Bodie Ghost Town after dark.

Bodie State Park is open 3 nights a year until 10:00 PM. We made reservations through the Bodie Foundation for their July 26th,  Ghost Walk Tour.  Just an overnight trip for us and not that long of a drive from home.

Left the house around 9:00 AM for a leisurely drive up Hwy 108, Sonora Pass.  Veronica had not been over the top of the pass in years, I make the trip on my bike a couple of times each year.

 We stopped at Donnell Vista. One of the great view in the Sierras that most people just drive by. First time I had stopped since the parking lot and
trails have been redone.

Over looking Donnell Lake.

View looking toward the Dardanelles.

Looking from the vista point toward the dam.









From the Donnell Vista Point we headed up Sonora Pass.  After Kennedy Meadows the road climbs up to  9,623 feet at the summit. This is the second highest pass in the Sierras, topped only by Tioga Pass. As you drop down to Hwy 395 you pass the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center.   Lots of activity around several helicopters as we passed by. I have always wondered what it looked like in mid January.

Lunch was going to be at the Hays Street Cafe in Bridgeport. We had read some good reviews of breakfast and their cinnamon rolls. Lunch was OK but not great, we did get a cinnamon roll to go for tomorrows breakfast.  Saw some flashing lights from lunch on Hwy 395 figured it was road construction.

This is what we ran into as we attempted to leave Bridgeport.

The Highway was closed south bound by a Haz-Mat spill up the road. CHP said it would be 24 hours. The main road to Bodie was the other side of the road closed sign. I knew there was a road from Bridgeport to Bodie. Set the GPS and off to Bodie we go.

Aurora Canyon Road 17 miles to Bodie this way. There is probably very little traffic on this road, but not today. If  you wanted to go north on Hwy 395 from Bodie this was your way out. I turned on my headlights so coming traffic could see me.

We passed over 4 cattle gates and saw many cattle along the road.

Saw two wild horses up the hill. They were not getting close to the road.








We had planned to stay at an Aspen Grove. I had GPS corrmnatinates of from WTW.  We did not see the small road coming in, may have been the cars passing by. We did find a grove on the road, but no place to camp. We were still 7 miles from Bodie and decided to look for a place closer to the park. Found and nice spot under 2 miles from Bodie, marked the milage for the return trip after dark.

Bodie as we approach in the afternoon









We had some time before dinner so we did a self tour of the town. Checked in at the Museum to see where to get our tickets for the ghost tour. Bodie is really a strange place with so much just left where it was when the people left. Hard to believe so much is here, I am glad it is a state park.

Veronica remembered a press back chair she saw the last time we were in Bodie, 20 years ago. I did not remember it. But there it was, just like one she has had for over twenty years. Her chair is in better shape.









We had dinner in the parking lot. NY steak and cheesy potatoes, we eat good when camping. Met Thom (ntsqd) and his family from WTW nice to find fellow pop top campers. Did not see NorCalHawk from the WTW site. He may have got caught by  the Hwy 395 road block. At 6:30 PM we headed to our tour. Big turn out with 80 people signed up. All the talk was about how to leave after the tour with the road closed. This was only the second tour and it was a work in progress. Our tour guide tried to be funny but some of his stories were not so great. It takes a special person to be a story teller. If he was a better story teller the tour could have been so much better. It was still well worth doing and we got a tour inside the stamp mill that is normally closed. We had tickets for the Star Tour but the clouds were coming in and decided to head up the road and find camp.

A building at the mine as the sun starts to set.

The rest of our tour group as the sunsets over Bodie.

Bodie and the dusty road we came in on.

We drove 1.7 miles up that dusty road in the dark and found our spot for the night.  Parked, got out to check the levels and found we were spot on and did not have to get the blocks out. Had to use the flashlights to see the cow patties. Lite traffic tonight as the rangers told everyone the main road was open at 8:30 PM.  

Our camp was at 9,100 feet elevation with partly cloudy skies.

15 sec exposure of the sunset behind out camper. It was that pretty out there.

The only cars we saw after we parked. Lights coming down the road.

The Milky Way did show up between the clouds. the last time we were in Joshua Tree NP the clouds kept us from seeing the stars.

Our camp in the morning, clouds all around and looks like rain falling in the distance.

The morning sun light hit the Sierras in the distance.

Our cinnamon roll from the Hays Street Cafe. It was good, but would have been better warmed.

Veronica checking out the new Ipad

Our morning neighbors enjoying their breakfast.

I just got my picture taken.

The sun came up over our camper lighting up the clouds. It was a beautiful morning.

This fellow left the crowd to come over and see what we were doing in his area.







We packed up and folded down the camper. 15 miles down the hill to Bridgeport. We were driving early and watching the sun paint the hills. As we got lower we started to see the smoke from the Yosemite Fire. Soon we would smell the smoke.

Sun, smoke and sage brush.

The smoke coming over the Sierras.

Even more cows going out than coming in.

Had to wait until this group decided to walk down the road with us.

Did not think about taking a video of the cows until we were almost out of their way. Here is a short clip of of our traveling companions. 

We got to Bridgeport and drove north on Hwy 395 to Monitor Pass and then over Ebbetts Pass. It was perfect weather for our weekend. As we dropped into the valley we hit the heat. Had lunch in Arnold at a deli in the shade of the pine trees.  Watched the temperature climb as we dropped elevation. Hit a high of 108 degrees at Murphys

Lassen National Park June 2014

Reminder, click on any picture to see a larger version and start a slide show.

Tuesday June 17, 2014

Headed out of town up I-5 to Lassen National Park. I graduated from Chico State College and had not been up Hwy 99 in over 30 years so decided to make the trip going up Hwy 99. Lots of changes to the road over 30 years, some places looked the same others looked brand new.  I had checked on line and all the reserved campgrounds at Lassen were taken. The web site did say there were some first come sites. Decided to take a chance on getting a spot and found the park was far from full.

We entered the park from the south and were treated to spring time in the Sierra's.

The hills were covered with yellow flowers and the sky was that blue you only see high in the mountains. Puffy white clouds made it picture perfect.

Stopped at the visitors center and found the staff very helpful. Was told finding a camp site would not be a problem. It had been almost 30 years since Veronica and I had been to Lassen NP; that time with our two small girls. Normally this time of the year the road through the park may still be closed and if open would have tall snow banks on the side of the road. Not this year.

The two Summit Lake Campgrounds were closed until June 27th.  Guess the NP does not change the dates even if the lake and campgrounds were free of all snow. We stayed at  Manzanita  Lake campground 30 years ago and remembered it was very crowded. The only other open campground was Crags, we pulled in around 3:00 PM and there was only 3 other campers there. Got our site and set up camp. 

 I really enjoy our National Parks, they have so much to offer. With the Senior Pass you get in free and camp fees are 1/2 off  getting old is not so bad.  By 6:00 PM the campground was about 3/4 full. Almost everyone was tent camping, still the cheapest family vacation you can take. We had a camper  stop to ask about our FWC and how we like it. Before we could start dinner I gave a tour of our camper to someone who wanted to know about it.

Our first time using the new Coleman fold & go grill.

Grill did a great job on the rib steak. Our new DC fridge makes it so easy to take food you want to have. Veronica fried up some potatoes and we had salads from a deli in Chico.  Finished with a It's - It from the DC freezer. Now that is camping.










We had a campfire and stayed up watching the stars until 10:00 PM. The temps were dropping and the fire felt good in the cool Sierra night.  Turned on the heater and warmed up the camper as we were getting ready for bed. I have a programable thermostat and set it low at night and up at 6:30 AM as our alarm. The heater came on in the middle of the night to warm the inside to 40 degrees, I though how cold is it?  Checked the outside thermometer in the morning and saw the temp was 34 degrees. I does get cold in the high Sierra's.  The heater coming on was the only noise we heard all night.

Wednesday June 18, 2014

Today was our day to see the park. After our normal camping breakfast of yogurt, fruit and a muffin we broke camp and headed to the north end of the park.  First we drove through the Manzanita  Lake campground, the museum was not open yet.  We made the right decision to stay at Crags campground. Manzanita was full of RV's with generators and cords running to them. The spaces were also as close to each other as they could make them. The Loomis Museum was full of information and  we learned a lot about the park. One of the great things about National Parks is meeting people from all over the world. We had a nice visit with a family from Switzerland. They were on a 5 month trip. There are things the Europeans do better than the USA and holidays is the main one.

As we walked out to our first hike of the day was saw two people looking at the camper. Asked if we could answer any questions and spent 20 minutes telling then about the camper. We suggested they stop at FWC in Woodland on their way home to the bay area.  Now off to a short hike around the lake and to Lilly Pond.
 

Veronica crossing a log bridge.

We learned the types of lichen on the trees and rocks. I did not know that lichen breaks the rocks down to dirt. The cool morning was going away and it was starting to warm.











Lassen had some great picnic spots and we stopped at one for lunch.

Lunch by a meadow. Note shortly after this picture was taken the mosquitoes arrived and we moved away from the meadow to finish lunch.







Next stop was the Devastated Area, we could really tell how much the area had changed in 30 years from our last visit. Just a short walk around with an audio tour talking about the area.

Here we are sitting on one of the newest rocks in California. Rock was formed 100 years ago when Lassen last erupted.

Next stop the highlight of Lassen NP, Bumpass Hell.  As we pulled into the parking lot I spotted a Land Rover Expo vehicle. The owners were not around would have been nice to hear about their trip.

 

Just a little surprised they did not have a web site on the side of the Land Rover.











30 years ago we did this hike with two little girls. I think I carried one or both of them most of the way. This time just me and Veronica. Not sure how but the trail got a lot steeper in the last 30 years. Really felt the elevation on the hike. On the WTW site one member Ski3pins and his wife post their trip reports about hiking all over the Sierra's. After this only 3 mile hike I know I will not be keeping up with them. Their Blog was my inspiration for building this Travel Blog.

Veronica heading up the trail to Bumpass Hell

Way over there is our truck and camper.

Telephoto shot of the camper in the parking lot

There were 3 deer in a river way below the trail to Bumpass Hell. These were the only deer we saw on the trip.

Finally  we arrive at Bumpass Hell. It is the smell that you do not forget.  The views were worth the hike. Trail for the most part was full of people coming and going. 

The trail going down hill was much shorter that it was walking up hill. The park department web site says "Park trail crews strive to open the trail by Fourth of July weekend each summer, however actual opening dates vary with each year's snow pack."    This year you can see how little snow was on the trail. 

We stopped for a self portrait, the air was so clean and the sky was so blue. Just a great day in the High Sierra.







Our next stop was the Sulfur Works near the south end of the park. The road cuts right through the middle of the mud pots. The sulfur smell is very strong and if the wind shifts you will move to get away from the smell.

Looking down the valley from the Sulfur Works. This area like others in the park, at one time was a business selling sulfur.

Someone made a rock stack in the parking lot. had to take a picture. I wonder how long it lasted until some one knocked it over.










Part of this trip was a plan to drive the upper part of Hwy 49. I have never been above Nevada City on Hwy 49 and wanted to see what was there. We also had not camped in the Lake Almanor area, so we decided not to drive back into the park to spend the night; we headed south. Got gas in Chester and stopped at the Ranger Station to find out about camping. On their suggestion we drove to the NFS Lake Almanor campground. As we were setting up camp a couple pulled up on a Harley to ask about the camper. They had already been to FWC in Woodland and wanted to talk to an owner,  they had a lot of questions.

Our camp for the night at Lake Almanor. Very quite without anyone camping close. We had a campfire and after a day of hiking we slept well that night.

Found a rock to level the camper, did not need to get out the leveling blocks. It was another 35 degree morning and the heater got us up warm and toasty in the morning.

Thursday June 19th, 2014

After breakfast we headed south on Hwy 89 towards Hwy 49.  This is an area of California lost in time. Small towns like Greenville look like they came off a postcard.  The High Sierra meadows were green and full of cows. As we drove further south around Graeagle starts area the world had discovered. Golf courses  and resorts everywhere, big change in less than 50 miles. We drove by the Feather River Inn, it was part of UOP at one time. We stayed there when friends of ours were the UOP summer camp hosts.

As we turned on to Hwy 49 the road stared to climb and there was a scenic overlook. We stopped and spotted a lizard taking in the sun.

The view looking over Sierra Valley out to Nevada.









The drive down Hwy 49 was tight and full of great turns, wish I was on the motorcycle for this part of the trip. The views were fantastic as we went over Yuba Pass and started down the hill. The temperature also started to climb as we lost elevation. This is gold rush country and the small towns of Bassets Station and Sierra City were picture perfect. We stopped at Downieville for lunch.  This is a tourist town and we enjoyed looking at their museum and the small shops.

 The glass in the window was all clear when made but turned purple when exposed to the sun.

Whiskey was the drink in the gold rush.

Downie river runs through town.

One lane bridge, first come first over the bridge. No lights.

Main Street Downieville.

Had lunch here. Great fish taco.

Our last stop was at XPcampers in Nevada City. The picture below is their small camper just around $40,000 for this camper. Their large camper is around $80,000 the price does not include the truck. Maybe if I win the lottery. I had hoped to meet Andy (Lighthawk) from WTW and he said to give him a call when we got to Nevada City. Unfortunately he was tied up at a job site and could not come by XPcampers. We did have a nice tour of the two campers, the large camper was really nice inside more like a yacht than a camper.  From here we headed down I-80 to the valley and 100 degree heat. 

We had a great time on our trip to Lassen National Park. Next we want to do Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.  Our National Parks are a treasure and camping is the way to see them.