I am brave, and I am strong, and I have new shoes. Some of you may recall my mantra when I got myself in a spot of bother at the top of a ladder in Badlands. Far fewer of you will recall the first time I visited Pinnacles National Park and had a panic attack whilst trying to clamber up a tight cave passage. Well this visit was my chance at a rematch with prior defeats, only now de feets have much better shoes.
Friday we abandoned town, hoping that by heading south we might escape some of the smoke coming from the “Camp Fire.” Poor California is getting battered again, proving that nowadays even November can bring a summer blaze. It was a long drive and the last hour or so was in the dark. We did see a clear sky full of stars when we got there, so we knew the air quality was at least “better.” We got the same site we’ve had in the past, under a huge old oak tree. This time of year was a little exciting because we kept getting bombarded by an artillery of acorns creating huge thuds on the roof. I’m surprised there was no damage, considering how loud they were.
Saturday we took the shuttle over to the Bear Gulch Visitor Center and caught the trail through the Bear Gulch Talus Caves. This is a pretty easy way to go cave exploring. There are stairs and hand rails and the trail is very clearly marked. Along the way, you can see groups of rock climbers scaling the various peaks and we stopped to watch one of them attempt a particularly dangerous looking maneuver. It turns out the sound of colorful language carries quite far in a rock canyon and the guy got an enthusiastic ovation from the audience below when he made it to the top.
In the afternoon we both had nappy time, Richard indoory in Dory, me in my Nemo chair, wrapped in a blanket. It is getting chilly outside and the high technology of adding extra blankets is coming in handy. We tend to forget about technology around this time of year until one of us goes, “Oh yeah!” It’s always a joyful realization when we remember we can solve the chilly problem with things we already have.
Sunday we headed out early and confronted the Balconies Caves. I still vividly remembered the place where I really didn’t think I could make it up over a big, slippery boulder. It was after that hike that I invested in good hiking shoes. That was three yeas ago though, so I had to re-buy those same shoes in advance of this trip. This trail is about 5.5 miles round trip and the cave part is far more rugged. We liken Bear Gulch to a “Disneyland” cave experience. 
The Balconies feel more like the real deal. There is a section where it is truly light-less and it genuinely seems like the glow in the dark arrows painted on the rock wall are leading you into a dead end. But I remembered those parts and that made this time around more fun. In fact, even when I got to the place I had previously gotten stuck, I think the sheer knowing anticipation made it seem like no big deal. It was a good feeling to have vanquished the beast, and I rode that high all along the Cliffs Trail that took us back.
Of course, our eyes were drawn to the skies as we walked, on the lookout for Condors. I think it is entirely possible we spotted one. We’d been told by other hikers that there were two in the area and we definitely saw a Condor-like bird slowly circling around the peaks. I took a bunch of blurry pictures and showed them to the ranger when we got back. He wouldn’t fully commit since my pictures were so small, but my description of flight patterns and where we’d seen it did earn a nod and a “Yeah, that could definitely have been one.” So I’m going with it.
Monday was Veteran’s Day and we needed to find a dump station on our way home. The dump at Pinnacles is closed for maintenance and we had two options: the Tres Pinos Fairgrounds, or some place called Casa de Fruta. For some reason, Richard seemed excited about the latter, though I had no idea why. Once we got there, I realized it was well worth the side trip. Casa de Fruta is a whole little self contained RV “resort” world, out in the middle of nowhere, about ten miles to the east of Hollister. 
The place has got the branding game down. Before having lunch at Casa de Wine and Deli, we filled gas at Casa de Diesel. And ya gotta have dessert at Casa de Ice Cream, of course, where I picked up a gift of a Casa de Adventure Sluice, where you search for treasures in what is basically a bag of sand. I spent $5 on that and have no regrets. None. We never actually made it to the Casa de Fruta building, but we did enjoy watching the Casa de Train making its way through the outdoor …. gallery?… of old rusted out farm equipment. I’m telling you, this place was way more than I expected, peacocks and all. It was Casa de Crazy and I would give it five stars just for fully committing to whatever the hell that was.
Wonderful three day weekend!!
Total miles: 128.1, 17.4 mpg, 4 hours 16 min. Site 87. Electric hookups. Water spigots nearby. NO cell service, even boosted, though Verizon got just enough to make a phone call. Parking lots at the trail heads can fill up and rangers will close the roads to all traffic when that happens. The shuttle can take you to Bear Gulch, but not the Balconies trailhead. Get out early if you want a parking place and it’s crowded.
I know. Listen, I did not name the place. I refer you to etymonline.com for the historical meaning of the term, before it acquired its urban dictionary entry:
For us, it’s about a 3 1/2 hour drive on Highway 4 East, all the way until you hit 49. This is the Gold Rush highway and there are all kinds of fun places to visit out there. New Melones Lake has 2 Bureau of Reclamation campgrounds: Tuttletown, and Glory Hole. The water level in the reservoir can vary dramatically, and there are times certain loops are either closed or have porta potties only. So be forewarned that you might need to check ahead to see what the status is. I had reserved a place in the Ironhorse loop and was notified that we’d been moved to Big Oak, due to refurbishment work. I can’t say porta potties are our favorite thing, but it wasn’t that big a deal and we have our own shower. We also had most of the place to ourselves, making for a nice getaway.
Our site gave us a nice view of the marina down below, and the door side of Dory was completely private. There wasn’t a lot of flat space near the driveway area, but there was a small level ledge with a picnic table below. There were water spigots running but I’ve seen reviews stating that sometimes the water gets shut off.
Saturday we ventured out on one of the hikes by Angels Creek. I’m pretty good at finding my way on trails, but I will say the signage out of the parking lot left me thinking we were on the Buck Brush trail, when in fact we were on the Angels Creek trail. It didn’t take me too long to figure it out, but Richard would have been lost forever over that kind of inadequate trail marking if he had been on his own. It was lucky Richard had 
Plus, we spotted what I initially thought was a fox, but turned out to be a squirrelus giganticus. I’m pretty sure that’s a new discovery and I hereby claim all rights, privileges, and wealth associated with the find.
As we were sitting in our swing chairs, a friendly camper came over and started chatting. He began with questions about Altos, but ended up sharing a lot of good lakeside campground recommendations. He even wrote down the information to a reference book that he brought over later. Very friendly.
I’m catching up on this post from last week. Butano State Park is a perfect little fairy wonderland of a place. The campground is one of those deep redwoods places where you are enveloped in a blanket of cool, quiet, peaceful forest beauty. The drive there hits one of the most impressive sections of the California coastline. It’s difficult to reserve and the campground is closed in the winter, but it’s well worth the effort to snag a site.
Some of the sites are quite unlevel, and now that we’ve ditched the BAL, we’ve come to appreciate the Lynx levelers a lot. We do need to invest in a tongue jack stand of some kind though, because we were a little tippy even with the jack cranked up to its max. Most of the sites are spacious and offer privacy on at least one side. Some are clearly only suitable for tent campers because they’re so steep.
For this visit, we checked out the Little Butano Creek trail, which was pretty easy and entirely shaded. There were some climbs, but they were short, and the natural air conditioning of the redwoods kept it cool the whole way. At the end of the trail, there is a power station of some kind. That was a mystery we have not yet solved. I suspected it was for some kind of water pump to supply fire equipment, but that’s just a guess.
Well this was the perfect do-over, I must say. 
We even felt confident enough to use the CM and spin Dory for the nice river view we knew we’d get in the morning.
I tried pulling the privacy curtain to create a Sad Room for me, and a Happy Room for him. The problem was that the factory installed curtain only goes as far as the shower, so way too much light is able to creep in. My latest project has been to finish off the curtain, thus blocking the entry of all forms of happiness.
The hardest part of this project was finding exactly the right parts online. I admit this is a challenge I enjoy, and I was ultimately able to get precisely matching supplies. The 
This section required 8 matching 
Saturday we walked around the historic part of Coloma. This is the site where gold was first discovered by James Marshall in 1848. The California Gold Rush followed and forever changed the history of the west. Many of the buildings and structures are restorations from originals that have long since perished. But some of the buildings are originals and most of the artifacts on display are either from the site, or from nearby historic collections that match what would have been used by the people in Coloma at the time.
The Visitor Center is new and very impressive. There are multimedia displays telling the story of the miners, the immigrants, and the Native Americans who had been living in the area before the vast migration. We spent a good hour there and then went and looked at the outside exhibits. They have a monument marking the original location of Sutter’s Mill, and a recreation of the mill farther away from the river’s edge.
Again, we enjoyed a meal at the 
After lunch, I got to enjoy a really wonderful afternoon talking with my long lost friend. She lives not too far from Coloma so I was super glad she was able to come over. She’s probably the nicest human I know, so of course she thought to bring snacks and wine. We talked and talked until we realized it was dinner time. Richard was out on a bike ride in the afternoon and returned with a nasty bee sting on his face. It looked red, but luckily he does not appear to be allergic. Ouch though!
Sunday we headed home and took Lotus Road to Shingle Springs rather than Highway 49. That is a good call and how we’d get there next time. I will note that the dump in the RV park is one of those annoying raised concrete pads with a high curb. For little trailers, this makes dumping unpleasant and you have to kind of snake everything through the hose to get it over the curb. Yuck. Besides that though, this is a great place to hang out. You’ve got river side sites with hookups, fun things to do that are walking distance, and a great restaurant. We’d return for sure. Next time, I’d really like to know if there’s a kayak put in spot up river. That would be fun.
I had a feeling this place was going to become one of my favorites. When we first checked it out last Spring, the lake was at its highest point, which was lovely, but it was also raining steadily when we were there. This weekend’s temperatures were perfect. And though the lake was much lower, we still were able to get a site where I could easily get my boat to the water for a paddle.
The drive there on Friday was on the long side, almost 3 1/2 hours, with traffic and all, but still not bad enough to rule out weekend trips. I’d noted the site we reserved as a good one, and it really was fantastic. It is meant for a large RV to pull forward into, so the hookups are on the lefthand side. We weren’t planning to drive anywhere, so we just pulled forward and did some CM maneuvering to get the right Dory view. There was lots of room and plenty of distance and privacy from other sites.
The campground was pretty full, and it’s an enormous campground. I think on the order of 500 sites, some with hookups, some not, many along the edge with water views. With the lake as low as it was, there really weren’t any sites better situated for kayak launching, but there were many where you could walk your boat down the slope to the water. There were lots of families and groups and gave the place a very festive feel. We liked it. If you’re looking for remote and away from people, this is not the place for you unless it’s in the very off season. We didn’t feel crowded or hemmed in by our neighbors, but again, we got a great site, so I’m sure that makes a difference.
Back to radio silence and a couple episodes of “The Crown.” Good show, that (said with just a hint of a British accent, because that’s my new goal in life).
Our drive home Sunday was also over three hours, and there wasn’t more than usual traffic (though there was a slow down passing by a huge brush fire), so I think that’s just what it will take. It’s a destination that is well worth it though and I think we’re going to be seeing a lot more of it. With hookups by the water, this is one of my all time primo sites. And there is even shade (and AC) so summer visits would not be out of the question.
It’s always nice to find pleasant spots with hookups. This county park is a lovely surprise just west of Gilroy and would be worth return trips. There are loops for RVs and for tent campers, all located inside the shelter of a redwood forest, with a pretty easy drive from home. Definite score.
Saturday we woke up super lazily late and decided to check out the park’s historic site. It was a woodsy, uphill hike from the campground to the location of Henry Miller’s House. He was a German immigrant who went from having 50 cents in his pocket in 1850, to controlling 14.5 million acres of land in CA, OR, and NV for his million head of cattle to graze. He built a summer home on Mt. Madonna and you can see what is left of the foundations and couple of remaining walls after the site was abandoned.
Also present in the park is a small group of White Fallow Deer, apparently gifted from the herd at Hearst Castle. What is perhaps most impressive about the animals on display is the hefty security around the enclosure. When you walk up, you expect either to see warning signs about the terrifyingly lethal nature of these deer, or witness one get eaten by a T-Rex. In actuality, the barbed wire and electrified fencing is there to prevent them from being eaten by the local Mountain Lions. Also, but not as much, exciting.
For the afternoon, I churned out a report and tried out my other project: a magnetic screen door. This is a flagrant copy project, stolen from Jim Gauvreau, and it works great! It is just a pre-made screen ordered off Amazon, which has been trimmed down to size and mounted with velcro. This prevents bugs from getting in when you want as much breeze and airflow possible. Now that summer is receding and there is a distinct chill in the air, I question my timing on this project. Still, it will be nice next year.
I think we’ve got Bodega Bay covered. This campground is part of the Sonoma County Regional Parks and sits right across the bay from Doran Beach. There is a row of sites right along the water, but we weren’t in any of those. This was an exploratory mission weekend to check the place out.
Besides spending part of Saturday writing a report, we didn’t do a whole lot. We walked down to the Spud Point Chowder Co. for lunch and I tested out the completed version of the Pahaque Visor. I bought this used off a friend and found there were some missing parts. As my little Dory “some day” projects have been mounting, I splurged and got a new heavy duty sewing machine. Making homemade pole pockets was one of the first items checked off the list.
It took some searching to find the coupler piece that holds the poles together, but they work nicely now. In fact, I’m quite pleased with the whole set up. With the poles in the pockets, you can put the visor up without any staking into the ground. This is handy when on pavement or hard packed dirt. This setup requires there be no more than moderate winds, but it can be adjusted for heavier wind by putting the pole ends on the ground and running guy lines out away from the Alto. It seems pretty secure and is fairly easy to put up. One piece of advice: the instructions say to insert the arc pole all the way into the sleeve before putting the visor in the keder track. I disagree. All that does is create a giant, awkward kite that inevitably rolls around in the dirt before you can get it in place. I found it to be much easier to put the material all the way in the track, letting the end with the pole opening go past the rail and hang down about a foot. Then insert the pole and create the arc shape in place. My little keder anchors work very well to keep things from scooting around and everything stayed nicely secure. Also: ice packs filled with water work well to keep rug corners from blowing around.
