Tioga Pass and Sierras Camping

Took about a ten day trip into the Sierras this October, went earlier than usual, the first and second week, so the leaves were only just turning; there weren't the hard oranges and yellows like in the third and fourth weeks of October, but it was picturesque none-the-less.

Lower Lee Vining Campground

 One of the many campgrounds I stay are located in the Tioga Pass before the Yosemite gates.  Some of these campgrounds I've visited for more than forty years.

Lower Lee Vining Campground

This is the Lower Lee Vining campground. The campground is accessible off of Tioga Pass before the pass gates, but camping is still not accessible year round. Typically camping ends in the middle of October.

There are a lot of great sites in this area which can accommodate large RV's.  Just inside, there is a large turn around area in case you don't believe you can get through the rest of the campground. With a tow vehicle, I would detach if you don't plan on staying within the immediate turn around area. It would then be wise to walk the many drive-able roads to choose the best location.

Lower Lee Vining

The fees this year for the campground were $14. The fees have not gone up for a couple years.

The site has a couple vault toilets just after you get into the campground. There are many sites throughout, a couple pull-through and many pull-in or back-in.

Most everywhere you are under rather large pine trees and if you're lucky, you're right next to the Lee Vining creek.

The area is beautiful with lots of Aspen and several Pines.

Depending on the season, if you're here during the Spring, just after opening, through the middle of September, you're likely to encounter plenty of mosquitoes, so bring plenty of bug spray.

Much of the areas along the creek are dense with growth. There are several paths to take and I advise carrying a rather long stick, because spider webs are everywhere. The webs are from offspring who take off into the air after birth and land wherever the wind blows them. On one of my videos, I'll provide links later, you can see hundreds floating through the air - by carrying a stick you can simply push them out of the way.

Picture above and right, one of the many spots where the logs jam up during torrential runoff during heavy rains and in the spring runoff.

For years and years, the water used to run in a flume, now filled in with the plastic pipe you see.  It was a gravity fed flume which ran all the way to the ranger station towards the town of Lee Vining.

The flume was always in somewhat rough shape and I'm sure those who maintained it had to continuously clean debris from it. If you follow it to the head, as shown in the picture on the right, you'll see how they manage water entry. Also, from the camping area, you can follow the flume for quite some time toward the ranger station. The original exposed flume has been dry for several years now and this plastic flume does not yet have water running inside.

The water runs ferociously downhill in many spots of this creek.

The Moraine Campground

The Moraine campground entrance is up the hill on Tioga Road just a bit and to the left.

This Google Map pinpoints the entrance in the upper-left corner and the coordinates are in the bottom of the picture.

As can be seen the creek flows just below the major entrance. There are many wide-open camping areas in the Moraine, suitable for very large rigs.

Immediately when you pull in the sign tells you which direction to take for the campground you're after. Later I'll discuss Aspen and Boulder.

 In the past few years the Moraine campground has suffered several overflow washouts of the creek running through the roads. Consequently many of the camping areas are now closed along with several of the roads running close to the creek.

It's rather interesting to take several walks through the area and follow the creek as it meanders through Moraine. The creek runs rather smoothly compared to many other parts of the creek as you move upward.

While much of Moraine is full of ruts and closures you can still hike around everywhere and there are still plenty of spots to camp. Additionally, because of the creek's meandering nature, in many spots it moves calmly and offers peaceful, tranquil places to relax.

Here are a couple of the larger parking areas. Just pull off into a nice grassy area, pull out your chairs, pitch a tent, or open your awning, and you're good to go. You may not be next to the creek, but it's beautiful and relaxing.

The Area Itself is Beautiful

Aspen Campground

The Aspen campground is a nice area and it's to the right as you pull in and decide to go to either Moraine, Aspen, or Boulder.

The Aspen and Boulder campground are like the Lower Lee Vining campground, but they're mostly close to the rushing waters and there are many camp spots. Several spots will accommodate any size RV, but as always, get out and walk it first.

This Google Map aerial shows the Aspena nd Big Bend campgrounds. They are both accessible via the same entrance.

Not going to post much here about the Aspen campground, they look reasonably the same as the Lower Lee Vining. What I want to get into next is the Big Bend campground.

Big Bend Campground

The Big Bend campground is one of the best campgrounds along Tioga Road. Others may disagree with this assessment for many reasons, but Big Bend is beautiful. The creek meanders through the spots, there are many well-groomed spots, there is running water and wonderfully clean and up-kept toilets. There is virtually no sun as trees provide a wonderful canopy over most every spot.

As you can see from the screen capture, the entrance is almost invisible among the dense tree cover. Once you pull in you will see how quite and serene this spot is. All spots are well maintained, there are several areas with potable water, and the toilets are clean and kept. The pull-in is a one-way road only with the exit at the other end of the camp area. This site can accommodate RV's up to about 30 feet and possibly larger, you will want to drive through to see if you fit. The drive through is a central road to the pull-out.

The Big Bend campground is not cheap. At $22 a night with only water and nice toilets, you're going to pay your fair share, but for the way the grounds are kept, for a short period of time, or longer if you don't mind the cost, it's a great site to stay.

I would say this site is a must for at least a night or two. There are also free camping areas around the Tioga Pass area which I'll cover in another post.

Hidden Forest Trail

So you've heard of this cabin in the woods just outside of Las Vegas, we call it Lost Cabin.  To get to this cabin you take a trail called Hidden Forest Trail.  This hike is well worth the trip.  It's a little over four miles, and the going is uphill almost all the way on an angle of about six or seven degrees, and, it's mostly all deep sand in a wash.

So yes, be prepared to take most of the day.  Even the return trip is a little difficult because of the deep sand but at least you're moving down hill.  Be sure to give yourself plenty of time and bring plenty of water.

The following is a Google Earth map of the drive to where you exit the 95.

When you're leaving Vegas North on the 95, head to Corn Creek Road. From the 95, Veteran's Memorial Highway at the 215 in North Las Vegas, continue North for approximately 13.5 miles, 11 minutes.

Here are the LAT and LON from Google Earth as well.









Here is the LINK Google Earth KMZ file for the drive from the 95 at Corn Creek to the parking area, the Hidden Forest trail head.  And here is the LINK for the trail hike to the cabin, although you won't need it as the trail will keep you on track.

It's well enough to know the desert is vast, as you can see here you can take dirt roads which will take you in many many different directions. You can get a better grasp of the roads by looking at Google Earth.

Many of the roads are very well maintained and on most of them you can drive a regular two-wheel drive vehicle without a problem.

This is a view of the road from when you make the turn towards the mountain at the trail head. The majority of the time you will be driving parallel to these mountains - by the way, there are mountains on both sides.




A small tidbit of information you may not have known, Nevada is one of the only states whose mountains run East and West where most all other mountain ranges in the US and North and South America run from North to South.

This picture is just before the entrance gate after the parking area.

At the beginning of the trail the view is mostly baron, rocks, and scrub.




There are a number of very sheer cliffs along the way.  It would not be a good idea to hike or climb them as much of it is very loose rock.

Over the eons there must have been tremendous water flow through these canyons because of the depth.

The drive you took to the parking area, to your left, is a massive water runoff canyon which looks amazing if you step back and think about the forces which must have caused it.

There are a number of typical species of plants you'd expect in the desert.  As you can see on the left, there are the beginnings of Pine trees.

A shot of the front of the cabin.  People leave items here for others to use. You will find all kinds of nick-knacks.  There's a basic rule, if you take something you're supposed to leave something.  If you hike here bring batteries, matches, lighter fluid; some simple, light items which might help someone out.

There are holes in the root and the walls, but each time someone comes back they try to remember to bring something to help maintain the cabin and make it a little better.

Presumably this cabin was built in the late 1800's and through the years it has supposedly been used for smuggling purposes including liquor running during prohibition.  If the walls could talk...

I hope you enjoy and thanks for visiting.

Small AZ Trip

Went on a small driving excursion last week, it's hotter than blazes in the West lately, and drove through a little bit of Southern Arizona.  Went to do a little trip to see what was going on at the River by Laughlin.  The river wasn't much to look at, but I scooted up the mountains a little and took an interesting looking dirt road and I found a friend wondering.

This guy was just walking along as if I wasn't there, he must see plenty of cars and people.

Also a storm was brewing ahead of me, looked to be fairly strong in some areas as I was driving on the paved road.

Not much else going on in this post, looking for relief from the heat gave me a minor out with a quick shower.

As you can see, several of these storms are very isolated.  While I was driving down the road this one was off to my left and it was drenching just a small area of the desert.

Solar Installation

I've been designing and working on a Solar install for a while now.  The install is really beginning to take shape.  Click THIS link or the link to the right side of the page to check out what I've been doing and how it's coming along.

Since solar is now so cheap, I picked up my panels for $170, it's well worth it to be almost completely free from the need to connect to shore power.  I will be able to stay out without any connections as long as I wish or until my tanks are full or I'm out of water.

By the way, my install will push my single 15k btu air conditioner.  I have already installed a power delay capacitor on the unit and tested it, the capacitor delays the startup for about five to six seconds and then away it goes, so it should be a smooth transition when kicking it on when on nothing but solar and battery power.

Basics of solar.