Antithesis To Slideoutpushbuttonautostartescalator Madness
Forum Discussion
19 Replies
- Robin Matthew blew our personal Golden contest wide open when he returned from O'Dell lake at 9:00PM all bloody and scratched up. His Golden made the Reno Evening Gazette as the largest unverified weight pure golden (not Goldbow) ever caught in California. 22-1/2" length. He caught it with a # 18 Mary Lake dry fly on a number SEVEN tippet.
My personal biggest was a 14" two pounder taken at Goethe Lake at 12,700 ft elevation in 1983. But I did limit out at Gibbs Lake on OPENING DAY with 10 fish. Small eight inchers.
I don't think the largest Sikorsky can fly that high. My last trip was a TEN MULE extravaganza each animal hauling 150 lbs. Dunnage trip. Two packers. The camp stayed set up for three months. I back packed forty pound loads in, for weekends. Five miles, gaining 1,500 ft to East Lake.
There is presently an RV park on the old Armitage Ranch property and a few dozen Californian houses. Madison River MT. All catch and release now. Can't Go Home Again dept.
Wouldn't it be NICE to have heat for those now ten times more often visits to the bathroom between dusk and dawn? Toward my 40th birthday I made a shower at East Lake. Tarps to cut the afternoon wind. Solar shower five gallon bag filled with campfire hot water. Floor was a dozen burlap sacks. I fit a full on inflatable mattress inside the tent. Screened 12x12 enclosures for galley and dining. One night it was me solo vs a huge black bear with a white patch on her chest.
Down here, it's bring it or do without. Camping on a Baja beach the wind roared at 50 mph. I parked a trailer endwise to the wind nose into the wind and bedroom on the far end.
Organized Camping Ain't Me.... MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Thirty or so years ago I remember on an utterly deserted beach in Mexico playing around with an all-band radio.
I still have use an ancient one of those out in the shop - runs off the wall or batteries.
It picks up a whole bunch of AM and FM frequencies ... it even picks up the audio portion of OTA television stations for the ultimate in decadent line-of-sight boon-dock/duc camping.MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Good grief I had a blast camping at 12,000 ft in a 4 by 7 tent. No trees 10F wakeup and had to bury stuff in the snow to keep from freezing. Golden Trout fishing. For 30 years I horse packed.
Yep ... been approximately their, done approximately that.
The last Golden Trout myself and BIL ate were 9 or10 Goldens that we fried up after catching them at Sandpiper Lake while backpack camping at only around 10,000+ feet. I may hold-it-and-not-know-it world's record for largest Golden Trout ever caught on 2 lb. test line. I caught one 13 inches long at Sharp Note Lake above Sandpiper ... pouring down rain but keeping dry by standing under a rock outcrop while dropping a line in the freezing snow runoff lake water.
How many of you have ever heard of this - commercially available Golden Trout? I have a packing crate label bought at an antique store that is hanging up above the door in our RV that reads "U.S. No. 1 - Sawdust Pack - Wt. 34 lbs. Golden Trout".
I wish I could get our RV up to Sandpiper Lake or Sharp Note Lake - maybe a heavy lift helicopter could make it happen? The Onan probably wouldn't run the A/C, though, once the RV set down.- Yup. True all. I have decomposed to the point where I am almost physically unable to boondock even in Quicksilver even with full hookups. Bad spine, shoulders, you name it. It's tough to admit this to myself.
But, there is the bright-side. Brenda decided to stay in Las Penas. A half mile from the tropic ocean. Vacation-land. Maintaining the brick and mortar is about one-tenth the labor of maintaining the bus. Yeah I do spend time in Quicksilver. I can't sit in leather with this heat so I spread a blanket over the sofa.
It would cost me three hundred dollars plus to head up to Patzcuaro for a four day escape from hurricane season and humid days and nights. Tolls, fuel, and RV park rental. The park costs more than two-rooms at a favorite 2-star hotel and then we can walk from the hotel downtown. Parking is nightmare on steroids in Patzcuaro. I think the taxi rate from the RV park to Plaza Bocanegra is ten dollars one way. The youngest may want to nap -- the RV park just isn't workable. With Purepecha (Tarascan) indians carrying goods to the central market, a memory foam cushion on an iron park bench is a superb way to spend the afternoon. People-watching.
Quicksilver has given me countless memories of true boondock camping. Being it is a three axle raised 5" gave me the ability to hump over some really bad dirt "roads". One excursion had me spending weeks and weeks outside the Mayan ruins of Tikal, Guatemala. In the rain forest. With Howler monkeys and a distant roar of a jaguar 0 cylinders.
After the new casita is built, I will have power to the bus and will turn it into a real hideout. The old place is south of the gen shed and the new place is east of the gen shed and half the distance. I label it "umbilical camping". I walk down the hill shortcutting through the parking of a tiny store, down a weird stairway of flat old tires filled with concrete, across the beach parking area and down to the palm frond restaurant. With 13 lanchas and 8 restaurants the beach is rife with gossip.
When I'm in the states, I pass by residential ticky-tacky homes with 10,000 restrictions including no RV parking and shudder. Further out at the Lakes there is a typical california RV park under the oaks. I noted there was a billboard size sign at the entrance listing a myriad of ********** NOT PERMITTED. All for $48.00 plus tax per night.
The thought of "I'll do anything for a change of scenery" crossed my mind. Escape from Ticky-Tacky land. But retaining main-street push-button conveniences.
Meanwhile back at the ranch...
Brenda brings out a huge platter of grilled lobster. I look out over the ocean. A long line of flat bottom cumulus clouds line the horizon. The tradewinds toss the hammock and after stuffing myself I will have to find energy to make it from the table to the hammock. With a bit of luck I will not dream of being stuck in a USA RV Park Diorama. - A month alone with a mule and 375 miles in the Sierra.
Great memory but never again lol. - my bones are old, i don't do anymore 'either'
MrWizard wrote:
I couldn't agree more about it being RVing and not camping. Been there, done that, and have no desire to do it again. Ugh. Although we did spend 4 days hiking the Inca Trail and sleeping in tents. It reminded me why I don't do it any more.fj12ryder wrote:
"Good grief I had a blast camping at 12,000 ft in a 4 by 7 tent. No trees 10F wakeup and had to bury stuff in the snow to keep from freezing. Golden Trout fishing. For 30 years I horse packed."
Better you than me, that sounds more like punishment than enjoyment.
that is real Boonduk's camping (yes that is the correct spelling..look it up)
horse back in nowhere land
most of what we (all of us here) do is RVing, not camping
when i was young, my brothers and I , tent camped in the Smokey Mountains
think that was 1967, My first trip to the Smokey's
many times there after, until i move to Calif
took a camping Honeymoon with the second wife to the Smokey's in Nov in a VW campervan, that was a memorial trip- I love my floorplan, and the full wall 25' slide with gas and water sewer for the kitchen in it, makes it possible, but I have had to replace the front slide motor already due to a a slight water intrusion dripping on it locking up the brake.
The slide seems made well hard to tell long term, its just sitting on rollers, the Powergear slide mechanism is simple but not very robust, it worries me the most. Would be so simple to make these things nearly bulletproof, just use metal instead of plastic for pinion housing...
Do like the idea of a solid no slide RV, make it like a Boston Whaler upside down, lots of insulation, would last forever, no seams. But man those slides sure do make for some nice floorplans, nobody wants to give them up. fj12ryder wrote:
"Good grief I had a blast camping at 12,000 ft in a 4 by 7 tent. No trees 10F wakeup and had to bury stuff in the snow to keep from freezing. Golden Trout fishing. For 30 years I horse packed."
Better you than me, that sounds more like punishment than enjoyment.
that is real Boonduk's camping (yes that is the correct spelling..look it up)
horse back in nowhere land
most of what we (all of us here) do is RVing, not camping
when i was young, my brothers and I , tent camped in the Smokey Mountains
think that was 1967, My first trip to the Smokey's
many times there after, until i move to Calif
took a camping Honeymoon with the second wife to the Smokey's in Nov in a VW campervan, that was a memorial trip
