Carpe Dory (2)

This one was an adventure for us! I don’t think we’ve ever stayed in a dispersed camping area. It has recently changed so that you must stay only in designated sites, but it’s still pretty rustic. Definitely a memorable experience. In order to gear up for the unpredictability, we stopped along the highway in Bishop. This is the ‘big city’ out in these parts, and a good place to restock on groceries, as well as donuts. We joyfully discovered that yet another in the Schat’s Bakkery (not a typo) chain was located here. Richard had the dubious honor of going to check it out and choose something while I got a few groceries. He said it was completely overwhelming and sent me a video he took of just one of the sections. From his description, it has just about anything you can imagine in the way of baked goods. It also has an entire deli section that is bigger than all of Arcangeli in Pescadero. It was awfully hard for Richard to narrow it down to just a couple of donuts and a mini eclair. All were delicious.

To get to the Alabama Hills National Scenic Area, you start in Lone Pine and turn up Whitney Portal Road. From there you go uphill, toward the imposing wall of Sierras taking up the entire horizon. Eventually, you come to Movie Road and you turn right. It starts as a paved road, but quickly turns to packed sandy gravel. It’s a perfectly fine road to tow on, even if it is a little washboardy. You will see signs posted all over the place letting you know you can’t camp in the Day Use areas, only in designated marked campsites. We learned that this whole area used to be a free for all and it was getting trashed. We saw ample evidence of broken glass, but it also seems lots of effort has gone into cleaning the place up. One of the ways to preserve it was to limit where you could park and camp. Also, you need to get a permit, which you can do online, before you can camp there. We’re in favor, but it made finding a place exciting.

We drove out to a staging area where there were maps posted and information on exactly where you could find a space. There were sites listed in green as “accessible” and sites in orange as “4WD accessible.” They are not kidding. I expect to have nightmares about accidentally towing Dory down one of these roads and getting stuck. I was super worried about it, but it was all fine. There is not a great way to know how bad one of these sandy roads is going to be, but between the paper map and some other map apps, we could mostly tell which ways would be a bad idea. Richard was able to find a Forest Service guy who reassured him and said there were only a couple of dips on the road we wanted to try. Richard walked ahead and thought he found an ok site, but when I pulled Dory up to it, I rejected it for being way too tippy. We slowly moved along, hoping to not get stuck, until we came to the next green site. This one had a wide area where I could make a U turn to get out, and the road seemed adequately passable. I was way outside my comfort zone here, but we were able to do the best we could with leveling and unhitched. That meant we were committed.

There was absolutely no one else around at that point, so the worries over not being able to get a first come first serve site were yet again unfounded. One of the first things we wanted to do was get a better feel for the layout of the place, including what other sites might be workable with a trailer. There are signs posted on all the roads saying don’t take trailers on them, but the forest service guy said they were just cautionary and that he could get his 28 foot trailer in any of them. I’d like to see a 28 foot trailer get pulled up some of those 4WD roads, but maybe he just meant any of the green ones. It was also really hot, like in the low 90s, and we were curious about the other FS campgrounds farther away.

We left Dory in her crazy scenic pseudo site and got in the car to go explore. A few miles on the other side of Whitney Portal Road is Tuttle Creek campground. It gets very good reviews, but I was not particularly impressed. It has vault toilets, dumpsters for trash, and a “terrible” dump with a big ol’ curb. The sites were mostly more level than the BLM, but nothing was making me wish we’d gone there. On the plus side, I think the cell service would have been better.

Next we drove up to Lone Pine campground. This one is higher and was a little less hot. You have to reserve this place and there are only a handful of sites that would be big enough for a trailer. It sits down low in a valley off the road, and there are trees and greenery to offer some shade. There was water and trash, but no dump or cell service. The Whitney Portal Trail starts from that campground if you want a ridiculously hard hike. Again, nothing made me wish we’d stayed there, and I was gradually getting used to the wild wild west vibe of the area.

The last thing we did to maximize car AC time was drive back down to Lone Pine where there was cell service and the Museum of Western Film History that showcased all of the films that were shot in Alabama Hills. We are not big western movie fans, or we might recognize more of the titles. It seems many of the John Wayne movies were shot there, and series like the “Lone Ranger.” “Gunga Din” was one of the featured movies and there is a location where you can see where they built a bridge for one of the big scenes. That’s on our list of movies we need to watch now. A couple of the “Star Trek” movies, “Django Unchained,” and “Tremors” used this place too. All very fascinating and we did spend time the next day looking for the locations.

We did a good job killing time during the heat of the day using car AC, so we decided to head back up and make dinner. I will give us credit for carrying a lot of options for cooking. Under normal circumstances, I cook inside Dory. When it’s hot though, we have the grill and we have a camp stove for maximum flexibility. Our site had a big rock slab where we could set up the grill table and be in the shade. I made a lovely steak and panzanella salad, which we ate inside because of the crazy wind.

After dinner it was cool enough to go hiking around. We did the Arch trail, which is a really nice, well marked loop of a couple of miles. We also checked out a couple more of the green coded sites. I made notes on the map photo of which ones we could definitely rule out. I can imagine someone who loves off roading would get a kick out of this place, but I don’t see how any vehicle could make it over some of these pits and rocks. There were a good number of them though that would totally work. I circled those in green for any future return trips.

We were in the groove now, and went to bed without closing the privacy curtains. There was absolutely no one in sight and the stars were amazing to look at through Dory’s windows. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a bad idea because we did get someone coming in down the road a bit, just after midnight. The approach of a car’s headlights in the dark lights up every rock face in the area. And they took a while to get their tents set up, so the headlamp beams were coming right in whenever they looked in our direction. Plus, in the morning, the earliest rays of sunlight start hitting the mountain peaks around 5am. It was a romantic thought, but we for sure closed the curtains the next night.

We got a nice early start and hiked until around 2, before it got hot again. We checked out all of the movie locations and I took pictures in case we ever get around to watching them. You can see where they put concrete and reinforcing anchors into the rocks for the “Gunga Din” bridge.

Then we did a longer arch loop trail that covers the area to the east of Movie Road. This trail gives you a great view of Mt. Whitney and the crazy approach of Whitney Portal Road as it zig zags its way up the wall of granite. I don’t think I want to drive that section of road. We looked it up and the grade is about 14% in places, with an average grade of 9% and a climb of four thousand feet. Not something to be taken lightly, even in a car. Incidentally, Mt. Whitney is the highest point in the contiguous US, and lies only a hundred miles from Death Valley, the lowest point. All of this was created by the crashing of tectonic plates way back when. Pretty awe inspiring.

It was a great trail, but they sure don’t make it easy to spot the “Eye of Alabama” arch from the trail. We had to use gps and go off trail to find it. We saw a cool leopard lizard, and some Dr. Seuss looking plants called Desert Trumpets. There were cacti and tons of sagebrush everywhere. Very desert like, with an occasional oasis of cottonwoods running along a wash.

We got back to Dory and passed the hot hours of the afternoon in our Nemo chairs, tucked into a shady little rock cave. For dinner, I whipped up a stir fry with beef and bok choy. The trickiest part was keeping all the ingredients from blowing away before they got into the pot. I paired cooking time with margarita time and the day was perfect.

We didn’t know what to expect here, but ended up loving this place. It could have been less hot, but what do you expect in the middle of July? We’ve actually been super lucky with weather on this trip, so no complaining. Our purpose in coming was to learn what the deal was and explore. Check and check. Great stay!

Total miles from Convict Lake: 100.7, 17.5 mpg, 4 hours 24 min with stop in Bishop. Site 25 according to the posted map, but sites are not marked with numbers. BLM free campground, no reservations, must camp only in designated sites. Some sites are accessible only by 4WD on VERY rough high clearance roads. Be careful. No services, no dump, no water, no trash. Porta potties at beginning of Movie Road and in other FS campgrounds. Sadly frustrating cell signal. Could sometimes get something if you climb up on some rocks. Worse for Verizon than ATT, but both sucked. Dump in Tuttle Creek had big curb. No dump in Lone Pine campground. We ended up dumping in Paradise Cove campground at Lake Isabella.

This is a great place and will probably go down as one of our favorites. It is located just down Highway 395 from Mammoth and is situated on a lovely lake. I mean, there is definitely no shortage of lakes in this part of California, but we particularly like this one. It’s just a little more of that eastern Sierras feel; namely, less forested. The dramatic mountain peaks that border it are stunningly beautiful, and it is the perfect size for quiet boating. There is kind of only one long trail around here, and it’s a big one. But there is also a calm loop trail around the lake that is only around two and a half miles.

Given it would be a short travel day, Richard did his morning workout by biking around town to explore all the things. One of the things we worked through was figuring out how important that morning movement is for him. It doesn’t need to be very long, but it needs the intense cardio to get the desired effect. I can always entertain myself in the morning, just by slowing taking my morning shower and screwing around, especially if I have service. I got caught up on all of my pond cam clips from home. We have the regulars, like Mr. Stripes, and the raccoon clan, but I have now seen a coyote pass by twice! Good thing our kitty is indoors at night.

The move from Mammoth was fast, at only about ten miles. We used the dump there instead of Shady Rest because it’s free. It’s a good dump but the potable water spigots are in a bit of an awkward location. No biggie. We found our site and were really pleased. It’s near the beginning of the loop and has a beautiful view. There was excellent solar and a little shade tree for sitting outside when it’s hot. The only bummer was that the cell service cut out just as we entered the campground. Those darn mountains are lovely, but they sure do block signal. Oh well.

The first thing we did was to walk over to the Resort and check out their store. It’s exciting to find places that sell It’s Its and they had both vanilla and cappuccino flavors. They also had a wide selection of grocery items, though no produce. There were little gifts and cute things too. I bought a beer bottle opener, not for opening beer bottles, but because a clever Altoiste posted a picture of using one of these to prop open the door window just a crack. That is super helpful when you only want a little ventilation. 

After doing a visual inventory, and establishing that they do not have free wifi (you can pay $5 for a day per device, but it only works right by the store), we walked around the lake. This is a beautiful 2 or so mile loop and an easy walk until you get to the top of the lake. There are boardwalks to get across all the river crossings, but one crucial section is down. We both ended up taking our shoes and socks off to wade through the ankle deep water.

The next day we did a big hike and put a lot of thought into it beforehand. We wanted to try an experiment by having Richard go balls out for a shortened out-and-back, so he’d be ready to calm down and walk with me for a 4-5 mile climb. He wanted to meet me at the beginning of the climb, which is at the other end of the lake, about a mile from Dory. We wanted to give him a head start so he could go a certain amount of time in one direction, and then turn around and come back. I would wait a certain amount of time before starting my walk around the lake. The question was how much time would result in us meeting up around the start of the climb. This is that word problem where, if a train leaves New York at 8am going 55mpg, and a train leaves Los Angeles at 9am going 60 mpg, where do they meet? We figured, he goes about 3 mph, I go about 2. If we gave him an hour, he’d be 3 miles out. Then he’d turn around and I would simultaneously start. It would take me about a half hour to go a mile and he could cover about 3/4 of a mile coming back, so maybe we’d be within a 1/4 mile of each other. This was serious math we were doing here.

We started our one-hour timers at 7:47. He took off, I slowly started my day with coffee, shower, etc. At 8:47, both of our timers went off. I was ready to lock Dory and start up the trail. He had gotten to a good stopping point and started heading back down. I kid you not, I literally saw him reach the trailhead from about fifty yards away. Nailed it.

Elated with the success of the experiment, we walked together up the Mildred Lake trail. We knew in advance that we might not make it to the lake. There were reports of a bridge being out and a rather dangerous river crossing four miles up the trail. I knew that four miles one way, and a sixteen hundred foot climb would be plenty. The lake is another mile up after that, so you’d be looking at an over ten mile day. But I was ready to decide when we got to it too. We each carried an over abundance of water.

The trail is absolutely beautiful. From the views up the canyon, to the wildflowers and sounds of the river next to you, you can’t ask for more. Except maybe a bridge in that one place. We were both satisfied to stop at the site of the former bridge. The water was rushing very fast and the rocks, even dry, were slippery. Not worth risking our lives to see another lake.

Lots of the trail goes across rocks. Like not bouldering, but packed rocks about the size of baseballs. There wasn’t any scrambling, but you did have to watch your footing carefully most of the way.

We were tired but happy when we reached the bottom, and made a bee line for the resort. Our scheming had resulted in both of us getting what we needed and we were pretty pleased with ourselves. Those It’s Its were well earned and we enjoyed every bite. 

The final day was really about logistics and service. We needed some things in town and I was getting dangerously behind on blog writing. If I get more than two stops behind, I start to forget everything that happened. So we drove back to Mammoth, found a shady spot, and I typed. Richard walked around town some more, and, as is his way, found an excellent ice cream place called Local Scoop that had just opened and had five star reviews. The only problem with traveling with Richard is that I always want to partake in the delicious things he finds. But I burn way fewer calories than he does. I try to monitor the calories in/calories out on these trips, but my guess is that I will have gained some pounds back. But I’m not going to freak out about it. I mean, what is one supposed to do when you get a picture texted to you of a liege waffle topped with a scoop of ice cream and a drizzle of hot fudge? There is no other sane choice there.

We can add another gorgeous lake to the list of ones I did not boat on. I might have done so if there wasn’t so much afternoon wind. That does seem to be a theme here. Besides water sports, there is the canyon trail. Beyond that, you could rent horses or go fishing, if either of those is your thing. It’s an Instagram worthy location and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Total miles from New Shady Rest: 11.7, 13.5 mpg, 1 hour (including dump). Site 88. No hookups. Great solar. Not really much cell service. Good free, double sided dump. Potable water spigots on the left if you’re entering, or the right if you’re leaving. Flush toilets. Resort store and restaurant. Boat rentals.

This is a short post just to note that we liked staying in this location. Is it pretty? Not really. Is it by a lake? Nope. Does it have a burbling little creek flowing past it? Nah. But what it lacks in Instagram worthiness is totally compensated by the fact that it has great cell service and is located at the bottom of the Lakes Basin Path, rather than the top. This means you can do all the hard work of climbing to hikes or lakes or other outdoor activities at the start of the day, and bask in the downhill whoosh at the end when you’re tired. You can walk, or bike, to fun little shops or restaurants for dinner, and you can top up on groceries, gas, propane, anything you need super easily. We liked it.

And if you’re going to book there for the cell service, we note that the sites closer to the road have the best service. Once you get past site 128, the campground drops downhill and the signal starts to get weak. Some of the sites are short, so that must be noted when making the reservation. The one we got, and 129 across from it, are both a little apart from others, and have all the benefits we enjoy. We’d do those again next time we come.

Total miles from Coldwater: 6.5, 22.9 mpg, 45 min. Site 128 no hookups. $10 dump. Good dump with rinse water and potable water. Excellent cell service for both. Some solar. Great proximity to all town things. Right by the Lakes Basin Path.

This was an interesting stop. I’ll say we overall had a good time, but several elements brought up issues we needed to work through. We’ve had time to process the glitches, and I think I can sum them up by a few things we’ve learned. 1: It is very important for Richard to move his body, especially before being in the car for a while. 2: We really do like at least a little bit of cell service. 3: Mosquitos suck. 4: We hike at very different speeds. 5: #4 triggers all kinds of deep emotional programming stuff for both of us. We’re good now, but I’m going to say this stay was bumpy, and only partly had to do with the campground.

This was our first exploration of the Mammoth Lakes area. Weird that two native Californians have never been to this place before. It’s kind of overwhelming how many campgrounds there are and how much there is to do in the area, so we’re chalking this up to a first dip of the toes. Reviews of all of the campgrounds rate the ones up at the higher elevation lakes as top notch. I get why. They have that high Sierras picture perfect look to them, and many of them are right on a lake. There are campgrounds down in town that we rejected, partly because of the reviews, and partly because they don’t present as attractively as the more rustic ones up high.

Coming off excellent cell service in Washoe Lake, we were excited to see a couple of bars of 5g, even as we drove up, up, up away from town and toward the lakes. But the road just goes on and on, climbing a thousand feet from Mammoth proper. Once you get to the first set of lakes, Twin Lakes, you keep going until you eventually go past Lake Mary to see the turn off for Coldwater campground. By that time, all signal was lost.

The campground loop road is narrow and shows signs of winter wear. As it happened, the site we had was way at the farthest point in the three consecutive loops. Arriving finally at the site, it seemed nice enough, with lots of dense forest and a little creek flowing in the background. I needed Richard to spot me as I backed in so I would neither hit a tree, nor drop Dory’s wheels off the pavement. The very first sign of struggle with this place was how many swarming mosquitoes converged on him as he tried to guide me. The smell of mosquito repellant tends to repel me more than the mosquitos, so it takes a lot before I’m willing to cover myself with it. This situation definitely warranted head to toe spraying. We both got bites as we unhitched as quickly as we could.

It was the middle of the afternoon. We had made a stop in town to get a couple of things and check out their Von’s grocery store. We’d left Washoe Lake early to avoid the wind, so Richard didn’t have a chance to get any exercise yet, and he was feeling it. The site felt dark and oppressive, with hovering mosquitoes tapping the windows while we hid inside Dory trying to figure out what to do.

I had to convince Richard to get the bikes out so we could go explore the nearby bike path and see what was what. He was in a mood, but agreed, and that was a good call. The Lakes Basin Path is amazing. It is a well paved, two way multi-use trail that goes all the way from Mammoth to Horseshoe Lake, making stops along the way at Twin Lakes, Lake Mary, and Lake Mamie. If you are coming from town, you are going to climb all the way up a thousand feet. But if you are going down, you needn’t pedal at all for about six miles. We noted that staying in town down below would allow you to ride up in the morning to do things, and then fly downhill at the end of the day. We had booked the opposite experience. We tootled around and didn’t descend past Twin Lakes, so as to avoid a steep return trip. At the Twin Lakes campground, there is a fun little store, which you can actually buy, if you happen to have $625,000 handy. There is also a Lodge where you can get a really expensive dinner.

After a much less expensive Dory dinner, we drove down to town so we could orient ourselves a bit and walk around. We checked out the campground we had previously rejected: New Shady Rest. What stuck us was that there was great service there, and it was walking distance to many fun shops, including Schat’s Bakery. We went so far as to look online to see if there were any open sites, that’s how much we prefer having service. There weren’t any with consecutive night availability, so we put on our big boy and girl panties and decided we’d survive the five star rated camping experience at Coldwater.

The next day’s agenda was all about Devil’s Postpile. We’d heard conflicting information on how to access the national monument, and definitely read that at least part of the road to get there was closed Sun-Thu. We didn’t really know if biking the road was an option, so we just drove up to the summit, where there is a big ski resort and the “Adventure Center.” We first went past this and continued on until we came to a kiosk that barred any further driving. The person inside explained that no cars were allowed to use the road from that point on, due to construction. Bicycles were technically permitted, but road bikes not advised because of the condition of the road. The only real way to get down was to pay for a shuttle service, which you have to do back at the Adventure Center. 

This irked Richard, but back we drove, finding a parking space in a rapidly filling lot. It seems one of the popular things to do here is take mountain bikes up to the top of the ski slopes and ride down. Tons of people were unloading their bikes and gearing up. We spent the $15 each to get a shuttle pass and grabbed our hiking gear. 

One thing I will say for sure: I do not want to ever drive Postpile Road in a car. It reminds me of the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier in terms of how narrow it is and how steep the dropoffs are. Yes, it was under construction, and the loose gravel and quasi paved surface would have made for a jarring bike ride to say the least. So they weren’t wrong. The shuttle is the way to go, and I personally didn’t mind the $15.

We were still pretty confused about how to hike this valley to get the best “postpile experience.” Really, you just need to get off at Stop 6, aptly named Devil’s Postpile. There are other trails you can take, as we did, but they are mostly best accessed from that central location. Given information from a park ranger, we decided to do an out and back first to Minaret Falls, then take the trail to Devil’s Postpile, and then continue to Rainbow Falls. We would even see if we were up for a short out and back to Lower Falls afterwards. At the end of this grand plan, we could simply pick the shuttle back up at the end of the valley; Stop 10 Red’s Circle.

Several things were happening here that we had to unravel later. First, Richard was irritated by the confusion at the start, plus he didn’t like that there was an unavoidable shuttle fee. When he gets tense, I shift unconsciously into helper mode. I was trying my best to make the most of the day, but was also feeling the effects of the 9-10,000 foot elevation, which made it hard for me to hike very fast. Coincidentally, one of the things Richard does unconsciously when he is tense is walk very fast. The hiking on this day surpassed 8 miles, all of which was done with me trying to keep up, Richard walking ahead, and both of us running out of water because we didn’t plan for it to be that big a day. It took us the whole next day to work through the deep layers of unconscious thought patterns pinging off of each other. The shortened version comes to this: I have abandonment issues laid down during childhood that get activated when I feel physically vulnerable. Richard physiologically struggles with going slow, especially when he’s focused on a goal or hasn’t yet gotten sufficient exercise. Super combination.

However, with all of that going on underneath, we were still able to pull off a successful exploration of the postpile valley. I think we could have skipped the out and back to Minaret Falls, but it was pretty. Also, along the way, we met a couple of rangers who offered us some bug spray that we both tolerate. We would not have made this discovery otherwise.

The main attraction was the geologic spectacle of Devil’s Postpile. This phenomenon was created by pooled lava that cooled, crystalized, and cracked, forming hexagonal pillars. From the top, it looks like someone has tiled a hill with polished cut stones. From the exposed edges, you can see the pillars stand against each other, sometimes tall and straight, and sometimes leaning and curving into each other. It’s quite striking and is created similarly to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, just on a smaller scale.

Rainbow Falls is well worth seeing in person. As its name suggests, the spray coming off the impressive cascade creates a perfect rainbow when viewed from above. The Lower Falls, though not as impressive, is still nice, but most people skip this one. It’s a little over a half mile to go down to it, so the out and back adds another mile and an uphill return. It was at the bottom of this trail that we both realized we were almost out of water. So it was a long, hot, slog up to Stop 10. Richard became convinced we were going to have to ascend Mammoth Peak, but he was equally convinced there would be ice cream sold at Red’s Circle if we could just get there. I thought that was an utterly ridiculous belief, but have never been so happy to be proven wrong. I guess they keep the little cafe and store open for backpackers, even if the road into the valley is closed. There is also a small general store and potable water spigots. It was a glorious end to a hard hike. We gave ourselves a little reward at the end of the day by driving back to New Shady Rest and reserving a one night stay for Sunday, so we could bask in service for our last night in town.

That night, as we were planning the next day’s activities, all of the underlying conflict came out. I said something about how I didn’t want to hike like that again, prompting Richard to ask, “like what?” And boom. Who needs therapy when you can camp in a 90 square foot space for two months with your partner who triggers all of your dysfunction? All kinds of fascinating stuff comes out. We spent the next day basically conflict hiking. One thing about me is I do tend to walk faster when I’m mad, so that’s something. We did the trail out of the campground up to Barney Lake. The scenery around there really is gorgeous, but I can’t say I was in the mood to enjoy it, except on a disconnected, objective level. Meanwhile, Richard was trying an experiment to see if he could shift his mindset while hiking to be ok with going slow. What I needed was reassurance that it was just as important to him to spend time together, as it was getting in a cardio workout. Now that I have an e-bike, all of this gets resolved automatically when we’re biking together. I have no trouble keeping up, he gets as much of a workout as he wants, and I don’t have to worry about being a drag. What we need here is an assistive technology solution for hiking, but until someone invents hover shoes, we needed to figure out something else.

The next morning Richard suggested we ride the bike path down into town together and then ride the Scenic Loop drive. That was exactly what I needed. It was our last day in the area and we had the site at Coldwater reserved for all day and that night. We also had the site at New Shady Rest double booked, but wouldn’t be able to check in until the afternoon. This was perfect. It allowed us all day to have fun and we could come back and move Dory whenever we wanted. The bike path is super fun, and biking together always goes smoothly. Feeling much more connected, we set our course for a first stop at Shea Schat’s Bakery. Richard talked to the owner and mentioned we had met her daughter at Washoe Lake. We split a chocolate glazed and a lemon filled donut, noting that the taste was excellent, and the consistency of the dough had a more dense texture than we typically find.

We then rode out to do the Scenic Loop, pausing to do a short hike out to Inyo Craters in the middle. The one mile road up to the craters trailhead is not paved, but we managed the sandy gravel just fine. As we walked, we floated ideas on how we could handle big hikes in a way that met both our needs. Then we got back on our bikes, finished the loop at highway 395 and decided to go back the way we came, rather than ride with fast moving highway traffic to get back to town. We both thought the Scenic Loop was not all that scenic, unless you really like trees. It’s a way to get off 395 I suppose.

Before tackling the last climb of the day, we hit Hugs Ice Cream in town. There are so many fun looking resort areas in Mammoth, and no shortage of food places. It seems like the perfect combination of outdoor activity access, and posh resort services. I can see why so many people would want to come here. Richard got in his cardio workout on the ride back up to Dory, and I cheated all the way. We moved Dory down to New Shady Rest where we dumped and got caught up on all things internet. What a great way to end the visit.

For future stays, we think we would probably just stay at New Shady Rest. It’s not as picturesque, but it would mean you could do the uphill ride in the morning, hike around lakes for the day, and enjoy a six mile coast down to fun food and abundant service for the night. We don’t particularly care if the campground looks pretty I guess, at least not on these long trips. For a weekend excursion I can totally see wanting to feel disconnected from the world in a High Sierras lake environment. I could do without the mosquitos, but we also noticed that our particular area of the campground seemed to have it the worst. It was probably due to being on the side next to the creek, nestled amongst the lush vegetation. Perfect mosquito breeding habitat. Now we know. Great place for many return visits.

Total miles from Washoe Lake: 153.3, 17.0 mpg, 5 hours 31 min. Site 51 no hookups. No cell service. Occasional bar of LTE or 5g up in day use or out near other lakes. Could get signal sometimes out on trails. Generally no internet around the lakes above town. No dump, no solar. Lots of mosquitos.

Now we start our southward stretch down the eastern Sierras and along Highway 395. Our first stop was a special one because we got to reconnect with Linda, our Alto BFF. We haven’t seen her in way too long, which is weird, because she moved from farther south to much closer to us. The trouble has been the mountain range in between us, and the fact that it gets snowed in. July was a good time to visit and see her new neighborhood. 

Washoe Lake was a place we actually briefly stopped at many years ago when Richard needed to join a work meeting. I remember exiting the highway, pulling into an empty site, and setting up the booster until his call was done. We pushed past this place back then, but I’m happy we got to check it out this time. In fact, I’ve been very happy with our smaller, closer to home, mostly California loop this summer. It has made for shorter travel days and less anxiousness on my part. Like, if something breaks, or if there are fires, or something goes really haywire, we could make it home in a day. I like that.

We set up in our site, nosing Dory into the wind. Linda warned us about the wind, and boy, she was not kidding. Starting around 2 or 3, there is a constant wind coming off the mountain passes, flowing right through the whole Carson City valley. She says every new homeowner she asks in her development mentions that they ‘missed the memo’ on the wind. 

It was not too windy to drive up to Carson City for a fun dinner out at a potato place. Richard found Hot Potato Pie online and it was really good! They are kind of like smooshed flat baked potatoes with all kinds of toppings to choose from. We split a Buffalo Chicken potato and Linda had one with beef and chiles. After dinner we, obviously, needed to go find ice cream. This was achieved at Scoups Ice Cream and Soup Bar in downtown Carson City. It’s a funny combination of hard scooped ice cream and a rotating menu of soups. They have awards mounted showing how they won first place in the Soup and Ice Cream competition. I have so many questions about that. Downtown Cason City is really cute, by the way. There are historic old buildings in the downtown area, plus the state capitol building and governor’s mansion. Lots of fun restaurants and stores, all with a cool neighborhood feel. 

The next day we grabbed Linda for a full day out on bikes. She has an Aventon e-bike too, so we dragged her all around Washoe Lake. That’s what you get for agreeing to meet up with the Levenbergs: bicycling and ice cream. Our first stop along the way was Anneke Schat’s Bakery. We had delicious pastries and Richard chatted up the owner. We found out that this is a family chain and the owner’s mother has a bakery in Mammoth. We noted that for the future.

On we rode to the next stop, which was the Chocolate Nugget Candy Factory. We sampled a couple of chocolates and I considered stocking up for xmas gifts, but then decided no way would a bunch of chocolate bars survive in the car until home. 

We made one last stop at Bower’s Mansion and learned about the sad history of the widow who ended up dying penniless in Oakland after trying to make it as a fortune teller.

That was a big riding day, Linda’s longest ride! We celebrated by heading over to her ’new’ home (she’s been there a year now) where she let us do our laundry. Camping BFFs are an essential part of a good life. It was great to see the doggos, especially Taz and Rocket. Since Richard had not yet worked up an appetite yet, he and I walked over to the somewhat nearby Costco, where we got one of their amazing chocolate chip cookies. If you have never had a hot Costco chocolate chip cookie, you are missing out. They serve them hot from the food court for $2.49; warm and gooey on the inside, crisp on the outside, and loaded with so much chocolate. OMG

After a windy walk back, we had earned dinner at The Basil Thai Cuisine, again in downtown Carson City. We split chicken satay, drunken noodles, and shrimp fried rice; all very good. Again, we walked over to Scoups for dessert.

For our last day, I drove and Richard rode his bike over to Reno to do some city things. As is his way, Richard found a donut place en route called Dough Boys Donuts. It wasn’t his plan to get donuts that morning, but the sign looks like a bicycle, so you can’t really pass that by. He said we’ve had others better, so I didn’t need to have donut FOMO. 

He also found that the National Automobile Museum happened to have free entry that day, and that there was a bike path that went right by it. I can highly recommend the museum, even if you pay the $16 entry fee. It has a huge collection of pristinely maintained classic old cars. Some date back to the early 1900s. There were cars from movies, like the Blues Brothers car, and cars from just about every period in history. So very cool. I texted pictures to Randy and he knew exactly the type of engines they had.

We then grabbed some lunch from a taco truck – very delicious – and rode the Tahoe-Pyramid Trail as far as it went, through Sparks. The trail goes up to Lake Tahoe too, but we went east until it dead ended after about seven miles. It’s a nice paved path that runs along the Truckee River. If you only look toward the river, and if you don’t mind riding past some unhoused locals, it is a nice trail. On the other side there are mostly industrial lots and waste water treatment plants, so that’s not exactly scenic. But it sure is convenient to bike through a metropolis without having to use surface streets. Before leaving Reno, we did a big shopping trip at Safeway to stock up, and then got in one last visit with Linda. 

We expect to return to Washoe Lake, if for no other reason than to hang with our buddy. That alone is worth it. The campground is nice and chill, but yeah, WINDY in the afternoons. The dump station was closed, but there was a free dump in a Mavericks back in Carson City, so no problem. This location is close enough to both Carson City and Reno to make easy day trips. There are also wild horses around, and we got to see one on our last night. 

Total miles from Cedar Lodge: 151.0, 17.5, 4 hours 22 min. Electric and water hookups. Dump temporarily closed. Dumped in Carson City Mavericks for free. Good dump with rinse water. Great cell service for both of us. Excellent solar but had hookups. WINDY in the afternoons. Nosed Dory into the southwest and that reduced buffeting.

Thank you Cedar Lodge, for saving Lake Almanor for us! After leaving that other place, we were lucky to find availability in a full hookup campground with brand new electrical panels in a perfect location. The owners, Oliver and Megann, and the camp host, Judy, could not have been more welcoming to us. This whole area burned down in the Dixie Fire, but they have been rebuilding ever since. They have a cute little hotel and a small one-loop RV campground, close to the intersection of highways 36 and 89. They have planted trees that will one day shade the whole area. They have laid new gravel and have brand new picnic tables in each site. They are a tale of resilience amidst a landscape of hardship. Within view of the campground, a hawk has made a nest atop a standing dead tree, an appropriate symbol for the ‘life finds a way’ spirit here.

There was a bike trail Richard was interested in checking out and Oliver drove him along a quasi-paved road to show him how to get there. Seriously great people. We got our bikes out in the afternoon to go explore the route. The road is, for some reason, colored a rusty red, passable on a bike, but not without lots of potholes and short sections of packed dirt. Where it finally ceases to be paved, we chose to hop onto nearby Highway 89 for .8 miles until we got to the crossroad that leads to the west end of the bike trail. 89 is not a bad road to bike, especially for such a short distance. There is a shoulder and it’s not too trafficky.

The red road made a really profound impression on Richard. He calls it ‘trauma bonding’ and I get why. The road is rough, so you feel the physicality of traversing it in your body. You have to give your full attention to where you are, scanning for larger rocks or potholes as you make your way along. It’s an exercise in being fully present. Something about the color, set against the background of standing dead trees and abandoned trucks and machinery, creates an otherworldly feel. And yet, the journey is pleasant. There was a cool breeze coming off the lake, with Lassen standing tall and striking to the west. Even as the bumpy surface of the pavement vibrated beneath us, we had all the tools we needed to navigate the passage. It was a physical manifestation of the feeling of making our way, together, through hard times. Even the presence of the active volcano peak, looming always on the horizon, a reminder of the ephemeral nature of this expedition through life, provides an ominous reminder to enjoy what is before you. Richard used the word ‘romantic’ to describe the road, and later said that wasn’t quite the word. But I think it’s fitting.

After four miles on the red road and short stint on the highway, we came to the unpaved turn off to catch the trail head. The Lake Almanor Recreation Trail is a fully paved multi-use path that runs about ten miles along the southern side of the lake. It weaves its way along the water, through campgrounds, and up into low hills, until it reaches the Canyon Dam boat launch at the southeastern end. We didn’t explore the whole thing on that day, but we got far enough down it that we knew what we wanted to do the following day.

For all my ambivalence about facebook, one thing I am always grateful for is how it helps connect you with friends. When I posted shots from our stay at McArthur Burney, a longtime (like since before marriage and kids) friend said something about being in Chester. Didi and her husband Jerry were staying at (as she hilariously puts it) the “optimistically named” Lake Almanor Resort, just across the lake from us. Because they are super cool people, living the dream in life, they have a jet ski and suggested we meet for lunch at a place in Almanor. We could bike there, they could jet ski over there, like they are some kind of James Bond movie couple. It was a date.

We biked the entirety of the trail, stopping along the way to check out the Plumas Pines Resort and Bar, as well as Carol’s Prattville Cafe. Both are super fun places to stop for lunch or breakfast. There’s a little store at Plumas Pines and the cafe is seriously popular for lunch. Didi and Jerry got us a spot on the wait list and we joined them on the grass, listening to excellent live music and watching kids blow bubbles and play on a slip n slide. We shared our story about the authoritarian enabling former campground, and they shared stories about the “irrational inflatables” obnoxiously on display at their resort. I love that term and warned Didi I’d be using it in the blog. So great to catch up!

Jerry then suggested we pass the time by taking a spin on their jet ski. You guys. This old lady has not been on a jet ski in her life. I have been on a motorcycle like once, maybe twice, as a teenager. Richard didn’t even have to think about his answer, but I said what the hell and climbed aboard. Jerry did an outstanding job of making it exhilarating, but not too terrifying. I think he said we were going about 25 mph, which I later learned is way faster than he goes with Didi. I very much appreciated that he waited until after we were back safe on the dock to share the story of how he once flipped the thing, and had to swim to it while it was going in circles all by itself. It was like the most fun thing I’ve done in a long time. And yet, there is zero danger that I am ever going to try talking Richard into buying a jet ski. What an awesome day!

Honestly, if not for the unexpected hospitality at Cedar Lodge, we would have left Lake Almanor with a negative impression. Instead, we got to enjoy one of the highlights of the trip and I got to have an unforgettable experience on the lake and reconnect with dear friends. The discovery of the Lake Almanor Recreation Trail was a definite score and something we would love to do again in the future. The little town of Chester is cute, with just enough stores and services to satisfy any needs. It is definitely noted for return trips, and we would love to stay at Cedar Lodge again. The other campground that looked really nice was the PG&E Rocky Point campground. There are no hookups there, so in the heat it might be tough, but it is also entirely in the woodsy shade. Great save!

Total miles from Manzanita Lake, with one nighter at other place: 67.0, 18.9 mpg. Full hookups. Brand new electrical panels. Excellent wifi that can be hit from inside the trailer. Much better cell service for both of us than at other place. Newly planted trees will provide nice shade when they get big. Brand new picnic tables and fresh gravel. Super helpful owner and camp host. Good proximity to Chester.

FAIR WARNING: This entry is not like my typical camping posts. It’s very much about “politics.” If that is not your cup of tea, maybe skip this one. It’s also really really LONG. For the tl:dr version: I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS CAMPGROUND.

I try hard not to diss privately owned campgrounds. If I didn’t like a place, I’ll try to point out the positives while maybe stopping short of offering a recommendation. Running a private campground, like running any small, independent business, is very hard work, I know that. I don’t take for granted all the effort that must go into keeping a place running, especially in the hospitality industry. People are annoying a lot of the time, and it must be demanding to cater to travelers, always trying to be polite, balancing individual needs with the needs of other people enjoying their vacations. I imagine it is hard to make ends meet and have the time, energy, or money to take care of your own needs. In parts of the country that have been devastated by natural disasters, the struggle is amplified by magnitudes of difficulty. The community around Lake Almanor was heavily impacted by the Dixie Fire, which began on July 13, 2021, and burned 963,309 acres. People here have been endeavoring to put things back together for four years, but I understand that it must be very challenging. So I try hard not to diss privately owned campgrounds, especially here. But here we go. This one is an exception. They pushed the wrong buttons at the wrong time.

I am no stranger to seeing huge Trump flags placed outside businesses. We have driven a lot of miles of this country, down a lot of back roads, and we certainly see bars and restaurants flying their banners of belonging as we happily pass them by. We are not naive about the existence of these people. And any time we see those symbols connected to a place of business, we can knowingly avoid spending our money there. I also know there are plenty of supporters who do not advertise their sentiments. If I cared enough to research their political donations, I suppose I could, but that would be on me to do the research. I can avoid big businesses known to be significant enablers, but I’m not going to worry about the small businesses, unless they shove it in my face.

Consider the difference though, between a restaurant, clothing store, even grocery store, vs a campground. When you reserve a site at a campground, particularly on a Friday of a holiday weekend, you have already submitted payment. Depending on the cancellation policy of the campground (which is, let’s say, strict in this particular case), you cannot simply drive away at the door, with your trailer in tow. You not only would incur financial penalties for taking your business elsewhere, but you also would have no guarantee of finding other accommodations, again, especially on a Friday of a holiday weekend. You are automatically placed in a compromised, vulnerable position when you are traveling. For a campground owner to fly a Trump flag at the entrance, right over their check in office, they are counting on their guests to quietly accept their symbols of fascism, and they are in a position of power here.

We pulled up to the gate of the North Shore Campground around 1:30 on Friday, July 4th. We made a three day reservation back in January, selecting a premium hookup site with a water view, and paid the non refundable site lock in fee. This was to be a special 4th of July treat, following a long stint of no hookups. We got the water proximate site because we wanted to see the fireworks go off over the lake. It was a splurge, and we had no indication from their website or reservation site that this was anything but a nice, albeit expensive, campground. When I saw their Trump flag proudly displayed, just beyond the key card activated main gate, hung intentionally low enough to be unmissable, something inside me quietly dislodged.

I sucked it up, because that was what was expected. I rationalized and told myself it was no big deal, because that is what they are counting on. I wrestled with whether there were small, after the fact, actions I could take so as not to create discord or inconvenience in the moment. Maybe there was an email of protest I could write later. Maybe I could leave a poor online review. I was uneasy about the idea of saying anything in the moment because I didn’t want to put us, or Dory, into a situation that could turn ugly. All of this is expected, and intended, and I went along, in silent submission, giving tacit permission as we drove forward, under that domineering flag.

This is the very mechanism of subordination. It relies on an uneven power dynamic so that the bully can leverage their power against the vulnerable, who will most likely go along and say nothing, because it is far easier. It presents as such a small thing; just a flag. To challenge it makes the plaintiff look a fool, and that is by design. I do not assume that the person who placed that flag was consciously aware of any of this. But I do know that the placement of the symbol is expected not to be challenged. They expect you to either agree, or comply as you enter their territory. I imagine these are “nice” people, who smile and ask you where you’re from, and whether there is anything you need. I imagine they have curated their “news” sources to the point they can’t comprehend those who do not share their views. I imagine the information they do pursue only serves to shape a perceived reality of persecution and righteousness. I imagine they rationalize why it is perfectly ok for them to “express their opinion” in their own place of business, and that they only subconsciously understand the machinery of the manipulation. By the way, they have also placed a permanently mounted sign in the dump station saying: INSERT YOUR BIDENS HERE. Just a joke, right? Can’t you take a joke?

Fascism is very much on my mind these days. We recently finished watching the “Andor” series, which you should definitely watch too. It is mind blowing how, even though this was written and produced way before the November election, there are so many parallels to current events. I suppose that is because there is a predictable play book for authoritarian takeovers. We also rewatched “Rogue One,” which now has far more meaning and context than when it first came out. And I have been reading a lot of analyses, written by people who are experts in authoritarianism, as they explain what is happening right now in the United States. If you are not aware or not paying attention to any of what is happening – Hey guess what. We are well along the path to authoritarian dictatorship. With the signing of the recent bill on July 4th, many terrible things have now been solidified that will hurt millions of vulnerable people and accelerate the process of regime control.

With all of this as context, I walked out in the dark to see the fireworks show take place over the lake, as tears streamed down my face. I was overwhelmed by the banality of seeing children playing, while their parents, adorned in as much red white and blue as they could wear or paint on their bodies, drank beers, either blissfully unaware, or uncomprehending of the profound cruelty contained in that bill. All of this, juxtaposed against the fall of the ideals of the country I love, gaveled into law on the 4th of July, pounded in my chest and choked my breath.

The fireworks show was laughably far from where the campground is situated on the lake. We didn’t know the most strategic location to try, so we made a guess at where we could maybe see them the best. It was such a perfect metaphor. From this Trumpian stronghold, the lights meant to commemorate the victorious revolution against a tyrannical king, could barely be seen. They were small and distant, faint and hardly perceptible. Like the expectation of hope, that you know is supposed to be there, but you can’t quite see.

Richard was super supportive and we tried to shake off the feelings with the distraction of a movie. That helped to interrupt the spin, but come morning, there was something screaming at me from within. We tried talking about what we could do for fun, and then Richard offered the idea that we could consider moving. I argued hard against that idea. It would cost money. It would be a lot of work to even find a place. It would mean hitching up and moving. Just comply. Just go along. Just move past it and get over it. It’s just a flag.

As much as I offered convincing reasons why we should submit to the circumstances, that voice inside just raged louder. Honestly, it wasn’t until I asked myself what story I wanted to write on this blog post, that I finally heard what that voice was saying. “I want to write the story that we did not comply, that we left.” There was a subtle give in the tension I felt in my chest and forehead, just by thinking that idea.

So we left. It wasn’t easy. We had to drive around to three different campgrounds, awkwardly asking if they had any sites on a Saturday of the 4th of July weekend. They must have thought we were very very stupid. As luck would have it, we did get a good lead on a nice place just getting itself back on its feet after the fire. You’ll be relieved to hear I will be writing a glowing review of that place in my next post. We went back to get Dory, and on our way out, AFTER going through the gate, Richard walked to the office to return the key card. He simply told the nice woman at the desk, “You made the choice to be very offensive, so we are leaving. I will be putting this charge in dispute.” She said something like, “Oh no,” as he walked out, got in the car, and we sped away.

As a follow up, I have emailed the campground about our dissatisfaction with their practices, and have posted negative online reviews to alert others to their business practices. I doubt we will get the refund through the charge dispute with the bank, but we might as well try.

This story reminds me of my reaction when I went on the “Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance” ride at Disneyland. I remember it because, even though it was all pretend, my impulse to comply with the actors in the Stormtrooper costumes was extremely strong. I came out of that somewhat disappointed in myself, realizing that I was no freedom fighter. This experience has taught me that maybe I do have it in me to stand up to the machinery of fascism. Maybe not in a fist fight, but in a way that honors my instincts when I know something is wrong. In the battle between submission and inconvenience, the little voice won this round. It’s nice to know it’s there. I maybe need to learn to listen to it better, so that I can trust it when it is telling me: NO. This is not ok. Do not comply. It seems a very small thing, but it is in the small capitulations that they win. Not today, North Shore Campground. Not today.

Total price for fighting tyranny: $281.45 wasted premium site reservation, + $130 reservation at excellent new place. Discovering I possess a small but mighty Inner Voice of the Resistance: priceless.

This was a wonderful stay in a spectacular national park. And boy, if you want to get out of the heat, just climb a couple thousand feet. Climb is exactly what Richard did on his bike. He rode from campground to campground, from McArthur Burney, and we were super smart about how to arrange that. Knowing it would only take me an hour to drive the distance, but more like four hours for Richard to ride it, we wanted to avoid having me get to the campground too much before check in, but still give him a good early start. We figured out that if we do all the dumping and hitching up together in the morning, but then put Dory right back into the site, I can blog and be leisurely while Richard starts his trip. That way, I’m not stuck with hitching and dumping by myself and I’m not dealing with the unknown of where to park Dory if I can’t get into the new site early. I couldn’t remember if there was a good day use area at Manzanita Lake with trailer parking, and for the record, there is not. We were quite self satisfied about how it all worked out.

There are only a couple of short pockets of cell service in this area. Richard hit a couple of places and sent me progress texts along the way. I could use Siri to answer back sometimes while driving, but you never know what exactly Siri thinks you said. There were some funny miscommunications, but mostly we understood where the other one was. Eventually, I passed him on the road and pulled over when I could. As I was waiting, another Alto passed going the other way! I later got a message from an Alto friend saying hi. That will forever be fun. Hi Terry! Hope you liked the tacos!

The timing of the ride could not have been more perfect. When Richard finally arrived just after 1pm, after a grueling climb of 3,414 feet, the skies were just beginning to crack thunder and let some rain fall. Instead of him getting soaked at the end of an epic ride, he got to change and get into the car so we could roll into the site together. Chef’s kiss on the logistics of that campground move.

We did a little loop around Manzanita Lake with thunder rolling continuously in the background. Well, Richard tells me there was continuous thunder. That is a frequency even my hearing aids seldom pick up. I heard a few rumbles, but he says it was surreal. I made a nice Turkey and Shawarma rice stir fry with fresh parsley for dinner and we tucked in for the night.

The next day we drove all the way through the park to the Visitor Center on the south side. This drive takes you through volcanic spectacles in all forms. From mountains of piled rocks created by a series of eruptions, to acres of devastated forest, to stinky gurgly sulfur spewing mud pots, to wildflower covered peaks, this park is a feast for the eyes. We both agree that biking up from the south to the summit is more scenic, and also a lot shorter. We started from the parking area and I got to stop and take my fill of pictures along the way.

The summit is located just beyond the trail head parking area for the Lassen Peak trail. Before we had even left for the summer trip, Richard warned me that the peak trail was going to be on the ininerary. We had been told that much of the trail is still under snow, and therefore requires something called microspikes on your shoes. We do not have these, but saw that they could be purchased from the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center store. Before committing to the purchase, Richard was interested in doing little test walking to see if he still wanted to do the hike. He scoped out what it would be like to hike through snow, decided the strap on cleats seemed like a reasonable purchase, and put the peak trail back on the agenda for the next day.

After reaching the top, we coasted back down the road, seven miles without a single pedal stroke. I noticed that I didn’t mind the cliffy edges of the road while on the bike. I did mind it going uphill in the car. I think you can see the edge better on a bike, so you know you’re not close to falling off. I realize I’m never actually in danger of driving off the edge, but it picks up my heart rate and makes me death grip the steering wheel when I’m driving those dropoff roads. Downhill on the south side is fine because you are almost always against the mountain side. We celebrated back in the Visitor Center with wifi and Bon Appetit chocolate donuts. We decided for sure at that point that we were going to try the peak trail the next day, so we purchased two pairs of micro spike cleat thingies to put on our shoes.

We drove back up over the summit and stopped for the King’s Creek Falls hike. I highly recommend this one, especially for the uphill-only loop section that takes you up through a canyon next to a long cascading river fall. We passed a couple that had bailed on the one way part because they said it was “way steep.” They instead turned around and just did the trail as an out and back, skipping the canyon. I thought that was the prettiest part. Yes, there are steps all the way up, but they are easily traversed and very nicely done steps. There was no scrambling whatsoever and you get to be immediately next to the river all the way. I would do that one again for sure.

The next day was the biggest hike I think I’ve ever done. The Lassen Peak Trail says it is 2.7 miles to the top, but Strava clocked 3.4 for me, so almost 7 total. It is a climb of just over two thousand feet. What makes the trail trickier right now is that it is still partially under snow. There are places where (I imagine) the snow track follows the buried trail, but there are also places up in the switch backs where you sometimes vere off the normal route on the snow, and then come back to dirt and have to scramble up to rejoin the trail. I did not like these parts. In all, I think there were three places where we had to scramble up or down short stretches of loose dirt and rocks. Doing this at such a high elevation was nerve wracking for me. I didn’t particularly mind the snow walking, but Richard did. He has discovered yet another form of water that he really does not like.

Besides the challenges presented by the snow, there is the fact that it is just a really long trudge up. They have helpful signs letting you know how many miles you are from the top. I do still get affected by elevation and I could feel it making each step require just a little more effort. I went slow, took breaks to catch my breath, and drank a lot of water.

Once I finally rounded the last corner and got to the top, I felt euphoric. To top it off, the summit was swarming with hundreds of butterflies. Do you say swarming when it’s butterflies? There was an informational sign about the phenomenon and Richard had read reviews about them being there, so he knew to expect this. They seem to be Californian Tortoiseshell butterflies and are able to be carried up to this elevation for their migration because of thermal lift.

There was a funny/not funny thing that happened though to some poor woman. Not too far from the top, a party of six or seven people had stopped and seemed to be discussing whether to go on. A couple left the group and began heading downhill, looking serious. Richard thought maybe the trail was impassable and asked them about it. One of them simply said, “It’s nothing to do with the trail.” Richard then approached the larger group to see what was going on. They explained that the woman had a butterfly phobia and couldn’t go on. Can you imagine overcoming a challenge like climbing to the top of a ten thousand foot peak, only to be stopped right before the finish by butterflies? I mean, how random is that?? I know there were reviews that talked about the butterflies, but as someone who doesn’t read trail reviews, I would never have thought to worry about that, even if that was my phobia. I felt bad for her. Apparently it only happens sometimes, but boy was it ever happening on that day.

The views from the top are simply awe inspiring. You can see Shasta on the horizon, and all the Lassen park lakes down below. It was quite windy, but no threat of storms. Richard went over to the “true summit” just a little bit away. I had no interest in “level 3 rock scrambling” to get to the tippy top, but Richard says I could have done it no problem. Don’t care, no regrets. I was content to break out my super ultra favorite treat in the world: licorice bridge mix.

I buy myself little presents of this when I have something really really hard to do. It is my super special reward and I love it very much. Back when Richard first warned me about this hike, I had initially ruled it out for myself, but slowly adapted enough to the idea that by the time we were at the candy store in Ashland, I decided there and then I was going to give in a shot. So I bought a packet. Later, when we were told the trail was not a good idea unless we had special equipment, part of me was bummed. Because of the bridge mix, you see. Finding that we could buy the cleat things at the Kohm Yah-ma-nee Visitor Center got me excited again to do the trail. I savored those little black licorice delights while Richard and I took pictures of each other from the peaks.

Heading down was mostly easier than going up, but I will say walking in slushy snow, even with microspikes, is no fun. There is a lot more slipping and sliding when you’re going downhill. At the bottom of this thing, when finally arriving back at the parking lot, I looked down to see that somewhere along the way, one of the microspike thingies had fallen off my shoe. I was mad. I had just paid for the stupid things the day before and already lost one. Richard said not to worry about it and that I could have one of his since he’s decided snow hiking is not his thing. I was still annoyed, but didn’t have the energy to go back much further than the first couple of switchbacks to see if I could find it. We even stopped the next day on our way out of the park to see if someone had turned one in. No luck. So now I have three rubber snow spike shoes covers. Annoying.

I was completely exhausted at the end of this day, but we made it back to the Manzanita Lake store to get the last soft serves of the day before they closed. Richard made dinner that night, for which I was grateful. Yes, in retrospect I will say this epic hike was worth it. But man, I couldn’t say those words at the time. I was clobbered.

What an incredible stop. I was able to do so much more than on the previous two visits. I credit the e-bike for the beautiful ride up the national park road, but I credit my own damn legs for getting me up a two thousand foot trail. I loved the site we got in the Manzanita Lake campground and would come again and again. There is so much to do and see. It does get old not having cell service after a while, and there are only a couple places in the park where you can get a signal. One of those spots is #14 on the audio tour: Chaos Crags Viewpoint. Another is at the top of the Crag Lake trail, but that’s a five mile commitment. Richard took that on the morning we left the park, so he could get exercise and I could leisurely get up. The wifi in the south Visitor Center is very good, but that’s a long drive. Great stay in a phenomenal national park!

Total miles from McArthur Burney: 44.6, 13.8 mpg, 1 hour 58 min with sagging. Site A20. No hookups, no cell, no wifi. Good dump with potable water. Good campground store with soft serve. Awesome site at end of loop. Some solar.

Traveling is about more than just seeing the sights and doing the activities. If you are out in the world having an adventure, you will learn many things along the way. Some things you will learn will be about geology, or history, or local flavor. But if you are pushing your own envelope of comfort and familiarity, you will also learn things about yourself. If you are traveling with adventure partners, you will learn about your relationships too. We always learn more about ourselves during these grand summer trips. We have also gotten pretty good at talking through the things that didn’t go as expected to figure out what broke down, either figuratively or literally. For this particular stay, I would say we learned a couple of important things to note for future planning. Richard learned he really does not like water, kind of in any form except to drink it. He hates rain passionately, and doesn’t like to get in lakes or oceans or rivers unless he can wash off afterwards. Swimming pools work for him only because he can shower after. This came up at this stop because it was hot and the thing to do here, besides see the waterfall, is to get in the lake. We already knew I am a helper, but we learned that one of the ways I try to help is by urging him into the water, because that is something I like to do. So that kind of broke down and we had to figure all of that out.

I want to avoid putting a negative spin on this park because I think if you are a person who likes water, it’s a great place to come. We have bailed on reservations here more than once, primarily because it is at a low elevation at just under 3,000’ and tends to get really hot. Also, if there are fires around, smoke tends to settle in this valley. With no hookups, and therefore no AC, it can be a challenge in the summer. But we did not bail this time and temperatures got into the low 90s every day. I think we did pretty well for the most part at finding things to do, but I also think three days was at least one day too many.

The primary attraction of this park is Burney Falls. And let me be clear, this is probably the most stunningly beautiful waterfall I have ever seen. Yes, you can spend a lot of time just staring at the falls. It also has the benefit of being at least ten, maybe twenty, degrees cooler at the base. There is an accessible trail that brings you to the bottom and you can feel the air suddenly cool about half way down. The water cascades over the top in two main chutes, but that is not the unique aspect of this falls. Because this whole area is volcanic, the land is made up of permeable rock. Just under the soil level are layers of basalt and river deposited cinder. In the borders between these layers and the lower layer of impervious rock, mud, and lava flow, water passes. The river that feeds the falls all but disappears upstream, but water rushes invisibly under the surface year round. When it reaches the chasm at the falls, the tiny channels create an uncountable number of individual streams. The visual effect of all of these chutes combining in one place is simply breathtaking. The natural beauty of Burney Falls cannot be adequately described and it is well worth at least a day trip to experience this wonder in person. 

In fact, when we first arrived at the park, around noon on a Saturday, there was a line of cars trying to get in via day use that extended back onto highway 89. We were almost at the kiosk when they announced the park was full to capacity and people were going to be turned away. With a camping reservation, we were not permitted to enter before 2pm, so we too were turned around. We decided to make good use of the time by going to the Safeway in the town of Burney, about ten miles away. We got to provision up for another week and I got to blog with good cell service. The restocking, by the way, was in part timed to follow going through an agriculture inspection station after we left Lava Beds. Going in and out of California, you need to think about when to buy things like citrus and stone fruits. While I was blogging, Richard checked out a rails to trail bike path called the Great Shasta Rail Trail. He said it was mostly a dirt trail and not worth having me try with him. But it gave him something to explore. By the time we were done, it was around 4pm and there was no line and no problem getting in the park.

After setting up, we walked over to see the falls and I was blown away, even though I’d seen it before. It was so serene and lovely, and we followed a trail to get us down to the lake. Another thing we learned is that my threshold for getting my boat out is about 90 degrees. When it is that hot, I will be adequately motivated to get it out of the roof box and set it up. I planned to spend the next day boating in the afternoon, so I gave everything a good inspection and test inflation before bed.

Before the heat of the following day, we checked out the Visitor Center and campground store. They both had lovely air conditioning and the store had a fun variety of gifts and food, plus extra points for having soft serve. Richard had one to start the day, but I waited for mine until the afternoon. The Visitor Center is small but very nice. It has good models and information about the falls, plus lots of displays about the local fish. I guess fishing is also a big draw for this place. Too bad we don’t fish.

We hiked the Falls Loop trail, which can either be a short loop, or a three mile loop, depending on which bridge you cross. We did the longer version, which put us on a tiny section of the Pacific Crest Trail. We saw many through hikers gathered in Burney and at the store inside the park, so this is clearly a good restocking stop for the backpackers. We passed by a small campground along the trail with a vault toilet and what looked like a stable. Do people horseback ride the PCT? We also wondered if people could take dogs with them on the PCT. We saw a little fox running through the campground, but it was too far away to get a good picture.

After crossing the upper bridge, we could see that the river feeding the falls had disappeared below the surface of volcanic rock. Just a little way downstream, we came to the labeled Headwaters Pond. Here is where the underground water pushes up enough to become visible. It seemed to be a gathering spot for turtles and we counted at least four of them in the water. Further down the trail, we happened upon a small stone building that piqued our curiosity. Apparently, it is an old pump house that is no longer in use. 

As the afternoon warmed up, it was time for AC and soft serve in the store. We chilled for a while in our Nemo chairs, periodically moving to avoid any dappled sunlight. Then I got my energy up to get my boat on the lake. I noted that one of the reasons I whine about setting up my boat is probably because I only ever do it when it’s really hot. Thus, I associate the set up process with sweat, and a paired sense of mild dread. In reality, it doesn’t take that long, and once I’m on the water, the cool breeze coming off the lake always feels refreshing. I saw herons, Ospreys, and a Bald Eagle soaring around. No otters this time. Richard meanwhile rode around and found out about a loop road that goes around the lake. That became one of our plans for the next day.

Monday was our third and most challenging day of the stay. We were flummoxed on what to do to get out of the afternoon heat, pondering things like driving to other areas since at least the car would have AC. Before that though, we had an errand to run in Burney and biked over there to pick up two items that Richard sent general delivery. He also had found the best rated tacos in Burney, located in a taco truck by the Safeway. While enjoying carnitas and chicken street tacos, we decided we could try doing the loop around the lake. That’s a nice road, which crosses a dam very closed to semi trucks. As such, there was very little through traffic, far preferable to riding highway 89 with all the logging trucks.

The plan to drive to Subway Cave lava tube gave way to lounging in Nemo chairs because it wasn’t actually all that hot. Plus, there was a nice wind that cooled things off. All that was left to do was make dinner. We brought out our camping stove for this stay, which keeps any heat out of Dory. Richard has upped the frozen Bertoli game by cooking up some fresh mushrooms in the pan first. Those have been really good. I upped my grilled cheese game by not putting the griddle in the grill until a few minutes before I’m ready to put the sandwiches on. If I have the griddle in there while I’m cooking something else, like in this case a bell pepper in balsamic vinegar, it will get too hot. Then the bread burns before the cheese gets melty. This time was perfect, with fig spread to compliment the balsamic pepper, all served with a pear and romaine salad. The next night I made Za’atar spiced chicken with tomato and cucumber couscous, topped with candied walnuts, sour cream, and fresh mint. Delish.

All in all, I am not sure I would book this park for more than a day, two max. For us, the downsides of no hookups and very little cell service require more upsides than water sports. We basically entertain ourselves with hiking and biking, or museums. Long drives are not a big draw, but can be worth it depending on the destination. We learned that driving about an hour to get to another waterfall and a place to get in a river is not a good sell for Richard. Maybe driving an hour to a lava tube cave would have been worth it. If there hadn’t been lots of shade in the campground, all things would have been harder. And you have to give this park lots of points, just for the falls and soft serve alone. And I should also note that I can definitely have margaritas and/or wine here. There are always upsides to be found in just about anything.

Total miles from Lava Beds: 119.7 with side trip into Burney, 18.7. Site 54 no hookups. Occasional 1-2 bars LTE for Verizon that sometimes sort of worked. 1 annoying bar of 5g for ATT that didn’t really work. Wifi at Visitor Center that worked for Richard, but not for me. Good free dump with potable water. Water is highly chlorinated. Campground store with some food, gifts, soft serve. Bathrooms do not have outlets, but there is a charging station in front of Visitor Center. There is a fruit inspection station on 139 leaving Lava Beds.

Heading now back down through California, with our first stop being Lava Beds National Monument. This was, by far, my favorite stay here. I think the first foray was when I was much heavier, and thus less able to do stairs, hikes, or heat. The next stay was during Covid when we were feeling risky about being out at all. I remember getting very freaked out when passing unmasked people inside the caves, so I think we bailed on caving after a couple of forays. This time, we were able to really hit all of the easy or moderate caves either by walking or biking to them. It was warm, but not too hot, and it cooled off nicely at night, so overall an extremely pleasant stay.

Richard rode to the campground from the point where the main road (Hill) branches south off State Line Road. The first part of the ride was annoyingly bumpy, due to freeze breaks in the pavement, but the national park road was in excellent condition. We had a miscommunication after I had gotten set up in a good first come first serve site, so that got Richard all tense during what would have been a nice ride. I thought I was telling him all was well and that he could stop worrying about whether there were sites. What he interpreted from my texts was that I had not gotten one of the sites we discussed, so therefore, the campground must be packed, and I must be mad. We have talked a lot lately about how much his subconscious worries about whether I am mad. What is funny/not funny is that often times when he thinks I’m mad, but I’m not, he ends up saying or doing something that cause me to be mad, when I previously wasn’t. P.S. we’ve now been married 32 years. It is fascinating to me how humans can be deep and complex, and yet stupid and simple at the same time.

The first thing we did after clearing things up and having a delicious taco dinner was to walk up to the visitor center and decontaminate our shoes. They are very careful about protecting their bats from White Nose Syndrome, so they ask you to not go into caves wearing clothes that have been inside other caves. They also provide a walkthrough decontamination mat for your shoes that you can access by opening two big doors any time, day or night. You do need to get a Cave Pass from the visitor center before exploring any caves, but once you do, they are accessible 24/7.

We walked through the “intro” cave of Mushpot to get into the caving mood. This one is lit with paved floors, so anyone can experience what the lava tubes are like. It was an easy walk from there to Sentinel Cave. This one is very long (3,280′) and you can go completely through from top to bottom. We went up through the cave for our first pass. You absolutely must have headlamps to enjoy these lava tubes. We didn’t do any serious caving, so didn’t need helmets or knee pads, but for sure you need your hands free and you need a good, bright light. Sometimes the floor is relatively smooth, but you are walking on hardened lava. Sometimes it appears as “cauliflower,” which is very bumpy, and sometimes, you are traversing floors made out of the pieces that have fallen from the ceiling. Sometimes there are stairs made out of metal or rock. Whether you are in an “easy” cave or not, you need to see well or you’re going to bonk your head or miss your footing.

On the exit from the cave, a rather large pack rat ran right in front of me! I got a good look at him, but couldn’t get the phone out fast enough for a clear picture. He was about the size of a squirrel and had a shorter, stubbier tail than a normal rat. He was pretty cute, but probably all full of Hantavirus, so I kept a respectful distance while still trying to see him.

The next day we walked the whole Cave Loop road, hitting any cave that was listed as open, easy, or moderate. Several of the caves get closed every year to protect the bats’ breeding season. In all, we went into: Golden Dome, the first part of Catacombs, Sunshine, Sentinel (again), and Indian Well. The loop road is something like three miles all the way around, and we clocked over five miles on the day.

I can’t capture in pictures what the sparkling golden wall and ceiling coverings looked like. I’ve never seen anything like it. Especially in Golden Dome Cave, the shimmering patterns come from “hydrophobic bacteria,” which happens to repel water and reflect light back as gold or silver. In person, it looks exactly like sparkling precious metals are adorning the walls. Veins and rivulets of glistening, glittery metallic patterns appear above your head as soon as the cave reaches just the right temperature and humidity. I tried and tried to capture it with the iPhone, but you just can’t do it justice. To me, this is one of the most beautiful natural wonders I’ve witnessed, and we have traveled a lot. Richard says the park ranger mentioned the bacteria spectacles were especially extensive this year, so we really lucked out.

In addition, the wildflowers are more popping than I remember. I’m not sure if it’s that I wasn’t as attuned to wildflowers before, or we were here at a later time in the year, or that the massive wildfire that burned through the area has given life to a super bloom this year. I take so many pictures of flowers, not just because they are pretty, but also to identify them with the photos app. Some were familiar, like Penstemon, sage, aster, buckwheat, and poppies. But some were new to me, like California Bee Plant, and Granite Prickly Phlox. So pretty.

We celebrated an awesome anniversary with an awesome dinner. I made fig dijon pork chops, with potatoes and balsamic asparagus. Richard tried a new trick by making a peach cobbler on the grill. Everything was fabulous, even though I fully dropped a pork chop on the dirt while moving it to the grill. Richard acted swiftly by picking it up off the ground and running it under a spigot. It was re-seasoned and re-placed with no harm, no foul. I ate that one and did not detect any unintentional crunchies. The cobbler game is an exciting new world for us. He’s got a simple, but perfect recipe that works with peaches and cherries equally well so far. The topping even browned in the grill, perhaps because we wrapped it loosely with foil. All this, plus a margarita, and we had the best anniversary ever!

The next day we hit all of the farther doable caves by biking to them. In all, we saw: Valentine, Skull, Big Painted Cave and Symbol Bridge, and Merrill Ice Cave. Skull Cave is particularly cool because they found ancient animal and human remains inside. They removed all but one of them, but it’s still a cool (literally) cave. Many stairs take you down a couple of stories, and by the time you get to the bottom, you better have brought a warm outer layer. You can see your breath and I’d estimate it’s close to freezing temperatures. Some of the caves, like Merrill, have had solid ice floors until around 2000, when global warming started to really have an impact.

Big Painted Cave and Symbol Bridge are worth the mile or so hike out. They have pictographs from the time Native Americans used to used them as sacred sites. Symbol Bridge has more clearly identifiable markings, but both are worth seeing. We both think there was at least one alien and probably one dick pic. Someone can correct me, but I think dick pics probably transcend time and culture.

Our last dinner hurrah included an experiment with making fresh tortillas. The ones from Trail Market were so good, we’ve been inspired to try. We learned that you can definitely roll out tortillas using a wine bottle. And by the way, you can also pit cherries using a wine bottle and the thick side of a chopstick. We need to practice more with the water to masa ratio, but they were tasty and totally serviceable.

We are sad to leave this place. On previous stays, I don’t think I was as into it. Chalk this win up to a couple of years getting healthier. When I start to slip into old habits, I will try to remind myself how much more fun I have when heat and movement aren’t so difficult. It’s hard to weigh that against ice cream and donuts, but that’s what calorie counting apps are for. Happy anniversary to us!

Total miles from Diamond Lake (with side trip to Klamath Falls Safeway): 130.4, 17.8 mpg, 5 hours 19 min with stops. Site B26, which was, for the record, the best site. No hookups. No dump. Water spigots. Nice bathrooms with outlets to charge bike battery. Great cell service. Excellent solar. Tippy site, but one of the few back ins, and with table in the shade.