Tag Archives: Camping

Even in a “Hurry” on the Road we TRY to see and DO things

Posted on March 10, 2013 | 7 comments

If you pay attention in places like Skyline Drive, VA you’ll see America driving to see their country. This morning here at Einstein Brothers we enjoyed Wifi and a rare store-prepared breakfast of lox. Then we realized we could have used the drive-through. That seems frequently the mode of vacationers too. There are pull-offs at each viewpoint and overlook along that nice ridge in Virginia, many in Grand Canyon, Zion and Arches. We remember our earlier post comment that <1% of visitors go below the Rim at Grand Canyon. Driving, eating, stopping, peeking, snapping a few pictures, we humbly do our share that way too.

Sometimes darkness looms, or a destination beckons. Whatever our mindset, we often feel driven to keep driving. We do, however, try to experience a place in some way. Remember, 1/2 mile from any parking lot it is nearly empty and you’ll find a peaceful solace. With this in mind we left California to drive across the Mojave again. Rarely retracing steps like this we saw few realistic options out here. Mountain ranges and deep valleys line up travel mostly into North-South barriers. Think Donner Pass etc. To get around differently would require a 2-4 hundred mile trek North.

The Mojave delivered its usual dose of challenge for Marfa. A 24 mile climb varying back and forth from moderate to steep. With only a Pinyon bush each mile or two as shade, I pointed out the scarred asphalt on the shoulder from cars that burned…some looked scorched and completely melted with the telling white powder of a fire extinguisher or two. The Transmission light ON AGAIN even with a new radiator! (As of now, a week later, I have added Water-Wetter. Physics to the rescue; it is a wetting agent that allows water/antifreeze to contact metals better. Should be another 10-20% difference and was easy to find in the desert at a Moab auto parts store. Jeeps, 4X4’s, and off-road motorcyclists know about it too. Marfa’s temperature gauge reflects this so far, fingers-crossed again as it stays cooler, “left of center” in all climbs so far).

Back to my original tangent, the road and travels continue. Moab was calling us with a predicted three sunny days above 60 degrees. Pressing today’s drive further than average we saw the little corner of Arizona offering a BLM campground. I usually avoid driving into darkness, but with a camping destination it always seems easier. Darkness, wind and the high baffling walls of a canyon arrived at the same time. Hadn’t seen this one on the map really. The Virgin River cut a canyon as deep, dark and surprising as could be, and man stuck this road down in there. Maybe I was tired, but here was another white-knuckle downhill with the thought I’d have been parked safely by now.

This view matches the educational plaque above

Healthy Joshua Tree blooming!

Awakening in a place darkness had concealed is another true joy of this sort of trip. The Virgin River Canyon was another of those brightening experiences. Fortified by sleep, pancakes with butter and real maple syrup we are coaxed out for a morning hike to the river. Water again. Real, running water. Life giving water. Jane and I sat enjoying the sparkling morning sun imagining what a sight this would have been to find for thirsty ancient travelers. In every epoch, humans thirst. Ancestral Puebloans, Spanish explorers, all thirst, especially in the arid high desert.

Morning comes, I step out. Where are we?

Where would we be without it?

After leaving the little 27 mile corner of Arizona, we veered off of I-15 and chose to go through Zion and investigate several hikes. One suggested by Mark back home was The Wave. Unfortunately access is limited to 16-20 visitors per day and a four month lottery had already filled those slots. We drove through Zion and it’s one mile tunnel through a solid rock wall and saw what strikes so many as one of the most beautiful places. Canyons of striking red and sand colors are also verdant. The difference appears to be water. Big trees, streams and a wetter desert with delightful coniferous forests abound. Our hike was kept short as we “wanted to get where we were going”. Moab called, but we probably could have enjoyed a week in Zion. “At least we left the road for a hike.”

Hard to keep my eyes on the road

Into that tunnel?

More wild layers

Surprises on the road

Yummy surprises on the road

-David

7 Comments

Posted in DAY posts, Hiking, Photos, RV Living, Strange Sights, Travel in the USA

Tagged Camping, car trouble, David, flowers, Food, Hiking, Jane, nature, outdoors, Random Thoughts, scenic beauty, travel

DAY 169 2/26/2013 Mojave National Preserve

Posted on March 4, 2013 | 4 comments

Our driving has been through desert after desert. Acrid open land with dots. Bushes, scrub, and Pinyon really, and then tumble weeds when wind or conditions demand. We’ve seen the dots of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and even Colorado. Now we drive South in search of warmth and to see more desert, yes, and more dots. If you’ve flown West, you’ve seen them. Hillsides are dotted, most have no forest, just dots. Bushes of many size and shape. The forests are at higher elevations and cling in valleys. If you’ve driven West you’ve seen the wind-blown tumble weeds trapped in barbed wire. Trying to reach the other side they gather on the fences.

But seriously the desert is alive. Very alive! Even the soils in many of these areas is a beautiful symbiosis of cyanobacteria, fungi, green and brown algae, lichens and mosses. We saw Cryptogamic soil in a variety of arid settings from Big Bend, Texas to Betatakin, in AZ. This fragile crust lives and stabilizes the soil itself. A protection against soil loss to the elements, erosion and wind. But just stepping on it disrupts this and can takes years to repair. Lesson; stay on the trail! Soil really is more valuable than gold. It supports our food chain. The dustbowls of midwest attest to the crucial part soils play. We also see, over and over, where water is life. Water makes a town. Water makes tourism. Water is food. Communities thrive near water and move when trouble comes or wells dry up. Lesson; conserve water. Really. We can’t believe people water grass back home. (and even the golf courses or hotel lawns out here!) Summer grass is meant to be dormant and a bit brown, grow less and allow you more time for Summer fun. Really.

The 1.6 MILLION-ACRE Mojave Preserve varies from about 800 feet elevation near Baker to a spine of mountains including 7929′ Clark Mountain. These features create at least 30 identifiable habitats. Moisture, elevation, wind, soil and sun exposure create such a variety. Pinyon Woodlands, Joshua Tree Woodlands, Cactus-Yucca Scrub, Desert Dunes, Creosote Bush Scrub and Desert Wash ranging from the higher elevations down create a surprising array.

Staying randomly at Hole-in-the-Wall Campground we were treated to some of this variety. We especially enjoyed the dirt road we followed leaving the park. We drove 30 or 40 miles of Mojave Desert dirt road and even saw a bicyclist entering the preserve alone there. The Western slopes were full of Joshua Trees. A fellow camper said there are more here than in Joshua Tree National Park.

We hiked a cool trail called the Rings Trail which carries you around a smaller mountain or butte, then up through a slot canyon of sorts.

There were no warning signs and just subtle NPS trail markers to follow “keeping the butte on your right all the way” as the ranger suggested.

The animal life too, is varied. Lizards, Mojave Rattlesnake, and the Colorado Sidewinder can be found (but mostly avoided by us). We saw the big eared Blacktail Jackrabbit, birds, Quail, and raptors, scat from fox or coyote. The kit fox is the size of a house cat, sure wish we’d seen one. The Desert Tortoise is a protected species out here. Brochures and signs suggest checking the shade under your car in Summer. Even the tortoise seek shade, but need your caution as you prepare to leave.

So yes, there are more than dots in the desert.

-David

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Posted in DAY posts, Hiking, Photos, RV Living, Strange Camping Spots, Travel in the USA

Tagged Camping, David, Hiking, Road, scenic beauty

Some Strange Campsites, or, “A Place to Rest for the Night”

Posted on January 29, 2013 | 14 comments

When we search for each next adventure on the road, we don’t always make it to a destination in one day’s driving. We find ourselves camping somewhere in between now and then. Our “100 mile per day” goal also places us where there are no National, State, Private, or official campgrounds. We’ve tried the Walmart invitation, parked in roadside pull-offs, dirt roads and closed parking lots at times.

The first non-traditional spot was high above Trout Run in PA. Right along the route we used to travel going to McIntyre Mountain (a coal town, mountain bike playground we found in our early bike-trip days), we saw the exit, drove away from the highway on a small paved road. Quickly turning to gravel, the road offered no room to turn the camper around. Especially as this was really the second day we had towed it with the 4Runner and David still lacked skills. We switch-backed incredibly to the top of a mountain where we thought we’d be isolated. Instead we saw the lights of at least 3 homes in the stark night.

As we nearly gave up, we spied the gravel apron of a “new-home” construction site. David managed to jack-knife his way in and we discovered a new use for our foil-bubble-foil window squares. Originally conceived as heat conserving additions, we realized they also offered a measure of stealth as they blocked our interior lights from leaking out and betraying our location.

It feels like campsites such as that one require us to get up early and drive away before we are spotted!

Before the trip, David had planned to keep track of how many “camping” sites we were asked to leave. Well, 135+ days in and we’ve never been booted off a site! We must be better at stealth camping than we thought. Or, no one’s paying attention anyway!

Here’s a pictorial history of some of the notable campsites where the Tramper has slept:

Birth of the Tramper! She lived here for who knows how long before David found her.

Birth of the Tramper! She lived here in Delaware for who knows how long before David found and refurbished her.

A pre-Voyage test run to Belleayre Mountain in NY. Pulled by the Subaru, the Tramper slept in the parking lot.

Camp Muckleratz in Lykens, PA

In cousin Huntley’s driveway in Stowe, VT

Across the street from my brother’s house in Sidney, ME. A friendly neighbor let us park on his lawn.

In cousin Gordon’s driveway, Frederickton, NB

At a campsite along the Machias River in Maine. Beautiful! One of our fav campsites and, as a bonus, no one else was there!

At Baxter State Park, ME. The small silver dot in the distance is the Tramper.

In an "illegal" spot in PRL in Maine. We realized, in the morning, that it was someone's driveway.

In an “unofficial” spot in Public Reserve Land in Maine. We realized, in the morning, that it was someone’s driveway.

Walmart parking lot in Maine. First of a half-dozen Walmart stops for the night

Walmart parking lot in Bangor, Maine. First of a half-dozen Walmart stops.

In Acadia National Park, ME

In an abandoned Burger King lot, somewhere in Massachusetts. We will soon get Panera Bread coffee across the street

In an abandoned Burger King lot, somewhere in Massachusetts. We will soon get coffee at the Panera Bread, seen across the street

Creek View campground with Jason & Blue, Rosendale, NY

Creek View campground with new friends Jason & Blue, Rosendale, NY

Hurricane Sandy evacuation center, Rosendale, NY. This is when the 4Runner was in the shop. Our new friend Jason very nicely towed us to this safe spot.

On a town street in Keene, NH during Pumpkinfest

In our own driveway, in Baltimore. No room in the house, so we slept in the Tramper in our driveway!

In an abandoned school parking lot in Waynesboro, VA

Crabtree Falls campground, Crabtree Falls, VA with owner Dave; a gracious host if there ever was one!

Friend Richard’s front yard, Culpepper, VA

Miss Pauline's front yard, Nontahela Gorge, NC. She owns a closed campground across the street. We weren't sure it was closed so we called her. She offered us her front yard instead!

Miss Pauline’s front yard, Nantahala Gorge, NC. She owns a closed campground across the street. We weren’t sure it was closed so we called her. She offered us her front yard instead!

In friends Bob & Joann’s back yard, Greensboro, NC

Ft Wilderness RV Park, NC. Not a favorite, for sure. But, it gave us a place to rest for the night

Black Rock Mountain State Park, GA. We were given a Thanksgiving feast by the camp hosts!

At the end of a long dirt road in Oconee National Forest, GA. A hunter drove up and asked where we would be hunting!? His name was John. His friendly ways made us a little less concerned about hunters.