The Aimless Roamer: June 2016

Lake Valley Reservoir

Lodgepole Campground

June 3-5, 2016

At least once a year, I get together with a group of close friends I work with for a camp trip. We always try to stay within a 100 mile perimeter of Reno, NV, for logistical reasons. This is the 6th year in a row we've made this trip, but this one was special because we were losing one of our founding members. Pat Kendrick (P.K.) just took a transfer to Seattle and while we're all very happy for him and his family, we're sad to be losing such a close friend. I have heard that Washington state has a few camping opportunities, so I'm sure he'll fare just fine up in the Pacific Northwest.

This year, we chose the Lodgepole Campground at the Lake Valley Reservoir.

This is a PG&E campground and it was an incredible area.

None of us could believe that we had never heard of this place before. The campground only had two empty sites, but it only felt half full. It's laid out very nicely and the reservoir's release creates a nice stream that meanders through the campground. Most of the sites can be reserved through the PG&E website, but a few of the sites are on a first come/first served basis.

I tucked in to a nice little level spot about 20 feet away from the stream and made camp for the weekend.

Our final camp trip with our friend P.K.

We wasted no time breaking the chairs out and the beers open.

It was in the high 90's in Reno, so finding a place that was 15-20° cooler was nice.

The only problem was that the mosquitoes were out in force, especially in the evening.

You know Mijo is in a good mood when she starts dancing in camp.

Believe it or not, but this was one of the smaller "sticks" Dexter found to play with.

The first day, we just all hung out together and caught up on the latest news. We adhered to the only rule we have and that NO SHOP TALK.

The next day (Saturday) we all woke up whenever we felt like it, made our breakfasts and had out coffee. P.K.and his family wasted no time getting their kayaks wet in the reservoir, which is only a short 10 minute walk out of camp.

The rest of us just took it easy for the better part of the day. We hiked up to the lake, where Dexter wasted no time jumping in and going for a swim. Even though I brought my kayak, I never even put it in the water. It had been a long week at work, so being lazy won out over physical activity.

As we always do on Saturday night, we had a pot luck dinner, which is always one of the best features of these getaways.

Glenn had to fetch spices for his wife, Mijo's, Japanese fried rice with shrimp.

Mijo's fried rice was even better that it looked and it looked damn terrific!

P.K.'s wife made two Dutch oven dishes: slow braised short ribs and homemade macaroni and cheese and they were incredible. They're getting quite good at the art of Dutch oven cooking.

I did a grilled and sliced tri-tip and brought some marinated mushrooms and Christina made a pineapple cake that was off the hook.

Why does food taste so much better when you're camping?

As usual, we had beer, wine and whiskey to share and also as usual, we had way too much food. That didn't stop us from trying to eat it all though and we paid for it the rest of the night just sitting there fat and happy.

That evening around the camp fire, Mother Nature gave us a lightning and thunder show, but only gave us a few sprinkles of rain. The whole thing made the evening even more special.

The thunder and lightning continued off and on throughout the night and some rain did eventually fall, but we were all tucked in for the night by that time.

Even my little traveling buddy "Porky" had a great time on this trip...

Glenn, P.K. and me.

Glenn and his wife Mijo.

When a good friend moves away, everyone always makes plans to see each other again in the future and the lucky ones are actually able to do so. We were no exception. We talked about points halfway between Seattle and Reno and thought Crater Lake might be a good place to meet next year. I guess we'll have to see if we can make it happen--wish us luck.

Black Rock Rendezvous

2016

It was another great year at the Black Rock Rendezvous!

This is an annual event held over the Memorial Day weekend in the playa of the

Black Rock Desert. The BRR is sponsored by Friends of Nevada Wilderness, Friends

of the Black Rock-High Rock and the Nevada Outdoor School.

Because the playa was dry this year, we were able to camp and drive on it without any problems.

For anyone who's familiar with the playa, when it's wet, it's treacherous and you're

guaranteed to get stuck up to your axles if you try to drive on it. A word of caution, however,

because the playa almost always looks dry because of its white top layer. Always check it

out on foot before attempting to drive on it.

This year's event kicked off on Friday afternoon with setting up the camp and getting

settled in.

I chose a nice level spot that was close enough to the main camp, but not so close to where there

was no privacy.

After Dexter and I were settled in, we had our customary first night's dinner of

steak, fried potatoes and a salad (Dexter skipped the salad...).

I though it'd be a good idea to walk a little dinner off, so we made the rounds through

camp. There were rigs of every kind out here this year, including two FWC's and a Palamino

pop-up. There were also quite a few travel trailers, 5th wheels, roof-top campers and

a ton of tents.

This little FWC Swift belonged to Mitch from Reno. He hadn't had the camper long, but he

had it decked out nicely and had gotten a lot of use out of since getting it.

This old Grandby belonged to Fred from Santa Rosa, CA. He bought the camper used

and mounted it on this trailer because it wouldn't fit on his little Nissan. I told Fred that

next year he can't come to the BRR from Santa Rosa without bringing a few bottles

of Pliny to share. I really wouldn't be surprised if actually brings some out next year!

Dexter and I talked to quite a few of the other campers that evening, but the big influx

of campers was going to arrive the next day.

On Saturday morning, there were a lot of presentations under the big tent in the main camp.

There were presentations on the BRR itself, Leave No Trace, Outdoor Ethics, Natural

History, Invasive Weeds, the Artist in Residence Program, the BLM's proposed

management plan of Trego Hot Springs and more.

Peter Clay of Aero Pac gave a very interesting presentation

on rockets. We'll see more of him later at his launch site,

which was about 6 miles from the BRR camp.

Will Roger and Crimson Rose (two of the eight original founders of Burning Man) gave

a very insightful presentation of the history and future of Burning Man and how the

event impacts the playa.

After lunch, there were many guided excursions you could go out on. They offered service

projects, tours of area petroglyphs, a hike to Mormon Dan Peak, a Guru Road hike, a Dutch oven

cooking class and a tour of some of the areas hot springs. A buddy and I chose to go out to

the rocket camp where they were planning to launch their biggest rocket that afternoon.

On the first attempt to launch this big boy, it failed to ignite, so this guy went out to fix it.

I have to give him credit because that rocket held a lot of very explosive fuel and one wrong

could have been disastrous.

While the rocket was getting re-fused, we checked out the rest of "Rocket Camp."

Each rocketeer camp had their own little portable workshop on-site that looked like

something Robert Goddard feel right at home with.

A few of the rockets that were going to be launched over the weekend.

This was one a kid could truly relate to.

Another on-site work station.

And we have lift off! This thing was amazing. We were told that thing pulls 28 Gs

on lift off and the fuel only burns for three seconds, but that was enough to shoot it

completely out of eye shot.

Nothing but a trail of smoke.

Back at the main camp, everyone had to get ready for the Dutch oven cook off and pot luck

feast that always a highlight of the event.

There was so much incredible food brought out for the pot luck--it was just incredible.

Dexter was keeping everyone in line as usual.

This was only one of two buffet lines.

This area was only the dessert line.

The evening weather was perfect for dining al fresco!

Here is line number 2!

There's a Happy Camper

It didn't take long for the food to vanish.

After 30 minutes or so, this was all that was left...

That evening, in addition to a group camp fire and jam session, a fire dancer emerged.

They were handing out sparklers to all of the kids and they had a blast with them.

After the day was over, Dex and I went back to the camper and settled in for the night.

On Sunday, we went to Trego Hot Springs, which is all the way across the playa, but because the playa was dry, we were able to drive straight across it and arrived a the hot springs in about 20 minutes.