Continuing in the theme of amazing places in California we have never seen, we spent four nights in Lassen and seriously lucked out in our timing.
We were reserved in the Manzanita Campground and much of the highway that runs through the park is still closed to traffic. There’s this magical sweet spot that happens when roads like this one have been plowed and are open to bikes, but still closed to cars. That happened the day after we got there. So Richard is a happy biker. 
He said it was downright cold up at the top and the pictures seem to back him up.
Right after our arrival in the park, we got to say hello to an Altoistes couple we’d met at Wright’s Beach who now have their own Alto. It’s funny when people come to ask about your trailer and mention there’s another one in the park, because you just know you’re bound to know the people. We had a nice chat with them and they gave us all kinds of helpful information about the park. They’ve been coming to Lassen for over thirty years, so that’s another reason our timing was lucky.
He also got in a good ride from McArthur Burney to Lassen, for around a 44 mile ride through scenic mountain territory. I towed Dory and we played leap frog most of the way. I stopped to check out a couple of the National Forest campgrounds and, though they are “primitive” (meaning vault toilets), some of them are really nice. The road follows Hat Creek for a lot of the way and there are campsites that sit right by the river.
One of the activities in Lassen was to search out cell service, partly for legit reasons like Richard’s work, and partly for my own anxiety reduction. One of the better spots was at a vista point about 10 miles north of Lassen. We ended up returning to this area a couple of times. Another secret/not secret location was inside the park at point of interest marker #14. Additionally, if you drive past the park turnoff and continue a mile and a half to the south. there’s a turnout with ok LTE. However, by far the best connectivity point is atop a two mile hike up to Chaos Crags Lake. That is a less likely location for Richard to haul his laptop, however. The funny part was that, at each of these locations, you would see cars pulled over and people hanging out making calls or checking their phones. Like little cell service watering holes for the migrating masses.
The park itself is a picture perfect postcard, with views of Mt. Lassen reflected in lakes, and dominating the sky. We were too early in the season to be able to enjoy the volcanic points of interest like the sulphur beds and boiling pools. Those are all still under many feet of snow. Richard got to ride through the plowed areas, but said it wouldn’t be much to see. Lakes are frozen and buried, a different kind of beauty to be sure, but no views of the yellowed sulphur mounds quite yet.
Besides hiking around lakes, I got in a nice day of boating on the lake. The water is so clear, you can see all of the underwater plants and little fishies. There was no unusual wildlife spotting, but Richard wants me to note that there was some bird with a monotonous and repetitive song. There’s a small campground store with incidentals, but more importantly, delicious soft serve ice cream.
One last detail to mention is that we got hit with a summer thunderstorm and pretty good water dump. It gave me a chance to try out using a pool noodle under the center pole of the awning and that worked pretty well. The addition of a couple of segments of tent pole slipped inside the noodle, kept everything taught. There were enough mosquitos in the park that I felt it was worth the effort to set it all up. For a four night stay, we were quite comfortable.
Total miles from McArthur Burney: 44. Didn’t take data because I was playing leapfrog. Site 8, loop A. All the site in the campground seem very sloped, lots of leveling requires. Terrible dump with leaking rinse hoses. NO cell service in the park, no wifi anywhere. View point #14 is the best option inside the park.
I don’t even know how many times we’ve blown past the turn off for this area on our way to Ashland, but I now know how much we’ve been missing out! The McArthur Burney State Park boasts one of the most spectacular waterfalls I’ve ever seen. There is also a lake that is perfect for water sports, and some nice amenities, like a campground store and sometimes wifi at the Visitor Center. It is also not too far from the town of Burney, where one can resupply groceries and even splurge and eat out. It made for a nice long stay.
Speaking of getting set up in the site, when we pulled into the campground and found our spot, it looked like an obstacle course challenge. Rather than take the easy way out, which would have put our door and porch in direct view of our neighbors, I opted for some precision Caravan Mover maneuvers. I have to say, I was impressed with myself. Don’t try this without a CM, kids. We back and forth shuffled, coming within an inch of several posts at a time, before we finally called it a day. Good thing we have a generator, because that was a lot of battery usage and the site was mostly shaded.
This week there was a welcome-to-summer heat wave that saw temps in the 90s where we were, and into the 100s down in the valley. Our brave little 12v fridge kept the ice frozen and the meat cold, but it sucked down the battery pretty good every day. We ended up running the generator a couple hours each day to compensate, and I don’t think the battery could have managed without it. During the four-night stay, Richard used the Barker once, proving we can be self-sufficient when we need to be.
The Blue Apron camping plan is going quite well! I’ve already done three recipes, with very little modification needed, using the Weber Q. One item that really helps is a little sauce basket thingy I got, with veggies in mind. Many of the recipes use the oven to make baked potatoes or broccoli, and I think I’ve achieved proof of concept that the little pan will allow that kind of cooking to happen. When the outside temperatures are high, the last thing I want to do is turn on the stove in Dory, so I’m looking forward to further experimentation with my outdoor kitchen.
As for activities in the park, we enjoyed a couple of beautiful hikes around the falls and to the lake and back. The Civilian Conservation Corps did a beautiful job creating an accessible walkway down to the falls and you can literally feel the moment as you’re descending when the temperature changes. It must be at least a ten-degree difference, maybe even twenty, from the overlook to the bottom. All the way down, you’re just mesmerized by the water. It’s a two-part falls system, where some of the water cascades over the top, from the river, and some comes through hundreds of channels through the lower layers of volcanic rock. There were some great displays in the Visitor Center that show the flow patterns of the water. The effect is breathtaking and the view changes with every step. It has been photographed ad infinitum, but I made sure to add my own silly shots to the mix. When I get home to fast WiFi, I’ll be sure to upload the rest, cause I know you’re looking forward to that. 😉
We also took part in a ranger led walk over to an Osprey nest. There are Ospreys all over the park, but the interesting thing about this particular nest is that it’s atop a 120 foot tree, but the base of the tree is way down in the river valley. The top of the tree is just about thirty feet away from the trail that runs along the rim. We saw mommy or daddy Osprey protecting the nest from the sun during the day, and later when we went back at dusk, we saw a cute little baby Osprey looking right at us with its fluffy little feathered head. Binoculars were essential and photos don’t really capture anything but the nest.
Speaking of photos not capturing the experience, the highlight of my trip was, hands down, the spotting of a “romp” of no fewer than TEN river otters while I was boating on the lake. I did set otter spotting as my goal of course, but never did I imagine I’d see so many. I kept a respectful distance, which did not enhance my photography. As soon as I spied one little brown head moving quickly through the water, I followed. Then I saw a huge log in the water that seemed to be covered in – NO! – YES! Covered in otters!! I just about died on the spot, but continued just floating and gazing, with a face full of smiles I’m sure. They travelled together and sometimes hopped into the brush on shore. I could see little fishies in their mouths and they did their cute otter face rubbing thing, making little grunting and chirping noises. I took as many pictures as I could, alternating angles, zoom, video vs still shots, and really none of them came out. A few make it look like there’s something in the water, but that’s as close as I got. Oh well, they’ll serve to remind me of the experience for all time. It’s going to be hard to beat that as a kayaking adventure, that’s for sure!
And another day trip we did was to drive out toward Lassen and explore a lava tube. The turn off is marked as “Subway Cave” and there is a small parking area and trail head that takes you through about a third of a mile underground. We’ve never seen a lava tube, much less hiked through one, and the most notable thing about it is how manufactured it looks. It’s really hard to believe it formed naturally. It was a very cool (literally) experience and made for a perfect escape from the day’s heat. I highly recommend making it a stop!
All told, this was a wonderful four-night stay. We learned a lesson on not letting the Aluminet shade cover hang down over the water heater vent (d’oh!), but really enjoyed the rest of our set up. We took a few trips into town and ate at a Mexican restaurant called “La Fogata” and that was both yummy and cheap, in addition to having free wifi. I will say, we could have done with less toddler screaming. At a point though, you must admire the sheer endurance of some of the youngest campers’ ability to cry nonstop. I also give serious props to the parents who kept their cool. This is a family campground to be sure, so it’s not going to offer much in the way of private sites. We’ll be stopping here again on our last leg before returning home. For now, onward to Lassen!
The excitement of launching our summer voyage is always rather extreme. Combine this with the end of school year business, and you’ve got yourself a head cold. Not horrible, just enough to make the last week of school a slog to get through. Plus, I think Richard was honestly disappointed I didn’t change my mind about leaving Friday immediately after locking the door to Learning Center. Instead, I came home and collapsed in bed and didn’t get up again until early Saturday.
Long trips require a bit more executive functioning than our normal weekend routine. There are apps for that of course, and we are even starting to get kind of good at making sure we have all the extra stuff we’ll need to last two months away from home. Vitamins, prescriptions, protein shake packets, coffee pods are examples of things on the long term provisions list. Then it’s stuff like: don’t forget the generator, the various chargers, and the Barker (portable grey water tank). The rest is either part of our normal portage, or purchasable on the road. And then, one of the most important bits of the pre-liftoff checklist is to make sure we don’t accidentally take Kitty, who likes to sleep in Dory when she’s in the garage.
All systems being go, we started rolling well before 10am on Saturday and just headed north. We intentionally left Saturday unreserved so we could play it by ear. Our first reserved spot was in McArthur Burney for Sunday night, so we got to choose a place somewhere about half way. We selected Woodson Bridge State Recreation Area partly due to its proximity to I5, but truthfully, more because it would allow us to put a blue pin in our CA State Parks map.
I was surprised how few sites were taken on a Saturday night. This is a pretty little campground right along the Sacramento River. We didn’t see any sites that had a river view, but there were one or two where you could walk a tiny bit from the site to get a nice overlook. You definitely would not be able to launch a kayak from any of the sites. But there is a county park right next to the campground that has launch sites and day use areas. There are plenty of sites that accommodate trailers. They are paved and most are nice and level. The bathrooms are clean and nice and there is a campground host on duty to deal with shenanigans. It appears you can make reservations online, but we were one of three total campers there, so not a problem getting a spot. Not sure why. There is an RV park across the street, so perhaps people opt for hookups in the summer.
One week until summer blast off and all systems are go! I could not be more pleased with how the Lagun table mount is working, and we got to put it through its paces during travel to see how sturdy it is. I created a velcro strap with a D ring on one end that acts as an insurance policy in case any of the arm locks give way. I also stuck our wedge cushions between the table and the front wall for the same reasons. 
On arrival at the state park, it looked as solid as when we left. Concerning the blue coroplast project, there was one espresso cup that shifted onto its side, so I’ll be hot gluing some things this week. Overall though, we’re looking ready to roll. Oh, and I can also report that the magnet closure on the screen room flap is a success! So the pain, and extra magnets, were worth it.
The weather reported likely thunderstorms Saturday, so Richard took the bikes off. As it turned out, we experienced maybe one solid minute of rain Saturday night, but that was it. During the day, we enjoyed blue skies and a perfect five mile hike through the South Grove. The drive there would make for a beautiful, but very challenging, bike ride. Richard took notes as we drove and decided he was happy to be in a car. But maybe some day.
This trail was far less crowded than the popular one closer to the Visitor Center, and it boasts the largest tree in the park. We did pass by a very large group of Mennonites (I think?) on the trail, along with a cluster of abandoned strollers down closer to the trailhead. It kind of looked like a scene out of the past, except there were strollers rather than wagons and oxen left behind. One of the strollers appeared to have had a blowout.
Sunday we packed up in no great hurry and talked through the few remaining errands we need to get done this week. I think it will be safe to leave my puffy and sleeping bag jacket at home. Hope I don’t regret that decision. The screen room should be a very nice addition this summer. I ditched the storage bag it comes with, in favor of a much larger solution. It is, in fact, the original carrying case that came with my kayak, since I upgraded that to the Advanced Elements 
Well, just when we thought summer might be getting ready to come on strong, we do a 180 and we’re right back in March. It’s tricky making reservations six months out because you really don’t know what to anticipate in terms of whether you’ll need a site with hookups to run AC, or a site with shade, or a site NOT next to the river that recently flooded and wiped out whole towns. We were fine, but I did watch that water level to scan for changes.
No biking or kayaking this weekend, but we completely entertained ourselves with some pre-summer trip planning and reorganization. I have a little storage project I can do to keep me busy and Richard has a larger project he’s been working on very slowly and carefully. In any case, we enjoyed the rainy weekend and I collected photos of sites for future reference. And, as always, this whole area is so beautiful, just getting there and back is a treat.
Casini Ranch is a privately run place that is very friendly, and family oriented. There is a lot to do there if you are a kid. The Russian River is definitely rushing at the moment, so it would have been challenging to paddle it, even with no rain. I’ll have to time a return trip for when it’s maybe calmer. In addition to a little trip to the campground store, we dined in the tiny town of Duncan’s Mills, at 
Sunday we hitched up and dumped in the rain. I say “we,” but I mean “Richard.” I took a picture though. We then headed down the coast and decided to see if Wright’s Beach was open yet. I just want to state, for the record: I am a really really really dedicated employee. See that picnic table to the left of the Danger sign? It’s an empty site with a vacancy for one night. Did we take it? Even after I’d lost that same site not once but twice when the campground was closed? No. I thought about it a lot though. 
Instead, we had lunch and hung out by the waves before heading home. Richard always packs one more night’s worth of stuff (like vitamins, breakfast, etc.) just on the remote chance we might blow off Monday and stay out one more night. And he always asks, on stops like these, whether they have any sites. Ugh. This one was hard to turn down. I have a feeling there will be at least one moment on Monday when I think to myself, “I could be at Wright’s Beach right now.”
Ah, there’s the Collins Lake we figured must happen when it’s closer to summer. Both times we’ve been, it was either cold and rainy, or well into the Fall, when the water levels were low. This time we got a taste of the party zone. For a private campground with 500 sites, plus day use visitors, this is a really well run place. I say that because I did not see any ambulances or fire trucks, despite the high probability levels. At our little loop alone, we saw a half dozen empty beer case boxes, combined with people lighting things on fire besides the wood in the fire rings.
Speaking of injury potential, I learned last week that magnets are dangerous. Like, for real. The way all the warning signs on the packaging said they were. I scoffed it all off and blithely threw it away, but now I know better. You see, I’m working on the idea of making the screen room side flap into a magnet closure type thing. So I went to Amazon and searched all kinds of words around magnets, ending up with an order for “Neodymium” bar magnets (pronounced neo-DIM-ee-um, and I know that because I Googled it after I got injured). They said they were super strong and that seemed like a good idea. When I got them out of their crazily protected packaging, I lined them up on the table, in a long chain, to keep them orderly. I had noticed already that they were quite strong. Then, I started to bend the first one around, to try to get it off the chain.
Here’s the sequence of events my brain perceived: 1) I noticed the magnets were no longer on the table, 2) I heard a huge crack, and 3) realized my finger hurt. That’s how fast it happened. I looked on the floor and saw a clump of magnets, including the shards of several that had cracked and broken in the collision. Now I have a magnet phobia. That surely must be called “magnetophobia” right?
Deciding that these were somewhat overkill for the requirements of the project, I went back online to search for “craft magnets.” Not bothering to check the measurements stated in the product details, two days later I received the smallest magnets in the world. Hmm. I believed my online shopping skills were of a higher quality. Perhaps I should pause and think this through, before ordering more magnets.
We still recommend the place. But when the lake is full and blue and beautiful, like it was this weekend, it takes on a decidedly different flavor. Speaking of flavors, we can forgive a lot of campground commotion when there’s an ice cream place you can walk to that is open until 11pm. And once again, the Pahaque awning/screen room came out and showed off its ability to drop the privacy flaps when you’re in closer quarters with your neighbors.
Richard got in a fabulous bike ride around the Brownsville loop, along Oregon Hill Road. He says the road is messed up, but it’s a beautiful ride if you like climbing. I enjoyed a long paddle in the sunshine. I’d say summer is coming, but it looks like rain again next weekend. It’s ok. It’ll happen.
One last thing to report: the amazingly wonderful parents who 
This one is subtitled: “Not the 
Cutting to the chase: this was a thumbs up. The weather was just perfect, the roads beautiful, and I fully enjoyed sagging him out to the coast and back. The campground is located about half way along Highway 128 between Cloverdale and the ocean. And as it is spring in a non drought-dry California, the landscape takes one’s breath away. There are wildflowers blooming everywhere. I spotted California Lilac, Rhododendrons, Irises, Poppies, Dogwood, and a whole bunch of others I couldn’t name. And every now and then, you pass by a little farm with baby sheep or goats bounding here and there.
In the space of 40 miles, you pass through meadows, rolling hills, vineyards, and redwood forests, in a repeating sequence. Hendy Woods itself is deep in a redwood covered range, and is located along the Navarro River. Some time when we come back, I will need to find out about boating on the river. We’ll also need to be careful if we stay more than two nights. If we’d stayed three, we would have needed the generator because there is very little solar in the campground. We hit 66% battery capacity the morning of departure, so that’s perfect for a weekend.
Besides being a distraction from the century, we also had a mission: get pie. Last time we came, we stopped at 
It’s a long drive for me, but as long as I do it after Daylight Savings Time, it works. I would not want to hit the initial 10 mile twisty stretch of 128 in the dark. The road is well paved once you hit the Mendocino County Line. The Sonoma County side, not so much, but I imagine they are still reeling from all the fire damage and loss of property tax revenue. The roads of Richard’s Saturday bike ride, Philo Greenwood and Cameron Road, are not in such great shape, but were fine for an Acura MDX and a pair of bicycle tires. Do be wary of the little road out to Navarro State Beach, however, as there are some serious pot holes. We noted once again that you can camp at the beach. It’s primitive, with porta potties rather than bathrooms, and it’s not reservable. But there were sites open and it sure would be a nice view.
Butano State Park is just a gorgeous place. So lovely in fact, that I did not leave the campsite the whole weekend. Richard got in a coastal bike ride and said it was spectacular. I wrote a report and gave some Alto tours, and that was perfect. Plus, our scheduled tour couple brought us freshly baked pear/walnut wheat bread. Yay! And the unexpected tour was someone in the Altoistes group, and it’s always fun to meet up in campgrounds and talk Altos.
The other thing I got to do was play with the latest iteration of the screen room/awning. I’m going to go ahead and say I’m pleased with Pahaque Screen Room 6.0 (my name, not theirs). This set up has seen many tweaks and changes, and has been a long time in fits-and-spurts development, but I think I’ve just about got it. Here’s the path this project took:
On our way out, we stopped in Pescadero for our 
California seems like an entirely different place to me when it is all lush and green. Likewise, the Olema Campground left me with a better impression this trip and I wonder if that is just the spring wildflowers talking.
They’ve done a clever thing though in some of the loops, where they put a pull in right next to a back in, so your front doors are facing away from each other. That helps to make the space seem more private. And as it turned out, the loop next to us was closed for maintenance, so it really wasn’t too bad at all. Plus, I reserved the site on Tuesday after having officially been notified that the last of my Wright’s Beach reservations was cancelled. So for a last minute booking, you can’t get much better.
Richard was thinking of going on a big ride, but Saturday brought intense winds. Instead, we drove to Pt. Reyes Station for a bit of lunch before heading out to Point Reyes National Seashore. Our first stop was the 
After that, we decided to drive out to the point, although the lighthouse is currently closed for restoration. That road has seen better days. The whole thing is full of potholes and bumps, and in some areas, parts are falling off and short stretches are one lane only. There was a pretty good size flood too, and believe me, we wouldn’t have crossed it without seeing others safely cross in front of us.
We took a little side excursion down to Drake’s Beach where I had to yell at a family of tourists for literally poking a sea lion with a stick! The grandma was taking video on her iPad of a poor tired soul, trying to rest out of the way on the beach. Then grandpa reached over and grabbed a stick to poke him! I could not believe it. The sea lion roared at him and she laughed, like “Ha ha ha, do it again so I can get the shot.” He started toward the sea lion again and I went running up waving my hands (I don’t think they spoke English). “SIR!! Please don’t POKE THE SEA LION WITH A STICK!” The adult daughter looked embarrassed, saying “Oh sorry, sorry,” as though this was some obscure, surprising rule. They scurried off, but I was still mad and told the ranger on them. Didn’t do any good because they’d already left, but I guess it felt good to see the rangers standing guard so no one else would do it. People. Seriously.
After that, we drove a precariously narrow road to Chimney Rock. That’s a nail biter if you encounter cars coming the other way, which we did. The parking lot was also full, so all we could do was turn around and go back. From there, we headed out to the last point on the lighthouse road you can drive before you encounter a gate. The wind was serious by then, but we scrambled out to a lookout and tried to not become kites. Richard was 100% glad he had not chosen to try riding out there.
Easter Sunday I baked a lemon blueberry cake in the Omnia (success!), and we drove home via Nicasio and Stafford Lake. The former was full to the brim with lovely water, while the latter was all a-fluff with spring goslings. I don’t know much about goose social structure, but it sure looked to me like there were two geese caretakers in charge of the entire gaggle of goslings, while the rest of the adults hung out together and mingled. I wonder if they take turns, or if jobs are permanently assigned.
Then home again, home again. It sure lifts my soul to see California this green. It also reminds me that things come back. Even after a long drought. That’s a good reminder for the woes of the world and a lesson I needed just now. One more metaphorical lesson was learned this weekend. I bought new plastic (not real wax) candles to replace the melted Romance Package 1.0. I decided to hang them from the front wall on a shelf, and ever so slightly underestimated the distance needed to fit the tallest candle under the California State Parks map. I stared at it and puzzled for a long while over breakfast. 
If I tried to reposition the sticky shelf mount, it would be ruined, but I do have another. Or I could trim a tiny bit of laminate off the bottom of the map, but it’s unlikely I could do that without having it be jagged, and that would bug me. Or I could try to make that candle stand out from the wall just a bit so it will go in front of the map…. Then it occurred to me that if I simply turned the candle around so the lower contoured side was against the wall, the problem would be removed. So that’s the lesson: when faced with problems that are tricky or complicated to solve, see if just turning something around will do it. Perspective is everything.
*Warning* This post contains disturbing images. For anyone familiar with Wright’s Beach, located on the dazzling Sonoma Coast, it may be unsettling to view the campground in its current state. If, however, you are NOT someone who logs in to Reserve California regularly at 8:00 am precisely in order to do online click battle with the 39 million other people trying to reserve these ten sites, you may be unaffected. Additionally, if you are NOT someone who danced the sweet victory jig of reservation success, way back in mid October, only to have it mercilessly ripped from your camping calendar, not once, but THREE TIMES, you may be fine. Me, I’m hanging in there, thanks for asking.
Richard says I am a reservation “premium-donna” and should learn to be happy with non premium sites. He has a point. But, to my credit, I was able to rally and head out this weekend, setting aside my tragic losses. I was able to rise above the unrequited site 6 longing, and enjoy the full solar in Bodega Dunes site 60. In fact, truth be told, it was a lovely weekend, full of sun and spring flowers.
We even took a look at the desolation of our would be destination. I was imagining some kind of gaping wound in the campground roads, or that half the hillside above the sites had slid down onto the coast below. Nothing short of complete devastation could possibly justify the closure of such a popular campground, now expected to be shuttered through the summer months. Instead, what we found was a section of road, about two feet wide, covering a culvert, that looks to be in danger of falling down. Also, we saw a downed tree. That’s it.
There was a ranger at the staging area above the campground who was turning people away and explaining how it takes a long time for a CA state park to get a permit from the state of CA to fix a campground road. Environmental reports have to be done, engineers have to come out, etc, etc. So yeah, go check out Bodega Dunes and yes, you can walk down to the beach.
I took the opportunity to stroll through the empty campground and jot down site numbers that are not premium, but would still be right next to the beach so that I can be more reasonable about reservation angst in the future. I’m always gonna try for the oceanside sites, though. It was a shame to see them all sitting there vacant, but on the other hand, it made for a spectacular picnic location.
Otherwise, it was a weekend of sun and warm air and spring, for reals. We got in some sunsets and Spud Point crab cakes. I drove the “Boho” loop Richard likes to bike, past Wild Flour Bakery (where you gotta stop and eat a double chocolate banana walnut scone, while enjoying their gardens), through the cute little town of Occidental, and over to the Russian River. Then a cruise down the picturesque Sonoma Coast until we landed back at the Bodega Dunes day use area for the beautiful end of day show.
