Tag: rv camping

Loon Lake #4 September 2016

One of my favorite things is an empty campground, and this was the situation at Loon Lake this time.  Mid week, September… perfect for camping.  Weather was delightful and even got a little rain on the last morning.  Kate went with me and Ben and Charlie this time.  Not much swimming because the water was about 10 degrees cooler than August.  And the bees/wasps were less annoying this time.  Charlie and Ben both rode in the kayaks.  Fishing was much improved, caught a couple, one decent sized.  Charlie was a handful as all puppies are but he loved it and he is so cute to watch his excitement and enthusiasm.  What a character.  Ben over did himself as always and was kind of limping near the end of the three days.  I think his feet were sore or possibly some sore muscles.  He is back to normal now.  In the video below, the two items that Charlie was caught eating were a dead, petrified fish and horse poop.  Nice, huh.

Biggs Point at Loon Lake

Mr. Biggs
Mr. Biggs

This was our first trip to Loon lake this year and it was extremely sad.  We lost our littlest member of our family, little Mr. Biggs, on 6/23/16, just the day before our trip.  It was good however in that we got to process our grief through reflection on his wonderful life, and all the good times we all  had. Continue reading “Biggs Point at Loon Lake”

Jackson Meadows/Pass Creek #1 June, 2016

My first 2016 campout at Jackson Meadows was put off for a couple of weeks because of snow on the road coming in.  But its all clear now.  This time, it was just Ben and I  because Biggs had to stay home recovering from his left knee surgery about four weeks ago.  The lake was at 100% full, up to the tree line.  The highest I have ever seen it.  The base of some trees, mainly aspen, were actually in the water.  I took my DJI Phantom drone this time and had four really fun flights.  I was able to even fly through the Pass Creek canyon capturing some of the waterfalls.  I even was able to launch from my campsite at #30.  Even with the wind, which you can see in the portion of the video that shows my site, the drone handled amazingly.  Fishing was not good, similar to past years at this time.  I did catch one nice sized one that I released, lucky guy.  The lake, the stream, the wildflowers were all just stunning.  Everything was so green and the water so incredibly blue.  Next trip up is Loon Lake then back to Jackson in early July. This video can be seen in HD at either 1440p or 1080p. Check your settings.

Aerial shot taken from above with the drone
Aerial shot taken from above with the drone
Aerial shot taken from above with the drone
Aerial shot taken from above with the drone
Aerial shot taken from above with the drone
My fishing kayak just below my campsite

Highway 395 Trip Along Eastern Slope of the Sierra

In early May I went on my first RV trip of 2016. My friend Gary and his pup, Benetar, caravan-ed down 395 from Carson City to Lee Vining. We took cameras, drones, and plenty of beer and snacks. We stopped first nite at Lower Twin Lakes campground Continue reading “Highway 395 Trip Along Eastern Slope of the Sierra”

Jackson Meadows #6 October 2015

I went for the final week of camping season at Jackson Meadows – East Meadow camp ground for Tuesday to Saturday and had the entire loop to myself until Friday night. It was fantastic. So quiet, all I could hear were the birds, chipmonks and wind in the trees. Oh, and then there was the leaf blowers cleaning up the pine needles for an inspection that week. Ugh. Why blow the sites and the roads when they would be covered in just a matter of weeks. oh well…. luckily it didnt last too long.

Fishing was good however, I had forgotten my rod holders (dam!!) and also forgotten to charge my fishfinder battery, so it wasn’t all as perfect as I wanted it to be. I improvised and caught 8 trout, kept 6. I had charged up my fishfinder and hoped to do my last fishing Saturday morning however it began pouring rain around 5am and finally at 9:30 I gave up and hauled the kayak up from the lake to go home.

I decided to do some videos of Biggs and Ben this time. Mainly documenting a journey up Pass Creek but also some playing around the lake/beach. I was hoping to capture whats its like to go exploring with them. The lake was the lowest I have seen it. With the middle depth in the part directly off my campsite, only 11 feet deep. And the main channel off the boat ramp (which was unusable) was only about 30 feet deep. Islands appeared that are invisible in the springtime. I look forward to see it full next year.

Here’s the video. Starts out with romping around on the lake, and then goes to the hike up Pass Creek

Paul the Pelican still ruling the lake.
“Uhhh… isn’t it time to eat now?”
Sierra Buttes in the background
Brown eyes
Day one fishing. One looks like a Cutthroat Trout
So many Mud Hens on the lake.
Buddies
Site #30
A sleepy Biggs after a big day hiking.
Biggs cooling off
two buddies
Most of these rocks are under water in the spring

Wrights Lake Campout October 2015

Wrights Lake, in the Crystal Basin, just outside of Desolation Wilderness, is beautiful this time of  year.  This lake is just west of Lake Tahoe.  Kate and I hadn’t been here in three years.  The first time I came here in 2011 with the RV, all the waters were flowing.  It was truly amazing seeing the water rushing over the granite.  Kate missed that trip so she has only seen it in drought years.  It’s still gorgeous.

It was a short trip, just the weekend with two nights here.  When we arrived on Friday we took the dogs and walked the trail around the lake.  Even though the lake was down, it wasn’t enough to take away from the view.  And its always nice to check out the cool cabins on the lake.  Lucky people, have 20 year leases from the USFS.   What a sweet scene they have.  We noticed many of the trees that had blown down a couple years ago during a huge windstorm.  Amazing how so many had actually been uprooted.   Much had been cleaned up but you could still see some of the devatation.

The second day, Saturday, we got up early and did our favorite hike up  into the granite and Twin Lakes.  Its about eight miles round trip and we decided Biggs could do it.  We brought both dogs and they didn’t disappoint us.  They were full of energy all the way till the end, but they did sleep quite well that night.   Clouds started coming in when we had lunch at our destination, and there was a forecast of rain possibly in the afternoon, so we headed back down right afterwards.  No rain, but better to be safe.  Total time was six hours, four hours walking time according to my  GPS.  Altitude at Twin Lakes is 8,000 feet.

Weather was perfect, with a chilly 35 degrees Friday night but warming to the 50s and 60s during the days.  Kate made some great hot toddies, Kathleen style, that were just perfect in the evening while we played Qwerkle.  The last night it rained and wind really howled, leaving me with visions of a tree or two coming crashing down on our camper.   We awoke to no problems and a clear morning, however.

This trip  I tried a feature on a new little Cannon camera I got (SX700 HS).  It captures a short 2-4 second video each time you shoot a still and then stitches  them together.  So I decided to make a video of our walk around the lake the first day, and then document our hike up to  Twin Lakes the second day.   Its really a pretty shitty video, so I added some music.  But my hope is that the viewer can get a bit of a feel for the hikes.  One problem I had was I didnt know when the camera did the the 4 second video; before, after or during the shot.  Turns out its before.  At any rate, any dialogue that you might pick up will, undoubtedly, be fractured and disjointed.   I think the pictures are better (farther down below) and most taken with my better camera, my Lumix FZ200, … but its only a five minute video so do check it out.

A stray boat
This is our place… I wish!
Dinner, chicken, pesto, tomatoes, cheese.. awesome!
Dam focus!!
Cell Rock … good reception

Jackson Meadows #5 – September 2015

Autumn started this week and I brought it in at Jackson Meadows Reservoir, trip number five this year.  Kate joined me for two nites and a day, and also our friends Mike and Vicki and their tiny, cute pups, Wookie and Ginger.  No swimming but kayaking, fishing, short hikes, Qwerkle games, cocktails and much laughter.  Weather was perfect.  Fishing was pretty darn good.  I got 10 trout, let most go, including the 15inchers but kept three for a nice dinner.  And… I lost the monster trout.  So big he pulled the hook right off the line.  Gargantuan!  The East Meadows campground closes in a couple weeks so I will have to start going to the Pass Creek CG since they leave that open all year.   Anyway, here are some pics.

Mike using my kayak to fish
English Mt. in the background
Dry dock
Pass Creek grotto
Vicki sprinting across the lake in their tandem kayak
What drought?
Mr. Heron
Kate relaxing with her book.
The one Pelican that resides over the whole lake.
A new visitor, Mr. Heron
Early morning fire
Ben staring down a chipmont, went on for 15 minutes at least
Ben wanting an object to be thrown in the grotto.
Wookie and Ginger
Sierra Buttes in the background

Loon Lake #3 September 2015

Back to Loon Lake right after the Labor Day crowds left.  I started out at site #28, only to find there is a tit mouse burrow somewhere near the RV pad, so I had mice in my raisen bran cereal box in the middle of the night.  Next morning, crack of dawn, I was packing up to move to site #17 (my goto site from now on).  I had the whole loop to myself until Wednesday afternoon, and then only a couple campers came in.  It was great. The sky had some haze from all the fires and it was on the hot side, low 80s in the days, but otherwise it was gorgeous.  Kayak fishing was great catching five fish and only one released cause he was too small.  One 13″ rainbow and three just shy of 16″.  Real fighters too.  It seemed to me, looking at my fishfinder, that there were much less fish this time than last.  Lake was about 2-3 feet lower than when I was here in July, but appears to have stopped dropping.  Water temperature had dropped to around 63 whereas in July it was almost 70.

Biggs and Ben were with me, and because of little Biggs we just took short hikes.  Also did some kayaking with Ben swimming along while Biggs sat on the bow.  I finished three books while there and had a really relaxing time.

This old camper.