Well. One of my sayings is "use your BEEP". Wednesday rolled around, wife and I were talking.
"We should go camping this weekend"
"Sure"
"Where do you want to go?"
"Up around gold lake?"
"Sounds good, but will we be able to get a camp site?"
"We'll find out, there are 9 campgrounds up there"
"Wanna take the camper?"
"Sure"
"Okay, i'll pack the gear and ready the rig, you do the meal planning and shopping?"
"Sure"
"Lets try to leave at 3 on Friday"
"Okay"
And, well, you know where it goes from there. I drug the camper out, aired it out for a day, loaded it with bedding, a gas can, and fire wood, loaded the camp chairs and coolers into the jeep, and off we went. Left right around 3pm on Friday.
Headed up towards Graeagle, CA.
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Now, once we hit Gold Lake Highway, we started trying campgrounds. We hit a total of 7 campgrounds, and had to head down the 49 towards Loyalton, before we could find a single spot. We landed at Chapman Creek Campground, which was our 8th stop.
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Let the weekend begin!
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
https://flic.kr/p/29duYsK by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Saturday we headed out to for some exploration. I turned the wrong way out of our campground, and we ended up driving out towards Weber Lake, and down to Lincoln Valley which is hidden in the mountains several miles from the main road. I think this will be our first camping spot once we finish the trailer build, we were all alone.
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
We drove the jeep up to Packer Saddle, the trail head for Sierra Buttes Lookout is at about 7000'. We headed up the old jeep trail, which probably any modern 4wd vehicle could take. It's quire steep, but overall pretty tame.
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
That little trail is the PCT.
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
The jeep was running warm as we were climbing in 4 low at a few mph. It didnt overheat, but I dont like seeing the temp gauge hit 220, so I parked a few times and allowed it to cool.
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
We intended to hike the final half mile or so up to the fire lookout, but it was super hot even at about 8000', and the dog is supposed to be on bed rest due to an injured shoulder, so the heat for him as well as his injury meant we didnt think it was a good plan, so we just hung out for a bit.
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
After that, we cruised down the mountain, which was some of the steepest trail AND steepest pavement I have ever driven on, and went back to the campground to relax. It was still in the 90's, but we went for a little walk in the woods along Chapman Creek with the doge.
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
View from the campground:
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Packed up in the AM and headed home. Jeep ran 100% awesome the entire time, i feel like it runs BETTER when towing. Nearly 200 miles,. and got 10mpg with towing, and a bunch of 4 low, idling, etc. I'll take it. Need to do some extended highway driving though without towing to see how efficient it is.
It was a good trip, but it made both the Wife and I remember exactly why we are building the expedition trailer. The campground was nice, but it was busy. we were located right next to a bathroom out of lack of spaces, and everybody kept just walking through our campsite. Not to mention the constant oompa oompa music playing from some peoples truck speakers, the nonstop SCREECHING, not even screaming or yelling, but SCREECHING children, the idiots with their off leash dogs, so on and so forth. Typical campground stuff.
That being said, we drove home, unpacked, I IMMEDIATELY called up a fella on craigslist, drove over to his house, and came home with this:
Shiz is about to get real on the trailer build.
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr