Between Christmas and New Year's -- last trip of the year

For our last camping trip of the year, I tried a new Thousand Trails parkI hadn't been to before, Russian River Resort in Cloverdale, CA.  This resort doesn't have sewer hook ups but there are hot showers in each of the four bathroom buildings.  I really enjoyed my long hot showers when it was close to freezing temperatures outside.

I can imagine that the river is a really booming place in the summer.  They rent water toys for people to enjoy when the weather is hot.  I was a little concerned that some of the permanent sites looked seedy but there were no issues at all while I was there and it was very quiet.  As usual, in my TT experiences, we saw or head very few people regardless of time of day.

I saw at least 3 spots where I would not have a view of someone else right outside my dining room window and where we wouldn't have people on all 4 sides of us.  We picked #26 but there were several others that were just as nice, including #16 and #79.  The foot trails weren't as long as I'd hoped but we still got in quite a good bit of walking.

On our first morning, we saw a whole covey of quail with the babies and everything.  On our third day, we came across deer on the trail, a mother and two fawns.

I'm pretty sure I won't be back to this resort as it's a 2 1/2 hour drive for me and I don't plan on spending any time in Northern CA after I retire but I'm glad I checked it out.  The people that are there seemed to get a lot out of it.

On our way home, we stopped at a nature preserve to take a short walk, Deer Island

Preserve.

   

Thanksgiving 2016 Lake of the Springs

What a wonderful time! This has to rank up there with one of the best Thanksgiving week vacations I've ever had.  This was my second time up to Lake of the Springs, a Thousand Trails resort in Oregon House, CA and the first time in the fall/winter.  

I was not only lucky enough to get a sewer site but there were no campers for three sites on either side of me.  Although it did rain on and off throughout, the peacefulness and amenities more than made up for the weather.

Some new things we did included:

• Walking up to the top of the highest point (campground H) and discovering that we could use our phone up there.  The camp area was completely empty and  it was fun walking around.
•  Discovering a trail that went all the way down past the dam to the river at the bottom of the canyon.  I couldn't let the dogs swim in November in the rain but if we walk down here in the summer-time, Poppy will love the swimming opportunities
• I didn't know there were so many deer in this area.  They all came out in November. And they weren't scared of the dogs.

Veteran's Weekend -- Sycamore Grove

I thought I would try this Forest Service campground because I have been camping at Thousand Trails a lot and the members of the Camping with Dogs Meetup expressed that they would like more variety.  However, after booking this, no one else signed up.  I decided to check it out anyway and we had a great time.

Although this is part of the Mendocino National Forest, it isn't actually connected to the main forest.  It's on the eastern side of Highway 5 along the Sacramento River just south of Red Bluff, CA.  This is a large recreational area that sees a lot of day usage also although some of the education facilities are no longer funded which is sad.  There's a boat ramp, miles of hiking trails, a botanical garden, a nature museum, a group camp area, a fish ladder viewing area for salmon, and of course, the camping area.  After chatting with some volunteers, I was told that the group camping area isn't used much any more since schools stopped doing field trips and the fish ladder viewing area was no longer in use.

After checking in and driving around, I realized that the spot I reserved was not what I had envisioned.  We drove around some more and picked another spot clear on the other side that was perfect.  It wasn't very crowded, but being a public campground, there were some people I wouldn't normally see. There were a group of teens that stayed up talking loudly way past 11:00.  And there was a homeless couple that chatted with me a bit, they had been evicted and needed someplace temporary.

I was able to get power and water for $25 a night but no sewer dump.  Luckily, there is a large Pilot Flying J truck stop just about 30 miles down the highway on the way home. 

We enjoyed our nature walks and visiting the gardens and the river.  All in all, a pleasant experience.