Spotted in Canadian campground by Heather and Megan (who are clearly moving in the direction of buying a van for themselves and joining the fun).
Friday, August 27, 2010
Big Green Van
Spotted in Canadian campground by Heather and Megan (who are clearly moving in the direction of buying a van for themselves and joining the fun).
Monday, August 23, 2010
Tuolumne Meadows
Who knows how to spell Tuolumne Meadows, or for that matter, who would guess that it is pronounced toowallame meadows from seeing that spelling? Perhaps that's why we've never gone there in spite of many visits to Yosemite over the years. But this past weekend we discovered we like Tuolumne Meadows even more than Yosemite Valley for camping and hiking. Thanks to Megan & Jeremy (aka Megalor) and Amy and Joel (aka Joelry?) for inviting us on this fabulous camping trip!
An auspicious beginning to the trip...a new annual national parks pass: the possibilities are endless!
The terrain is different from the valley, more rocks, less plants. Really gorgeous.
On Saturday we did an epic 16 mile hike. We got dropped off at the trail head to Sunrise Camp and then hiked in to the backcountry camp (5 miles, mostly uphill) and then along the JMT (cool people know that stands for the John Muir Trail)
past Cathedral Lakes and then back down to our camp site.
We ran into this guy along the trail.
Amber interrupted this poor dear's private time
She was not very happy about that
We were very impressed with our total miles hiked. This is the longest hike either of us can remember doing, and it was our first day at 9000 ft so we were definitely feeling the altitude.
The scenery on the hike was gorgeous, but it was just as beautiful at the road next to the camp site
After the hike we had a gear adventure. Someone misplaced the hose to the solar shower, leaving a hole in the bottom and no good way to deliver the water. But fortunately we had duck tape:
And Amber went to heroic and comic ends to make it possible for Dawn to take a dripping shower and get some of the pollen off. Picture Amber standing on the bumper of the van, holding up the shower bag with one hand and holding the shower curtain on the rod (running between the two back doors) with the other. In the end we both got rather wet but at least one of us was cleaner after the "shower".
There are bears in Yosemite and both nights we were woken up by people banging pots and shouting "bear". So we had to store everything that smells in the food lockers.
I kept wondering how so many people had pots to bang on at 3am. If I saw a bear at that hour it would be on my way to the toilet and I don't generally take a pot with me to the bathroom. Nonetheless, the wakeups were kind of exciting.
There was the obligatory climber slack line in our camp
And more food than I have ever seen on a camping trip: some cooked over the fire and some over the 3 camp stoves we had (we were very well prepared for a group of 9)
A moment of special pride for me was when I was able to provide a few cooking items that Joel, Mr. camping gear, didn't have: a strainer and a pot holder. There probably wasn't room in the car for these items.
We're still working out the optimal organization for the BRV. On Sunday as we were packing up we switched the direction of the futon so that it faces out when set up as a couch, and tried to better pack things up so they will be easier to find in the future.
We were all nicely packed to leave, got in the van and drove a few feet from our campsite, over a big pothole....and it stalled. And then it wouldn't start again.
We figured out how to open the hood (not as obvious as one might hope), and after some troubleshooting including an attempt to jump it, we got a bunch of people and pushed it up a small hill off the road. And then we called AAA and sat down to wait for a tow. Fortunately Danielle had given us sack lunches, and we had some cold beer still in the cooler. There are much worse places to be stranded.
There's a garage in Yosemite Valley (who knew!) and since there were no tow trucks available to get us out of the park, we agreed to a tow there. After 2 hours the tow truck arrived (it really took him that long just to drive up). He also tried to get the van started, couldn't, and so loaded it up on the truck.
And then we drove back down, another 1.5 hour tour of Yosemite in a tow truck with a very nice driver and comfy seats. This may actually be the best possible place to break down, if you're not in a hurry to go anywhere.
We got to the mechanic just 45 minutes before they close for the night, unloaded the van and pushed it up to the garage door. The mechanic agreed to look at it right away in the hopes that he could fix it and save us from being stranded in Yosemite Valley for the night. And so he turned the key....and it started. He spent about 30 minutes trying to find anything wrong with it but couldn't. A few theories include altitude issues messing up the fuel to oxygen mixture, a failing ignition, and a flooded engine.
To make up for the difficulties getting out of Tuolumne Meadows, the BRV drove very nicely all the way back to San Francisco, and we got home around 10pm.
Unfortunately the adventure of the day didn't stop there, because our bathroom at home is being remodeled and so we have no shower
and we were pretty dirty by then. At 10pm on a Sunday there weren't a lot of showering options. We went to 24 hour fitness where Amber has a membership and Dawn had to convince the guy at the desk to allow her in (they don't do day passes after 9pm). Fortunately he was sympathetic to the camping dirt sob story.
An auspicious beginning to the trip...a new annual national parks pass: the possibilities are endless!
The terrain is different from the valley, more rocks, less plants. Really gorgeous.
On Saturday we did an epic 16 mile hike. We got dropped off at the trail head to Sunrise Camp and then hiked in to the backcountry camp (5 miles, mostly uphill) and then along the JMT (cool people know that stands for the John Muir Trail)
past Cathedral Lakes and then back down to our camp site.
We ran into this guy along the trail.
Amber interrupted this poor dear's private time
She was not very happy about that
We were very impressed with our total miles hiked. This is the longest hike either of us can remember doing, and it was our first day at 9000 ft so we were definitely feeling the altitude.
The scenery on the hike was gorgeous, but it was just as beautiful at the road next to the camp site
After the hike we had a gear adventure. Someone misplaced the hose to the solar shower, leaving a hole in the bottom and no good way to deliver the water. But fortunately we had duck tape:
And Amber went to heroic and comic ends to make it possible for Dawn to take a dripping shower and get some of the pollen off. Picture Amber standing on the bumper of the van, holding up the shower bag with one hand and holding the shower curtain on the rod (running between the two back doors) with the other. In the end we both got rather wet but at least one of us was cleaner after the "shower".
There are bears in Yosemite and both nights we were woken up by people banging pots and shouting "bear". So we had to store everything that smells in the food lockers.
I kept wondering how so many people had pots to bang on at 3am. If I saw a bear at that hour it would be on my way to the toilet and I don't generally take a pot with me to the bathroom. Nonetheless, the wakeups were kind of exciting.
There was the obligatory climber slack line in our camp
And more food than I have ever seen on a camping trip: some cooked over the fire and some over the 3 camp stoves we had (we were very well prepared for a group of 9)
A moment of special pride for me was when I was able to provide a few cooking items that Joel, Mr. camping gear, didn't have: a strainer and a pot holder. There probably wasn't room in the car for these items.
We're still working out the optimal organization for the BRV. On Sunday as we were packing up we switched the direction of the futon so that it faces out when set up as a couch, and tried to better pack things up so they will be easier to find in the future.
We were all nicely packed to leave, got in the van and drove a few feet from our campsite, over a big pothole....and it stalled. And then it wouldn't start again.
We figured out how to open the hood (not as obvious as one might hope), and after some troubleshooting including an attempt to jump it, we got a bunch of people and pushed it up a small hill off the road. And then we called AAA and sat down to wait for a tow. Fortunately Danielle had given us sack lunches, and we had some cold beer still in the cooler. There are much worse places to be stranded.
There's a garage in Yosemite Valley (who knew!) and since there were no tow trucks available to get us out of the park, we agreed to a tow there. After 2 hours the tow truck arrived (it really took him that long just to drive up). He also tried to get the van started, couldn't, and so loaded it up on the truck.
And then we drove back down, another 1.5 hour tour of Yosemite in a tow truck with a very nice driver and comfy seats. This may actually be the best possible place to break down, if you're not in a hurry to go anywhere.
We got to the mechanic just 45 minutes before they close for the night, unloaded the van and pushed it up to the garage door. The mechanic agreed to look at it right away in the hopes that he could fix it and save us from being stranded in Yosemite Valley for the night. And so he turned the key....and it started. He spent about 30 minutes trying to find anything wrong with it but couldn't. A few theories include altitude issues messing up the fuel to oxygen mixture, a failing ignition, and a flooded engine.
To make up for the difficulties getting out of Tuolumne Meadows, the BRV drove very nicely all the way back to San Francisco, and we got home around 10pm.
Unfortunately the adventure of the day didn't stop there, because our bathroom at home is being remodeled and so we have no shower
and we were pretty dirty by then. At 10pm on a Sunday there weren't a lot of showering options. We went to 24 hour fitness where Amber has a membership and Dawn had to convince the guy at the desk to allow her in (they don't do day passes after 9pm). Fortunately he was sympathetic to the camping dirt sob story.
Friday, August 20, 2010
love bug
The BRV made another friend. A classic VW bug.
Today we're off on another BRV adventure: Yosemite!
Today we're off on another BRV adventure: Yosemite!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
RV Camping in Saratoga
An invitation to an anniversary/birthday party inspired our weekend trip to this underrated county park just an hour away from San Francisco (nope, not the Saratoga in New York that Amber says is famous for horse racing). Sanborn County Park is just a few miles from Castle Rock State Park, but much less crowded. It has some really nice walk in camp sites and some RV spots that are, well, kinda close together like a parking lot.
But fortunately the RV camping is not popular and we enjoyed a relatively secluded weekend in this park. There is only one hiking loop in the park, but it's an awesome climb, and it connects up with skyline trail so we were able to hike to Castle Rock (about 10 miles round trip)
In addition to lovely hiking and camping, Sanborn County Park has Shakespeare! Shady Shakespeare is the actual name and they were performing Much Ado About Nothing Saturday night. This was part of the anniversary/birthday party plan, and it was really well done: live band, much singing and silliness, very entertaining.
There were also plenty of deer in the park.
Oh and something we didn't find in the park: Dawn's allergies! We forgot to replenish the kleenex supply in the BRV, generally a disaster for Dawn. But this was a two tissue weekend. Saturday morning: "Is this what normal people feel like when they camp?" Wow. Maybe August is a good month for plant allergies. Gonna test this out further in Yosemite in a few weeks.
A number of enhancements were made to the BRV for this trip. First, there's the shower tent
This structure is not only functional but also provides entertainment to everyone in the park: "that looks a little small to sleep in", "did you take that rocket ship to the moon?" A pretty nice set up except that the shower hangs so low you have to sit down to let gravity deliver the water. This park also has really nice showers for 50 cents so we didn't need to use the shower tent, Amber just tried it out for fun.
We finally got around to getting the spare tire out of the inside of the van, and mounting it on the back.
A tablecloth really makes for a much nicer cooking and dining experience (as does a nice bottle of Calistoga wine).
We also got magnetic bug screens for the windows, which are a really great way to keep the bugs out without the mess of tape we used last time. This led Amber to experiment with magnets on everything else in the van. Now we have ceiling lights attached with magnets, magnets on our clock, magnets on the flashlights, magnets on the window covers.... some of these work ok, some not so well. I'm still waiting to be hit in the head by a falling light.
And speaking of lights, Amber also got a mood light for the BRV: red, green, blue changing colored lights on the ceiling and walls - think party/disco lights.
Back on the topic of windows, there was a little problem with the driver's side window: it fell into the door and wouldn't come out. Dawn tried valiantly to fix it with a spatula (the only tool we had that was small enough to fit inside the window hole), but to no avail.
Fortunately Amber had installed lockboxes in the BRV so everything of value was safe.
On Sunday on our way home we stopped to visit some friends and Paul taught us how to take our door panel off to put the window back up. It still needs a new part to make it go up and down properly but at least it's not sitting on the streets of SF with an open window just asking people to come inside and help themselves to our stuff and/or have a little nap on the bed.
Fortunately Amber had installed lockboxes in the BRV so everything of value was safe.
On Sunday on our way home we stopped to visit some friends and Paul taught us how to take our door panel off to put the window back up. It still needs a new part to make it go up and down properly but at least it's not sitting on the streets of SF with an open window just asking people to come inside and help themselves to our stuff and/or have a little nap on the bed.
A less successful purchase was the shade canopy, which has instructions (inside the packaging) explaining that you need 3 adults to set it up. Fortunately 2 really smart adults can set it up....but one really small wind can blow it down. Poor design even when lashed to the BRV. Returning that.
In addition to the window assist, Paul and Mira came to the rescue and provided a much sturdier shade structure for Amber's use at Burning Man.
Thanks and a happy anniversary and happy birthdays go out to Lis and Miko, friends from college who are still just as much fun as they were 20 years ago [eek].
-Dawn
In addition to the window assist, Paul and Mira came to the rescue and provided a much sturdier shade structure for Amber's use at Burning Man.
Thanks and a happy anniversary and happy birthdays go out to Lis and Miko, friends from college who are still just as much fun as they were 20 years ago [eek].
-Dawn
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