Category: Fourwheeling

Weekend Trip to the Eastern Sierra

On Saturday morning, May 11 we threw our sleeping bags in the back of the camper and pointed our rig south. Our destination was Big Pine in the Eastern Sierra. Our favorite route over the mountains is closed.  That route takes us through Yosemite and over Tioga Pass on Highway 120. With 120 closed we picked an alternate route going over Walker Pass near the south end of the Sierra. We made camp at Walker Pass Campground just before sunset.

 

Our Four Wheel Pop-up camper at Walker Pass Campground.
Sunset from Walker Pass Campground
Sunset from Walker Pass Campground

We discovered that the camp only has two sites for RVs, and both of those sites were occupied. There were a few open sites for tents. A number of sites are walk-in and serve  through hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail. We found a flat spot on a turn-out between the established RV sites and the highway and popped the top to spend the night. A quiet location with a view looking west across the mountains. I was able to set up my camera and capture a few photos just as the sun was setting. The campground has an “iron ranger” to collect donations for overnight camping and no established fee. There were pit toilets. Be advised to take your own toilet paper. On Sunday morning we broke camp and continued our journey.

After scouring wildflower reports we decided to drive up Nine Mile Canyon to see what we could find. It seems we were on the tail end of the wildflowers, although we did find a few penstamon, coreposis and many tiny little flowers close to the ground.

 

Penstamon and Joshua Trees
Wildflowers in Nine Mile Canyon
Penstamon

Following our wildflower detour we went back down the canyon to pick up highway 395 heading north to Big Pine. In Big Pine we spent the day with family celebrating mother’s day. On Monday we finished our loop by driving north on 395.

Passing through Bridgeport I was fascinated with the clouds and when we passed the abandoned Busters Market I decided it was time for a photo op. I’m fascinated with abandoned buildings and I’ve passed this old abandoned market a number of times without stopping. This time with the clouds passing by we stopped and I took a few quick snapshots with my Sony RX100 thinking I might get a nice black and white composition. We used to stop at this store for supplies when backpacking out of the Twin Lakes trail head.

 

Busters Market. Bridgeport.
Donnell Vista
Donnell Vista
Woodward Reservoir Park

After crossing over the pass and heading down the west side of the Sierra we stopped at , a roadside stop with a short walk to an overlook looking down on Donnel Reservoir. Dinner time found us passing through Oakdale, so we found a picnic spot at Woodward Reservoir Park and had a very pleasant picnic dinner by the lake. On arriving home we logged 876 miles for our three day adventure.

 

Memorial County Park

Redwoods at Memorial County Park in San Mateo County

I had a client send me out to photograph a project in San Mateo County. Given how the traffic works (or doesn’t work), I decided to drive down the peninsula the night before and camp so that I could be close to the photo location in the morning. I wanted to take advantage of the morning light for the photo shoot. The place I picked to camp was Memorial County Park, not far from the town of La Honda. This turned out to be a lovely spot in a lush grove of redwood trees. It was close to dusk when I parked my rig. The fog was starting to roll in off the ocean, giving a quiet, peaceful feeling. The park encompasses 675 acres with 156 camp sites. I was one of three campers in the park on a Tuesday night, May 1. I imagine in the summer this is a busy camp ground. The fee was $25 and showers were available. No dogs are allowed, and I’m usually looking for dog friendly camps.  In the morning I spent a few minutes wandering around camp before heading to the La Honda Creek Open space which was the location for the photo shoot.  It was a real treat finding such a lovely place to camp in the off season.

Four Wheel Camper Rally

On the afternoon of April 20 we pointed our rig towards Bodega Bay to join fellow Four  Wheel Camper owners for a weekend rally. We’ve had our camper for six months which means we are rather new to truck campers.  We were anxious to see how other people have equipped their rigs. By sundown there were 65 camper rigs parked around the grounds of Chanslor Ranch, with people gathering in a big red barn for dinner.

Sunset with Four Wheel Campers at Chanslor Ranch. Bodega Bay.
Four Wheel Campers at Chanslor Ranch. Bodega Bay.
Q & A session with Four Wheel Camper staff and camper owners at the Rally at Chanslor Ranch. Bodega Bay.

Saturday was a bright clear day and we took a walk around the lush green rolling hills of the ranch admiring the view and the wildflowers. Saturday afternoon provided a question and answer session with some very knowledgeable staff from Four Wheel Camper.  The hot topic seemed to be the new solar panels which prove to be lighter weight and more efficient than earlier models. With a pop-up camper any weight you put on the roof affects the effort it takes to pop the top up. The new panels are 20 pounds lighter than the previous model. We’ll stick with what we have for the time being.

We met people from all over the west; from San Diego to Whidbey Island, from Oregon and Nevada. Quite interesting to see the creative solutions people have come up with for their rigs and to see the various options and camper layouts that are possible. We also learned about a couple of website for trip planning including wanderthewest.com and expeditionportal.com. Many thanks to the folks at Four Wheel Camper and the camper owners that made the rally possible. Quite fun! The next rally will be in October near Anza Borego. We’ll be there!

Sunday morning we packed up and drove a short distance to the Pinnacle Gulch Trail. It’s a lovely walk down the trail, not quite a mile and the beach is known to be dog friendly.

Cason on the beach at Pinnacle Gulch Beach

African Safari: Day 2

March 4. We’re going on a lion hunt! Early start. At 5:00 AM our steward hails us with “good morning.” He unzips the tent and leaves us a tray with a pot of coffee and fruit. Then it’s breakfast in the dining tent: porridge, fresh fruit, eggs, sausage and toast. At 6:00 we’re on the road. David tells us our objective today is to look for cats. It doesn’t take long before we find a koppie (a rock outcropping on the savannah) which seems to be a hangout for a pride of lions. We watch as the pride returns from their night time hunt. Their bellies look full, so it seems they had a successful outing. The pride includes a number of cubs ranging in age from perhaps six weeks to several months. We spent the better part of an hour and a half watching them and photographing their activities. Most of the lions just wanted to lay in the sun and nap. The cubs wanted to play.

 

Portrait of a lion
A cluster of safari trucks out hunting for lions.
Pride of lions on the way home from the hunt
Pride of lions
Lion cub
Lioness yawning

At 8:10 am we leave the lions. Soon David had us poised to photograph a pair of cheetahs. I’m using my Nikon D800 with a 200-500 zoom lens. This is a substantial piece of equipment, and handling the camera and lens requires support.  The drill is to stand up slowly and stealthily and place a beanbag (a device to help hold the lens steady) on the top of the truck, and then to put the camera and lens on top of the beanbag. This is a new drill for me. I’m used to photographing architectural subjects with wide angle lenses and a sturdy tripod. Shooting wildlife from the top of a truck proves to be a challenge.  It takes me a few days of practice before I’m feeling comfortable with the drill.  I’m starting to appreciate how much skill it takes to photograph wildlife.

Pair of Cheetahs
Cheetah
Pair of Cheetahs

The cheetahs moved on. One of them passed quite close to our truck and David was concerned it might climb on the truck. We continued our game drive. Close to noon David suggested we stop in the middle of the road and have our lunches while a herd of wildebeest and zebra were crossing. This is the start of the wet season and the zebra and wildebeest are on migration following the rain and looking for green grass.

 

Wildebeest and zebra on migration
Wildebeest and zebra on migration
Zebra and Wildebeest on the Serengeti
Zebra and Wildebeest on the Serengeti

After lunch we continued, stopping for a family of warthogs with the mother nursing her young. We also stop for Thompson’s gazelles and  a pair of jackals. By mid-afternoon, we were feeling like we had put in a full day and we headed back to Seronera Sametu Camp

Dinner was a special treat. Being that we were the only guests in camp the staff moved a dining table out under the stars, and the three of us, David, Joann and myself, had a exquisite dinner by candle light with a campfire crackling near by and the stars twinkling overhead. For dessert, we were presented with a cake that said “Happy Retirement Joann.” It seems as part of our safari itinerary we indicated that our safari adventure was in-part a  retirement celebration. A fun surprise. We were so stuffed we could hardly touch the cake.

 

Thomson’s gazelle
Tents at Seronera Sametu Camp

Our day’s drive covered 62 miles. You can view a track of our route here. You can also view a more extensive gallery of photos from our safari here.

 

African Safari: Day 1

Two weeks have passed since we returned from Africa and I’ve managed to edit my photo collection down to a few images (143 to be exact) that I think tell the story about our adventures. We’re rewinding to March 3, the first day of our Safari. Our adventures began when we boarded a small plane in Arusha for our flight into the bush.

Treve and David at the Seronera Air Strip
On the tarmac at the Arusha Airport walking to our airplane for the flight to Seronera

Our flight took us to the Seronera Air Strip in the middle of Serengeti National Park, a dirt airstrip with a small terminal. We landed at 11:30 in the morning. Our guide David walked out to the plane to greet us. We spent a few minutes in the terminal while David resolved some issue regarding our park permit. Then it was off to the Land Cruiser that would be our base for game drives for the next eight days.  I’m quite thankful that we had an experienced guide. Traveling the parks in Tanzania involves paperwork. Having a guide that knew the language and the customs was quite helpful. Our destination for the next two days was the central woodlands of the Serengeti. It doesn’t take long on a game drive to appreciate how abundant wildlife is and the variety. Impala, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, and baboons were among the first animals we spotted on our drive. If feels surreal sitting in a car and watching zebras amble by.

 

Male Impala
Herd of Zebra and Wildebeest in the Serengeti
Masai giraffe (G. c. tippelskirchi) in the central Serengeti woodlands
hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) in the Retina Pool.
Baboon

For lunch we headed to the Retina pool to watch hippos, and with a picnic area there, David broke out the box lunches. We didn’t have high expectations for the food and we were surprised at how much was packed into our lunch boxes: a skewer of beef kabobs,  hard boiled egg. quiche, ground beef patty, a Kat-Kat bar and an apple. More than enough for our needs. Our guide, David, collected what we didn’t eat and gave it to the the washroom attendant. After lunch we continued our game drive adding warthogs and leopards to our list. We spent some time watching a mother leopard with her cubs playing in the grass at the base of a tree. The cats were a fair distance from us which made photography a challenge. As we watched though the mother leopard climbed up into a tree where she had stashed a wildebeest kill and I managed to capture a photo.

Leopard with a kill (wildabeest) in a tree.
Warthog
Our tent at Seronera Sametu Camp
Joann enjoying the campfire at Seronera Sametu Camp
Sunset at Seronera Sametu Camp
Our tent at Seronera Sametu Camp

It’s very easy to get caught up watching wildlife; watching animals and talking with our guide about animal behavior and such. The afternoon seemed to pass quickly as we made our way towards our evenings accommodations at Seronera Sametu Camp. Not far from camp though, the road became very muddy and David started to speculate about the possibility of bushwhacking, should we become mired. Fortunately, with expert driving, slipping, sliding and mud flying, we made it to camp arriving about 6 pm, with plenty of time for a shower before dinner at 7:30. Seronera Sametu Camp is a tented camp, meaning the guests stay in tents. Camping is pretty luxurious by our standards. The tents are quite large, with queen size beds, desks, a sitting area, a private bath with flush toilet and a shower. For a shower though you have to order ahead so that the stewards can heat water and haul it up a pole for a gravity fed shower. Even so it feels like a luxury to have a hot shower in a tent.  Being that we were the only guests in camp we felt well taken care of. We were instructed to stay in our tent after dark, or call for an escort should we want to leave the tent. Walkie-talkies were available to communicate with the staff.

Our first day’s game drive covered about 45 miles. You can view a track of our route and an elevation profile here. You can also view a more extensive gallery of photos from our safari here.

Photo for Best BLM Camping – 2017

Our camp at Keyesville Special Recreation Management Area (SRMA)
Our camp at Keyesville Special Recreation Management Area (SRMA)

A photo we posted to Campendium as part of our review of our camping experience was selected for the best BLM Camping – 2017. Check out the link here.  Campendium is one  of our go-to resources when looking for off-the-grid camping locations. This photo was taken on December 26, 2017. I wrote an earlier blog article about our visit here.

Holiday Road Trip: Last Leg

Willows shoing fall color in December at Keyesville Special Recreation Management Area (SRMA)
Our camp at Keyesville Special Recreation Management Area (SRMA)
Kern River at Keyesville Special Recreation Management Area (SRMA)
Alive – a painted stone found in our campsite.

Our return trip from the Eastern Sierra took us South down the Owens Valley and then west over Walker Pass on Highway 178. We opted for this route rather than retrace the route we had taken earlier on our trip, coming over Echo Summit on Highway 50. At 5,246 feet, Walker Pass is lower than the northern passes and less likely to have snow, although for this trip snow was not an issue on either route. One of our favorite stops on this route is the Onyx Store, in the little town of Onyx. It was closed when we passed by, not surprising since it was Christmas day. Some years ago I set my panoramic camera up in the store and captured a panorama. A framed print was hanging in the store the last time I looked.

We were tempted to camp at the BLM campsite near the pass, which is in the Joshua Trees. Fascinating subjects for photography.  We pressed on though, hoping to find a spot at the Keyesville Special Recreation Management Area (SRMA). As we set up camp we were surprised to find some fall color remaining on the willow trees along the Kern River. From this point home in the San Francisco Bay area there is not much available for camping, at least not the kind of camping we like.  We found plenty of campsites available with a few campers scattered here and there. In the summertime this is a popular place for mountain bikers and off road recreational vehicles. Fortunately we had a quiet camp.

Walking around camp the next morning I found a reminder that it is good to be “Alive,” a stone somebody had painted and left in camp. I had to stop and smile. Not that I needed a reminder, being in the outdoors and admiring God’s creation is reminder enough.

 

 

Christmas in the Alabama Hills

Truck campers in the Alabama Hills at dusk.
Sunrise on Christmas Day. Alabama Hills
Truck campers in the Alabama Hills. Christmas morning.
Treve, Joann and Carson at camp in the Alabama Hills. Breakfast of Quiche cooking in the Diutch Oven.
Quiche on the Dutch Oven.

Christmas eve found us in the Eastern Sierra setting up camp in the Alabama Hills. There were four of us and two campers. Our son Aaron and his wife Serena joined us for the overnight camping trip, about 45 minutes south of their place in Big Pine. Part of our mission was to see if we could create a photo of our two campers worthy for Truck Camper Magazine’s calendar. It will remain to be seen if our photos make it into the calendar but we had fun scouting a location, setting up camp and creating photos. The location we picked had a view of the crest of the Sierra’s with the peak of Mount Whitney visible to the west and an outcropping of granite boulders to the east, hiding some of the other campers in the area.

The Alabama Hills is a recreation area managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Open to camping year round. Dog friendly and free of charge. There are no facilities though, so bring your own water.  Inclined to be hot in summer, we had mild winter temperatures, with the thermometer recording a low of 39 degrees overnight.

We’ve recently discovered Dutch Oven cooking and we put our oven to use cooking a savory Christmas eve dinner of chicken and rice. with chunks of chicken breast wrapped in thinly sliced ham and bacon. Breakfast was quiche with ham left over from an early Christmas dinner a couple of days earlier when our daughter and her husband rendezvoused with us on their way to Utah.

Holiday Getaway

 

Camping at the Hope Valley Sno Park.
Camping at the Hope Valley Sno Park.

Wednesday, December 20, after working a long day and into the night to keep my clients happy, we pointed our rig to the mountains for a holiday getaway. Part of our plan was to see how our camper performed under winter conditions, camping in a Sno Park for the night. Our drive took us through Sacramento and up highway 50 heading towards Hope Valley, one of our favorite mountain destinations. For many years we’ve visited Sorensen’s Resort in Hope Valley just south of Lake Tahoe; a delightful place to stay any time of year. Along the way we stopped at the Silver Fork Store in Kyburz to buy a Sno Park Permit; a requirement for parking in a designated Sno Park. We bought an annual pass for $25, figuring we may be doing exploring other winter wonderlands this winter.  We had the camper up, snug inside just as it was getting dark and the temperature was starting to drop.  A dinner of hot soup and bread felt good and we turned on the propane heater, and pulled our our books to read. It was snowing lightly as we settled in but it cleared in the night. I got up at 4:30 for a quick rest stop and stepped out into a crystal clear night, with stars shining above and sparking off the snow. The thermometer was recording an outdoor temperature of 10 degrees F and inside the propane heater was keeping the cabin at 50 degrees or so, a temperature that we decided was a bit warm for our winter sleeping bags. In the morning we woke up to a sunny day. Popped the top down and headed for breakfast a Sorensen’s Resort, three miles down the road. After a hearty and delicious breakfast and fresh coffee, we continued our journey down the East Side towards Bishop.

 

New Boat on the Water

Joan gives the new boat a sea trial
Joan gives the new boat a sea trial
Joan gives the new boat a sea trial. Paddling along the Red Oak Victory
Fourwheel camper with two boats on top.

Saturday, November 11, we managed to get our new boat on the water. The new boat, a Ronan from Pygmy Boats measures in at 14′ 3″ weighing 32 pounds. It’s been in the works since May. The bigger boat is a Pygmy Coho, 17′ 6″, which I have been paddling for 18 years. Joann gave the new boats a hearty thumbs up, saying it felt more stable and tracked better than the Golden Eye she’s been paddling for quite some time.

For our sea trial we launched from Ferry Point in Richmond, paddled out around Brooks Island, where we dallied a bit at Bird Rock to watch the birds and the seals. Then on to a little beach at Barbara and Jay Vincent Park in Richmond where we had lunch. After lunch we paddled along the Richmond Waterfront, where we had a close look at the Red Oak Victory, and then back to our launching point.  Our journey covered just under seven miles. You can view the track of our paddle here. You can also view more photos of our trip here.

Aside from this being Joann’s first paddle in the new boat it was also the first time we had both boats on top or our Fourwheel camper.