Hittin the Old Dusty

As the season moves forward in the Sierras, the air is getting colder and the water flow, lower, thus patronage at the campground has dropped greatly. In a few short days, the Roamin Gnome will be moving on from its home at Dinkey Creek and onto the next adventures. In total we worked and lived ~70 days in the campground and we are itchin to hit the old dusty trail. The workload was fairly benign and as much complaining that occurred on the last posts, it wasn't all that bad to have money coming in and a safe place to park WITH the luxury of water/sewer/electric hookups. We have been enticed to seek employment with Dinkey Creek and CLM again next year for the whole season but are hesitant to make that sort of commitment just yet.

As for the next steps, by weeks end, we will be dusting the cobwebs, airing the tires and moving forward; albeit not that far. The gnome will travel up the road a few miles to a free camp spot while we tie up some loose ends in the area. Liz has spent hours combing through the voluminous Yosemite books from the library and is getting a list together of must-see's. I have been fairly laid back in planning so once work is done, we will set into full scale ops. Aside from Yosemite, the Gnome anticipates travelling a southern route to end up in the Denver area by mid October to visit some friends.

The cold Denver air will limit our tent campers ability to stay up there and so we will move forward past that point to somewhere warmer.

A tentative visit to our good friend Nancy is hopeful for November. Her stay in Saskatoon Saskatchewan is close enough to meet up with us around the border. These plans are still TBD and weather dependent.

As we work our way into December we may attempt another WWOOFing opportunity for a week or so to pace ourselves and help a local farmer with crop and stock. Hopefully they have Alpaca's :)

Finally, we have our eyes set on Christmas in San Diego with the Fulton fam followed by the first week of January in Arizona to see the Glaser gang. Then a potential swing-by Roswell NM as we head back to the east cost via Texas and the Southern states.

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Since our time has been fleeting in the Fresno area, we made sure September did not go to waste. Last weekend we visited Los Gatos which is owned and operated by BLM and is on the other side of the Fresno valley. We pasted through hundreds of acres of farm and orchard lands, past the oil derricks east of Route 5 and into the foothills of the dry golden grasses of Laguna Mountain. Numerous small (5-10 sites) and FREE campsites dotted the road we traveled and being on a Monday, we had our pick of the privacy. We set up at Laguna Mtn at the top post. The view was incredible and Liz of course took some wonderful photos. The claim to fame of the region is its rich geology in Serpentine which was a main quarry for Asbestos manufacturing. The greenish/blue/teal rocks scattered around the hill sides were too good to pass up and we managed to snag a few good specimens for our collection. They also made for a cool Birthday present for our newly found friend Thor (a fellow rock hound) whose birthday was on the 16th. [Now you may be worried about my health while handling Asbestos related rocks but its only as a powdery dust form and inhaled over the course of some time in which Mesothelioma can be prevalent. We should be OK] We also met two lovely tarantulas on the trails.

View from our campsite

Hiking trail to a waterfall

Tarantula!

Additionally, this past weekend, we finally made it up to Mono Hot Springs (a Thor recommendation). The 2+ hour drive follows the contours of the mountain range and continues up Kaiser Pass which is a one lane width yet multi-directional use road that has just enough turn out space to not drive you off the cliff face. Blind turns around boulders the size of a house sometimes had you face to face with another vehicle and someone was left to put er in reverse. Upon entering the region, we stopped by the ranger station and received the best info on FREE camp sites that also allowed fires. This is a rarity since we didn't want to spend the 22$ for the cost of most basic sites in the area. We also received cookies from the older ranger lady on duty that day!

The road splits to either Florence Lake or Mono Hot Springs & Lake Edison. We parked at the resort which has rustic cabins, a general store, massage hut/bath house and a campground. The mile-ish hike to Doris Lake was a little demanding but the serenity of the destination was amazing. After that, we headed back to the car to put puppy away while we ventured to the hot springs which were tubs 5' deep and constructed of concrete. The temperature in the Iodine Pool was about 85 degrees and incredible with natural methane bubbles surfacing every so often. All the other pools were occupied and we were unable to find the old mud pools on this venture.

Following the advise of the ranger, we took Kaiser Pass back towards civilization and took the turn off for Sample Meadow. The dirt road was rugged at times but no match for the Subaru. The campground had very private sites with bear boxes, tables and fire pits and the facilities were clean and stocked with TP. Our site was the last in the lot and super exclusive right up against a stream giving us great white noise and uber privacy. We mostly enjoyed the company and campfire in the quiet of nature and not a busy populated campground. Hammocks were choice and we spent much of the next morning enjoying the sun rising over the pine tree tops while Ziggy patrolled the perimeter.

We packed up by early afternoon and decided we needed one more adventure so we took the turn towards Mount Tom Fire Lookout. With no expectations and no hesitation we followed more dirt roads snaking the mountain sides which offered beautiful vistas but it was nothing compared to the final view. The steep one lane and very tricky road which was not recommended for all vehicles took us to the peak of Tom mountain at 9,040'. We were invited into the lookout tower by the friendly young ranger lady on site. She spends the season tending the tower and spotting fires in the valley to radio to the fire crews on the ground and in copters. Although the seclusion of being alone on top of a mountain all summer is daunting, the view is absolutely phenomenal. We spent about an hour talking and learning about the instruments she uses, the mountain range we had a 360 of, and just life in general atop the rock. The journey down the steep rocky switchbacks was cautiously made and we returned back to paved roads eventually.

The rest of the waning daylight was spent driving the offshoot roads near Shaver Lake to find our next temporary home. Since the start of hunting season, these dirt roads have been crowed with hunters in tents and RVs living off the land and finding the prime spot for our pup is tedious. We have a few in mind and will settle over the weekend for a short stay before moving on once more.

Honey BooBoo's Flaming Stump

As we near the end of the season for the campground, our duties as hosts have changed a bit and we go from kiosk greeter to care and maintenance of the grounds. This isnt necessarily  the worst thing and has us doing odd jobs like walking each site to rip nails and screws from trees or dig out fire pits for the end of season. We also finally have a chance to clean the day-use creek areas where people have been shoving trash into rock cravases; because where else would it go? Some tasks still remain though like checking bathrooms for TP and clogs (as previously discussed) and performing the night time compliance for noise and fires.

{Small rant: Come 10pm, the campground is to become quiet. No generators, lowered or off canned music and no hecklin/hootin/hollerin. Apparently the woods are an accepatble SCREAM ZONE and this past weekend we have had children yelling for no specific reason other than to be loud. It gets old very quickly.

Labor day was a nightmare since you could imagine we were at full capacity with just Liz and I to clean and maintain 29 restrooms and make sure all campers followed the rules. At night the sounds carry through the tall pine trees and its hard to pinpoint the source. The golf cart is so easily unmistakable that when we roll around, we pass campfires of 30+ people DEAD silent with eyes beaming at us. We not only watch but are always watched. Folks know what the cart means yet there are the disobiedient/disrespectful few who, once the cart has past, will crank up the volume. The mile long campground is impossible to monitor top to bottom with one cart. We did our best performing numerous laps at "hot-spots" and remaining up and moving until almost midnight. Even so, we recieve numerous noise complaints in the morning that this site or the other was turnt up and lit till the wee hours. Unfortunately, if its not happening in the 30 or so sites right near our camper, we dont know and cant monitor. We really arent paid enough to deal with some of this sh!t.}

Anyways, last night on rounds, the grounds were surprisingly quiet and only a handful of guests were reminded to keep it down. As we past H-loop which has maybe 4 of 14 sites occupied, I spied something of intrigue in the darkness. A small flame was licking at an otherwise quiet and unoccupied site. We came around the loop to find its origin. The occupants had, for some reason, thought it would be OK to heave a 50+lb log (uncut) onto the fire ring grill to burn. Well fun fact about circles is they roll. And this flaming log with embers shootin out the sides had fallen off the grill and was laying a few feet away on a bed of highly flamable pine needles and sticks with a low hanging branch right above.

Its 10:30pm and no one in sight. We call to the site occupants and hear a voice from within the tent. A woman the spitting image of a dirty adult Honey Boo-Boo clad in sweats and Uggs emerges and asks what the trouble is. We question, in polite words, what the actual F* was going on with this flaming log. The excuses were poor at best and when asked why their fire was unattended, the golden response was given. "We were watching it from within the tent" which, mind you, had no windows open at the time. They were in the tent because they were cold. Well isnt that what a fire is for? They also confessed to knowing that this lit log was off the grill and near to roll down the hill and into their neighbors site.

Just a fact of true negligence and possibly some unintelligence could have started the next California wildfire care of site ##. The fire, starting and speading in the night would cause a cut off of the campground leaving the upper portion stranded with no exit (and of course we are living in the upper). A mass exodus of campers would fuel a huge traffic jam down the one lane road as the dead trees around them burned to the ground. Water reserves wouldnt do much as the fires spead atop the mountain. The unseasonable winds had earlier in the day would carry embers for a distance to rapidly increase spead. All this because Honey Boo-Boo's flaming stump of a fire rolled its embering body down a hill and caught all the kindling that litters the ground igniting this forest fire.

We dumped eight gallons of water on the hulk (log) and it was still giving steam. Armed with a pint sized water bottle, the firestarters were completely unarmed to battle their blaze even when ready to turn in. Glad we caught it and were ready to assist with dousing in the dark. And believe me, Liz and I gave a stern talking to good old Boo-Boo about why this is NOT OK and how to actually have a safe fire. Hopefully next time they use a little common sense before they burn.