Tuesday, August 12
“Goodbye cow beach! Goodbye sage grouse peckin’ ’round our front door! Goodbye pretty cove on Boulder Lake!”
The crew and I are on our way to a new camp.
It great to be on the road again!
Our first stop, about twenty miles northwest of Pinedale, Wyoming, is Warren Bridge Campground ($10 regular/$5 with senior pass) on Highway 189/191. The plan is to dump waste tanks, fill the fresh water tanks and one-gallon jugs, and dump trash before continuing further north.
I stop at a campsite to allow Bridget and Spike a little snoop-and-sniff time.
Then I load them up and drive around the campground loop toward the dump station. A woman comes out from the camp host site and waits for me by the road.
“Hi! Are you RVSue?” she calls out with a big smile.
Her name is Diane. Soon her husband Tom joins us at my window. They’re camp hosts at Warren Bridge, from May until September. I learn that they’ve been expecting me, having read my plans on this blog. We chat for a few minutes and as we leave, they wish us safe travels. The tasks completed (dump station: $5.00), the crew and I return to the highway and head toward Jackson.
Only we aren’t going all the way to Jackson today.
The plan is to find a boondock along Granite Creek where it flows out of the Gros Ventre Range. Online research, including Google earth, indicates it is a lovely meandering stream through hills with lots of grass and TREES! I’m excited about a riverside camp!
On the way, out of curiosity, I pull into Kozy Campground.
Like many national forest campgrounds, it’s been around for a while. Situated along the Hoback River, it’s small, rustic, and the parking pads are short. Tall grass, bushes, and small trees obscure a view of the river. Maybe in earlier days it was quite nice with visual and physical access to the river. These days it’s overgrown.
Spike and Bridge are happy to be let out again.
Spike’s nose hones in on a small stream that rushes along the campsite on its way to the river. (The photo below shows Spike’s boo-boo and the area around it that’s been shaved.)
“Okay, nutcakes, I hate to interrupt the fun, but it’s time to go. Our boondock is not far from here!”
Bridget lifts her head and immediately sprints to the Perfect Tow Vehicle.
Spike sees my hand signal for “come along,” and, being a good boy, he makes his way up the bank, too.
With great anticipation I pull out onto the highway.
As we approach the turn for Granite Creek Road, my hopes are dashed! A big white sign with black letters states that camping is allowed in campgrounds only from May something to September something.”
What? In a little more than three weeks we could boondock here, but not now?
Sonuva . . .
I turn up the road anyway and pull into a parking area for people who fish.
I gaze at the boondockers’ paradise spread out before us.
Darnit! It would’ve been so nice. Well, now what are we going to do . . . . Granite Creek Campground is ten miles up this winding dirt road. Ten miles of heaven-knows-what kind of road and then all the sites might be taken or too short . . . .
As I’m contemplating whether or not to drive to the campground, eight vehicles go up the road, including a Class C.
Oh shoot, I’m not following the crowd up that road. We’ll continue on Highway 189/191 to the next campground.
A few miles up the road I turn into Hoback Campground.
Similar to Kozy Campground, the sites are small, parking pads are short, and it’s overgrown with grass and weeds and nearly full. A guy is backing a 24-foot trailer into the best site in the campground. Typically the wife is outside making hand signals.
Well, we missed that primo site by a few minutes. I guess it’s back to Kozy Campground. (I’m ready to stop for the day. This closing of dispersed camping has really messed up my plans and I don’t want to keep driving.)
I go back to Kozy and all the sites bigger than car lengths are taken.
As I’m driving out, I meet the couple who were backing their trailer into the primo site at Hoback Campground. The man stops the truck next to my window.
“If you want that site, we’re not taking it. The level part isn’t quite long enough for our trailer, but yours would fit.”
I thank him, go back to Hoback, and grab that campsite.
If you’ve read my previous posts, you know my camera is damaged. I can’t still take photos with it, but I can’t see what is in the frame. I point, shoot, and hope for the best. For this reason I don’t have a decent photo of the Best Little trailer snuggled among the pines in the campsite.
I can, however, show you Hoback River as seen from our campsite.
The fee at Hoback is $15 regular/$7.50 with senior pass. I pay for one night. The crew and I have an early supper (I skipped lunch), and then we relax together. This is a pretty campsite. No close neighbors. Very quiet except for the road noise. Good for a an overnight.
I keep a close eye on Bridget and Spike because at the edge of our campsite there’s a sharp drop to the fast current of the river below.
“Hey, we have water spigots here!”
It suddenly occurs to me this would be a good time to wash the mud off the PTV.
I fill up a basin with water from the spigot and, using my long-handled brush, the job is easy under Spike’s capable supervision.
Later that evening . . .
An internet connection at Hoback Campground isn’t available, as the campground is between close, steep mountains. Instead I read my Paperwhite while a light rain taps the roof and puts the crew into a deep slumber.
I wish I knew how big an area this camp-only-in-designated-campgrounds rule covers. Boy, that throws a monkey-wrench into things. People who planned to disperse camp are filling up the campgrounds. Hmm . . . I wonder where that couple with the trailer are spending the night. It was nice of them to send us to this site.
Gee, I can’t plan on boondocking . . . . Well, I’ll figure out what to do tomorrow.
rvsue
NOTE: Our present camp, which will be revealed in a future post, picks up 1X + 1 bar for internet. It took 5 1/2 hours for me to put this post together. (Please overlook any errors; I’m not going to edit.) Replying to the comments at the end of the previous post and also to those appearing under this post would probably take a full day. I’m sorry I cannot join in the conversation. I am glad, however, that I can read what you have to say. You blogorinos are a talkative and entertaining bunch!
Thanks again for the kind wishes and prayers for Spike. He’s having good days.
THANKS ALSO FOR SHOPPING AMAZON THROUGH MY BLOG!
