Jackson Meadows September 2017 Camp

Jackson Meadows

This was my first visit to Jackson Meadows Reservoir this year.  I had numerous reservations for the summer of 2017 but they were all cancelled.  NID (Nevada Irrigation District) claimed there was too much snow damage over the winter and never opened the East Meadow CG.  This trip I stayed at the less preferable, Pass Creek CG, which was ok but quite a distance to the lake.  Basically NID failed once again, at campground management.

I walked thru the closed East Meadows CG only to  find very minimal damage.  Basically two small down trees in the road, and four campsites that needed tree or limb removal.  One day with a chain saw this could have been completely cleaned up.  Apparently there is some argument between the National Forest Service and NID as to who does what.  Also the NFS wants to remove or limb several trees in there and will do this fall, hopefully.  Not sure why they didn’t do it during the summer.  Here are shots of the “devastation”.

As a change, I decided to not take the dogs with me, and just went solo. It turned out to be rather lonely missing the boys and Kate. Weather was cold, fishing was terrible and no views of lake from my motorhome. I was there three nights and on the last one it rained all through the night. In the morning I could see snow on the peaks. I was at around 6800 feet and the snow was above 7000.

When I drove home it started snowing around Truckee and got pretty thick over the Donner Pass. Turns out there was a 16 car pileup near Cisco Grove whereby they closed the I80 freeway in the Westbound direction. They said it would a 3-4 hour closing. So I drove back to Truckee. After several turn arounds, and false starts on what to do, I ended up in Boom Town Nevada when I saw on my google maps that the road was clear. I ended up getting home around 6:30pm instead of 1pm, but I did get home to my sweet Kate and was thrilled with that.

Author: Geoff

Quick rundown: Grew up in Lombard, Illinois, went to Arizona State University, worked as a CPA with Arthur Andersen & Co, then Laventhal and Horwath, then Rolling Stones, then Heron International, then Goodby Berlin and Silverstein in San Francisco. Moved to the foothills in 1990 and traded futures and designed websites. Married to Kate Stewart, now living in Colfax, CA. We have six grandchildren. I enjoy camping in our RV, hiking, kayaking, fishing, droning and cross country skiing Also conga drumming, photography and dogs.

5 thoughts on “Jackson Meadows September 2017 Camp”

  1. Hey Geoff
    Thanks for great first travelogue .
    I enjoyed your interesting story, especially the snowy ending.
    Neat photos.
    I’m in my final night at rehab hospital after my left knee revision surgery.
    Can you imagine original replacement lasted 32 years.
    Looking forward to getting home.
    Take care Bro, Kate & dogs.

    1. Hey Bro…. Geez, i hope the surgery came out ok. We’ll have to talk after you get out of the rehab. I am going away this week so maybe next week.
      Take care..

  2. Nice photos. Sounds like it wasn’t your best trip. Do you have more trips planned for the mtns, or is that it for this year?

    1. Well, most mountain campgrounds close the first week in October, so I am leaving today for Loon lake one last time this year. I was going to go next week but with the weather iffy, I might as well grab the good weather while I can. Afterwards I will start going to the ocean hopefully to see you, and maybe into Nevada, and the southwest.

Comments are closed.