Horse Camp

I contemplated this drive long before I made it.  This is not a short trip into the foothills.  It's a long drive I haven't taken in some time.  Buoyed up on the devil in disguise (Costco muffins), I was determined to make it.  I'm not sure why in the "old" days, I could drive 8 hours just to see what junk I could find in antique stores.  Somehow, times have changed.  Not only do I NOT think about driving that far, I rarely EVER do.

It didn't help that it was hot.  I felt my feet melting into the pavement as I walked out of Costco, shirts in hand.  I turned the radio up loud ... country music of course ... and headed out on the oh so familiar highway.  I know every twist and turn of the first 20 miles.  I used to drive it every day.

Fending off slow, probably hungover drivers from Saturday night, I actually did keep to the speed limit.  Or not.  You know that's not me.  Anyway, the miles passed by as I reminisced about friends and foes I crossed paths with up here.

Mostly I remember the cooking over a hot wood stove at the pack station south of here.  That wasn't really on my agenda.  Riding out looking for lost people and horses ... that was my jam.  That one guy we found wasn't the least bit happy that his wife had sent in a helicopter that he would then have to pay for, along with two horses and riders.  I had never heard some of the words he said before.

Past my skiing destination, I headed even further up the Sierras.  It was 85 degrees at 5,000 feet.  At last I came to the Clark Fork Bridge.  This entire country from mountaintop to mountaintop was completely burned a few years ago.  The good news is it didn't get down in the canyon to the river, or at least not so much in these pictures.  

Looking the other direction, the reason this river is so important is because it provides water to the horse camp, one of the few in the Sierras where you can take your horse and ride out every day, along with electricity and irrigation water to the valley.

You can catch some of the biggest trout in that little river!!  Sadly the surrounding mountains are covered in dead trees as the fire raged over the entire area for as far as you can see.

To be honest, in case you didn't know, the fire department will try to save a building or two, but otherwise, they just let the fire burn.  Thousands and thousands of trees and wildlife are decimated.  They are currently rebuilding some of the houses.  They say this one was started from an unattended campfire.

So why would I spend so much time driving up there?  Yup you got it ... to see if my RV would make it up the hill.  There are two campgrounds here, Loop A and Loop B.  I drove through A first, immediately getting lost.  The road went on forever, with lots of nice spots to camp if you have a tent.  I might have been able to back into a couple of spots, but only if I paid double for a double wide.  

There are no signs telling you which way to go, other than the one-way arrows on the road.  I went around for the third time, waving to the tent campers who by now were laughing.  At last I found the exit.  I COULD have gone through B Loop, but figured I getter not get lost again, as I might run out of fuel.  

That entire camping section did NOT get burned and the trees blocked my every escape.  I might get IN with my RV, but there's no way I could get OUT.

This is what I came for .... Horse Camp.  You can camp here with your horses for a week or so with nice trees for line tying and even picnic tables.  Unfortunately, the road in was too rough for my RV with no place to turn around.  A horse trailer, yes, but not something 13 foot high.

I have been invited to camp out for a week and ride, however I have a poodle and a parrot.  I'm thinking I could park the poodle in a big kennel and stick that in the horse trailer when we're riding.  The horses will live outside tethered to the high line.  I think it's probably going to be too hot to leave him in the truck.  It's hard when you don't have friends or relatives that can babysit.  

I've camped out here before and it's a blast.  I might even get to make biscuits in my dutch oven over pinecone coals.  It's still all up in the air.  I'll let you know how it pencils out.

In the meantime, I stopped at Donnell lookout to find a newly built trail down the hill.  Not wearing anything that resembled hiking shoes, I skipped the trail and made my own.  I know, Bad Nancy.

It wasn't far to this picture spot.  The lake at the bottom was beautiful and the water level seemed to be up pretty good.

The dam just below is full to the brim with melted snow.  It is supposed to be producing electricity, but I've never been down there to see for myself.  The horse trails don't go that direction, and it's too far anyway.  Makes a pretty picture, even though it was overcast all day.  In fact, it actually rained a few drops on me.

I returned exhausted after seven hours of driving ... my butt saying I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY!!!  I tried to calm the pain with another Costco muffin, all in vain.  It took some aspirin this time.

Monday was rest day as I'll be back in the saddle this morning, riding the trails of the valley like Joaquin Murietta, robbing stagecoaches, stealing gold and getting my hair stuck in the pistachio trees.  Yeeehaw!!