Northern California

It’s been a long time since I last posted but California has been such an adventure I have had little time to work on writing my blog, added to the fact that it’s not often that I have an internet connection strong enough to upload the photos etc.  So, at long last, here it is – my first blogpost from California.

We passed through Reno, Nevada on September 11^th and rode north on route 395 which ran along a range of barren mountains – still very “desert-like” until we turned west and entered California and magically, the “hills were alive”  with beautiful conifers.  We think most were Douglas firs and they were absolutely spectacular.  The campground we had picked was Rocky Point campground on Lake Almanor, a large lake in northeastern California.  The campground itself was wooded everywhere with lots of space between campsites.  We were driving around looking for a good site when a campground host came up in a golf cart and, seeing our canoe, told us of an available site that was right on the lake.  We gratefully took it and were thrilled that our back window (we call it the picture window) looked right out on the lake.  The scenery was spectacular and the sun rose over the lake. 

We have found that, generally speaking, the private campgrounds tend to have more amenities (hook-ups, wifi, laundry, etc) but the sites are usually close together and often have no shade, whereas the public campgrounds (federal, state, county) tend to be very scenic with rustic spacious campsites but very few amenities.  Oh, and the public ones tend to be cheaper; though we have found, like everything else in California, even the public campgrounds are expensive.  And there are always exceptions...

Rocky Point had no hookups, no showers and vault toilets.  It’s not that hard to do without electricity and we do have a toilet and shower in the camper.  Funny story – I took a shower in the camper for the first time (it’s very small so I usually use the campground showers) and came out of the shower, dried off and dressed and automatically pulled out my hairdryer, plugged it in and hit the button – oops – no power.   But we could keep our canoe right down beside the lake behind our camper and go out whenever we wanted without having to load it on the truck each time.  Here is a view of the lake and a view of our camper from the lake:

Poppy could swim in the lake and when we paddled out a little ways we could see Mount Lassen – a volcano that last erupted in 1915. 

There were a couple of sandbars in the middle of the lake that we could paddle out to and let Poppy run.   Our second night we made a campfire and sat out and watched the fire and the lake until the last light faded.  There was a rainbow over one of the mountains on the other side of the lake.  All in all, it was a great beginning to our California adventures.

From Rocky Point, we headed west on route 36 and drove over incredibly steep and winding roads to Red Bluff.  We had intended to continue on route 36 to highway 101 on the west coast but when we got to the entrance to 36 on the other side of Red Bluff, there were warnings posted NOT to attempt this road with an RV or pulling a trailer.  We decided to heed the warnings and took another route to just north of Eureka.  This trip was scary enough pulling a trailer – I can’t imagine what Route 36 would have been like.  Our next campground was called Giant Redwoods RV Park and it was located in Myers Flat, right on the “Avenue of the Giants”.    We got lucky again and got a really nice, spacious campsite that looked out on the Eel River.  Unfortunately, the river was way down so it was just a trickle – not suitable for canoeing.  We set up the R-dome and spent our evening sitting out there enjoying the view.

The next day we loaded Poppy into the truck and went out to drive the “Avenue of the Giants”.  Within a mile we were oohing and aahing over the beautiful giant redwoods that lined the road – and I do mean “lined”.  They spared every redwood they could when they built that road so many were right at the edge of the pavement, making it feel like you were deep in the forest as you drove. 

There were many places to pull off and take pictures or hike a ways into the forest.  We drove the whole length of the avenue, then went back to camp, dropped off Poppy and investigated the little town of Myers Flat.  There was a small grocery store and a coffee shop/bakery where we got some bagels for breakfast and Bob got the REAL milkshake he had been craving.  We were debating staying another day here but when we got up on Sunday morning, we decided we should head down the road – there is so much to see in California and our time is limited.

We wanted to spend a couple of days in Sonoma to see the wine country but, since we got a late start on Sunday, we decide to just go part way that day.  We started out on route 101 and went on to Route 1 which runs along the coast but we first drove through more winding, mountainous roads before suddenly breaking out of the woods and getting our first view of the Pacific Ocean from high atop a cliff. 

Well, actually it was MY first view as Bob had been to California before, not to mention he saw a lot of the Pacific Ocean when he was in Viet Nam.  In any case, from that point on, Route 1 runs along the Pacific coast most of the time and the views are just breathtaking.  I found myself constantly taking pictures.  We stopped at a campground that was right on the beach between Fort Bragg and Mendocino.  After Bob finished listening to the Panthers game on the radio (sigh), we took Poppy and walked down to the beach and let her play in the water.

 It was definitely too cold for us to go in but beautiful to look at.  Bob and I went into Ft. Bragg that evening and had dinner at a little seafood restaurant in Noyo Harbor, watching the fishing boats come in after a day of fishing.

The next day we headed down route 1 again for more thrills as we wound around cliffs hundreds of feet above the water, often with no shoulders and the section of the road with guard rails like you see here are the exception to the rule -- but the views were spectacular. 

(Sorry for the number of pictures from Highway 1 -- I couldn't pick -- it's all so beautiful!)

We headed inland a bit to a campground on the Russian River, very close to the Sonoma vineyards and were lucky enough to get another campsite right on the river.  Our main purpose in being there, though was to see the wine country.  On our first day, by the time we got settled in the campground, we only had time to visit the closest winery, which happened to be the Korbel winery.  Their vineyards stretched for acres and acres and the tasting room was lovely.  We tried several champagnes and a chardonnay and bought a few bottles as the prices were great.

On the second day, we canoed in the morning with Poppy.  The Russian River, although down from its usual level, was navigable by canoe and we were able to paddle upriver for quite a ways as the current was very light. Then we paddled back down.  We saw a lot of wildlife – ducks, great blue herons, turtles and lots of other birds we couldn't identify.

This is the same limb in the water on our trip up the river and then on our trip back down!

 After our canoe ride,  we left Poppy in the camper and we went out to lunch in Duncans Mills – the pretty little town near the campground...

 – and then headed out for the vineyards.  As we drove through Sonoma, the roadsides were lined with vineyards and wineries.

There were hundreds of them but we have found that two tastings is all we can handle in a day so we went first to the Hop Kiln vineyard.  I have tried and really liked Hop Kiln wines in the Cru Bar in Beaufort (at home) so we thought it would be fun to visit their winery.  Their signature wines are their pinot noirs and we tasted several of them – all were delicious.  The prices were much more than we usually pay for wine ($35) but we bought one bottle anyway.  The building where they hold the tasting was very unusual and beautiful – it was old and was originally used for storing hops.

From there we went to the Merry Edwards winery – a recommendation of our friends Betty and David Gray, who spend the month of August in this area.  Once again, pinot noirs are their specialty and the young man who did our tasting was really knowledgeable and able to answer all our questions about how they pick the grapes and make the wine and why pinot noir grapes do so well in this area.  Their pinot noirs were delicious but were $54 each – we bought a delicious sauvignon blanc that was a little less expensive. 

As I said, there were hundreds of wineries in the area – many of the names we recognized – but once again, we needed to move on – through San Francisco and south.  

Nevada

We left  our campground in western Utah on Saturday,  September 7^th and headed down the “Loneliest Road in America (Route 50) towards Nevada.  

The first part of the road was straight and flat for a long ways but we could always see more mountains in the distance.  

When we crossed into Nevada, we were in those mountains and we detoured to see the Great Basin National Park and the famous Lehman Caves located there.  Unfortunately, we would have had to wait two hours to do the tour of the Caves and we didn't feel like we could wait that long.  The state campground we were heading for didn't take reservations and, since it was a Saturday, we felt like we needed to get there so we would be sure and find a place.  

So we headed on to Cave Lake State Park which is located just east of Ely, Nevada.  It was a beautiful park on a fairly small lake – very quiet and peaceful.  We did find a campsite near the lake.  This was our first time “dry camping” – no hookups at all.  There was a water fill station on the way in where you could fill your water tank and a dump station to dump your tanks when you leave but no electricity or water at the site.  We are pretty self-sufficient without the electricity.  We can cook on our gas stove, the refrigerator will run on gas as well and we have 12 volt lights.  The only things we can’t do are use the microwave, toaster, or the TV.  We probably wouldn't have gotten any TV stations at this remote location anyway J. 

Since we got there fairly late in the day, we waited until Sunday morning to go canoeing on the lake.  We decided not to take Poppy this time (although we did let her swim in the lake for a while) because it was pretty chilly out and we didn't want to take a chance on her dumping us.  She’s never done that but it would be just our luck that something would get her excited on a morning when it was in the low 60’s and who knows what the water temp was.  We went out on the lake fairly early and there was no wind – it was so still you could hear all the bird calls.  We were careful to dip our paddles gently so there was very little sound and it was so peaceful and magical out there.  We circumnavigated the lake and then pulled the canoe out and loaded it on the truck.  

We went back and hitched up the camper and headed into Ely.  We had a few maintenance things to do, including laundry, so we spent two nights at a campground in town that had a laundry, hookups and WIFI.  We also wanted to visit the Nevada Northern Railroad Museum that we had been told not to miss.

Monday morning, we went to the Railroad Museum with our tickets in hand to ride the seven mile trip from Ely to Ruth.  The railroad has a lot of history from when this was a big copper mining area – they ran 60 trains a day to carry copper ore from the mines to be processed and also to carry passengers to school, work and shopping.  It was built in 1905 to 1906 and continued to run until the early 1980's when the copper mines closed.  The museum took on the railroad when it went out of business and restored the tracks and the old steam locomotives and made them a tourist attraction.

The ride on the train takes about 1 ½ hours with a narrator pointing out sights of interest along the way and telling the story of the role of the railroad.  This was our friendly conductor.

Pictures taken out the windows...

Bob was really hoping they would use one of the steam locomotives to pull the train but they used a diesel when we rode.  They use the steam engine about once a week but it is a lot of work and someone needs to get there at 4:30 in the morning to start the fire in order for the train to be able to run at 9:30 AM.  After the train ride, we had a tour of the “shop” which was where they did repairs to the engines and other cars.  It was a huge operation with huge tools which Bob loved.  I’ll have to admit it was not my favorite sight on the tripJ.  This was the elderly gentlemen who led the tour of the shop.  I think he worked on this railroad when it was running.

We left Ely (on the eastern side of Nevada) on Tuesday morning and started back on the “Loneliest Road in America”.  The road was beautiful with lots of mountains to cross and incredible scenery.  

There were only two towns between Ely (in eastern Nevada) and Fallon, where we were planning to spend that night: Eureka and Austin.  Both were really quaint towns with just a couple of blocks of main street.  They both had gas stations (thank goodness, since there was a long way between them) and both had lots of old western style buildings.  These pictures are of Austin -- I forgot to take any of Eureka.

After Austin, the last 50 miles or so until we reached Fallon were really desert.  The landscape changed quite a bit from what we were used to.  There were still mountains but they were much more barren.  On either side of the road, there was nothing but sand and we passed areas where people had written their names (or whatever) with rocks in the sand continuously for miles along the side of the road. 

We stopped at Grimes Point (a must see according to one of our travel books) to see the petroglyphs.  It was really incredible.  There were carvings in large boulders, some of which were more than 7,000 years old.   We parked and walked around the field of stones, bearing the markings made by people so many years ago.

It definitely made you aware of the history of this continent and how old it really is.  Although we were standing in desert, the signs stated that there had been water in this area and you could see horizontal lines on the mountains that showed where the water level used to be.

We stayed that night in Fallon at the County Fairgrounds which had RV sites with water and electricity for $14/night.  A great deal and there was only one other RV there.  Fallon is a big town just east of Reno and we were able to do some grocery shopping and pick up some things that we needed.

On Wednesday morning, we headed west for California!  I was so looking forward to seeing this state – have never been there.

Utah

Utah!  Wow!  We have seen lots of beauty in just about every state we've passed through on this trip but Utah was on a whole different level.  I had picked out a campground that was a reasonable distance from our last stop in Colorado.  Camelot Pinnacle Resort and RV Park was located just west of Duchesne (pronounced Dooshayne), Utah and had a website that described the campground as “Perfectly nestled in a majestic canyon and encircling mountains, our campground provides a spectacular setting of sheer cliffs, lush green trees and breathtaking scenery.”  Well, I never believe everything I see on a website but this description did not come close to describing the beauty of this place.  I’m taking credit for finding us some incredible places to stay on this trip, though I will admit a lot of it was luck.  Here are a few pictures of the campground and Bob’s 360 degree panoramic video.

This is the Strawberry River that passed right behind our campsite:

Approaching this campground was an adventure.  I had spoken to the owner on the phone and she told me it was 6 ½ miles off Highway 40 but that’s all she said.  The first four miles of the approach road were spectacularly beautiful and then the road became a dirt road, narrowed up and the rest of the trip was just awe-inspiring.  Bob said on the way in, “I’m going to videotape this road sitting on top of the truck” and two days later he did exactly that.  He videotaped most of the 2.5 miles but I’m just posting the shortest video to spare you J.  I am also posting a picture I took of him sitting up there when we got to the campground entrance.

One time as we were driving down this road to the campground, we saw goats lying on a ledge about 40 feet up the cliff.  Here are a couple of pictures.

If you look carefully, you can see four goats on the ledge in the picture below.

When we got to the campground, we had the whole place to ourselves.   The owner came down to greet us.  Her name was Barb too and she had a black lab named Scooter who towered over Poppy (Poppy weighs 95 pounds).  Barb told us we didn't have to put Poppy on a leash while we were there.  Between no leash and playing with Scooter, Poppy pretty much thought she was in heaven (and so did we). 

We, of course, set up the R-dome and spent our evenings sitting in it, having cocktails, dinner and watching the sun drop behind the cliffs.  During the day we visited two local reservoirs.  First we went to Starvation Reservoir (I have no idea why it’s called that).  It was about 14 miles away.  We went canoeing with Poppy and had a great time.  Canoed to a beautiful beach and let her swim after the ball for a while, then paddled across the lake and back.

 We did that in the morning, then drove into nearby Duchesne to get a few groceries and had lunch at a little Mexican restaurant with outdoor tables so we could bring Poppy with us (it was too hot to leave her in the truck).  

The next day, we went in the other direction to Strawberry Reservoir State Park which was a little further away and a little bigger than Starvation.  We brought a picnic lunch with us and stopped at the Visitors Center to get some info on where to launch our canoe.  There was a young man standing outside the Center and we started talking with him.  He was running across America (for the second time) to raise awareness of Batten disease, a rare genetic neurological brain disorder of children.  He had stayed in the park the night before and had lost his iPhone somewhere in the park.  His name is Noah Coughlin (www.battenjourney.com) and he was pushing a jogging stroller holding all his stuff.  Bob offered to drive him back through the park to try to find his phone.  I stayed at the visitors center because there isn't room for three people in the truck.    I had a great visit with the Visitors Center volunteer  while I waited.  They were gone for about 90 minutes but returned victorious.  Bob, the non-techy, had suggested he use the “Find My iPhone” app and they went to the marina office where there was a computer and tried it.  It showed them a satellite picture of exactly where the phone was.  Noah had gotten a ride with someone back to the highway and had left his phone on the back bumper of the truck and it had fallen off.

By the time that was done, we were hungry for lunch so we found a picnic table and ate.

We decided it was too late and too windy to canoe that day so headed back to our spectacular campground.  A local guy named Jim had come by our campsite every evening on his ATV  and had a beer with us and gave us the benefit of his local knowledge.  Jim came by on our last evening to remind us to be sure and visit the Nevada Northern Railway Museum in Ely, Nevada and we promised we would.

On Friday morning, Sept. 6^th, we sadly left Camelot Pinnacle and made our way up that magnificent road one more time.  We backtracked a little to Duchesne so that we could take what we had been told was a very scenic route down 191 to Rte 6.  Let me interrupt the narrative a minute to say that on this journey, we purposely try to avoid all Interstates and stay on the back roads and old byways of America.  The main reason is that they tend to be much prettier and more interesting but we also get much better gas mileage when we go 55 or 60 mph instead of 70 or 75.  And we’re not in a hurry.  We enjoy going through the small towns.

We were not disappointed in the route we took – the scenery was spectacular as we climbed and descended the mountains and then approached Delta, Utah near the west border of the state.  These two pictures were taken through the truck window on that route:

The campground in Delta was very nice and was right beside our route.   We went into town and visited another small museum that had lots of interesting information about the different types of rocks and gems in the area.  Many of the people that were at our campground were “rock hounds” who spent their days out in the surrounding hills, looking for interesting rocks.  There also had been a Japanese internment camp located nearby and the museum had some exhibits related to that.

We only stayed one night in Delta, Utah.  We were getting ready to start on what is known as “The Loneliest Road in America” – a stretch of Rte 50 across western Utah and Nevada that has very few towns on it and is only lightly traveled.  The few towns that we will pass have a rich history in mining and lots of original buildings from the old west so we are looking forward to traveling it.  We just have to be mindful of topping off our gas tank whenever we reach a town because we only have a range of about 160 miles on a tank. This picture was taken after we left Delta -- starting the Loneliest Road!

This one was taken a little further down the road.  Still straight and long but we can see mountains in the distance.

Soon after this picture was taken, we entered Nevada.  More about that in the next post!

If you have questions about the trip or the camping life, please email me and I’ll try to answer in my next post.  Thanks for sharing our trip with us.