I needed to hit the road. I was supposed to go the prior weekend but family stuff came up so I missed a great camping trip with my friends. If I didn't go this weekend I was going to have to wait for a month as I have buisness obligations to take care of. It was going to be cold so I lined all my windows and skylights with foam panel insulation and Reflectix. Outer compartment doors were backed with fiberglass bats, black and grey tanks got ยฝ gallon each of antifreeze.
I was planning on going solo with one of my dogs and fly fishing gear as Ruth was non-committal about coming along. On Thursday she decided that she too needed an escape so we loaded up her stuff and food for all four dogs. Friday afternoon there was a major wreck on the road out oftown sorather than fight traffic for hours we turned in early and hit the road in the early Saturday morning hours. There hours later we crested Carson Pass (8500') and reached the West Fork of the Carson River
Normally we would have headed up Blue Lakes road and gone to the dispersed camping some 4-6 miles up from hwy 88 but I wanted to fish the river down by the highway bridge for a change. That's when we spotted a dispersed camping area on the north side of 88. It was about a 20 minute walk to where I wanted to fish and there were campsites where no one else was within sight or sound of us, Perfect.
Now to go exploring with the dogs
After we got back to the camper I got my fishing gear together and Ruth went of on her own to go do some more exploring.
I got outsmarted by some rather large trout that evening on the west fork of the Carson River. Still I did have a blast. I tried dry flies, nymphs, wets. Nada interest. I dropped flies right in front of a 3 pounder and he flipped me the bird still I was just having fun deftly dropping flies right on target in breezy conditions.
https://youtu.be/N60vjLXk3s4
Ruth got back to the Lance a few minutes before me. We fed the dogs, and ourselves had a beer and called it a night. We were quite tired after hiking for close to 10 miles, and boy did those flannel sheets and big down comforter feel great. I never did turn on the furnace that night. With the roof vent cracked it did drop down to the 40s inside which made for great sleeping temps ( we like it cool) but outside it dropped to 19* at least that where it was when the dogs barked at me to say dad it's that time of morning when you let us out to pee. So I put on the fleece pants and down jacket and outside we went. The stars were incredible, I would have missed it if they had not insisted on a morning constitutional.
When we finally got up it was light out and it took the furnace just a few minuted to get the TC up into the mid 60s where we like it. We decided that we would hike up the mountain to a lake we had heard about that was a few miles away and 1000 feet above us (we were camped at 7000 and the lake was at 8000)
After a hearty breakfast scramble we headed ut with the 3 younger dogs leaving the old guy behind to guard the truck. At age 14 the hike would have been way too much for him.
That was one hell of a hike. We took a couple of side trails to explore and ended up doing a 8 mile loop with 1500โ of elevation gain. The colors were amazing. The green of the Pines with the brilliant yellow of the Aspens made for a wonderful palette. This time of year the temperatures can really swing. 19* at daybreak and 85* by mid day. Gotta love it
heading back down but first we stopped to tighten our boot tops to prevent the dreaded black toe.
All in all it was a great late season trip to the east side. Not much highway traffic, few campers. We quickly loaded up and rolled out of camp at around 3pm. We made in down to Lockeford at 4:50 just before Lockeford Meats closed for the day and we loaded up on Sausages, and jerky. We rolled into our driveway at 7:30 pm. Perfect timing as I need to call in an early night as I had to be at work the next day at 5am
I was planning on going solo with one of my dogs and fly fishing gear as Ruth was non-committal about coming along. On Thursday she decided that she too needed an escape so we loaded up her stuff and food for all four dogs. Friday afternoon there was a major wreck on the road out oftown sorather than fight traffic for hours we turned in early and hit the road in the early Saturday morning hours. There hours later we crested Carson Pass (8500') and reached the West Fork of the Carson River
Normally we would have headed up Blue Lakes road and gone to the dispersed camping some 4-6 miles up from hwy 88 but I wanted to fish the river down by the highway bridge for a change. That's when we spotted a dispersed camping area on the north side of 88. It was about a 20 minute walk to where I wanted to fish and there were campsites where no one else was within sight or sound of us, Perfect.
Now to go exploring with the dogs
After we got back to the camper I got my fishing gear together and Ruth went of on her own to go do some more exploring.
I got outsmarted by some rather large trout that evening on the west fork of the Carson River. Still I did have a blast. I tried dry flies, nymphs, wets. Nada interest. I dropped flies right in front of a 3 pounder and he flipped me the bird still I was just having fun deftly dropping flies right on target in breezy conditions.
https://youtu.be/N60vjLXk3s4
Ruth got back to the Lance a few minutes before me. We fed the dogs, and ourselves had a beer and called it a night. We were quite tired after hiking for close to 10 miles, and boy did those flannel sheets and big down comforter feel great. I never did turn on the furnace that night. With the roof vent cracked it did drop down to the 40s inside which made for great sleeping temps ( we like it cool) but outside it dropped to 19* at least that where it was when the dogs barked at me to say dad it's that time of morning when you let us out to pee. So I put on the fleece pants and down jacket and outside we went. The stars were incredible, I would have missed it if they had not insisted on a morning constitutional.
When we finally got up it was light out and it took the furnace just a few minuted to get the TC up into the mid 60s where we like it. We decided that we would hike up the mountain to a lake we had heard about that was a few miles away and 1000 feet above us (we were camped at 7000 and the lake was at 8000)
After a hearty breakfast scramble we headed ut with the 3 younger dogs leaving the old guy behind to guard the truck. At age 14 the hike would have been way too much for him.
That was one hell of a hike. We took a couple of side trails to explore and ended up doing a 8 mile loop with 1500โ of elevation gain. The colors were amazing. The green of the Pines with the brilliant yellow of the Aspens made for a wonderful palette. This time of year the temperatures can really swing. 19* at daybreak and 85* by mid day. Gotta love it
heading back down but first we stopped to tighten our boot tops to prevent the dreaded black toe.
All in all it was a great late season trip to the east side. Not much highway traffic, few campers. We quickly loaded up and rolled out of camp at around 3pm. We made in down to Lockeford at 4:50 just before Lockeford Meats closed for the day and we loaded up on Sausages, and jerky. We rolled into our driveway at 7:30 pm. Perfect timing as I need to call in an early night as I had to be at work the next day at 5am
Camp woof wrote:
Beautiful looking trip and the dogs looked like they know how to have fun out there! You helped me out a few months ago with some advise for camping around Blue Lakes area, I wound up at Sunset Lake on a little knoll above the lake.
Great info on how warm a truck camper stays ... thanks!
The 10 mile hike you did to S____ lake, (not sure you want it known), just curious, could the dually make it up there, is it too overgrown??
Dave
A dually could do it no problem. Now with the camper on it you are going to need to do some pruning of some overhanging branches in 3 spots with either a pole saw or a hand saw from up on the roof.
I thought about it and if I went slow in 4x4 low I would think no proplem as long as you had AT tires
It does get steep in one spot I ran this track from the lake back down to our campsite by the shortest forest service road
I would walk it or drive it with no camper on first to know what you were getting yourself into as turn arounds are very few. but there are some nice campsites up top.
Nice trip report,Buzz! Glad you and Ruth were able to get away. Thanks for the great pictures!
Bob & Cathy
Bob & Cathy
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