After stopping at a few places with unacceptable options (the only site available is full of snow, the campground has no water, the available site is the size of a parking space and is paved, etc.) we came to Crystal Springs and got this beautiful space with about an acre of land and a big granite cliff for our campsite.
There was really no one anywhere near us, even the sites across the road were far away. The campground has only outhouses but they were cleaner than most plumbing toilets we've seen at campgrounds. And they have water. The only flaw of the campground....no bear lockers. So Amber climbed a tree and we improvised some hanging bags for our food.
The "town" of Woodfords is right nearby, consisting of a church and a general store and a women's center. The center was closed so we can't report on what's in there, but the woman running the general store (to which the center is attached) was very kind and let us use her land line to call our friends and tell them which campground we got. Patronize this store if you're ever in the area!
We got to test out our new coleman stove for the first time Friday night. After 20 minutes with the instructions, I worked out how to get it running and it performed admirably.
On Saturday we set out for a hike and some climbing at Echo Lake.
After about 2 miles (of not very steep climbing) the hiking trail was covered in snow and it got very tough to continue on without crampons. (Yes, this was July 2!)
So we diverted to Tamarack Lake for lunch (which was still frozen!)
After lunch Scott needed more water so we got a demonstration of his water filter
We met back up with Jeremy and Megan who had left a rope up so that I could do a quick climb
Then we headed back to camp where Scott got a roaring fire going while Amber set up her PVC dome and Jeremy cooked dinner (wondering why we'd want a dome made out of PVC pipes? Stay tuned for future posts on this topic)
After dinner there were, of course, smores, created with our new telescoping marshmallow grilling sticks. These things are amazing! They even have a little dial you can turn to rotate for even toasting on all sides.
Sunday we set out for another day of climbing and hiking, along with the rest of the population of the greater Tahoe area. They all got to Fallen Leaf Lake first, and Cascade Lake, and Emerald Bay, and DL Bliss State Park, but we made it to Meeks Bay with 3 parking spots left. And it was a really beautiful drive up the coast of Lake Tahoe once we got past the crazy traffic jam at the boat launch. We took a hike up to a lovely river spot for lunch
After lunch Jeremy discovered a hidden waterfall, henceforth called Jeremy Falls (don't worry, he didn't)
But the best water was at Lake Tahoe itself, at the Meeks Bay beach where we went for a cold swim.
The swim was partly motivated by our lack of shower facilities: the previous day Scott, Megan and Jeremy had tried to sneak in to showers at a neighboring campground and were asked not to come back, while Amber and I made use of our solar shower and discovered that it had sprung a rather serious leak during hibernation season.
After some beer and wine that night Amber was ready to fly home
But Megan and I held out for more smores.
