Tag: Camping

Unforgettable Six-Day Kayaking Adventure in Loreto

Our six-day kayaking adventure begins on the morning of March 22 when our guide picks us up at our hotel and takes us to our launch site, a beach, Playa El Quemado south of Loreto. Actually, we had met our guide the evening before for a briefing and to provide us with bags for our gear. We booked our trip through Paddling South/SeaTrek.

We were surprised to find that we were the only two guests on this trip, which meant we had rather personalized support with our guide Jorge and the boat driver Adrian. We had opted for a skiff supported trip, which meant that our gear went by panga and we had cold beer and fresh food.

At 10:15 AM on March 22 we were on the water. It’s about a three-mile paddle to Isla Danzante where we made a stop at Honeymoon Beach (Playa Luna de Miel). A gorgeous beach with clear turquoise water. We did a short hike here to a panoramic vantage point. We then returned to our boats and paddled to a beach further south, Playa Arenas, where we set up camp.

We spent two nights camped at Playa Arenas. On the second day of the trip we paddled to Isla del Carmen where we had lunch, put our wetsuits on and got in the water to do some snorkeling. Whenever we stopped, up went the tent to provide us shade from the sun and, of course, a cooler with cold drinks. Paddling to and from Isla del Carmen and snorkeling made for a long day. It was 5:30 when we returned to camp. Having logged 12 miles, we were feeling a bit tired.

I must say that the food that Jorge and Adrian prepared was excellent. We had fresh fish, fresh fruit and vegetables, and of course tortillas and beans. We were well fed.

The trip was billed as a kayaking, snorkeling and hiking trip. We had several opportunities to get in the water and marvel at the coral and tropical fish as well as a couple of opportunities for short hikes to explore the plant and animal life. For photography I had my recently purchased iPhone 17 which I kept in a dive case whenever we were on or in the water.

I had a few issues with the camera, seemingly having a mind of its own and changing modes on me. It took me a couple of days to get the hang of getting the camera to behave, but in the end, I was quite happy with the results.

On the third day we broke camp and paddled to a beach on the peninsula where we stopped for lunch. The intent was to camp there, but Jorge decided that the beach was not suitable, so we put the kayaks on top of the panga and motored to another beach, Playa Aquililla, a few miles south. Our last two nights were spent on a lovely beach four miles further south and our final takeout was at Playa San Cosme.

Here’s a map of our track over the six days with color segments representing different days. Over the course of trip, we did not see any other kayakers, and only an occasional fishing boat off the coast. It was a week of paddling and camping on remote and secluded beaches with amazing sunsets and sunrises. We did not spot any whales or turtles, but we did spot several pods of Pacific Bottlenosed Dolphins as well as a variety of birds. Overall, it was an adventure of peace and tranquility and an opportunity to be close to nature. More photos are available in an online gallery.

Winter Road Trip to Bishop: Memories and Challenges

We missed the Bishop contingent of our family over Thanksgiving since they were hunkered down with Covid. This prompted us to clear our calendars to make the trek over the mountains for a visit. Since the camper had been sitting idle in the driveway for three months, it was no surprise that the battery was dead. A quick trip to the local auto parts store and we were ready to roll. We decided we’d break the drive up over two days.

We like to take our time. It was 10:30 am when we rolled out of the driveway. Highway 89 was open, so we drove over Echo Summit on Highway 50 and then took 89 over Luther Pass and down through Markleeville. It was 5:30 pm when we parked the rig for the night on National Forest land near Mono Lake. It was dark, but we found a spot to camp without much trouble. Four-wheel drive is recommended here since there is soft sand. This is dispersed camping, boondocking if you like. No services. We cooked dinner, turned the heater on and hunkered down for the night. It was 18 degrees when I stepped out of the camper at 7 am the next morning. I wandered around with my camera, fascinated by the stark beauty of our location.

We arrived in Bishop at 10:30 am with plenty of time to get settled before the evening Winter Tradition program at granddaughter Annabelle’s school.

Holiday activities also included a visit the Laws Railroad Museum, where we rode the train and sang Christmas carols with Santa. Daughter-in-law Serena got to show off a quilt project that she participated in.

On December 15 it was time to head home. A winter storm had dumped snow on the mountains, leaving the roads icy. We started our return journey by heading north on 395, but the ice on the roads was intimidating even with four-wheel drive and snow tires.

We turned around and headed south, arriving back in Bishop about noon where we rendezvoused with family for lunch at the Pupfish Cafe. This is one of our favorite local restaurants, noted for their Belgian waffles. From there we continued south going over Walker Pass. We found a gorgeous little campground, Sandy Flat Camp, on the Kern River and spent the night there. We were the only campers in the campground. More photos are available in an online gallery.

Back from Bishop

Our adventures recently took us over the Sierra to visit family and celebrate birthdays. We left Bishop on the afternoon on July 29 for our return trip, with a stop at Donna the Dog Lady to pick up our dog Carson. Carson spent the night there since we were involved in some activities where Carson was not welcome.

With daytime temperatures of 100 degrees, we were hoping to gain elevation and find some trees for shade. Green Creek near Bridgeport seemed to offer a good bet for the night. We turned off onto Green Creek Road and followed the well-graded dirt road for a little over six miles, finding a level spot to park the rig for the night at 7900 feet. Carson was happy to wander around camp off-leash. Having set up camp, we discovered that the mosquitos were quite abundant, so we did our best to cover any exposed skin and break out the repellent.

Green Creek is a gorgeous spot with Jeffrey pines, aspen and willows. The California Department of Fish and Game maintains the Green Creek Wildlife Area, a 720-acre protected area that includes habitat for mule deer migration and fawning. It’s also home to black bear, beaver, bald eagle, grouse, mountain quail and various waterfowl. We decided to camp outside of the wildlife area, which is marked with signs.

I wandered around our camp in the evening and again in the morning with my camera, in this case an iPhone 14. I was intrigued by the lush green vegetation, the aspen trees and the wildflowers. We saw lupine, penstemon, and prickly poppies. Once the mosquitos became annoying, it was nice to take refuge in the camper with its screened windows that still offer a view.

Back from New Mexico

So here we are on July 9 ready to hit the road for our 17-day road trip to New Mexico. Check out my Stars and Stripes hat. Our motivation for the trip was to attend a family reunion in Angel Fire, New Mexico. We decided to take our time making our way to our destination. I decided since we’d be hobnobbing with cowboys at the reunion, I needed an appropriate hat, and with the Fourth of July recently passed this seemed to be an appropriate statement for driving across Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico.

We covered 3,000 miles on the trip, and I’ll be breaking up some of the highlights into several blog posts. I’d like to start with some thoughts about trip planning. While I’m quite happy to hop in the truck and see where we end up at the end of the day, my wife, Joann, likes to plan ahead. For this trip Joann spent hours and hours of research and prepared a folder with our itinerary, copies of all the camping reservations including photos of the facilities. Much of the trip was planned using Google Maps and a host of other online resources such as iOverlander, The Dyrt, Hipcamp, and other such resources. All of these are great.

Then a day or two before the trip we pulled out some printed maps and we discovered all the places we were missing. I had a flashback to the days when we used to spend hours pouring over maps looking at the sights along the way. Google Maps is great for getting from point A to point B efficiently, but it won’t suggest you make a quick detour to check out Mesa Verde or take the Turquoise Trail. And for much of the trip we were out of range of cell service, which meant that trying to use an iPhone to look up camping, or even use Google Maps for routes, was futile. What do you do when you come to a fork in the road, and Google Maps is silent and you don’t have a map of the area? Another reason to have printed maps available while on the road.

Our first night we stayed at Logger Camp on the Stampede Reservoir not far from Truckee. This was a lively camp full of families enjoying summer fun. Since our route would take us through some hot country, we planned our stops be at elevations where we would not suffer from heat; we do not have air-conditioning in the camper.

When we travel, I like to have occasional access to the internet. I don’t want my clients thinking I’ve abandoned them, so an occasional stop at a coffee shop with WiFi was in order. And then in Mancos we visited with a good friend, Kayla, a neighbor that our daughter grew up with. We foraged in her garden and, as a professional cook and caterer, she hosted an exquisite dinner.

Once we were in Angel Fire, it was time for the reunion. And no Sundt family reunion would be complete without watermelon and the dinner bell’s call to eat on the C and S Cattle Company Ranch. By the time we reached Angel Fire it was also time to replenish our water supply. We were looking forward to taking showers with our outdoor shower.

Our return trip took us through Taos and Flagstaff. We spent one night Boondocking in the Coconino National Forest just outside of Flagstaff. There we were treated to a spectacular thunder and lightning storm that dumped rain and hail on us. We also stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park which turned out to be quite interesting. I’ve never seen so much petrified wood in such a large area. And, of course, we had to venture on to a section of Route 66 where we encountered Burma Shave signs. Stay tuned for more episodes of our trip.

Morro Bay

The central coast of California is not an area with which I have much familiarity, so when a fellow BASK (Bay Area Sea Kayakers) member announced a trip to Morro Bay we signed up, eager to paddle with knowledgeable friends. On January 6 we strapped our kayaks on top of our camper and hit the road. We had a campsite reserved at Morro Bay State Park.

No camping trip is complete without firing up the Dutch Oven. So one morning we cooked up a Hash Brown Crusted Quiche, one of our favorite recipes. Mind you, this fed us well for at least a couple of breakfasts.

Our launch site was about half a mile away at the kayak launch next to the Kayak Shack. Eight of us launched and paddled around the Morro Bay State Marine Preserve and up into Los Osos Creek. We paddled until we could go no further. We were hoping that we could connect with a channel that would take us to Chorro Creek, but that effort was futile. We observed plenty of bird life along the paddle. You can tell from the track that we spent a fair amount of time exploring the estuary. We logged 10.7 miles.

The following day, January 8, we were back on the water paddling to the south end of the bay and up Shark Inlet. When we ran out of water, we turned around and paddled north along the sand dunes, stopping on the dunes for lunch. After lunch we continued north exploring the main channel out to the ocean and came back along the waterfront of Morro Bay, watching sea lions and sea otters. We logged 9.6 miles.

After two days of paddling we decided it was time to exercise our legs and explore Montaña de Oro State Park. We enjoyed the walk along the bluffs. There were some powerful waves crashing on the rocks, not a good day to be in a kayak on the coast.

I was surprised to find California Poppies already blooming in early January. After a very pleasant hike we decided a late lunch was in order. Tognazzini’s was recommended by several of our fellow kayakers, so that was our destination. We split an order of whole crab, which was delicious. After lunch we discovered that there are two Tognazzini’s. Tognazzini’s Dockside Restaurant and Tognazzini’s Dockside Too. Tognazzini’s Dockside Too was playing live music. After lunch it was back to camp with a nice walk along the boardwalk and a view of the sunset from the top of the hill. You can view more photos online.

Bound for Home

As we turned the calendar to July, it was time to leave our temporary post in Big Pine and head for home. We decided to make the trip a two-day drive with an overnight near Ebbetts Pass on State Route 4. This is one of the lesser-used passes crossing the Sierra. It’s a steep, winding, narrow road with one lane for a good portion of the time. Suitable for our rig, we figured that with throngs of people heading to the mountains for the Fourth of July weekend, it was a likely route on which to still find camping. And since we were driving midweek on a Thursday, we figured we’d have the jump on the campers coming up for the weekend.

Our route crossed two passes: Monitor Pass at 8,314 feet on State Route 89, and Ebbetts Pass at 8,736 feet on State Route 4. Just before cresting Monitor Pass, we stopped to admire the view. I was intrigued with the clouds and grasses on the high plateau.

Once over the passes we had plans to check out Hermit Valley for camping, but when we got there we decided to move on. Not far down the road we saw a sign for Pacific Valley Campground that looked promising. We found plenty of camping available along a lovely mountain stream.

In the morning we decided to explore the trail leading up Pacific Creek. Our dog Carson was happy to be off-leash once we were out of camp, and happy to cavort in the creek’s cool water. We manged to hike about six miles up the creek and back, and returned to camp lamenting the fact that we couldn’t stay longer. We had a commitment for a family Fourth of July get-together.

We broke camp and headed down the mountain passing Mosquito Lakes and Alpine Lake, which were quite busy. There was absolutely no parking available along the road. Every conceivable spot had a car parked with many more cruising looking for parking.

Despite the weekend crush of visitors, we were inspired by our overnight at Pacific Valley. We’ll be returning to explore more of the Stanislaus National Forest.

Escape From the Bay Area

Five o’clock in the morning my alarm goes off. I looked out the camper window and decided it was too dark to get up. I hit the snooze button and went back to sleep. Ten minutes later I awoke again and was surprised how much the light had changed. I was quickly out the camper door. At 5:15 I had my camera pointed at the sky above the rocks. The brilliant and fleeting color lasted just a few minutes. By 5:25 the color was gone. Sunrise was 5:34, so the lesson is to get up early to catch the sun.

I’m camped in the Alabama Hills. The photos from the big camera will have to wait until I get home next week. I managed to get away without a card reader to transfer the images from the memory cards. Needless to say the iPhone does a good job for capturing images to share here.

The Alabama Hills is in the Eastern Sierra, in the Owen’s Valley, 375 miles from home. While it’s still in California, it seems like a world away from the anxious throngs of people in the Bay Area hunkered down with stay-at-home orders to avoid the risk of COVID-19. No masks here. There are quite a few campers considering the location, but we are all quite spread out. This is dispersed camping on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. No services, so you need to be prepared.

After a morning in the solitude of the rocks and desert, I’m feeling quite refreshed. Three months of shelter-in-place was taking a toll on my mental attitude, wondering if I’d ever get out in the camper again.

We brought the camper over to spend some time playing grandparents while our son and daughter-in-law work. My wife will spend several weeks. I’m spending a week and a half. We justified our escape from the stay-at-home order by considering our childcare services to be essential. So here we are. And while visiting, I’m inclined to go explore some of my favorite haunts in the Eastern Sierra.

Camping in Wisteria Canyon

Camping in Wisteria Canyon

May 1. Our camper hasn’t moved much since our desert trip in January so, after two months of staying close to home, we decided to go camping in our own driveway. Actually, I did move the camper. I took it to a local car wash to clean off two months of dust and dirt; one of those car washes where you drive into a stall and grab a wand to wash and rinse.

Here we are in the morning with our fresh coffee. As tempting as it was to go into the house to cook, we used the camper to advantage. I dubbed our driveway “Wisteria Canyon,” since that sounds poetic. We did have a festive dinner the evening before. Chicken Cordon Bleu cooked in the Dutch Oven, and a glass of wine. That event was captured on video, but you’ll have to wait until my main computer is up and running before I can edit the video.

Stay tuned!

Birthday Weekend

So much has happened in the past few weeks that I’m going to have to back up to July 25. That’s the day we climbed in our truck-camper and headed to Markleeville for an extended weekend of camping and birthday celebration. The main event was our Granddaughter Annabelle’s first birthday.

Birthday Girl Annabelle is in the middle

We made it a five day weekend, leaving our place on July 25 and driving to Markleeville, a small town on the Eastern Sierra located at 5500 feet elevation. It’s about a 200 mile drive, taking us about four hours with a quick stop for a picnic lunch on the way. Our destination was the Markleevile Campground, a US Forest Service Campground with 10 sites. A lovely location with a stream running through it and a very attentive and helpful camp host.

Having settled into camp it was birthday time. July 25 is Joann’s birthday so we broke out the cake and celebrated.

Over the course of Friday and Saturday our campsites filled up. By Saturday evening we had 24 people, five dogs and one parrot. These folks are all seasoned campers and quite adept at entertaining and feeding a crowd.

  • Blowing bubbles
  • Joann’s birthday also
  • And more birthdays

We had pork shoulder cooked in a dutch oven on Friday evening. It’s a mystery to me what seasonings went into those ovens, but the resulting pulled pork was beyond compare and it made delicious tacos. Sunday morning was a Mushroom and Brie Breakfast Strada and Sunday evening was Chicken Cordon Bleu on Sunday evening.

  • Grandkids Annabelle and Micah
  • Fred checks on the pork shoulder
  • Treve’ showing off his Dutch Oven quiche

And of course no camping experience is complete without Smores. So the evening found us toasting marshmallows on a campfire and making a sandwich of the hot toasty marshmallows with chocolate and graham crackers.

In addition to family fun in camp, we did manage to get in some hiking, take in a blue grass concert at an event in town and visit Grover Hotsprings. To see more photos click here.

Slow Food

Joann at Red Rock Canyon State Park. Slow Food Breakfast in the Dutch Oven.
Joann at Red Rock Canyon State Park. Slow Food Breakfast in the Dutch Oven.

We’re home and and with an internet connection I can share some of the adventures from our recent desert trip.

January 27 marked day two of our trip. 9:25 AM I opened the lid on the Ditch Oven to serve up breakfast; Mushroom and Brie Breakfast Strada, a recipe out of Robin Donovan’s The Camp Dutch Oven Cookbook. We were ready to eat. Breakfast had been in the works since 8 am when I started the coals and the aroma coming from the oven was mouth watering.

I’ve become a fan of Dutch Oven cooking and the cookbook was a Christmas gift from my son and daughter-in-law. The Dutch oven seems appropriate for winter trips, hot food on chilly mornings and evenings. And with short days, the oven can cook after dark, after I’m done messing about photographing the sunset.

Our Campsite at Red Rock Canyon State Park

After breakfast it was off to Anza Borrego, but not before we made a stop at Home Depot in Landcaster for a quick repair on the camper. It was dark when we arrived at Red Rock Canyon. While positioning our rig in we backed up into a Joshua Tree and knocked out the window in the rear door of the camper. Even with the backup camera located on the bumper we couldn’t see the tree limb that was threatening our rig. A lesson to pay close attention and perhaps have a spotter watch what’s happening when setting up camp in the dark.

We’re off to Anza Borrego Desert State Park, then on to Organ Pipe National Monument in Arizona, with our return trip taking us through the Mojave Desert. We have our dog Carson with us, so it will be interesting to see how we manage since many national parks and state parks for that matter do not permit dogs on trails. Here’ at Red Rock Canyon me managed with Carson on the leash.