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Mono Lake

Washoe Lake State Park September 19th – September 30th, 2026 (12 nights)

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Washoe Lake State Park
September 19th – September 30th, 2026 (12 nights)

Washoe Lake State Park lies just over the Carson mountain range east of Lake Tahoe in the scenic Washoe Valley (about 45 minutes drive from Nevada Beach Campground at Lake Tahoe).  Nestled between Carson City and Reno, Washoe Valley State Park offers spectactular expansive views of the Carson and Virgina Mountain ranges and features wild mustangs as well as lenticular cloud formations.  We were initially intrigued to visit primarily for the wild horses, but found so many other interesting and fun things to do that we can easily recommend this place as a top travel destination.  If possible, stop ovenright at one or two locations along the way if travelling form Southern California to break up the trip.

Lone Pine Campground (5,900’ elevation)
Lone Pine is about the halfway point between Carlsbad and Reno (located about 4.5 – 5 hours beween the two cities).  Because it was still warm in the area during our visit in late summer, we chose to stay at Lone Pine Campground, which is a couple thousand feet higher in elevation than Lone Pine and, in turn, cooler. Before heading to the campground (easy drive), we stopped in town and had lunch at the Alabama Hills Cafe.  Their crispy chicken wrap is delicious!

Lone Pine Campground is small with only 44 total campsites (odd number sites are first come, first served, thus not seen on the government reservations website).  It’s only about a 12 minute drive up Whitney Portal Road to the campground from the town of Lone Pine below.  There are bathrooms and water spigots (some with threads).  There is no mobile phone service or RV dump station in the campground (the closest dump station is at the Tuttle Creek Campground closer to town).  A phone signal can be had, though, by walking to the top of the campground and out toward the exit road.  We stayed in site #12 ($34/night), a comfortable campsite shaded by an old oak tree across from the host campsite at the upper part of the campground.  Lone Pine Creek runs through this campground, providing relaxing sounds and a cool place to sit or fish.  Looking out at the panoramic views of the Eastern Sierra and jagged peaks, it may feel like you are 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.

Note — we swapped out our incandescent bulb tail lights on our Scamp 13′ with LEDs for this trip because they have a longer life and may be brighter.  However, our 2020 Volvo XC40 could not recognize that our our trailer was attached to the tow vehicle when we replaced the incandescent bulbs with LEDs due to the much lower electronic load with LEDs, so many Volvo safety features (such as automatic tail light checks and safety anti-sway functions) no longer worked!  We read that it’s possible to use the LED tail lights in this manner, but load circuits need to be added to make it work properly.  We decided to switch back to our old reliable incandescent bulbs!

Next stop — June Lake Campground — a two hour drive north on the US Route 395.

June Lake Campground (7,600’ elevation)
Located in the small town of June Lake, this campground is the closest public campground to town (an easy 5 minute walk).  There are 28 campsites here and each has a bear locker (there’s no RV dumpstation here, but there is good Verizon mobile phone coverage).  The campground lacks proper site location signs, so it may take a little while to find your campsite.  We had campsite #18 ($32/night) which sits close to a threaded water spigot and is a nice spacious campsite.  We walked into town and had great homemade, small batch ice cream at Local Scoop (which also has stores in Mammoth Lakes and Bishop).  Note — in retrospect, we preferred staying at nearby Gull Lake Campground right on Gull Lake as it has a nicer feel than this campground, in our opinion).

Our friend Rob told us about an interesting place to eat attached to a Mobile Gas Station, called the Whoa Nelly Deli in Lee Vining (on the way to our next campground, Washoe Lake State Park Campground).  It’s only about a 15 minute drive north from June Lake.  At first we thought he was joking as we typically don’t associate good food with gas stations.  However, it has become a famous restaurant (started in 1996 by the owners of the Tioga Gas Mart) offering a more elevated food experience to travellers.  It’s located at the bottom of the Tioga Pass (intersection of the 395 and Tioga Road).  Make a left on Tioga Road coming from June Lake on the 395 North (in the direction of Tuolumne Meadows) and it’s off to the left about a block up Tioga Road.  There’s plenty of parking, even for  RVs.  We ordered their signature dish “World Famous Fish Tacos” ($20), in addition to crispy fries and carrot cake:  we really enjoyed the meal!  One taco dish was plenty for two people.  They offer indoor and outdoor seating, but their outside park-like setting with picnic tables has a spectacular view of Mono Lake and is a great place to enjoy lunch.

Washoe Lake State Park Campground, Nevada (5,053′ elevation)
The drive from June Lake to Washoe Lake State Park takes about three hours. We used the free dump station at the entrance before setting up at our campsite #17 ($30/night for non Nevada residents) in the A loop.  The A loop has water and electricity hookups at each campsite.  The B loop is dry with water spigots distributed throughout the campground ($20/night for non Nevada residents).  All the campsites are very spacious and have picnic tables with private ramadas.  Site #17 has a direct lake view.  There is good 5G Verizon mobile phone coverage here.

The late September weather during our stay was incredible — pleasant, mostly sunny, windy days and cool nights.  The park is framed by the Sierra Nevada, Carson, and Virginia mountain ranges.  These ranges provide a spectacular backdrop for the campground which sits in the Washoe Valley along the shores of the natural Washoe Lake.  The scenic beauty of the landscape is perhaps the most impactful part of the experience of staying in the campground.  Brilliant sunrises and sunsets burst with oranges and other warm hues as the sun rises and sets behind the mountain ranges on each side.  The Washoe Zephyr winds are powerful and predictable afternoon winds that sweep through the valley, sometimes lasting into the night and providing a soundtrack with which to fall asleep.  The Washoe Valley is also one of the best places in the world to view lenticular clouds, due to the Sierra Nevada mountains, which create the strong wave-like wind patterns necessary to make smooth saucer like disks that frequently mimic the appearance of flying saucers due to their round cylindrical edges.

One of the main reasons for our week long trip to Washoe Lake State Park Campground (maximum stay is 7 nights) was to see the wild mustangs.  The Virginia Range is famous for its population of free-roaming wild horses.  They often come down from the mountains into the state park to graze in the wetlands and meadows and to drink from the fresh lake.  On our first day here, we saw a heard of seven wild mustangs and one of them ran right up to us and stopped just short to say “hello” and “do you have any treats?”  People must be at times feeding the horses since they seem quite accustomed to people.  There are notices not to feed the mustangs as they can get sick if they eat anything other than their local diet of grass and sage brush.  Also, the windy air here at Washoe Lake State Park is filled with smell of sage, since it seems as if 99% of the vegetation is in the sage family.  We greatly enjoyed observing the mustangs and they didn’t mind our presence or having their photo taken or did they ever behave aggressively toward us.  We were lucky to have seen a heard almost everyday during our visit.

There are a lot of other fun activities at Washoe Lake State Park Campground.  There’s an 18 hold disc golf course along the lake, known as “The Maze” as well as a variety of scenic trails along the scrublands, lake, and hills surrounding the lake.  One popular climb is “Dead Mans Creek Trail” — providing a panoramic view over Washoe Lake.  There is kite surfing on the lake as well as kayaking and fishing.  The lake is stocked with a variety of fish.  And paragliders sometimes fly over Slide Mountain to land near the lake.

If spending a number of days at the campground like we did, it’s also fun to visit the nearby cities of Carson City and Reno.  Carson City is the state capitol of Nevada and it’s only a fifteen minute drive from the campground.  We had nice lunches at Eve’s Eatery (American) and The Basil (Thai) and enjoyed taking a walking city tour on our own.  We walked by the Governor’s Mansion and also enjoyed great ice cream at Scoups Ice Cream.  We were able to get inside the Nevada state capitol and viewed several rooms, including the Nevada Supreme Court, as well as the capitol government museum.  Reno is a much bigger city with lots of restaurants as well as casinos and airport and is about thirty minutes away from the campground.

We had to the opportunity to go to the well-run Carson City Farmers Market on its last Saturday of the season (September 26th).  The market runs seasonally from the end of May until the end of September (check their website for details).  The market is open on Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. at Mills Park, with plenty of parking.  Vendors sell all sorts of fresh produce and farm products, such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, eggs, and honey as well as locally crafted items (e.g. wood cutting boards, owl/bee/bat boxes, etc.).  We purchased a dozen organic pasture-raised eggs ($10) and a pound of local raw honey ($13).  There are also food vendors at the market.  We shared a delicious chicken tikki masala pie ($14) and a slice of fresh apple caramel pie ($6) from Silver State Pie Company.  The longest lines were seen at the bakery/pastry booths, as people waited patiently sipping their hot drinks from the coffee/tea vendor. If you are in town during at the right season, we highly recommend visiting the Carson City Farmers Market: it won’t disappoint!

Lower Twin Lake Campground, Bridgeport (7,000′ elevation)
The drive from Washoe Lake State Park to Lower Twin Lake Campground (outside of Bridgeport, CA) takes about two hours down Highway 395. We used the free dump station at the entrance before departing Washoe Lake State Park Campground.  We made sure to fill up for gas at the last gas stop in Nevada (the Chevron station at Topaz Lake) to receive highly discounted gas prices compared to California.

The route to Lower Twin Lake Campground is a short drive through farm fields filled with cows and up a gentle mountain grade.  The campground is first come first served at this time of year and there are only 14 campsites (with choice sites along the creek, #1-5).  When we arrived early Monday afternoon there were only a couple of campsites available.  Fortunately, one of the choice creek campsites (#5) was open for us (our 2020 Scamp 13′ with Volvo XC 40 just fit into the campsite, as this campsite is a short one!).  Campsites here are currently $34/night or $17/night if you have an America the Beautiful senior pass, since we’re on National Forest land.  There is no mobile phone service or RV dump station, but there are scattered water spigots.  The creek runs directly behind the campsites.  The Lower Twin Lake is a short walk up the road and is a beautiful place to relax, fish, or have a picnic.  We spoke to the host and she said that this campground is extremely difficult to make reservations during the summer season as it is very popular and there are not many campsites.  Fortunately, there’s another campground directly across the street called Crags Campground (split into the Sawtooth Loop and the Matterhorn Loop).  This campground is larger and the sites are spread out over a big open area with dramatic scenic mountain views (sites are $30/night or $15/night with a pass).  There are also 2x (fits 2 trailers / $50/night) and 3x (fits 3 trailers / $65/night) sites for those who want to share a campsite with friends.

There is plenty to do at the campground, including fishing, boating, swimming, and hiking.  And, if you want some variety, it’s a short 10 minute drive down into the cute old-fashioned town of Bridgeport where there’s unique shopping as well as eateries.  We enjoyed a great hamburger at the Burger Barn and had a delicious piece of cherry pie a la mode at the historic Bridgeport Inn dining  room.  The Brideport Inn, established in 1877, is reportedly haunted by the White Lady Ghost, in room 16.  We did not see her during our visit, nor had our restaurant server who has worked at the inn for the past ten years ever seen her.  We toured the town on foot and walked through the old 1800’s jail and viewed the court house.  Make sure to check out the High Sierra Bakery when in town, famous for their apple fritters (Note: their hours fluctuate and they close earlier on Mondays, when we had stopped by).

Tuttle Creek Campground, Lone Pine (5,000′ elevation)
The drive from Lower Twin Lake Campground to Tuttle Creek Campground takes about three hours down Highway 395.  The weather turned cooler toward the end of our trip in late September and as we drove toward Lone Pine we could see there were recent snow storms at higher elevations with mountain peaks now blanketed in snow.  We checked the report on our way down from Bridgeport and were happy to hear it was only around 80 degrees in Lone Pine.  This meant we could try out Tuttle Creek Campground which is lower in elevation than the campgrounds in which we usually stay around Lone Pine.

Tuttle Creek Campground is first come first served, and is a very large, sprawling area with 83 RV and tent sites.  So, we weren’t too concerned about being able to get a spot.  As it turned out, we were successfull at getting one of our top picks, campsite #8, which backs up against the creek.  There’s not much shade at Tuttle Creek and it can get very windy (as it was during our visit) — but, if the weather isn’t too hot, then it’s reallly nice to open up the front door and all the windows and allow the breezes to blow through the camper!  There’s a newly installed electronic payment machine at the entrance to the campground (which is only a short drive up Whitney Portal Road from town).  Select your campsite and park first, then come down to the kiosk and enter the campsite number and pay.  The machine prints out a parking pass to display in your car window.  Campsites here are $12/night or $6/night with an America the Beautiful Senior Pass, as this area in on BLM land.  There is an RV dumpstation (currently $12) as well as water spigots (both closed during the winter, but the campground stays open).

Some nice things about this campground are stunning panoramic views of Mt. Whitney and the surrounding Sierra Nevada mountains, close proximity to town for shopping and eating, and good Verizon mobile phone coverage.  Hiking and rock climbing are close by in the Alabama Hills.  Or, if you don’t want to leave your campsite, take in the dramatic mountain views and stargaze at night as the sky is very dark.

Final Thoughts
We generally spend only a few nights or less at each of our campsground stops.  We usually feel like we get a good impression of each area after a couple days and, since there’s so much to see, we like to keep moving.  However, on this trip, we made it a point to spend 7 nights (the maximum stay allowed) at Washoe Lake State Park Campground in northern Nevada to ensure we could fully appreciate the environment.  This strategy really paid off on this trip as each day brought new wonders and surprises that we wouldn’t have experienced in a two night stay.

We saw a stormy bright red cloudy sunset sky on our first night.  We encountered the famous wild Virginia range mustangs on multiple days at different times of day and in different locations.  And, on one early morning at sunrise, two exceptional lenticular cloud formations appeared above our Scamp 13′ — a meteor hurtling straight down on us and a UFO hovering above (see report images).  [We learned that the Washoe Valley is one of the best places on Earth to witness lenticular cloud formations!]  And, since we had a number of days to explore, we were able to visit both Reno (30 minutes drive from the campground) and Carson City (15 minutes drive).  Some highlights were attending the last Carson City farmer’s market of the season, touring old Carson City on foot (and even viewing inside the Nevada State Capitol building) and walking in front of the Governor’s Mansion.

On the last days of our trip, the feeling of summer was over.  Fall had settled in and the colors of changing leaves were on full display.  And driving through the freshly snow capped mountains felt like fall may be short lived making way for some early big winter storms in the Eastern Sierra.  It was time for us to go home.

We highly recommend a visit to Washoe Lake State Park campground and also taking time for interesting stops along the way.  And, as we learned, sometimes it’s ok to stay for a while and appreciate the beauty of the present moment.  As legendary golfer Walter Hagen once said, “You’re only here for a short visit.  Don’t hurry.  Don’t worry.  And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.”

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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