ruins hike.  One of the highlights of our stay was when an owl landed on our Scamp’s roof right above our heads and hooted (similar to our Scampgrounds logo)!  Scamper quick tip:  when the night temperatures are forecasted to be cold and electric hookups are provided, bring a small electric ceramic heater (like this one) to avoid using your propane gas (save your propane for when no electric hookups are provided to use for the furnace, refrigerator, gas stove, and hot water heater).

It’s about a two hour drive from Catalina State Park to Patagonia Lake State Park, directly south on the 19 Freeway.  The route goes almost straight down to the Mexican border town of Nogales.  Patagonia Lake is very isolated and is surrounded by rolling hills.  The campground is spread out with its own store, boat ramp, marina, and plenty of picnic tables and small docks available to launch canoes and kayaks.  Cabins are also available to rent for those without RVs.  We had a nice campsite by the lake, #22 ($30/night), which has electric and water hookups (there is also a free central dump at the campground).  Because lush vegetation grows along the shores of the lake, there are few campsites with expansive lake views.  But, campers can walk down to the area of the Visitor’s Center and there are plenty of picnic tables with great water scenery.  Verizon service was only useable in certain locations (e.g. near the Visitor’s Center).  We ran our ceramic heater at this location as well since it was chilly at night and we had an electric hookup.  Individuals and families who enjoy time out on the water with inflatable boats and other types of kayaks/canoes flock here throughout the year.  We also saw people fishing (both from shore and boats).  The area is also popular for birders, as there are a large variety of bird species in the area (including ones from Mexico).  There is also access to Sonoita Creek State Natural Area (which we hiked) close by that is a popular preserve among birders.  There are a lot of trails near the lake and the Sonoita Creek area.  We spent a couple of days hiking, watching wildlife (including birds and deer), and even seeing some free range cows.  Pontoon boat tours ($7 per adult/$5 per child) are offered on Saturdays and Sundays at various times which focus on both avian and discovery interests.  And, bird walks are led by rangers Monday and Friday mornings at 9 a.m. (meet at the Birding Trail near site 12).  Note – tour types, days and times are subject to change, so call ahead to confirm.  We made sure to use the free central dump on the way out of the campground as our next stop was somewhere quite remote and without dump facilities.

Continuing our journey further east for two and half hours, we made our way to Chiricahua (pronounced cherry-cow-a) National Monument (Bonita Canyon Campground), not far from the Arizona – New Mexico border.  The campground is hidden in the mountains thirty five miles southeast of Willcox, the closest town to the area.  We filled up our gas tank in Willcox before heading out onto quiet Highway 186; we didn’t see any cars the entire forty five minute drive to the campground (the drive was easy on paved roads).  Not having learned much about the campground, we expected it to be fairly isolated with minimal facilities or support staff.  We made sure our fresh tank was full (just in case water spigots were not working) and black and grey tanks were drained before arriving (since there is no central dump).  Our expectations were happily turned upside down upon arrival; we passed a beautiful Visitor Center (with a natural rock exterior similar to ones found in Yosemite) and were greeted at our site by one of three volunteer rangers who live at the campground!  Several deer stood by next to us, seemingly unfazed, as we navigated our Scamp 13’ into our site, #14 (nice spot looking out at the mountains, $20/night, no cell phone service, no hookups, but there are working water spigots, a grey water sink for disposing of grey water, and free WiFi at the Visitor’s Center)!  The ranger gave us a brief rundown on some of the trails and made some recommendations on where to explore in this “Land of Standing up Rocks”.

The terrain here is much different than many of the Arizona desert campgrounds.  This mountain campground sits at over 5,000 feet elevation and there are over 1,200 species of plants in the surrounding area.  There are pines, firs, yuccas, agaves, prickly pear cactus and many others.  There is also abundant wildlife, including birds, coatimundi (raccoon like creatures), Arizona white-tailed deer, Javelina (pig like, but not a pig), black bears, Chiricahua fox squirrels, mountain lions, black-tailed rattlesnakes, and mountain spiny lizards.  Our site, #14, has a fantastic view of some of the mountains with stone rock formations for which this area is famous (note:  Site #13 has unobstructed mountain views and is, along with #14, a top choice for future visits).  The Mexican Jay birds are very bold and will stand at one’s feet looking for handouts.  Just ignore them (it’s also prohibited to feed wildlife) and they will go about their business foraging for acorns.  The first thing we did after setting up our Scamp 13’ was to take the half mile trail to the Visitor’s Center.  It’s well stocked with Chiricahua related items (including t-shirts) as well as snacks.  We were given a large map and one of the rangers gave us her list of must see attractions.  We still had enough time before dark on our first afternoon to hike to Faraway Ranch (a ranch homesteaded in 1886 by Swedish immigrants Neil Erickson and Emma Peterson) where a number of ranch buildings are preserved.  Along the way, we saw numerous deer, wild turkeys, and a band of coatimundi (about 20 of them with their tails straight up)!  None of these animals were startled by our presence and walked right by us within a few feet.  It seems this is a land time has forgot where wildlife hasn’t been too disrupted by mankind.  We felt like visitors to the animals’ home and they treated us well.  Here is some video of animals we took close to the campground.

We took the eight-mile scenic drive above the campground to Massai Point (elevation 6900 ft.) on our second day to look out over the Chiricahua National Monument vistas.  We walked the easy half-mile Massai Nature Trail (some Verizon signal here) and marveled at the expanse of standing rock columns formed by volcanic eruptions 27 million years ago.  The unusual rock formations reminded us of our time spent in Cappadocia, Turkey, known for its distinctive “fairy chimneys”.   We were astonished that something like this existed in Arizona.  To get an even more immersive experience, we parked at the Echo Canyon parking lot a little way down the mountain and hiked the moderate 3.3 mile Echo Canyon Loop Trail which winds its way through the mesmerizing Echo Canyon Grotto (a fairytale like series of stone columns nestled closely together).  We didn’t have time for the Heart of Rocks Loop (7.3 miles strenuous loop) which has some of the famous balancing rock structures (like the Big Balanced Rock, Pinnacle Balance Rock, Punch & Judy, and Duck on a Rock), but hope to return and do it in the future.  We are glad we had at least two days here, but if we had known there are so much fantastic scenery and things to do in this area, we would have booked a minimum of three nights.  We met one fit hiker who told us she had been here six days and was just able to complete all of the Monument’s main hikes!  The ranger was right when he told us when we first pulled in that this place is a hidden gem!

We left Bonita Canyon Campground the next morning with a full fresh tank as the next campground, Picacho Peak State Park, notified us that fresh water was not available due to the drought (this was a first for us)!  We headed down the mountain back into Willcox and then continued west past Tucson (a two and a half hour drive from Chiricahua National Monument).  Picacho Peak State Park is located off the 10 Freeway between Tucson and Phoenix.  It’s a largely flat desert landscape with some tall mountains (including Picacho Peak, of which the campground sits at the base).  The freeway can be seen and heard (along with trains) in the distance from the campground (some noise).  We were excited to arrive because we planned to meet Canadian friends (Colleen and Perry) in person for the first time who we know from Instagram (who also travel by fiberglass travel trailer).  We used the free central dump when pulling in and then found our site, #C27 (electric hookup, no water, $30/night, good Verizon cell service).  Site #C27 is fairly private and well located with nice mountain views.  As we finished setting up our Scamp 13’, a horn honked, and we saw our friends pulling in with their Oliver Elite II travel trailer.  We found we had a lot in common and all took a nice walk together after lunch.  Our friend Colleen cooked a fabulous Mexican dinner for us and we enjoyed it at their campsite.  The next morning, we took a very challenging hike to the top of Picacho Peak!  It’s a strenuous hike and some parts are very vertical, requiring the use of steel cables which are anchored into the rock.  It’s recommended to wear leather gloves to avoid getting hand injuries while grabbing the cables.  We made the ascent in about one and a half hours and the descent in a little over an hour.  It’s a thrilling and strenuous hike, and definitely not recommended for the faint of heart (or those with a fear of heights)!  We had a marvelous time here with our new friends and really enjoyed the campground (even though it is close to the city and freeway).  The desert scenery, including cactus and mountains, made for a peaceful stay.

To avoid a six hour ride straight back home to San Diego, we headed to Yuma (3 hours from Picacho Peak SP) for a stay over at Hidden Cove RV Park ($45/night, full hookups).  Hidden Cove RV Park (located in Arizona) is situated right on the Colorado River on the Arizona-California border.  The people here are very nice and this RV park is very close to the highlights of downtown Yuma.  We didn’t have much time though in Yuma to explore, since we hiked Picacho Peak the same day as our departure to Yuma.  We enjoyed a late lunch at a local burger place, Eddie’s Grill, in Yuma before relaxing in the evening (including a walk along the Colorado River path).  There was a beautiful sunset allowing for a nice opportunity to launch the drone for photos.  The next morning, before leaving for home, we walked along the long dirt road across the street from the RV park which parallels an aqueduct and meanders along farmland (which provides miles of peaceful walking terrain).

This turned out to be a fantastic trip.  We didn’t know what to expect, which is part of what makes trips to new places so fun.  We always read about our destinations in advance when planning trips, but the reality is usually different and the sights, sounds & smells of what’s experienced can never be replicated online.  It’s the excitement of the unknown–visiting new locations and meeting new people—that has the potential to greatly broaden one’s horizons.  We never come back from a trip exactly the same as when we left (and this is usually a positive thing!).  It’s the mystery and discovery of what’s just around the next corner that keeps us going!

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. 

California Highway 1

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California Highway 1
October 19th – 25th, 2022 (6 nights)

October is the perfect month to drive up California Highway 1.  The weather is often clear and not too cold and the coastal scenery is magnificent.  On this trip, we chose to stop in Santa Barbara, Big Sur, Oakland, and Bakersfield (on the way home).  The main goal of the trip was to see my sister’s new puppy in Oakland.  Here’s a short video of some of our drive up California State Route 1.

Our first stop after leaving San Diego was Santa Barbara.  We departed on a weekday and purposefully waited until around 10 a.m. before leaving San Diego so that we would be driving through Los Angeles after rush hour traffic.  This strategy worked out really well; we were able to have a mostly traffic free drive.  We parked our 2020 Scamp 13’ in my cousin’s driveway for an overnight in Santa Barbara.  We had a great afternoon exploring Alice Keck Park, which has a nice variety of bird species (e.g. hummingbirds, ducks, geese…) as well as fish and turtles in this pond.  We sat down on a bench near the water and several ducks walked up to where we were sitting and sat down close by (very welcoming).  Some of the ducks are very colorful.  We also observed turtles swimming with their heads occasionally popping up above water.  Some turtles were sunning themselves on top of semi-submerged rocks.  We could have stayed at the park longer walking the nature paths and admiring the wild life, but needed to leave to meet up with my cousin Jon and his wife Ida for dinner.  My cousin, who is vegan, took us to Rascals, a vegan Mexican restaurant which offers tasty food (even for non-vegans!).  We had a great dinner catching up since it had been a couple months since our last visit.  We were treated to a colorful sunset that night as well as a beautiful sunrise the next morning.

We travelled up the 101 from Santa Barbara and joined California Highway 1 (SR1) where it starts in San Luis Obispo.  The four hour drive from Santa Barbara to Big Sur offers magnificent views of the coast and sheer cliffs.  But, be warned, the narrow windy stretches can be very dangerous, so it’s very important to be fresh and aware when driving (especially when towing!).  We passed some beautiful places along the way to Big Sur, including Cambria, San Simeon (Hearst Castle), and Ragged Point (especially windy) before arriving at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.  Note: before arriving at the campground we planned to stop at Julia Pfeiffer State Park (day use only) to see McWay Falls (a waterfall that drops onto the beach sand/ocean).  However, the parking lot is very narrow and doesn’t allow campers or trailers, so we couldn’t stop.  Additionally, since we were only spending one night at the campground, we didn’t have enough time to backtrack the ten mile / 30 minute windy drive to Julia Pfeiffer State Park.  Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park campground is within a lush forest, including large old growth redwood trees.  Our site, #17, is under a dense canopy and almost completely shaded.  Fortunately, we didn’t need to bring solar panels on this trip because we were only staying one night and all our other stops provided power.  There is a threaded shared water spigot by campsite #17, although we didn’t need to use it this trip.  There is very limited cell phone service at the campground (we were just able to send texts without images).  There are lots of trails here and we did a bit of walking before dinner.  Along the way, we met a couple who had just purchased a Scamp 13’.  They came over to our campsite and we filled them in on the updates we had made to our Scamp over the first several years of ownership.  It’s always fun to run into other Scampers (Scamp owners tend to be very enthusiastic about their Scamps as these trailers have a cult like following)!

The next morning, we used the campground’s free central dump station (2 dump stations side by side) before making our way further north onto Carmel-By-The-Sea to visit the old mission.  This drive was much less windy and took us less than an hour.  Along the way, between Big Sur and Carmel-By-The-Sea, we passed several beautiful areas along the coast.  We took some aerial photography at a scenic seaside location on California Highway 1 as well as at the famous Bixby Bridge (built 1932).  The Bixby Bridge is Big Sur’s version of the Golden Gate Bridge!  It’s one of the highest bridges of its kind in the world (over 260 feet above a steep canyon).   We were able to pull over at the north end of the bridge on the side of the road (there is also a small parking lot at the end as well, but it was full and a bit crowded for our setup).  People were trying their best to get good photos of the bridge by positioning themselves at the edge of a steep bluff, which looked a bit risky.  Fortunately, our drone allowed for a safer approach – a flight out over the ocean for some stunning views of the bridge, dramatic cliffs, and sea below.

After our photo touring, we headed north to Carmel-By-The-Sea to visit the old mission.  An aerial video I took can be seen here.  The Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Rio Carmelo was built in 1797 and is one of the most authentically restored Catholic mission churches in California ($13 admission fee).  It’s a beautiful church and one of only three California missions built of stone (made from native sandstone quarried from the nearby Santa Lucia Mountains).  Fortunately, there was plenty of street parking at the side of the Mission for our Scamp 13’.  After a nice visit, we continued our drive to my sister’s house in Oakland (about a two hour drive).

Driving into a big populated city like Oakland while towing a trailer requires special care.  It’s important to be extra cautious as many city drivers in dense urban environments can be reckless.  Fortunately, we managed to arrive at my sister’s home without incident and quickly positioned our Scamp 13’ into its very cozy spot in the driveway (just a couple of inches from the chimney!).  We greatly enjoyed our three days visiting my sister and family in Oakland.  We got to meet the new puppy (and nephew’s new kitten) for the first time and had fun taking walks throughout the city.  We walked on Alameda Island (nice homes and pretty streets), Mills College campus (now a part of Northeastern University’s many campuses), and the Skyline National Recreational Trail (up in the hills with beautiful views above the bay).  We even took a tour through a famous cemetery, Mountain View Cemetery, and walked Millionaires Row (where many wealthy and famous people from San Francisco chose to be buried).  We saw the Ghirardelli Mausoleum where Domingo Ghirardelli (of chocolate fame) and his family are buried.  An interesting story of how he and his family came to rest at this cemetery can be found here.  No visit to Oakland would be complete without lunch at A+ Burger, and our visit didn’t disappoint.  We visited Treasure Island on our last night to take in the beautiful view of the City lights at night from across the Bay.

We divided the eight hour trip home into a couple of four hour segments, with a stay over at the halfway point in Bakersfield.  We selected the Buena Vista Aquatic Recreational Area (our first time here) to spend the night.  Located in the middle of seemingly nowhere (amid farms and dry earth), is a large lake, Lake Webb, surrounded by beautiful trees.  An aerial video I made can be viewed here.  The campground is only about a five minute drive off the 5 Freeway, down a long mostly deserted straight road.  The campground appears as an oasis (very green with trees and water) in the middle of a desert.  There were only a few other campers when we arrived and the late October weather was in the low 70’s.  We were warned at the entrance that the temperature here can get well above 100 degrees during the summer!  We had site #51 ($25/night plus $8 reservation fee) which is right on the lake and is an 84’ long pull through site (full hookups, there’s also a central dump for those sites without a sewer hookup).  We had beautiful wrap around views of the lake inside our Scamp.  There was one bar of Verizon cell phone coverage and plenty of HDTV channels.  Note:  the sewer hookup diameter at site #51 is the same as our hose (which we’ve never seen before), so I had to physically hold the hose over the sewer pipe while dumping.  We noticed on the drive getting to the campground, there is a bike path parallel to the road that provides a nice long ride through farmland.  We enjoyed walking near the lake and watching the ducks, coots, hawks, and other birds swimming on and flying over the water.  This is a popular lake for boating activities (swimming is not allowed).  We were told the busiest time is the Fourth of July (also one of the hottest times of the year here).  We found the Buena Vista Aquatic Recreational Area to be a perfect midway rest stop on the way from San Diego to the Bay area.

So, if you are planning a trip along California Highway 1, consider going in October.  The views are incredible and the weather can be practically perfect in every way!

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. 

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

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Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks
September 11th – 18th, 2022 (7 nights)

Visiting Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks in the shoulder season is a fantastic way to experience the parks without heavy summer crowds.  The weather was very pleasant during our visit in September with highs in the high 60’s (perfect for hiking) and lows in the low 40’s (perfect for sleeping) and the trails were fairly unpopulated.  Because of the cool nights, we used the furnace in our Scamp 13’ while sleeping and set the thermostat at 58 degrees, which was very comfortable for a great night’s rest.  Because the drive from our home in Carlsbad to these parks is around 8 hours, we stopped halfway for overnights at Bear Mountain RV Park in Bakersfield to break up the drives both going to the parks and on our way home.  Fortunately, we brought along our portable AC system, because it was in the 90’s in Bakersfield!

When searching for a convenient half way overnight stop, our biggest priority was finding a place which was along the route so we didn’t add unnecessary driving time.  Additionally, since we knew it could still be very hot in the Central Valley in September, we also wanted to make sure the place where we stayed had electrical hookups so we would be able to run our AC system.  Lastly, we wanted a reasonable nightly rate since we weren’t going to have time to take advantage of any extra facilities (like pool, laundry room, clubhouse, miniature golf course, etc.) or location (e.g. proximity to the downtown, etc.).  Bear Mountain RV Park in the Central Valley (Bakersfield) meets all of these criteria; it’s just a few minutes off the 99 Freeway (located in between farmland), about halfway from our home to Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, it offers full hookups, and the rate when we stayed was only $34/night (although they just raised the rate to $39/night).  Most of the park is occupied by monthly renters, but the last row of campsites is set aside to accommodate overnight guests.  We were assigned site #17 and our friends, Phil & Claudia, who accompanied us on this trip, were parked right next to us.  It was hot (about 95 degrees) when we arrived, so we set up our portable AC system which chilled the Scamp down very quickly.  The park advertises WiFi, but we couldn’t get a good signal at our location.  However, there is a cell tower close by and we got fast internet and good phone service anyway with our Spectrum/Verizon mobile service.  HDTV signals were also plentiful and crystal clear here.  As an added bonus, we enjoyed evening walks along a farmland path of pistachio trees across the street from Bear Mountain RV park.

Because we were towing a travel trailer, we had to take the longer route, Highway 180, to reach Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks.  Driving up the more direct route, Highway CA-198E, is not permitted for vehicles over 22 feet long due to severe hair pin turns (our Volvo XC40 is 14.5 feet long and our Scamp 13’ is 13 feet long = our total length of 27.5 feet).  The road into the park during the last hour of driving is windy, but not too bad.  Because Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks are national parks, a $35 entrance fee is required at the entrance station.  We opted to purchase the $80 annual America the Beautiful Pass instead which allows access to all national parks in addition to other government lands for a year.  We arrived at Lodgepole Campground in Sequoia National Park to a fantastic site (#160, $22/night) right alongside a creek.  This site is spacious and situated in the middle of a beautiful pine forest.  There are no hookups here, but, despite the campground being heavily forested, we were able to get all the electricity we needed by using our solar panels.  We also arrived with two fully filled propane tanks, which provided all the gas we needed to cook, heat our water for nightly showers, and power our furnace to keep our Scamp’s interior nice and warm in the middle of the night.  There is a threaded water spigot close by to site #160 and we used our super hose extender for quick water fills whenever needed!  Also, there is a free central dump station at the entrance of the park (only a few minutes’ drive from site #160) which we used during the middle of our five night stay here (quick and easy).  So, despite the campsites having no hookups here, one can still experience a fabulous long stay at Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks with the right gear and planning.  And, Lodgepole Campground is a great location when visiting these parks because it is right at the center of most of the natural attractions.  Note:  there is no cell phone reception at most places within the park (though, there are payphones at Lodgepole Campground, and Waksachi Lodge – a few miles down the road- offers free very poor quality WiFI [when we visited], but the best value in gifts we encountered within the park ).  A ranger informed us that there is a helipad (perhaps the large overflow parking lot at the entrance to Lodgepole Campground) and there are rangers available 24/7 in case of emergencies.

The highlight of a trip to Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks is walking among the giant sequoia trees.  These trees are among the largest and oldest trees on Earth and are magnificent to behold.  What’s amazing too is that they only exist on one place on Earth, and that’s here within a narrow 260 mile path of forest on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains (between 5,000 and 7,000 feet in elevation).   Some of these trees are over 3,000 years old!   These giant sequoias are awe inspiring and a trip to this national park should be at the very top of everyone’s bucket list of places to see in their lifetime.  The main trail to see these giants is the Congress Trail.  To get here, one can either hike a 2.8 mile trail from Lodgepole Campground to the General Sherman Tree, or drive to the General Sherman parking area just down the road.  The Congress Trail is a gentle 2.7 mile paved round trip path that goes by some of the largest and well know sequoias in Sequoia National Park.   The trail begins at the General Sherman tree, which is the largest living tree on Earth and stands over 275 feet tall.  Also along the path are the President Tree, Chief Sequoyah Tree, The Senate Group, The House Group, and McKinley Tree.  The President Tree, named after President Warren G. Harding in 1923, is the oldest living sequoia tree at over 3,200 years old (about 250 feet tall).  Curiously, we didn’t see the famous General Lee Tree name on the path.  We speculated that the name was “cancelled” due to him owning slaves and other injustices (which we later confirmed when reading this article).  However, Google Maps still listed the tree and we were able to find it unlabeled.

There are also numerous trails which originate from Lodgepole Campground (some tens of miles long and requiring a backcountry permit for overnight camping in the wild).  One of the most famous is the Tokopah Falls Trail (allow 2 – 3 hours). It’s a roughly 3.8 mile moderately challenging out and back hike which meanders its way up the Kaweah River and comes to a head at the bottom of a 1,200 cascading foot waterfall (although dry during summer and fall months if no rain).  The falls were flowing a little bit during our visit because it had recently rained (hikers previously reported no water flow the week before).  The falls are formed as the marble fork of the Kaweah River slides down a magnificent granite face into the Tokopah Valley.  The trail has areas with sections of stone steps as well as short wood plank bridges.  The last short section of trail is over uneven granite rocks and should be avoided by those with stability issues (the waterfall can still be seen before this section though).  It’s a beautiful hike that passes though forest and meadows.  It’s also common to see bears near the trail in the early morning.  We saw one on our visit.  Sequoia National Park is an active bear area for the American black bear.  It’s mandatory to use the metal bear food lockers to store your food at the campsite.  There are many stories of bear encounters like this one here and this scary one for a camper at Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks.  Be “bear aware” and try never to sneak up on an unsuspecting bear since startling the animal at close range could provoke a defensive attack.  Usually, the bears will hear hikers and stay at a distance or move away.  If a bear approaches, make yourself look big by raising your arms (and if you are in a group huddle together) and make a lot of noise by clapping and yelling.  It’s generally not recommended to try to outrun the bear (unless you have some slower hikers with you!).  The same advice applies to mountain lions which like to chase running prey.

Make sure to visit the Giant Forest Museum during your visit.  The small free museum has some excellent displays and information on sequoias and the area (as well as a nice gift shop).  There’s also a nice one mile round trip meadow hike from the museum.  On the south side of the museum is a short paved road which leads to Beetle Rock, a large granite rock which you can climb on and offers nice mountain views to the south and west.  It’s a great place to watch the sunset.  Speaking of sunsets, if you have time, also plan a visit to Sunset Rock.  Sunset Rock Trail can be accessed across the road from the Giant Forest Museum.  It’s an easy mile forest trail that leads to a large granite dome (Sunset Rock) which offers superb western views (best visited at sunset).  And, speaking of rocks, climbing Moro Rock should be on your radar (as long as you aren’t averse to climbing a bunch of stairs – about 350 steps to the top – or have a fear of heights).  It’s considered a moderately challenging hike, but it is fairly short (only about .5 miles round trip) and can be completed in about half an hour without stopping (there’s a parking lot at its base).  No serious rock climbing is necessary as this granite dome has rock stairs along with metal handrails to keep visitors safe.  The 360 degree views at the top are spectacular, offering sights of an incredible mountain range on one side and looking way out over the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River toward the Great Western Divide of the High Sierra and down to the San Joaquin Valley below on the other (highly recommended).

There’s so much to do in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks that we only scratched the surface during out five night stay at Lodgepole Campground in Sequoia National Park.  We noticed some campers left some days to make long drives (over one hour to the Kings Canyon side of the park) to explore areas, such as Mist Falls and Hume Lake, on the Kings Canyon side of the parks.  But, with the windy roads and drive time of over an hour to cross the parks, we decided to spend most of our time in Sequoia National park and touch the highlight of Kings Canyon National Park (visiting the General Grant Tree at Grant Grove Village) on our way out of the park on our last day.  I’m glad we decided to spend the majority of our time in Sequoia National Park, staying at Lodgepole Campground, because there are more groves of the giant sequoias here.  I would definitely consider coming back in the future and staying within Kings Canyon National park to see some of the waterfalls and other natural wonders though (there are numerous campgrounds within Kings Canyon National Park including:  Azalea Campground, Crystal Springs Campground, and Sunset Campground).  On our way to Grant Grove Village, we refueled at Stony Creek gas station (free WiFi that actually works too!).  There is a visitor’s center and gift shop (the most expensive we visited in the park) at Grant Grove Village as well as some RV parking.  We avoided the two mile round trip hike from Grant Grove Village to the General Grant Tree and back by driving down the road and parking in the small General Grant Tree parking lot.  We got lucky and found a couple of RV spaces to park (there are only around 4 bus/RV spaces).  After viewing the magnificent General Grant Tree, which is just right in front of the parking lot, it got a bit crazy on our way out.  A large tourist bus pulled in and blocked the exit path for a little while.  We were fortunate to have been able to plan our visit to stay during the week and were reminded that, even during the off season, weekends can be very busy in national parks.

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. 

California Central Coast 2022

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California Central Coast 2022
August 20nd – August 27th, 2022 (7 nights)

Santa Barbara
When heading to the Central Coast, Santa Barbara is a great stop.  It’s a beautiful place to visit and we have relatives there with whom we enjoy spending time.  We left our home in Carlsbad early Saturday morning (a must to beat the Los Angeles traffic) and arrived in Santa Barbara in about 3 ½ hours (a quick drive).  We packed breakfast so we could get right out and eat on the road.

On this trip, we visited Montecito, home to the rich and famous (including Meghan Markle and Prince Harry)!  This tony city has a small downtown, called Coast Village, where there are swanky stores and tasty eateries.  It takes about half an hour to walk up and down both sides of the main street.  If you look closely, you may see some famous people (locals told us Ellen DeGeneres hangs out at the Starbucks)!  But, we are more interested in seeing nature and animals, so we headed for the trails right up the road.  One trail close to Coast Village, Hot Springs Canyon Trail, leads to natural hot springs where one can soak in multiple pools (the hottest at the top).  We took the McMenemy Trail for a short hot August late afternoon hike; then dinner with relatives for some delightful paella.

Since check-in time at Islay Creek Campground in Montaña De Oro State Park, about a 45 minute drive up the coast, isn’t until 2 p.m., we had time on Sunday morning to take a hike at the Douglas Family Preserve with my cousin Jon and his wife Ida (as well as with their yellow lab, Charlie).  It’s a beautiful public park high on a mesa above Arroyo Burro Beach overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  Hope Ranch, another exclusive enclave, can be seen on the ridge opposite the park.  Douglas Family Preserve, the largest area of coastal open space within the city limits of Santa Barbara, has over three miles of park trails (and dogs can run wild once inside the park).

We could have stayed in Santa Barbara much longer with so much to see and do, but we had reservations at Islay Creek Campground in Montaña De Oro State Park!

Montaña de Oro State Park
Montaña de Oro State Park is about two hour’s drive north of Santa Barbara and is very close to Morro Bay.  With over 8,000 acres, including seven miles of shoreline, Montaña de Oro is one of the largest state parks in California.  Because Islay Creek Campground within the park has no RV dump station, we dumped our tanks ($7.50) at the 76 Station on Winchester Road in Goleta on the way up the 101.  We also filled our Fresh tank in Santa Barbara, which was good because the water spigots at the park are gravity fed from large drums and, thus, are very slow to fill water jugs.  We arrived at Islay Creek Campground at around 3 p.m.  We had site #16 ($25/night + $7.99 reservation fee).  The spacing between sites is good and each site can accommodate RV lengths of up to 27’ (and tow vehicles can generally park side by side with the trailer).  There is no cell phone reception within the park, but cell phones will work just a short five minute walk up the road to the beach.  The beach is easily accessible and wide, but the surf can be rough with rip tides.  At the water’s edge, there’s a large rock some like to climb onto (it can be more tricky than it looks because of slick sand) — great for photos above the rocks and sea.  One of the first things we explored upon arrival was the Visitor’s Center, housed in the historic Spooner home.  The home was owned a rancher family and has beach views and great docents anxious to tell the history of the place.

Being right inside the park, Islay Creek Campground is the perfect base to explore the many trails that Montaña De Oro State Park has to offer.  The most popular trail, the Bluff Trail, is high up on the bluff and goes on for a couple of miles (about two hours round trip from the campground).  There are spectacular ocean views on the Bluff Trail, featuring dramatic rocks towering high above the rough ocean below as well as pelicans and gulls constantly flying by.  We also had a chance to go into PG&E property (sign in required at entry) and explore the Point Buchon Trail (open 8AM – 5PM, Closed Tuesdays & Wednesdays).  Similar to the Bluff Trail, the Point Buchon Trail has other unique aspects, such as a large sink hole which features an ocean cave and beach!  Security inside the PG&E property is high as the Diablo Canyon (Nuclear) Power Plant is just miles down the road.  We were advised that if we didn’t check out by 4:45 p.m. that a security detail would be sent to get us.  We made sure we were back in time!

There are also some great back country trail hikes right above and behind the campground.  We hiked the Oat Peak Trail, Beebee Trail, and took the Badger Trail through Rattlesnake Flats back down to the Bluff Trail.  Some of the trails go on for over 30 miles.  There are certainly plenty of trail hikes to keep an avid hiker busy for days!

Pismo Beach
Just about forty five minutes south of Montana De Oro State Park (or an hour and a half north of Santa Barbara) is Pismo Beach.  Our favorite campground here is Pismo State Beach North Beach Campground.   We reserved site #29 for four nights – it’s a premium site directly in front of the beach.  To get this type of site, one usually needs to reserve it right when the reservation window opens six months in advance.  This stretch of beach also has a number of private campgrounds, but the campsites at the private campgrounds are generally very tightly spaced together (but many have full hookups).  There are also two fully equipped RV supply stores right across the street from the campground, so if you need any parts for your RV, this location has you covered!

Pismo State Beach North Beach Campground is fantastic.  The campsites are very spread out and the beach is just over a little sandy hill adjacent to the campground.  There are no hookups, but there are water spigots and a central dump ($10 at this time).  We set up our solar panel briefcase to recharge our batteries during the day and used our “Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution” to drain our Grey water tank after a couple of days.  The beach in front of the campground is very wide and beautiful with a great view to the north of the Pismo pier.  There are some nice walking paths that are on the perimeter of the campground.  One goes south on a wooden boardwalk above the beach toward Oceano.  We saw many whales feeding close to shore while walking along this path (look for a “feeding frenzy” – this is when there are swarms of birds low over the water and indicates a run of sardines or anchovies)!  We could see whales popping their heads out of the water as well as blow spouts.  Don’t ever paddle into a feeding frenzy or this could happen!  Another trail from the campground goes into the Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove.  This site hosts over 10,000 butterflies annually.  The Monarch Butterflies flock to Pismo Beach from late October through February, seeking shelter from freezing northern winters.  The butterflies cluster in the limbs of the large Eucalyptus trees that tower over the grove.

Walking over the sand dunes from the campground onto the beach and taking long walks is a favorite activity for many campers here.  We enjoyed walking the sand from the campground to the pier and strolling out to the end of the pier.  Exploring  the town of Pismo Beach is also entertaining. There are a lot of shops and restaurants and plenty to see.   For example, we enjoyed perusing the toys and kites at “The Sky’s The Limit” on Dolliver Street.

We met with my brother-in-law Bob for a couple of days during the trip, and then we needed to replenish our food supplies.  San Luis Obispo County has a number of farmer’s markets and we went to a couple on a Wednesday (Arroyo Grande & Pismo Beach).  We were able to buy farm fresh fruits and vegetables from various farmers.  There are also popular food stores close by, such as Trader Joes and Sprouts markets.

Other notable places within a short drive (or bike ride) of the campground which we enjoyed are Margo Dodd Park and Eldwayen Ocean Park.  Both are ocean front bluff parks which offer great sea life watching, including birds and sometimes whales.  There are giant rocks that rise high out of the ocean which the gulls and pelicans roost on.  We also drove over to Harford Pier, a commercial pier which also has some recommended restaurants on it, and enjoyed walking down the pier.  We saw a playful sea otter diving and surfacing and swimming on his back right below us!  Here’s some video we took from Pismo Beach.

We didn’t stay long enough to explore everything this area has to offer and we definitely would like to come back sometime in the Fall to see the Monarch Butterfly migration.  Our friend Jim who lives in Avila Beach gave us some additional places to visit for next time, like exploring the Architectural Graveyard on the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus,  taking a walking tour of the old Victorian houses in San Luis Obispo, enjoying a docent led tour of the Mission of San Luis Obispo, going to the Mission Plaza, visiting Cave Landing, and having lunch at Fat Cats or Mersea restaurants.   Until 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. 

Central Sierras (Huntington & Shaver Lakes)

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Central Sierras (Huntington & Shaver Lakes)
July 9th – 19th, 2022 (10 nights)

Summer is usually a great time to head for the mountains (which are often inaccessible other times of year due to harsh weather).  A neighbor recommended we visit the Central Sierra, specifically Huntington Lake and Shaver Lake. He has spent a lot of time in this area and reported the lakes to be spectacular.  Because the drive directly from our home in San Diego to Huntington Lake is a long one (over seven hours), we decided to make a couple stops in between to make the drive easier.  We first stopped at my brother’s house in Pacific Palisades (Los Angeles area) for a night.  Then, we headed to a stop in the Central Valley.  Our neighbors, Phil & Claudia, also joining us on this trip with their RPOD trailer, recommended we stay at Success Lake in the Central Valley.  The only hitch (pardon the pun) with this plan is that the temperature during this time of year is often over 100 degrees at Success Lake and our Scamp 13′ didn’t come with AC (see article, “No AC, No Problem”).  Fortunately, I had a couple of weeks to prepare and I was able to build a mounting system for a mini window AC unit.

We were curious about the fully loaded (full Fresh and Hot Water tanks) weight of our Scamp 13’ (with front bathroom), so we stopped at one of the many CAT Certified Scales (big yellow signs with a Cat head) prevalent throughout the Central Valley.  California’s Central Valley, which provides a quarter of the nation’s food (including 40% of the nation’s fruits and nuts), has many public weigh stations due to the considerable amount of trucking in the area.  The California standard weigh fee is currently $13.  At the weigh station, there are multiple scale platforms (designed for tractor trailers) defined by bright yellow outlines.  Just make sure the trailer is on one and the tow vehicle is on another to get an accurate weight.  Push the Call button and the weigh master will print out a weight certificate for you.  Our Scamp weighed in wet (full Fresh, Hot water, and Propane x 2 tanks) at 1840 lbs., which is considered a light trailer.

Success Lake is a recreation lake in the Central Valley and is popular for boating, waterskiing, sailing, kayaking, swimming and fishing.  There are about 103 campsites at the campground, called Tule Campground, and a small marina which has boat rentals.  The campground is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and is a dammed reservoir.  We had an electric hookup site (water also included, free central Dump), site #54, which was $30/night and has a view of the lake.  There was good cell service during our visit (three bars on Verizon and good streaming).  We were also able to pick up 11 clear HD channels over the air on our HD TV.  The campground was nearly empty during our stay and it was easy to understand why – the temperature was well over 100 degrees.  However, the lake was busy with families enjoying the water.  As soon as we hooked up and set up our new window mini air conditioner, we spent most of our time in the Scamp playing games.  We set the temperature inside the Scamp at a nice cool 74 degrees.  The hot weather outside during the day was inhospitable.  Just a short walk was very uncomfortable.  However, the heat cooled a bit by early evening allowing us a walk with our friends along the lake and marina.  The next morning, we left right after breakfast, avoiding the extreme heat of the day (dumping at the free central dump station on the way out).

The flat and arid nature of the Central Valley changes to a mountain landscape with dense pines, after passing Fresno and climbing high up into the lake country.  Once we left Success Lake, it took us about three and a half hours to reach Rancheria Campground (no hookups or dump, but shared water spigots) at Huntington Lake (elevation 7,028 ft.).  Rancheria Campground is a beautiful lakeside campground nestled among tall pines.  There are beaches along the lake and the crystal clear water wasn’t too cold to take a dip.  The lake is known for being windy and popular for sailing.  There is a marina close to the campground.  Our campsite, #74 ($37/night), has a nice view of the lake and is well spaced between other campsites.  This campground has numerous sites with nice lakes views (our favorite sites are #65, #68, #71, #70, #69, #72, #81, #67, #66, #74, #69, #76, #82, and #81).  A bear paid a visit to the campground one night and enjoyed some s’mores left out by campers.  We enjoyed hikes along the lake as well as a long hike up to Rancheria Falls (about four miles from the campground, which took us about 3 hours).  Despite it being July, the waterfall had a really lively flow.  We also had some really fun games of the board game Sequence with our friends.  For an overview video of our stay at Rancheria Campground, click here.

After a couple nights at Huntington Lake, we headed down to Dorabelle Campground (at Shaver Lake, elevation 5,627 ft.) (only about 30 minutes away).  We needed to dump, so we stopped at the only dump station in the area (Camp Edison).  We were scheduled to spend the weekend at Camp Edison, but since we needed to dump outside our stay dates we were charged ($30) – the highest dump fee we have ever paid (it’s usually around $7 – $10).  Dorabelle Campground seems more oriented toward families with beaches jumping with children.  Unfortunately, almost all the campsites (except one) do not have a lake view.  There is no dump here or hookups.  There are shared water spigots.  The cell phone reception is a bit spotty.  Even though this campground did not live up to all our expectations, we still enjoyed our campsite (#31, $42/night) (which was located in a beautiful meadow).  Our Scamp 13’ was often in considerable shade, so we had a chance to try out for the first time our 50’ solar extension cables to allow our solar panels to be positioned out in the sun!  There are many hiking trails adjacent to Dorabelle Campground, giving access to walks through grassy fields filled with beautiful flowers (e.g. lupine) and tall pines.  On our hikes, we saw ospreys flying as well as tree top nests with osprey chicks’ heads bobbing above the rim high above the lake.  We also had the chance to go out on the water when our generous campsite neighbor offered us a lake tour. The lake was very active with people swimming, boating, jet skiing, fishing, and sunbathing.  During the boating excursion, we got out of the boat on a secluded beach and hiked up to Shaver Lake Falls!

We spent our last couple of days in the Central Sierra at Camp Edison, also on Shaver Lake (a utility run campground just 10 minutes down the lake from Dorabelle Campground).  Camp Edison has the feel of a privately run campground with many amenities (including well stocked camp store, adjacent museum, basketball court, volleyball court, walking trails….).  We were about 45 minutes early for the 1 p.m. check in, and, were told we couldn’t check in until exactly 1 p.m.!  This was surprising because we’ve never had an issue with early arrivals in the past at other campgrounds.  Our campsite also was a bit pricey (the most we’ve ever paid for a campsite at $70/night).  The site, #129, was listed as a premium lake side site and we were expecting a grand lake view given the price.  We were a little taken aback when we pulled in and found the site unpaved, not level, and without a lake view from our Scamp (although there is a lake view from the site’s picnic area above the site pad)!  We had electric power (which was good because there was a mini heat wave while we were there and we were able to run our AC system!).  There is no dedicated water hookup at this site, but there is a shared spigot close by.  Luckily, the shared spigot had enough threads that we were able to hook up our hoses (25’ hose + 50’ extension hose) to reach our Scamp without having to haul water up the hill.  Despite some of these issues, we did have an enjoyable stay at Camp Edison.  On our first night, there was a fantastic thunder and lightning storm and a tree was struck by lightning in town.  There is a great museum, The Museum of the Sierra, adjacent to the campground which has wonderful displays which show how the logging and utility industries developed in the area.  There were live demonstrations of machinery including steam engines moving heavy logs and hydroelectric turbines used for power generation.  There was even a free ice cream social put on by the museum volunteers!  And, on Sunday morning, we went on a great guided hike with a couple guides from the Forestry Service.  Overall, we had a really good experience at Camp Edison.

We decided to skip Success Lake (forecast was for 109 degrees) on the way home and head straight to my brother’s house in Pacific Palisades on the coast (about a 5 hour drive from Camp Edison).   A 6AM squirrel alarm allowed us to get an early start!  We had fun playing games and watching a movie with my brother and nephews before heading home to San Diego the next morning.  For an alternative to the Eastern Sierras (e.g. Mammoth Lakes), definitely consider a visit to the Central Sierras and enjoy equally impressive lake and mountain scenery!

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. 

Lake Almanor, Rocky Point Campground (PG&E)

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Lake Almanor, Rocky Point Campground (PG&E)
June 11th – 20th, 2022 (9 nights)

Summer is the perfect time to head up to the mountains, relax and have fun at beautiful lakes.  The weather is usually nice and sunny and not too warm or cold.  On this trip, we chose to visit a relatively unheard of lake, called Lake Almanor (elevation 4,505 ft.), far up in Northern California near Lassen Volcanic National Park (about 5 hours north of San Francisco).  Since the trip is a long distance from our home in San Diego, we chose to make some overnight rest stops before and after reaching Lake Almanor.  On our way up, we stopped at my cousin Jon’s home in Santa Barbara and spent the night.  Our next stop was at my sister’s house in Oakland, where we spent a couple of nights hiking and relaxing with family.  The final leg from Oakland to Lake Almanor took us about 5 hours and we arrived at our campsite, site #52, by the lake around 1:30 p.m.  Returning home, we stopped first in Oakland and then at my brother’s house in Pacific Palisades.  The total trip cost for gasoline was $544 with our 2020 Volvo XC40 tow vehicle averaging around 20 mpg towing our Scamp 13’.

In the Lake Almanor area, Rocky Point campground is one of PG&E’s campgrounds which the utility shares with the public for a reasonable nightly rate.  We paid $30/night for our no hookup site (no hookups are available here) and $7 to use the central Dump station.  Reservation windows for each season become available at different times in the spring and it’s best to check PG&E’s website for details.  It’s also a good idea to reserve your campsite the first morning PG&E’s online reservations system opens.  We reserved two campsites on April 25th (one for us and one for our friends) (the online reservation system actually opened a week earlier but it was only for those making reservations for stays of a week or longer).  Here’s a video of the lake and campground area.

Lake Almanor is actually a reservoir which PG&E uses to generate electricity through a dam (hydroelectric project).  The lake has 52 miles of coastline and was completed by Great Western Power in 1927 and named after the three daughters of a company executive:  Alice, Martha, and Eleanor.  Lassen Volcanic National Park is a short drive away (we didn’t visit this time because we stayed at its Manzanita Lake Campground last summer) and its towering snowcapped Mt. Lassen is visible in the distance of Lake Almanor.  There are plenty of fun things to do at this under-the-radar location and the nice thing is that there are few crowds to deal with here (unlike at Yosemite National Park).  Water activities on Lake Almanor’s 28,000 acres (e.g. boating, stand up paddle boarding, jet skiing, kayaking, fishing, swimming, and sunbathing on the beach) along with hiking and biking on the paved Lake Almanor Recreation Trail (which goes on for miles) are some of the favorites.

We had plenty of engaging activities the four days we stayed at Lake Almanor.  And, best of all, our friends, Phil & Claudia, were able to join us on this trip which made for a seriously fun time!  On our first day, we took a bike ride on the Lake Almanor Recreation Trail (total length around 19 miles round trip).  The ride is moderately challenging with drops and climbs and goes along the lake through forests.  We only completed about 10 miles round trip and travelled from the campground to Pratville (closest small town to the campground) and back.  This little town is made up of several small businesses which include a general store, Carol’s Pratville Café (all the locals rave about the food and ice-cream here), and some small lakeside resorts and cabins.  There are occasional benches on the trail that look out on beautiful views over the lake which make for pleasant rest stops.  Our ride took us about three hours and we were tired when we got back to our campsite.  After our long ride was the perfect time to try out our new hammock!  Lying in the hammock and looking at the lake and sky was totally peaceful and relaxing.  We also had a chance to play one of our favorite games, Sequence, with our friends.

On the following days at the campground, we took more walks (and even walked to the dam) and played more games.  We watched ospreys feeding and even saw one drop a fish into the lake!  We relaxed in our new chairs on the beach and took our inflatable kayak out onto the lake.  We enjoyed watching movies at night in our Scamp 13′.  The weather was beautiful our entire visit (mostly in the 70’s during the day), but early the morning we left it snowed (mid June)!  We saw snow on car’s hoods and a winter wonderland, with the forest blanketed in white powder, as we drove down the mountain!  With so many things to do at Lake Almanor, our only regret is not having spent more time relaxing in our new hammock!  There’s always 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. 

Big Bear Lake, Serrano Campground

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Big Bear Lake, Serrano Campground
May 22nd – 25th, 2022 (3 nights)

Big Bear Lake is a beautiful mountain lake (elevation 6,800’) located about three hours from San Diego.  The area is great for all season activities.  Skiing is very popular at Big Bear’s Bear Mountain and Snow Summit ski areas.  Spring and summer are the perfect time for a camping trip at the lake as the weather is usually nice.  The two main routes to reach Big Bear Lake from Los Angeles and San Diego are going up on CA-330 or CA-38.  Highway 330 is quicker by about 30 minutes, but very windy with repeated hair pin turns and more trafficked compared to CA-38.  Since we weren’t pressed for time and had our Scamp 13’ in tow, we chose CA-38.  We left our home at about 11 a.m. and had a nice leisurely drive up to the campground, arriving around 2 p.m. (check in time) for a late lunch.  The CA-38 has some windy sections, but nothing like the CA-330, so we were very glad we took the slow and less direct approach!  Note:  both our Waze and Google Maps navigators kept trying to reroute us to CA-330 for a while when driving through Redlands.  Instead, we ignored the directions to exit on the 77B/CA-210 Foothill Freeway and stayed on the 10 East and exited on Orange Street and then right on E. Lugonia Avenue (which turns into the CA-38).  In other words, figure out your directions to use the CA-38 before you leave the house!

Serrano Campground is a beautiful campground set amongst tall pines on the north shore of Big Bear Lake.  This side of the lake is not as busy as the south shore where the village with all its shops and restaurants are located.  And, Serrano Campground is fairly isolated and private.   We noticed when pulling into Serrano Campground that there is a free day use area (Meadows Edge Picnic Area) across the street directly on the lake that will accommodate cars/RVs and offers picnic tables and a nice beach.  Meadows Edge seems a perfect spot to have lunch and relax when arriving early before 2 p.m. check in time.  There was no line when we drove up to the Serrano Campground Ranger Station check in kiosk.  We were given a map, told that no bears had been sighted recently (although campsites have bear boxes), and directed to our campsite (#121).  Site #121 (currently $37/night) is in partial shade and has no hookups (although there is a central dump in the campground / currently $10).  There is a water spigot directly across from Site #121 (and many sprinkled throughout the campground).  From this site, it’s only a short walk to the lake and the Alpine Pedal Path (more on this later) from Site #121.  We didn’t get any HDTV signals within our Scamp 13’, but the Verizon cellphone and internet coverage was very good during our stay here.

Although Site #121 is listed within the Lake View section, we found only a few sites actually have a lake view (#115/116, #114, #117).  Our top site picks in the Lake View section are #115/116 (double site costing 2x the price of a regular site = currently $74/night), #114, #117, (#118 and #119 if reserving with families or friends as these sites are close together), #120, #121, and #95.  The other campground loops have road noise from Hwy 38/North Shore Drive (although not too bad).  For those wanting hookups, the Snowberry RV Loop has full hookup sites (currently $47/night).  If possible, we recommend the Lake View Loop since it has less road noise.  We used our briefcase solar panel system for power and Holy Grail Portable Grey Tank Solution to unload grey water, which allowed us to avoid paying $10 more a night for a full hookup site or using the dump our entire three night stay (despite the two of us taking hot showers every night!).

The wonderful smell of butterscotch and vanilla produced by the pines is reason enough to stay within Serrano Campground!  Scientists don’t know why Ponderosa pines smell like cookies baking, but guess the smell may result from a chemical in the sap being warmed by the sun.  Morning walks or bike rides along the Alpine Pedal Path (miles of paved bike/walking path along the lake and through the pine forests) are particularly effective in refreshing the soul.  Studies have shown that getting out in nature and breathing fresh air just produced by trees helps physical well-being by reducing blood pressure, heart rate and stress.  We definitely felt this to be the case during our visit!  We enjoyed morning’s walks along the lake as well as bike rides on the Alpine Pedal Path.  We chose to continue our bike ride across the Stanfield Cutoff which provides a bike path across the end of the lake into the village of Big Bear.  It’s a little over 5 miles from the campground to the end of the Alpine Pedal Path and back along the easy paved path (the path only follows part of the shoreline on the north shore and one end is close to Serrano campground).  Allow a couple of hours to complete the path for a nice time.  There are numerous places to stop and take in the views along with benches and signs with descriptions of the various aspects of Big Bear Lake.

Big Bear Lake also is a great place for water activities like fishing, boating / kayaking, water skiing, and relaxing on the beach.  There are kayak rentals at the dock near the campground.  We didn’t bring our inflatable kayak this time but did see a few campers fishing for trout from the beach.  We could spot a number of large trout close to the shore while walking along the sand.  There is an observatory right on the beach in front of the campground (Big Bear Solar Observatory / BBSO), but public tours have been closed due to Covid.  BBSO had the largest operational solar telescope from 2008 until 2020 (until the introduction of the Inouye Solar Telescope @ 4 meter aperture in Hawaii).  For those who enjoy mountain biking, Big Bear’s ski resorts (Snow Summit and Bear Mountain) turn into lift-served, gravity fed bike parks during the summer.  Riders can ride the lifts to the top and choose a variety of runs to ride their bikes down to the bottom.

If you enjoy animals, plan to visit the Big Bear Alpine Zoo.  The zoo is actually a rehabilitation center and sanctuary for wild animals that need help (e.g. injured, orphaned, and imprinted animals).  The zoo, owned and operated by a division of the County of San Bernardino and established in 1959, releases the vast majority of animals back into the wild after their rehabilitation.  We had a great visit walking the grounds of the zoo and saw a number of incredible animals, including bald eagles, golden eagles, owls, cranes, brown bears, grizzly bears, snow leopards, a white wolf, raccoons, and coyotes, among many others.  Some of the animals are rescued locally and others are from other areas of the country.  For example, we saw a Grizzly bear mother and her two large cubs who were rescued from Yellowstone National Park because they were constantly getting too close to the public.  The mama bear was teaching her cubs to steal food from people.  Most of the animals we saw seemed calm and contented, with the exception of one coyote who appeared distressed (perhaps a recent rescue).  Allow at least an hour to explore the zoo (currently $15 for adult entry).

If hiking is to your liking, there are a plethora of trails to explore.  With only a few days to visit and so much to see, we chose to hike one of the most renowned hikes, Castle Rock Trail.  This 2.7 mile out-and-back trail is moderately challenging and takes a couple of hours to complete (with stops for views).  An easy way to get to the trail from Serrano Campground is drive the CA-38E / North Shore drive (opposite direction than to the Stanfield Cutoff) around the West side of Big Bear Lake to Big Bear Blvd. on the south side of the lake.  The trail parking is on the street on a curve and there isn’t much of it, so best to arrive in the early morning.  There is a trail marker at the start of the trail.  The trail is steep with lots of rocky terrain, so take it slowly and watch your step.  Bring plenty of water and some snacks.  It’s easy to get off the main trail because there are lots of side trails, but there is a solution — follow the rock baskets (cairns) which are easy to see and usually there is one within sight (or within a short walking distance from the last one).  Castle Rock is off to the right near the top and there is a side trail that goes around its backside to the boulders.  We climbed a small portion of the boulders and were rewarded with a great view of the lake far down below.  The Castle Rock Trail continues on, and you can hike up until the trail ends and then on further if you want (at a branch at the top with another couple of trails – one to Bluff Lake)

We really enjoyed Serrano Campground at Big Bear Lake and are already planning another visit.  There are a few areas of interest that were closed or we didn’t have time for during our visit which we hope we’ll be able to explore next time.  We would like to visit the Discovery Center (visitor and nature center), the Big Bear Solar Observatory, the Alpine Slide, hike some more trails, enjoy an evening interpretive program, and perhaps do some kayaking on the lake.  As always, make sure to take some movies to enjoy in your camper at night as well as some of your favorite games (like our favorite, Sequence).  So, if you are looking for a fantastic lakeside getaway, look no further than Serrano Campground at Big Bear Lake!

 

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. 

Alabama Hills Extreme Adventure

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Alabama Hills Extreme Adventure
April 3rd – 9th, 2022 (6 nights)

We expected this trip to be an adventure since it is the first trip we’ve been on where all our planned California campsites would be first come, first serve (no reservations).  When all the campsites on a trip are non-reserved, it is normal to feel a bit uneasy after driving hours and pulling into each camp area!  Questions run through one’s mind, such as:  Will there be a decent place to park and spend the night?, What if the campground is full?, and Where will we go if the campground is sold out?  Definitely, having a potential backup plan is always a good idea just in case no spaces are available upon arriving.  And, planning on arriving early and during the week likely improves one’s odds of getting a spot (or at least gives time to drive to another campground if necessary and arrive there when it’s still light).  We also researched each campground in depth before our trip and arrived at each with a list of the best potential campsite numbers (or general locations) to make finding a spot easier.  As it turned out, we never had a problem getting a first come, first serve campsite on this trip.  Surprisingly, the biggest adventures (and misadventures) were related to the extreme nature of simply accessing some of these more remote camping locations.

The drive to Alabama Hills (near Lone Pine, CA) in the Eastern Sierra is over five hours from our home in San Diego.  So, in order to break up the trip, we chose to stop for overnight stays at a couple of interesting places along the way.  The first stop on our trip is a fantastic location in its own right, Red Rock Canyon State Park.

Red Rock Canyon State Park
Located about 25 miles northeast of Mojave on California Route 14, Red Rock Canyon State Park might remind one of Zion National Park with its tall colorful pink-striped mountain walls.  The spectacular desert cliffs, buttes, and rock formations have striking colors of white clay and red sandstone, pink volcanic rocks, and brown lava formations.  The geography is so striking that it inspired many filmmakers to make movies and television shows here.  Battlestar Galactica, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Buck Rogers, Capricorn One, The Mummy, Zoro Rides Again, Jurassic Park, Westworld, Lost in Space, The Andromeda Strain, and the Twilight Zone are among the many Hollywood productions made at Red Rock Canyon State Park.  For a more comprehensive list, click here.

We pulled into Red Rock Canyon State Park on Sunday around lunch time with our site list in hand, eager to find a great empty spot up against one of the colorful rock formations.  We found the campground to be relatively empty and we secured site #16 (one of our top site picks).  The campsites are dirt and uneven and, in turn, we needed to use our Andersen Leveler to get our Scamp 13’ level along with wheel chocks to secure our Scamp 13’.  The weather was ideal during our April visit – mid 80’s during the day and 60’s at night.  For a fly over of the park, click here.

Once we set up our Scamp 13’, we drove over to the Visitor Center and reserved our site #16 for the night and paid the campsite fee ($25/night).  There is a central dump ($20 as of this writing) and fill station at the Visitor Center.  We also did a little shopping and purchased some park t-shirts and a California State Parks cap in the small gift store.  There are also free water spigots throughout the campground.  After a great lunch of gnocchi and Bolognese sauce, we hiked the Desert Trail to the top rim above the campground at sunset.  The trails at the top of the cliffs provide magnificent views of the desert landscape below.  The colors and depth of the scenery around sunrise and sunset is especially enchanting.  Wildlife one might see hiking in the park include desert tortoises, snakes, foxes, eagles, hawks, White-throated Swifts, bobcats, and small animals like lizards, mice, and squirrels.  The canyon walls turn red at sunrise and sunset, so it’s a good idea when visiting to try to get outside your trailer during these hours.  Right before dark, we switched on our Scamp underlighting set to green — under trailer rv lighting apparently can help keep rodents away and the color green has been shown to make mice sleepy!  After watching a good movie in the evening, we went to bed, but were woken in the middle of the night by an extremely loud howling wind storm.  Even after trying ear plugs and a white noise app on our cell phone, it was still possible to hear the wind.  Luckily, since there are no hookups at this campground, we were fully ballasted with water (approximately 150 lbs. of water) which helped at least a bit in keeping our travel trailer from shaking too much.

There is only very spotty internet throughout the campground, but the Visitor Center provides free WiFi which worked pretty well.  Additionally, we were successful at getting a good cell signal and mobile data on the top rim above the campground.  There is a nice bench at the top which looks out over a valley and we sat on several occasions enjoying the view with good internet, and making phone calls.  The next morning we did another short hike before refilling our Scamp 13’ with fresh water (along with our three 6 gallon water jugs) and driving on to our next planned location, the Trona Pinnacles.  Note:  make sure to use a good dolly when moving water as it can be very heavy.

The Trona Pinnacles
The Trona Pinnacles, about 10 miles south of Trona, California, are strange rock formations that rise high (some over 100 feet high) above a dry lake basin (Searles Lake).  The tufa spires are composed of calcium carbonate, formed by water deposits.  The tufas sit isolated on miles of a flat dried mud basin and have an eerie presence.  Over a dozen hit movies have been filmed here along with many car commercials and television shows (including Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek V:  The Final Frontier, Lost in Space, and Planet of the Apes).  For a comprehensive list click here.

The drive from Red Rock Canyon State Park to the Trona Pinnacles is supposed to be about an hour and a half.  The area, managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), is accessed via a long (5 mile) dirt road off State Highway 178.  Despite researching how to access the Pinnacles and instructions on this dirt road, we still managed to have a major misadventure!  After a series of unfortunate events (lack of signs, wrong turns, continually narrowing roads), we found ourselves on a grueling ATV trail with no easy and safe way to turn around.  We continued on over an hour (10 miles) of slow off-road driving south of Trona Pinnacles in 100 degree heat in April — the road sometimes taking steep dips with large rock center mounds!  The trick to preventing the Scamp from bottoming out whenever high rocks appeared on the center mound was to keep one side of the car as high as possible by driving on the center mound.  Avoiding plants and rocks on the sides as well as limiting the vehicle lean angle to prevent tipping was also important.  There were times when all tires on our AWD tow vehicle slipped on soft sand during steep climbs and lost traction, so we had to ease back a little and try the hill again.  Here’s a short video from our off road drive!

When we finally arrived at the Pinnacles from the south, we noticed our shower water pump (which hangs down really low below the Scamp) was damaged.  Because of the heat and our broken pump situation, we decided to head directly to the closest town (Ridgecrest) for repairs.  Fortunately, a local RV repair shop took us right in and replaced the water pump.   While we waited for the repair, we decided we had enough of the Trona Pinnacles and didn’t want to venture back.  So, instead, we decided to go to another location we had heard good things about called Fossil Falls (which is on the way to Alabama Hills).

Fossil Falls
Just one hour north of Ridgecrest on Highway 395 (about halfway to Lone Pine / Alabama Hills), Fossil Falls is a BLM campground that’s relatively easy to reach (short dirt access road not far from the highway).  The Fossil Falls Campground (elevation 3,307 feet) has only 11 developed campsites (first come, first serve) with picnic tables and grills, but only 4 are recommended for trailers and RVs (4,5,6, & 8).  The other campsites are generally smaller, not as level, and harder to get into.  Despite arriving late in the day, most of the trailer/RV sites were still empty when we pulled into the campground.  We chose site #5, parked our Scamp 13’ at this pull through and level spot, and then walked down to the Iron Ranger box to submit our payment ($6/night at the time of this writing).  We knew in advance that these boxes only accept cash or check, so we brought plenty of $5’s and $1’s.  To see a fly over of Campsite #5 and the Fossil Falls Campground, click here.

There are no hookups at this campground; however, there is a water pump.  Expecting water spigots, we were a little surprised when we found the water pump.  It’s actually a real manually operated pump and wrestling the pump to get the water out of the ground takes some effort!  We didn’t even try to fill our Scamp 13’ fresh tank here since we planned to dump our Black and Grey tanks and refill our Fresh water tank the next day at a private RV park along the way to the Alabama Hills.  It seems it would take a lot of work and time to get a measurable amount of water out of the pump!  To see a video of me trying out the manual water pump, click here.

Fossil Falls Campground is a very unique campground in that is at the base of a cinder cone volcano (Red Hill) and the area is strewn with lava rocks, giving the area an otherworldly feel.  Camping close to the base of the volcano amid fields of volcanic rock is an unusual experience!  Close to the campground (a trail leads to the trailhead from Campsite #1), is a short trail to the “falls”.  Between 10,000 and 400,000 years ago, lava flowed in the area.  Glaciers formed in the last ice age melted and the water flows ran through the lava rocks at Fossil Falls to create smooth and unusually shaped volcanic rocks.  Once at the volcanic rock “falls”, don’t get too close as there is a big drop to the bottom of the gorge.

The next morning we noticed a few more campers set up at adjacent campsites.  We were glad we left our green under lighting on throughout the night since, not only may it help keep rodents away, the lights may also prevent someone from accidently driving into the trailer when arriving at the campground in the dark of night.  After a nice breakfast and hike to Fossil Falls, we packed up and headed to our next destination, a place to dump and fill fresh water (Boulder Creek RV Resort).

After a lot of research and phone calls, we discovered that RV dumping facilities in this area are scarce!  There is a dump station and water at Tuttle Creek Campground in Lone Pine – but, it is only seasonally operated and was not running during our trip.  Someone mentioned that the RV park in the town of Olancha (the town south of Lone Pine) has an RV dump, but we were told there is no dump available when we called.  We contacted the Boulder Creek RV Resort in Lone Pine a couple of times and were given conflicting information regarding if dumping facilities were available.  We decided to risk it, because our trip would quickly be over if we couldn’t dump (our Black tank was already at 50% after a couple of days on the road).  After about a 45 minute drive, we pulled up to the Boulder Creek RV Resort in Lone Pine.  The first thing I noticed before opening the glass door to the office at Boulder Creek RV Resort is the big lettering on the glass which says “No Public Dump”.  I was told at the front desk that they get very busy and usually don’t have time to deal with campers who aren’t staying overnight at their campground (we were quoted $65/night for a full hookup site).  After repeatedly explaining that we couldn’t find a place to dump in the area, we were allowed to use one of the small campsites (#27) for $25 to dump and fill fresh water.  We were prepared to rent a campsite at Boulder Creek RV Resort for the night at $65 in case they didn’t allow us to dump so we would be able to spend 4 nights in the Alabama Hills.  Fortunately, this wasn’t necessary!

Make sure to stop at the Lone Pine Visitor Center on the way to the Alabama Hills!  It’s a very large center with lots of information on the Alabama Hills and the area.  Plus, there’s plenty of great merchandise like t-shirts and hats!

Alabama Hills
Alabama Hills is an awe inspiring location just outside the small town of Lone Pine in the Eastern Sierra (about a five hour drive north east of San Diego).  The area sits at the base of the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada in the Owens Valley and features a dramatic mountain range, hills, and incredible large round boulder rock formations.  Mt. Whitney, the highest mountain in the contiguous United States at 14,505 feet, along with other high snowcapped mountains, forms a panoramic backdrop to enjoy while camping and exploring in the Alabama Hills.  Countless movies, television shows, and commercials have been filmed here.  The first movies to be filmed in the hills were Water, Water Everywhere and Cupid, the Cow Puncher, both released in 1920 (now considered lost films).  The oldest surviving film shot in the hills is “The Roundup” (released 1920) starring Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, which includes a cameo from his friend Buster Keaton.  Most major Western actors of the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s were filmed riding their horses amid the rocks of the Alabama Hills which include John Wayne, Gregory Peck, Gary Cooper, Gene Autry, Tom Mix, Randolph Scott, Robert Mitchum, William Boyd, and Roy Rogers.  Other famous movies and television shows filmed here include Gunga Din, Tremors, Iron Man, Bad Day at Black Rock, How the West Was Won, Django Unchained, Gladiator, Man of Steel, Star Trek Generations, Around the World in 80 Days, Star Trek 5:  The Final Frontier, and Firefly.  For an extensive list click here.

There are several campgrounds in the Lone Pine area (Tuttle Creek Campground, Lone Pine Campground, Portuguese Joe Campground, and Diaz Lake Campground).  The only one which we identified as having a dump station is Tuttle Creek Campground; it has water spigots and a central dump station when in season (however, these were still off for winter during our early April visit).  After researching all the campgrounds, our plan was to stay within the Alabama Hills (BLM dispersed camping area / no fee) because of the most dramatic views and movie making history.  The unsettling thing about camping in the Alabama Hills is that there are no reservations and the campsites, although somewhat defined, are scattered throughout the landscape and have to be searched out (most of which are off the main road on dirt roads – some of which are a bit harsh for towing campers).  We read before going that the best sites for trailers are ones very close to the main road.  To give us the best possible chance of finding a decent spot, we arrived early in the day and during the week (Tuesday morning).  Our backup plan in case we couldn’t find a campsite in the Alabama Hills was to stay at Tuttle Creek Campground because it has nice mountain views as well (just not as dramatic a setting as the Alabama Hills, a campground feel, and ten to fifteen minutes farther from town).

Getting to the Alabama Hills is really easy; it’s just a five minute drive up Whitney Portal Road from downtown Lone Pine and a right turn onto Movie Flat Road.  Movie Flat Road is paved for a little while and then turns to dirt.  Our goal was to try to find a campsite as early as possible before going too far back so we would have a quick drive to town and, perhaps, a chance of an internet connection (but, as it turned out, we experienced only a fading one bar of Verizon service with occasional text coming though).  On our first pass, we didn’t see any campsites that stood out and we quickly found ourselves at the end of the paved road and onto the dirt road.  And, having experienced our misadventure at the Trona Pinnacles earlier in the trip, we weren’t in any mood to do extreme off-road adventuring.  We turned around and this time slowly made our way back down the paved Movie Flat Road toward Whitney Portal Road.  This time we took it slowly and decided to drive down one of the main dirt roads.  And, we discovered, there are numerous places to set up a campsite and we found one high up on the hill directly below a tall wall of interesting rock formations.  We were told by a ranger at the Lone Pine Visitor Center that the only camping allowed was on the right side while driving up Movie Flat Road (and there are BLM marker signs as well).  The BLM is currently in the process of implementing a permit system and plans to better define camping areas to mitigate over use of the area; we were told that this will be happening very soon.  As it turns out, our experience off-roading at the Trona Pinnacles gave us plenty of confidence here in the Alabama Hills.  In fact, we found ourselves judging the dirt roads with ease and picking out safe routes to locate a campsite.  After a short bit of driving, we found an excellent campsite high up on the hill with a panoramic view of the Eastern Sierra (including unobstructed views of Mt. Whitney)!!!  To see a video of us driving through the Alabama Hills and our campsite, click here.

The key to finding a good campsite within the Alabama Hills is to take one’s time and go slowly.  Stay on the better dirt roads and avoid any that have steep dips.  If unsure, stop and walk or bike the dirt road to where you think might be a good campsite.  We found that there are many good dirt roads at the start of the Alabama Hills (just a few minutes up Movie Flat Road).  Also, only set up camp at a relatively flat site and make sure to bring heavy duty wheel chocks to secure your trailer on the dirt.  The site we found was flat but was high up on a hill, so, for peace of mind, we parked our tow vehicle in front of our trailer in the unlikely event it rolled forward.

When planning a trip to the Alabama Hills, it’s helpful to understand how you use your trailer’s resources because there are no dump stations, fresh water spigots, electrical hookups, or propane refilling stations in the Alabama Hills (completely dry camping).  First, and perhaps most important, is how long your Black and Grey tanks take to fill and how quickly your Fresh tank is depleted.  The Grey and Fresh tank concerns can be addressed to extend your stay.  Grey water can be dumped into jugs (see Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution).  Our Grey tank usually fills in about two to three days.  And fresh water can be filled into fresh water jugs and transported with your tow vehicle to resupply your trailer’s Fresh tank.  We can go about one and a half days before our 12 gallon fresh water tank is empty (using about 8 gallons of fresh water per day for nightly showers, sink washing, and toilet flushes).  We made friends with a local teenager working at a car wash in town and he let us fill our three 6 gallon fresh water jugs (we used our own hose with a water filter for better purity).  We also found, while visiting new camper friends we made on this trip, water spigots at Diaz Lake Campground (just 5 minutes down the road from Lone Pine) – although, these are probably only meant for people staying at this public campground.  The Black tank usually turns out to be the Achilles’ heel for long stays, as the only way to drain it is by going to a Dump station (unless you want to deal with portable Black tanks, generally not recommended).  So, when the Black tank is full, the only choice is to either pack up, dump, and return or to end your stay in the area.  We planned to stay four nights in the Alabama Hills and this worked out to be the amount of time it took to fill our Black tank.  Lastly, although we did see a propane dealer in Lone Pine, it’s best to arrive with full tanks (we recommend two full 20lb tanks) so there are no worries about keeping the propane refrigerator, hot water heater, and gas stove operational.  We found we had more than enough propane for the week from just a single tank running our refrigerator 24/7, our hot water heater for evening showers, and our gas stove for daily meals.  But, if it had happened to be really cold at night, a second propane tank would have provided ample resources for running the furnace.

Another consideration when dry camping for a number of days in the Alabama Hills is power.  We brought our solar panel briefcase along and it provided ample power for the duration of the trip.  Right before the trip, we also purchased a 50’ extension cable for our solar briefcase so that, if necessary, the solar panels could be located a distance away from the trailer to better capture the sun.  Because the area can get very windy, we opted to place the backs of our solar panels flat down directly against the ground instead of propping them up with their stands, and this turned out to be an excellent strategy!  There was a violent wind storm our first night and the solar panels didn’t even move!  In fact, we left them in their position the entire five days of our stay and they performed really well, providing plenty of power.  Having the Jackery 500 lithium power station also allowed us to charge all our accessories (cell phones, electric toothbrush, drone batteries, camera) and run our 12V television for movie nights without concern about depleting our Scamp’s battery.  When we weren’t watching movies at night or star gazing (more on that coming up), we enjoyed playing one of our favorite games (Sequence or Backgammon).

We learned on our past trip to Valley of Fire State Park (NV) that it’s good to have plenty of cash while travelling  (especially in small bills, $5’s and $1’s).  On the Nevada trip, we were confronted with an Iron Ranger (steel pay box in place of a live Ranger) which only accepted checks and cash.  That time, we barely had enough cash to cover our two night stay.  We don’t use checks because there is risk the bank account might be compromised due to the check having both the owner’s account and routing numbers listed on it.  On this trip, having cash was especially helpful.  Not only did we stay at a BLM campground (Fossil Falls) which has an Iron Ranger, but we also needed cash to pay for our horseback rides and lavender product souvenirs.  We now hide an envelope of two to three hundred dollars cash in small bills in our Scamp 13’ so that it is there if needed.

Once you’ve arrived with enough food and drinking water for your stay, a completely full Fresh tank and empty Black and Grey tanks, full Propane tanks, cash, have found your perfect spot in the Alabama Hills and set up your solar panels, it’s time to relax, enjoy the landscape, and have fun!  Looking out at the panoramic views of the Easter Sierra and snowcapped peaks, we felt like we were in Switzerland.  The sights are so amazing here that they are worth the trip even if you do nothing else but sit back in a relaxing chair and take in the scenery.  But, there are so many fun and interesting things to see and do, you probably don’t want to just sit around.  Make sure to have breakfast (cinnamon rolls, breakfast burritos, and pancakes) and lunch (burgers, tuna melts, ….) at the Alabama Hills Café, a local favorite diner in downtown Lone Pine.  Also, be sure to visit the Museum of Western Film History ($5 per person).  The museum has galleries full of pictures and memorabilia from movies filmed in the area.  In the museum’s screening room, watch their educational film for a great background on the movie industry in Lone Pine and the Alabama Hills.  To see an old Western film made in the Alabama Hills, click here.

Hiking some of the trails within the Alabama Hills is a definite highlight.  Walking amongst the large round boulders with the snowcapped mountains in the background is breathtaking.  However, if you only walk one trail, park at the Mobius Arch Loop Trailhead and walk the short loop (less than 30 minutes) to see the famous Mobius Arch (a very unusual rock formation which has a dramatic arch and large hole in the middle).   The Heart Arch can also be seen on this short easy hike.  In fact, there are a myriad of different arches formed by unusual rock formations found throughout the Alabama Hills and some like to try to find as many as possible!  Another great thing to do in the Alabama Hills is star gaze (as well as astrophotography)!  The night sky is very bright and filled with stars, so sit back, relax, and look up.  You may be amazed at what you see!  We saw a strange light race across the sky, come to a complete stop in midair, change color from white to orange above our heads, and completely reverse its direction!  More amazingly, we captured it on our camera by chance by taking a 15 second exposure of what we thought was an interesting jet flying over!  Of course, Alabama Hills is close to the mysterious and top secret Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake, so perhaps it was a top secret military aircraft.  For now, we’ll label it as unidentified (UFO).

The following day was spent on more serious thoughts during a visit to Manzanar National Historic Site (National Park Service), about a twenty minute drive north of Lone Pine on Highway 395.  During WWII (1942), the U.S. Government rounded up Japanese immigrants and Japanese American citizens and imprisoned them in military style “internment” camps.  More than 110,000 men, women, and children were ordered to leave their homes and be detained in one of ten camps.  Manzanar, located at the base of the Eastern Sierra, was one of these camps.  Over 11,000 people were detained here and the last few hundred internees left in November 1945, a few months after the war ended.  Many had spent over three years at Manzanar.  We chose to quietly walk the entire camp for a more personal encounter than experienced from an auto tour.  Walking through the mess halls, listening to the stories told by real internees (via audio exhibits/viewing photographs), exploring the gardens, hospital grounds, and cemetery made us think deeply about what happened here and this dark period of American history.  It was difficult to reconcile the contrast between the beauty of the snowcapped Sierras on a wonderful sunny spring morning under sparkling dark blue skies and the stark and severe story of this place while walking the grounds.  Entrance to Manzanar is free and a visit might leave a lasting impression as it did with us.

On our last day, we enjoyed a fun horseback ride above the Alabama Hills (about a 15 minute drive from our campsite).  We called two days in advance to reserve the ride.  Julie, from De La Cour Ranch, has friendly horses and provides a wonderful 1 ½ hour ride ($50 per person at the time of our ride) above the hills overlooking the mostly dry Owens Lake (salt bed) as well as the Eastern Sierra.  We found the ride relaxing and some of us got a chance to trot a bit.  One member of our group (rides usually limited to about four riders) is a beginner and her horse was tethered to Julie’s lead mule for added safety.  Julie’s two dogs also joined the ride and ran along the entire way!  To see a video of our ride, click here.  Julie also rents cabins on her ranch (for all of your non-camping friends who want to join you on your adventures) and she makes natural lavender products from her lavender fields and distillery, which she shares with all her ranch guests.  After our ride, we enjoyed a nice lunch with our new camping friends at the Alabama Hills Café.  We left Alabama Hills behind us the next morning, but we were already looking forward to a future visit.

 

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. 

Exploring Remote Jalama Beach and Lake Cachuma (Santa Barbara County)

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Exploring Remote Jalama Beach and Lake Cachuma (Santa Barbara County)
March 6th – 13th, 2022 (7 nights)

The California coast is beautiful in late winter / early Spring and provides the perfect transition from winter desert camping.  On this trip, we were accompanied by a number of friends:

  1. one family of three and a friend plus their Great Pyrenees dog in a rented 27’ motorhome
  2. neighbor friends couple in their RPOD trailer
  3. friend couple from Oxnard in their Class A Southwind 32’ motorhome

For this adventure, we chose two beautiful campgrounds in Santa Barbara County.  The first campground we visited was Jalama Beach, a remote beach location about an hour north of downtown Santa Barbara and close to Vandenberg Air Force Base.  Since the drive from San Diego to Jalama Beach is a long one (about 5 hours), we decided to break up the trip by stopping for lunch in the small beach town of Carpinteria along the way.  We discovered, by chance, a park above the beach called Viola Fields (which happens to be a sanctioned model aircraft field!).  There’s a nice bluff trail here which looks down over the sea and the Carpinteria Seal Sanctuary.  There were lots of seals to view during our visit!

After a nice lunch in our Scamp, some drone flying and Frisbee games over Viola Fields, and a leisurely hike along the railroad tracks to the Seal Sanctuary overlook, we headed back onto the 101 North toward Santa Barbara.  Following an hour and a half drive and the 14.5 mile curvy road from the freeway to the coast, we arrived at the remote Jalama Beach Campground at around 4 p.m.  We chose a no-hookup site (#72, $30/night) close to the sand (2nd row) with some ocean views.  The wind was howling (Jalama Beach is known for being very windy) and we spent the evening in our friends’ rented motorhome playing the game Sequence for the first time (which we really enjoyed).  The location is very isolated and there wasn’t any cellphone service or HDTV signals.  However, we were able to log onto the free campground WiFi and use the internet and make phone calls (using WiFi calling).  The internet speed was decent for simple browsing, internet, and phone calls (at least for my phone).

Jalama Beach is located on a beautiful wide sandy beach and the campground has around 107 campsites (with 31 sites having electrical hookups).  There are water spigots throughout the campground and a free central dump station.  The beach is great for all sorts of activities, including walking, surfing, kite flying, surf fishing, fat tire e-bike riding, rock collecting, and more!  Jalama Beach has a grill restaurant that serves their “world famous” Jalama Burger.  We tried the burger and it is very good and juicy!  We road bikes, flew kites (including my new Scuba Diver kite!), explored during the day and played games and watched movies at night (and had a campfire and made s’mores one night)!  I flew my radio-controlled CR Climax sailplane over the bluffs one afternoon.  Riding bikes on the sand is super fun, especially since the beach goes on for over a mile!  One thing to be careful of though is tar on the sand.  As we discovered, it is very difficult to remove tar from shoes (our friend recommends rubbing olive oil and leaving on the tar for several minutes and then rubbing off).  The best defense though is to take a pair of beach shoes or flip flops that you just use when on the sand.

Following a couple of relaxing days and nights at Jalama Beach (and some beautiful sunsets), we packed up and headed to Cachuma Lake (around a one hour drive).  Cachuma Lake campground is very large and is located on one side of the lake.  Our site, #106 ($45/night), has full hookups and a partial lake view.  We walked the campground with our friends and identified some nice looking dry camping sites with beautiful lake views for possible future visits (#315, #313, #455, #453, #289, #288, #230, #231).  We arrived in the afternoon and had a nice lunch at the HOOK’d Bar and Grill (with outdoor seating overlooking Lake Cachuma).  There is a tackle shop (sells fishing licenses too) and a boat ramp near the restaurant to accommodate fishermen.  Lake Cachuma is a big fishing destination featuring trout, bass, and crappie.  Our friend rented a pontoon boat and caught a rainbow trout during our stay.  There are plenty of trails for hiking and biking around the campground.  Our friends told us they took a fantastic nature walk with a park host on Saturday after we left (sign up in person at the Nature Center).  Additionally, there are guided lake cruises by Lake Cachuma park naturalists on Saturdays and Sundays (Adults $15, Kids $10).  Reservations should be made as early as possible as these tours sell out.  Lastly, there is a world class Frisbee golf course that is very expansive.  Frisbee rentals can be obtained at the Lake Cachuma store (which also has a gas station and propane refill station).  Overall, we had a relaxing stay for a few days and nights at Lake Cachuma.  The campground was pretty quiet and it seemed there were a number of snowbirds camped out here for several months.

The last stop on our trip was at my cousin’s house in Santa Barbara, located only about 30 minutes down the CA-154 from Lake Cachuma.  We had fun walking within the Douglas Family Preserve, strolling Shoreline Park, having lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Santa Barbara (Taco Pipeye), and exploring the Ellwood Monarch Sanctuary.  The highlight of our trip to Santa Barbara was seeing my cousins and having a nice dinner with them in downtown Santa Barbara.

On this trip we learned that one doesn’t have to travel very far to have a fulfilling getaway if the holiday is combined with beautiful locations, close friends and family, and fun things to do together (like games, hikes/bikes, kites, and meals).  So, don’t hesitate to book a quick trip close by and make sure to pull the above elements together to ensure a happy adventure!  RV there yet?

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. 

Feeling the Warmth in Southern Arizona  

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Feeling the Warmth in Southern Arizona  
February 6th – 15th, 2022 (9 nights)

Southern Arizona is a beautiful and fun place to visit during the winter.  Sunny skies, warm weather, and clear starry nights attract people from all over the world seeking winter warmth.  However, these are not the only reasons to plan a winter trip to the southern Sonoran Desert.  There are plenty of fun things to do along with some great campgrounds at which to stay.

On this trip, we left our home in San Diego and followed the 8 East freeway which parallels the southern border with Mexico.  In order to limit a long drive time to the first campground, we stopped overnight at a Boondocker’s Welcome location in Yuma, Arizona.  Yuma is in Arizona’s southwest corner and, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is the “Sunniest City on Earth”, promising sunshine and warm weather 91% of the year.  Because of this great weather, Yuma also is very strong agriculturally, producing over 175 types of crops and providing over 90% of all leafy vegetables in the United States!

After our three hour drive to Yuma, we pulled into the adjacent empty lot next to our Boondocker’s Welcome hosts’ home in their RV community.  We were provided full hookups including fast WiFi for only the small price of the Boondocker’s Welcome annual membership!  We always give the hosts a small gift though for their generosity.   Since we arrived late in the afternoon, we didn’t explore Yuma’s old town.  Instead, we had a late lunch and walked around the very flat and wide streets which are surrounded by desert.  We headed for our first campground, Twin Peaks Campground, the next morning.

We followed the 8 freeway east through the Sonoran Desert and turned off on the 85 south at Gila Bend and headed straight toward the Mexican border.  After a few hour drive from Yuma and passing through a few small towns (e.g. Ajo population 2841), we reached Twin Peaks Campground within the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument park (just a few minutes from the border crossing at Lukeville).  The desert landscape here is accentuated by tremendous giant saguaro cacti, which also dot the campground.  Almost every campsite within Twin Peaks Campground has a beautiful giant saguaro cactus.  The campsites here are very spread out and private.  Ours was #57 ($20/night when we reserved), an end spot with a water spigot very close by.  There are no hookups here, which give this very remote location an even more far off feel.  Cell phone service in the campground is spotty.  We used our solar panel briefcase for charging our batteries and our grey tank jugs so we wouldn’t have to move our Scamp 13’ to dump until leaving (there is a free central dump station here).

When we arrived at Twin Peaks Campground, the park ranger advised us to keep our car hood open at night due to the pack rat problem (they like confined closed spaces and will chew through car wiring!).  We were also told to avoid contact with people wandering in the desert as they likely are smugglers or illegal immigrants.  The ranger said these people use black water bottles to avoid sunlight reflections which could get them noticed by border patrol agents.  Note:  we didn’t see any such activity during our three day visit and the campground felt very safe due to a well-populated campground, a good park ranger presence, as well as a lot of border patrol agents scouting right outside the campground.  On a remote path, we did see a high blue flag in the air marking two large blue barrels of water sitting on the desert sand, set up by the organization called Humane Borders to help immigrants in need of water while crossing the desert.  The yellow city lights from the Mexican town of Sonoyta are visible from the campground at night.

There are a lot of fun trails originating from within the Twin Peaks Campground.  We hiked the Palo Verde Trail to the Visitor’s Center on our first day (an easy 2.6 mile round trip hike).  Along this path, one can view magnificent giant saguaro cactus (some over 50 feet tall and 150 years old!) as well as the namesake Organ Pipe cactus (usually with multiple limbs clumped together at the base).   Every morning and evening, we walked along the Campground Perimeter Trail (an easy desert loop around Twin Peaks Campground).  And, we spent a half day hiking to the old Victoria Mine (4.5 miles round trip).  The Victoria Mine Trail is an easy desert trail with some ups and downs, crossing several arroyos (washes).  There is a historic old mining structure (mines are closed for safety) at the end of the trail. And, the Desert View Trail is another one not to miss and best hiked around sunset.  It’s an easy 1.2 mile loop (about an hour hike) with spectacular vistas of the Senita Basin and the La Abra Plain to the southwest and the Sonoyta Valley to the southeast.  There are good plant markings and benches along the trail.  There’s also a great view looking down over the Twin Peaks Campground from the top of the trail.  There are a variety of other trails to hike as well if time permits.  Always make sure to sign your names in the trail book when starting hikes so your whereabouts are known in case of emergency and carry plenty of water.  Avoid hiking when it is hot or in the middle of the day.  Biking is allowed along the roads, but be careful of loose slippery sand as well as traffic (and don’t go too fast).  The closest hospital from the campground is about 2 hours away (although there is a small community clinic, Desert Senita Community Health Center, about 30 minutes away in the town of Ajo which can handle minor injuries such as stitches).

Our next stop was Gilbert Ray Campground on the outskirts of Tucson (a 2 ½ hour drive from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument) and next to the Saguaro National Park.  Our campsite was #C16 ($20/night), which has a water spigot very close to it.  These campsites do have electric hookups, but no other hookups.  There is a free central dump station.  We were surprised by very fast Verizon internet at this campground – we clocked over 100Mbps download and over 20Mbps upload at our campsite!  The HD TV reception, being close to Tucson, was also excellent and we watched the Olympics at night in our Scamp 13’.  The campsites at Gilbert Ray feel closer together and not as private (or as remote) as the ones at Twin Peaks Campground.  However, the proximity to Tucson allowed us to visit the Pima Air & Space Museum!  We spent a fantastic day touring the museum which is filled with airplanes and helicopters (both indoors and out).  We had a nice lunch too at the museum’s “Flight Grill”.  This museum is right next to the largest airplane bone yard in the world, home to almost 4,000 mostly retired aircraft laid out over 2,600 acres.  The dry heat and low humidity in Tucson is ideal for airplane storage because aircraft take longer to rust and degrade.  Additionally, desert land is plentiful and cheap and the earth is hard enough to prevent aircraft from sinking into the ground.

After a few nights at Gilbert Ray Campground, we headed an hour east to the Kartchner Caverns Campground.  The main attraction here are the caves, and reservations are recommended for tours.  We had campsite KTC-49 ($30/night + $5 reservation fee) with electric and water hookups (there is a free central dump station).  There is plenty of space between campsites and trees filling the campground space.  We had very limited Verizon internet, although the campground provides free WiFi (which worked sparingly when sitting outside).  We enjoyed the Visitor’s Center and a cave tour (no photos allowed on most tours) which lasted over an hour and featured some amazing large rooms with stalactites, stalagmites, and columns.  There is even a music / light show during the $23 per person tour.  We spent one night here, which seemed to be enough time to take a cave tour.  The next morning, we had to try an early lunch at Mi Casa (a highly recommended Mexican restaurant close by in Benson, Arizona) before heading back to Yuma.  We arrived right at 11 a.m. for lunch because we read the place fills up fast with long waits!  Fortunately, we found parking in front of the restaurant for our tow vehicle and Scamp 13’ and we just got a table before the place filled up within minutes of opening!  We were not disappointed with the food – some of the best Mexican food we have ever had (and we’ve travelled throughout Mexico!).  The homemade chips and salsa, enchiladas, carrot cake, and flan were beyond exceptional!   It’s too bad this restaurant is in such a remote area or we would be coming back!  We spent the last night of our trip back at the same Boondocker’s Welcome home in Yuma after a 4 ½ hour drive from Kartchner Caverns.

If you are looking for some warmth in winter, give southern Arizona a try.  The campsites are great and the people are very friendly.  Arizona has numerous public campgrounds throughout the state and many campers choose to spend the entire winter here.  It’s easy to see why; the weather and nature are breathtaking!

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.