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On the road again:
Greetings from Spruce Run Campground near Clinton, New Jersey, from where we are enjoying a couple of commuter jaunts into New York City to see Broadway plays.
Click here to see some of the photos that Cyndy has taken on our journey.
Today's Story
Cyndy and I have now camped in 56 different campgrounds. Here are highlights of some of the best, the worst, and the most this or that.
Best/Prettiest: Grizzly Campground, 17 curvy miles and a 60-minute drive into the mountains east of Ashland, Oregon. This area once featured Howard Prairie Lake, a large waterbody that, in 2018, was robbed of trillions of gallons of water to feed another lake closer to Ashland. The local water board thought that this lake of 2,000 acres in the Klamath River watershed would fill in from snowmelt and spring water, but it hasn’t. Floating docks sit on weedy dry land several feet from the current shoreline. The yacht club and most boaters have left. The former lake bottom is now a sea of colorful wildflowers that we found to be beautiful. We were there for 11 days over the Fourth of July and saw no more than three other camping groups in the spacious 21-site campground. It was like having a piece of heaven mostly to ourselves.
Worst: Columbia River RV Park, Portland, Oregon. The name was enticing, the location looked good on the map, and it was close to a good friend we wanted to visit over a mid-July weekend. But it was one of those concrete-laden places with small lots — ours was a makeshift lot up against a wall — and it was in the flight path of the Portland International Airport.
Most Unexpected: Furnace Creek Campground, Death Valley, California. For Memorial Day weekend, we intended to be in Zion and Bryce national parks, but the weather forecast said the temps would be in the low 30s with rain, sleet, and snow. So we went to Death Valley instead. There, at that time of year, the temps are usually in the 100s, but were, for us, comfortably in the 80s. Death Valley is a beautiful place with fascinating topography, colorful rock formations, and terrific hiking trails at various elevations. Put this on your must-see, must-do list.
Hottest: Big Bend National Park and Big Bend State Park, Texas. The traveler guides say to get to Big Bend, where the Rio Grande takes a big bend to shape Texas’ boot, before the first of May. We arrived on April 26 and stayed until May 2, when the campground closed for the summer. The temp was 105 for three consecutive days. We hiked at some higher elevations in a moderate mountainous area. We also paddled one afternoon on the Rio Grande. This guided tour included a 50-minute dip in natural hot springs. Yeah, really. Why did we do it? Because it was there and we could … and it felt really, really good to sit in the cooler rio afterward.
Best Beach: Leelanau State Park, tip of Leelanau Peninsula, Michigan. We parked our trailer in a spacious camp site within ten feet of Lake Michigan, where the waves serenaded us for two lovely days and nights. Other peachy beachy places were Woodland Park Municipal Campground along the shore of Lake Superior in Grand Marais, Michigan; Nordhouse Dunes of Lake Michigan near Manistee; Lakeport State Park along the Lake Huron shore on Michigan’s sunrise side; and Woodside Campground in Sonoma County, California, where we hiked on cliffs overlooking the Pacific.
Most Colorful: Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. The red sandstone formations, some of them topped with white sandstone, are gorgeous.
Best History: Cottonwood Campground, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Medora, North Dakota. The park itself features wild buffalo, wild horses, and prairie dogs. The town of Medora is home to the famous
Medora Musical and the
Pitchfork Steak Fondue. The influence of Teddy Roosevelt is everywhere. We spoke with three men who had cast themselves in that role and had tea in a yard party hosted by Mrs. Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt, who spoke of what it was like to be married to Teddy and live in the White House.
Best Family: The cattle ranch owned by Cyndy’s cousin Keeley in north-central California. We enjoyed walking Keeley’s fence line, looking for broken wire, dining on some of her organic beef, and sitting in the great-out-of-doors, sipping wine at sunset. Of great interest were her four herding dogs who kept trying to keep us grouped whenever we walked somewhere. We’ve also “camped” at the homes of Cyndy’s mom, Cyndy’s daughter, my daughter, and cousins.
Most Serene: The home of the Richards family near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Last December, Cyndy and I made friends with a lovely young musician who, in January, moved from her family’s home in Idaho to Kalamazoo. She needed a place to stay, so she lived with us for three weeks until she found a permanent residence. When traveling through Idaho, we stayed for four days with her family and met her parents and several of her 13 siblings. Their place is peaceful and quiet, on a hill in a rural, wooded area. We enjoyed their company and relaxed in the serenity.
Most Remote: The banks of the Missouri River, downstream from Ft. Benton, Montana. From July 30 to August 5, we joined others to canoe on the Missouri River in an area known as White Cliffs and the Montana Badlands. Guided by three expert guides of the
Missouri River Outfitters, we slept in the stillness of primitive riverside “flat spots,” some of which were spotted with cow patties from free-range cattle.
Other Canoeingest: Clear Lake Campground in the Sylvania Preserve, Ottawa National Forest, near Watersmeet, Michigan. This beautiful preserve features 32 named lakes and vast acres of wooded land. One day, we paddled along the entire shore of Crooked Lake, a gentle six hours on the water.
Also Huntersville State Forest Campground near Nimrod, Minnesota. Here, we rented a canoe for two days on the Crow Wing River; we paddled one day to our trailer, parked at this midpoint campsite, then completed our journey on the second day back to the Gloeges Canoe Livery.
Most Worthy Destination: Baker Reservoir Campground, Maple Plain, Minnesota. This is a destination campground with a large lake, a 5k bike/hiking path, and many amenities. We chose it as our destination because my daughter, Mandie, was walking in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day walk to raise money for breast cancer research. Mandie had raised more than $2,300 to walk for 60 miles along with her “sisters and brothers” in Minneapolis. Cyndy and I went there to support her –– and to rub her feet at the end of her walk.
Tightest Sites: Cave Springs Campground near Sedona, Arizona. This campground, owned by the US government, features very narrow roads and extremely small camp sites. Backing into our chosen site took more than 15 minutes and much maneuvering. We also drew a crowd as six cars backed up on the one-way road, waiting for us to get out of their way.
Most I-Dare-You: Mercer Island, Seattle, Washington. Our friends there live more than a half mile in on a narrow, curvy, dead-end road. Leaves from low-hanging tree branches scraped the top of our trailer as we made our way in, hoping that we would find a place to turn around because there was no way we could back our way out. We did park and turn around, after much back-and-forth choreography, in our friends’ driveway … much to our relief.
Most Like a Parking Lot: Guadalupe National Park, New Mexico. This official campground is a paved parking lot with each site marked by painted stripes that are no farther apart than the parking stripes in the truck-only part of an interstate rest area. Very surprising … for a national park.
Dancingest: Camp Cavell near Lakeport, Michigan. One of our favorite contra dance weekends, known as Michigan Dance Heritage, happens here. We parked our trailer with a half dozen others and enjoyed a weekend of old-time music and dance in a rustic lodge on the Lake Huron shore.
Most Unique: When back in Kalamazoo for three weeks recently, we parked — with full hookups — next to an airplane hangar owned by a dear friend. You know how some people own homes next to a golf course? Well, our friend lives next to a grass airstrip. Most of the people there own and fly at least one single-engine aircraft or helicopter.
Next blog: New England where we are currently enjoying a bit of fall color
Thanks for reading my stories.
God blesses everyone ... no exceptions.
Robert (Bob) Weir
