28 Sunday Feb 2021
Posted in Winter 2021
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I picked a warm sunny day to head up into the Panamint Range of Death Valley. This would be an easy day to see some of the top tourist sights. My first introduction to Death Valley. I headed up the Wildrose Canyon aiming to see the charcoal kilns. My first surprise was to see broad somewhat flat valleys on top. I had created in my mind an image of steep sharp valleys. That image was so very wrong.
27 Saturday Feb 2021
Posted in Uncategorized, Winter 2021
In the early evening, a clanging noise from my metal trailer step startled the dogs and got them barking. Hum, I thought it must be the metal contracting as the air cooled. I looked outside into the dark and didn’t see anything. The next night about the same time I heard quiet metal noises on/off for a half an hour. Once again I looked outside and didn’t see anything. I kept looking outside. All I could think of, was that a RV had joined me at my camp site but I didn’t see them. I had found this camp site on the web so it wasn’t a secret place. Ghost campers? But when I took the dogs out for their 8:00 pm piss/poop walk there was no new campers at my spot. Hum. A mystery.
The next morning I found small scat left on my outdoor rug. Phil told me he had seen fox in the area. Perhaps fox scat? The metal noise could have come from my dog fence as the animal scurried around maybe investigation the dog smells.
26 Friday Feb 2021
Posted in Winter 2021
It was time to explore some of the history of the area. I had done my research by searching the web and looked at aerials. I was ready I thought. My first stop would be Clair Camp up Pleasant Canyon by Ballarat. I stopped at Ballarat and confirmed with the friendly store proprietor that my truck could make it with no problem. I bought a cold drink to help “pay” for this information and left to go see Clair Camp.
24 Wednesday Feb 2021
Posted in camping site, Winter 2021
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I learned long ago that life doesn’t stop happening while traveling. Things break, dogs need to go to vets, and… tires need to be fixed. It is all part of the adventure. I try to laugh and go with the flow.
21 Sunday Feb 2021
Posted in camping site, Winter 2021
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Back in the fall of 2020 I hatched a plan to head south the first of February in 2021. The plan was to get away from the Pacific Northwest cold and wet weather. I would drive south on I-5 to Bakersfield and then head eastward towards Death Valley and explore. Then covid hit California hard. Driving through California didn’t seem responsible with the ICUs full and I didn’t want to drive down the east side of the sierras pulling a trailer with the potential of icy roads. Surprisingly, California started recovering from covid in February. I made the decision to go south.
I started driving from Seattle and it took me five days to get to what I thought of as the beginning of the trip – Red Rock Canyon, California. This included an extra day waiting on the north side of the Siskiyous for the road conditions to improve. When I read the Oregon DOT site at 1:00 pm; it was 30 degrees at the pass, snowing hard, bumper to bumper traffic with a 60 minute delay. It was not a hard decision to check into the Valley of the Rogue Campground to wait the weather out. The next day was much better.
It was a long slog south, but I made it to Red Rock Canyon.
