Sunday, October 13
Today is our last full day at Glass Creek Camp. The crew and I take another walk along the creek.
I love this camp. Funny how some camps seem like home as soon as I drive up to the campsite. Love at first sight!
It’s easy to see why it’s called Glass Creek.
I wrote that this is one of our best camps. What makes a camp one of the best? Natural beauty, of course. Convenient location is another. For me, seclusion is important, and the peace and quiet that comes with an isolated camp. Our Glass Creek Camp has all these things.
However, that doesn’t mean the crew and I can come back here and have the same wonderful experience. Depending upon the time of year and the opening of the neighboring campground, this boondock will not be the same.
The campground will fill up with campers. ATVs and dirt bikes will roar through the forest on forest roads. Curious people will drive up the spur road. Wildlife will become skittish. More trash will float down Glass Creek. Silence will disappear.
When I write “this is one of the best campsites,” I mean it is one of the best “right now.” Finding this gem when I was weary of the road, driving through the pine forest to a clearing with a magnificant view, waking to a winter wonderland, watching deer graze, listening to the silence . . .
All these things are fleeting, making them all the more cherished.
Tomorrow we’ll leave Glass Creek. It’s been a great camp, one of the best!
Monday, October 14
A sunny day with no wind, perfect for moving camp. The crew and I get back on Route 395 and drift southward. I use the word “drift” because traffic is light and the scenery is glorious with bright shafts of golden cottonwoods flowing down mountainsides. Why hurry?
We stop at Von’s supermarket in Bishop.
After the crew’s walk-around, I shop for the long term, stocking up on things like soup, tea, coffee, oat bran, beans, rice, and other staples. My cart is heaped high by the time I cruise into check-out. It’s a good feeling, being able to fill the cupboards with food. How very fortunate I am.
I also pick up a rotisserie chicken.
Instead of tearing into the chicken while Bridget, Spike, and I sit in the PTV in the parking lot (which we have done on occasion), I put the chicken in the cooler. We’ll have it for a late lunch when we reach our next camp.
On the way out I notice rigs settled into the far corner of the parking lot. Portable solar panels are set up. People are chatting with each other. Obviously these folks are camping overnight in the Von’s parking lot. I count fifteen rigs and that doesn’t include the stealth campers.
I gas up the PTV and pull out in search of a boondock.
I want to find a camp not too far from the town of Bishop. My Amazon order is on its way to the Bishop post office. There are many campgrounds from which to choose. If our government wasn’t having cramps right now, these campgrounds would be open.
I drive south and look and look. Nothing! I see acres and acres of open sage plain that is public land. Too much exposure. Everything suitable for camping is private land. Dang! These campground closures are making life difficult!
My California Benchmark atlas shows a campground not far from Big Pine.
It’s about twenty miles south of Bishop. Okay, that’ll do. It will probably be closed like all the others, but the surrounding area may be pleasant enough for camping and not too exposed. I’ll drive up there and see if there are campsites on the way to it or beyond it.
I drive us up the winding road. Spur roads have signs that proclaim, “No camping, Property of City of Los Angeles.” Sheesh, this is not good. Further along, no more signs but also no more spur roads.
We arrive at Tinnemaha Campground.
I see RVs! How can this be? My question is soon answered when I stop at the pay station. Tinnemaha is an Inyo County park. The fee is $10. I find a site away from the other campers. A creek runs by our picnic table, and the snow-dusted Sierras are in view. This will do just fine.
Our short journey to Tinnemaha took us from an elevation of 7,600 feet at Glass Creek to approximately 3,900 feet at Big Pine. Gee . . . Was it only a few days ago we woke up to this at first light?
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THANK YOU, RVSUE SHOPPERS!
I appreciate every order you place with Amazon through my links. Here are a few of the items recently purchased by my readers:
Sultans Of Swing
Uniden Bearcat 40-Channel CB Radio
Norpro Egg/Mushroom Slicer
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Grove Square Apple Cider, Sugar Free, Single Serve Cup for Keurig K-Cup Brewers
“REAR VIEW MIRROR”
April 26, 2012, we experience snow, sleet, and hail while camped at Willard Springs dispersed camping area near Flagstaff, Arizona.
