Tag: Abby

Day 3 ByWay to Bandon

We love byways and backways. You can find all sorts of information about these amazing beautiful highways on the internet, in fact I even found a national geographic book all about some of the nation’s greatest byways. Today we traveled the Charleston to Bandon byway along the Seven Devils road parallel to the coast, and out to the beach. This loop is part of the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway of Oregon.

The most amazing thing on this trip was the lack of cars and people along the route. The Seven Devils road winds over the hills that are between the South Slough area and the coast, traveling through young forests that were heavily logged about 70 years ago.

We stopped in at the South Slough Estuary interpretive center, hoping for some additional information about the slough. Our original plan was to kayak the slough, but the winds were too strong so we abandoned that plan. The Estuary information center is wonderful, though, with the best large scale aerial photograph I have seen in a long time. It is about 10 feet tall and shows the estuary at low tide. There is a tremendous amount of information about this estuary here, I could have stayed for hours, but we were headed for Bandon, so onward.

When we turned west to the Seven Devils Beach wayside, the winds were blowing hard, but not so much that it explained the completely empty parking lot. The beach is gorgeous, long and sandy, with hard packed sands that you can walk on for miles. Of course, it was windy. I posted a video on YouTube to show just how windy it was. I was still amazed to have that beach all to ourselves during July 4th week. Oregon is still wild and free in so many places, and still uncrowded as well.

We drove on to Bandon, stopping in town for a bit of shopping at Winter Rivers Books, a warm and friendly locally owned bookstore, for an artsy clothing purchase at Siren Song, one of my favorite clothing shops in the west, and some great clam chowder at Tony’s Crab Shack. The wind was still blowing furiously, (didn’t they say something about breezy?) so we decided to drive to the famous beach for photos, but didn’t walk there. Maybe next time. The beach in Bandon is one of the most beautiful on the Oregon coast in my opinion, but most of the times I have been there, the winds have been blowing furiously, often including clouds and rain. The sun was gorgeous today, but the winds still blew.

Day 2 Memorial Day weekend

Day 2 May 23, 2009

We slept really well last night, and in spite of all the large groups of people filling in this rustic area, it was really quiet. There is one really big security light in the campground, but thank goodness it wasn’t too close to us, although when I woke in the middle of the night, I could see it shining through the front window. With all the trees, and the distance between sites, we still didn’t have to put our big window covers on. That’s always nice.

I’m knitting away, on what I call my “turkey sweater” because I almost finished it while we were traveling through Turkey. It is all sewn together, and I just have to finish the hood. Perfect for a quiet afternoon.

This morning we decided on an indoor breakfast since the fire doesn’t have a particularly good cooking grate, and it was about 35 degrees outside when we got up. Nice to have a cozy home to hang out in on cold mornings. I love bacon when we are camping. Yumm. Indoors or out.

About 9:30 we took off to find the bike trail. We kept Abby on her leash for the initial search through the resort parking lot, but after that the trail was very nearly empty and we let her run with us. She is getting pretty good at going along with the bikes, and seems to keep up well. Stopping a bit let her swim, and enjoyed the views and the water. The trail goes all the way around the lake, and was one of the reasons we thought coming here would be nice. We biked as far as the Theilsen View campground, which was still closed. About a half mile from the camp, we discovered why, the snow was deep across the trail and the road in many places. We walked our bikes across most of it, and Mo rode hers, so of course I thought I could as well. Oops. This time it was my turn to dump, with my front tire catching in a deep snow drift and flipping me right over the handlebars. I found myself in a tangle with wheels and bike on top of me in the hard snow. Glad it was snow, since my bike was fine and I just had some minor cuts and bruises on my legs. After that spill, however, I did walk my bike through the snow banks.

When we got back to the closed campground, we were surprised to find some tent campers who had boated in, comfortably sited among the old hard snow drifts. Not a bad idea if you have a boat and want to tent camp. The ride back home was lovely, and Abby enjoyed herself swimming again. She even figured out how to go ahead of me on the leash without tripping up the bike. Mo rode on one side to “herd” her away from traffic and we were able to ride all the way back to the campground on the road portion without a problem. I even discovered that Abby could help pull me up the hills a bit!

After a bit of an afternoon rest, we went back down to the south end of the lake to see if they had opened up any of the other campgrounds yet. No change, even on this Memorial Day weekend, the Umpqua NF information center was still closed up tight, with no one in sight. Around 2, just as we planned, we unloaded our boats at the north shore, just a short walk from the car to the water, and we managed to portage both boats at once. The breeze was just starting up as we got on the water, and big puffy clouds were obscuring the sun. Funny how as the sun goes behind a cloud the wind on the water picks up. Mo decided to take Abby with us this time and put on her doggie life jacket. Abby isn’t yet quite completely comfortable in the kayak, and keeps trying to turn around to Mo for reassurance. Not a good thing in a small kayak, so Mo spends a bit of time telling her, “no, Abby, quit, stop, no.” Still, we managed some good time on the water, even though it was windy and choppy, and went south along the west shore as far as the campground. Paddling back against the wind wasn’t as hard as it should have been, and we think that maybe there was a current going toward the outlet on the north shore. Abby did fine, and Mo got all the way back without an upset. The water is still very cold, and hypothermia would be a serious problem if you fell in, I am sure. On the way back we at first stayed toward the shore in case of an upset with the dog, but then decided to take the fastest route across the water to the put in spot. I guess afternoon isn’t as good a time for mountain lake kayaking with the afternoon winds that always come up. Funny, we saw a really gorgeous, very large sailboat out there, and remembered from our sailing days how erratic these mountain lake winds can be. The sailboat wasn’t sailing, either, just motoring along. Their American flag was at half mast, blowing strong in the wind, for some fallen soldier, or for Memorial Day, I would imagine.

Tomorrow we plan to kayak earlier in the day, to hopefully miss the winds. Stopped at the Diamond lake resort store for Haagen Daz on the way back to camp, relaxed with a fun movie, Marley and Me, and then had a nice supper from the MoHo cupboard of box spaghetti, garlic bread, and the last of the salad. Mo built another really great campfire and we sat around and watched all the local campers and laughed about silly stuff until bedtime. We especially laughed at Abby, who was exhausted from her day’s adventures and kept trying to get us to go to bed. She would go to the door, look longingly at it and beg to go in. After Mo let her in, she landed in her bed, and didn’t even come out when we went back to the fire. That is a first, I think. Nice to wear out the dog before bedtime for sure.

Day 2 through 6 Wandering the desert

Saturday March 21
Route: south on I-5 to 138, hwy 14 to hwy 18
Photos are here at Picasa, Mo and the MoHo in the Desert

Digital Desert Mojave is a really great website for the Mojave Desert. If you plan on traveling there, it’s worth perusing at length. It is filled with detailed information about the landscape, rock formations, and documents the flow of bloom in the desert. After reading about the Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve and the promise of gorgeous displays, Mo decided to go there. It was a bit early in the season, but the photos show it can be lovely in spite of fewer flowers in full bloom. Another site along the way is Mormon Rocks, worth a stop and a look if you have the time.

Mo continued on to the southern entrance of Joshua Tree National Park. Arriving late on a Saturday afternoon meant that she was really lucky to get the very last campsite available in the Cottonwood Campground, and it took a bit of jockeying to fit the MoHo into that space, even at only 26 feet. When we got this rig, we were thinking that we wanted to be long enough to be comfortable, yet short enough for tight NP spaces.
On Sunday morning the weather was perfect for a day exploring Joshua Tree, enjoying the cholla and ocotillo gardens, and all the amazing granite formations. The park has several routes in and out, and Mo had to exit and then go back in on Hwy 62 to get to the Blackrock CG which is large with many available spaces on this spring Sunday evening. These camps have water only, so it isn’t exactly dry camping, but almost. The JOTR website is filled with information about routes, ecology, camping, and hiking information.

Monday morning Mo left the park, following historic route 66 a few miles before going north on Amboy road to Amboy, then north again to Kelso in the Mojave National Preserve. At Kelso there is a nice visitor center in the historic Depot, but Mo thought that perhaps the preserve wasn’t very old since there wasn’t a great deal of interpretive information in the area other than the depot. After a day of wandering, taking lots of flower photos, and enjoying the desert, Mo camped at the Sunrise Rock Roadside CG in the Preserve. It was again dry camping, with no water, but the hiking area was wonderful and Abby enjoyed the views as well.

Leaving the Preserve on Tuesday morning, Mo traveled north into Death Valley. The flower show was still minimal this far north, so she went on to Tecopa, checking out the hot springs and campground for future reference, and visiting the Dumont Dunes ATV site. After some more wandering,she headed for the Flying J at Barstow, hoping to repeat her boondocking experince from the previous Sunday. Once there, however, she was overwhelmed with the noise and huge number of trucks at this major desert crossroads, and decided instead to head for Kramer Junction at the intersection of 395 and 58. There is a huge solar generating station here that you can see for miles. After settling in for a pleasant evening at a great little wayside with other rv’rs, she discovered to her dismay that a sewage plant was nearby and little whiffs from the fragrant ponds made it less than pleasant.

On Wednesday, the 25th, with just one more day until our scheduled meeting, Mo headed back north on 395 to Inyokern to check out the active ghost town of Randsburg. There were many old buildings in use by small businesses making an attempt at survival in the tourist trade. Back south to Red Rock Canyon State Park and CG where the cliffs are lovely for hiking and climbing through the rocks and canyons.

A January reprieve

Lake McSwain

Sometimes I am more aware of the delights of living in California than others. January is one of those times, when most of the country in mired in cold and snow, the northwest is inundated with rain, and camping isn’t the first thought on your mind. Instead of nestling in to a warm fire and gray skies for the 3 day weekend, as I might have done in Oregon, Mo and and I headed out for a little bit of peace and quiet in the California foothills.

My only requirement this time was that I really really didn’t want to cross the central valley once more. We searched around for local camping spots, and after narrowing down the possibilities, came up with Lake McSwain. It turned out to be a lucky guess. The adjacent reservoir and camping area at Lake McClure wasn’t nearly as inviting as our little family campground by the narrow lake between the Exchequer Reservoir and Merced Falls. Lake McSwain is just a reservoir as well, but being long and narrow, in spite of the drought, the water levels weren’t as low as the bigger reservoirs and we enjoyed the lake view from our camp site.

Lake McSwain is a little hidden secret and has the reputation of being known as the very best fishing lake in California. This may be due to the elaborate trout, king salmon and Florida largemouth bass stocking programs. Or perhaps it is because so many fish call the lake home, including rainbow trout, black bass, spotted bass, bluegill, crappie, catfish, salmon and shad.

The campground itself was delightful, with lots of choices and plenty of space between sites, and wonder of all wonders, not one single night light to be found. The skies were dark and full of stars until the quarter moon rose long after midnight. We chose not to bring wood, since it is buried in snow at Mo’s house in Rocky Point, and that was a good thing as well, since campfires weren’t permitted anyway. The park lent itself well to short but delightful walks around the lake, long sessions of reading novels and knitting, and our favorite big breakfasts, even without the fire.

There is a road that continues past the campground to the bigger reservoir, and we took a long walk east along the road on one morning, walking down the hills to the waterside for Abby to enjoy her swim. The landscape is rough and steep, but the campground itself is gentle and welcoming, and not too crowded. Most of the people there seemed to be families who were fishing, and we saw lots of stringers of big trout on lines. There were lots of dogs as well, and the extra 3 bucks that is charged for a dog must be bringing in a good amount of change for the park.

We watched the sun rise and set for a couple of days, and thoroughly appreciated the silence of the place. Quite a surprise. There was also an area with sewer hookups, but it looked much too much like a typical RV park with sites lined up in rows, close together. We were grateful for our open spaces, walked around and wrote down our favorites, and made lists and mental notes of future winter camping days that very likely may be in this happy little place.

This little campground was only 45 miles from home, and on the way back we took a few side routes and discovered another little gem along the Tuolumne River. The campground borders the Tuolumne River with great kayaking access, and huge Valley Oaks. Turlock SRA

Next time we will bring the kayaks, which we missed having along on this trip, but they were left behind in Oregon. I will be glad when everything is in one place, the bikes, the kayaks, the motorhome, the baby car, all together so that if we go somewhere spontaneously we can still have all our toys with us. For now, though, a simple little weekend trip was just the ticket.

Picasa photos for this post

Half Moon Bay and the Kings Mountain Art Fair

One of Mo’s friends from her teaching days is a sculptor, and she was showing her wares at an art festival near Half Moon Bay over the Labor Day weekend. See her work here, it’s wonderful! http://www.sharonspencer.com/

It’s always nice to return to the coast, especially since Mo used to live there for so many years. She knows her way around, knows the special little places to find, and enjoys going back for visits. What we hadn’t really considered when we thought of going was that every single camping spot on the entire coast was already spoken for long before Mo started looking around for something to reserve. We decided to go anyway, and take our chances finding a place to park our home. We knew Wal-Marts don’t exist on that part of the coast, but thought maybe we could find a wide place in the road somewhere, or some other kind of creative kind of boondocking opportunity would present itself. It was to be an adventure and we were ready.

We left early Saturday morning, with most of the holiday traffic already landed. We traveled west on 120 toward the 580, the 880, and on to HWY 92 winding over the last range of hills and down to Half Moon Bay. The best part was the gentle fog rolling in over the hills and the dramatic drop in temperatures as we got closer to the ocean. Lovely! The air was so fresh and clean, and when the sun came through it was sparkly and white.

Arriving before noon, we optimistically tried the local state park for cancellations, none of course. We wandered up the coast with other ideas in mind when we saw a large group of RV’s just south of Moss Beach at the Pillar Point Marina. For 30 bucks a night we were privileged to park on asphalt with no amenities other than proximity to the ocean and reasonable safety for us and our rig, not a bad deal really on the coast of California during Labor Day Weekend with no reservations. Later we realized that the place wasn’t policed very strongly, and it would probably be a fine place to boondock for a night on the coast if one didn’t take advantage of it too often, and landed late in the evening and left early in the morning.

We returned each evening to our parking lot haven, and woke this morning to an almost completely empty space, with nothing to obstruct our view of the marina, the fishing boats, and the ocean beyond the breakwater. Reading about the marina was interesting, and it was nice to see a place that was devoted to commercial fishing rather than just fancy boats. You could even buy fresh tuna and halibut right off the pier from the catch of the day. We chose instead to eat our fresh fish at Ketch Joanne’s, a great little restaurant that was another of Mo’s hidden gems from her years in Montara. http://www.ketchjoannerestaurant.com/

http://www.smharbor.com/pillarpoint/index.htm

Once settled in, we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the tiny sweet town of Half Moon Bay, with its delightful shops. I especially enjoyed Cunha’s Country grocery store, which has been there since the 40’s, with rows of incredible variety in a small store, organic foods, and specially bottled sauces and dressings. Favorite was the Roasted Raspberry Chipotle sauce which we used for a great dinner of bbq’d pork chops and Cream Vidalia Onion Dressing for the salad.

Then there is the feed store.
http://www.halfmoonbayfeedandfuel.com/fnfindex.html

Still in place, right in down town. Walk in off the sidewalk to the smell of hay and grain, chicken feed and chickens even. Huge walls covered with livestock ribbons, saddles and ropes, and all you could need if you had animals. Downtown. It was amazing. Of course, we laughed with all the other people on the sidewalk at the feed store clerk trying to catch an unruly rooster in downtown traffic. I guess he must have escaped the feed store somehow. Mo said that she used to buy all her feed here when she had the ranch back in Montara. It was wonderful to see it still operating and doing so well.

We had a great time walking beaches, and took a side trip to explore the tide pools at the Fitzgerald Reserve
http://www.fitzgeraldreserve.org/

On Sunday we spent the morning at the Kings Mountain Art Fair, a wonderful venue in the redwoods on SkyLine Drive, with booths of paintings, ceramics and sculpture from the finest juried artists around, including Mo’s friend Sharon.

http://www.kingsmountainartfair.com/

We spent Monday relaxing and then drove to all the farms along the highway that are so celebrated for their pumpkin festival in the fall. I found gorgeous flowers at a great nursery and had a great time.

Choosing to leave the coast this morning rather than on the holiday, we are back to Jamestown today after a reasonably easy drive home. Mo will be returning to Klamath tomorrow after our quick little foray to the beach, and we still have a couple of good camping trips waiting for us before the snow flies.