4th of July, 2015 Lake Davis, CA

Every year around the 4th of July, some of my friends and coworkers and I go on a group camp trip. The purpose is not to pack in a ton of activities, but rather catch up and relax with good friends.  We usually go out for four to five days and there's always a lot of good camp and Dutch oven food, great campfires and pretty respectable cocktail hour each evening.

This year (and last year) we went to Lake Davis, CA, where we camped in the Grasshopper Flat campground.  Ever since getting my pop-up truck camper, I've been spoiled by all of the "boondock" camping a lightweight rig affords.  Campgrounds are just a little too civilized for my taste, but I went for the friends, not for the level asphalt sites.

I was the first to arrive on June, 30th and the plan was for me to save four sites for my friends who would trickle in over the next two days.  The campground was over half full in anticipation for the holiday, but I did manage to find four adjacent sites, over which I scattered various items to claim them as MINE!  

A nice little site amongst the asphalt...

Shortly after getting my rig set up, the camp host came along and informed me that holding sites was not allowed and that I'd have to remove my things from the other sites I had tried to save.  Luckily, one of my friends arrived shortly after I did and another friend arrived early the next morning and claimed two of the three sites I had tried to save.  We all shared the three sites we had by squeezing in a little closer, which actually saved us money in the long run.

It rained every day that we were there (except for the day we left) and sometimes the rain was a downright cloudburst.

Views from inside the Bobcat during some of  storms.

The good thing about the rain was that it drastically cooled down the area and gave the air an intensely good, clean smell.

Dexter always seemed to be a little damp, but amazingly, he stayed relatively clean.

One of my friends brought his boat in hopes of catching a few of Lake Davis' trout, but he never had it in the water for more than an hour before a wave of rain/lightning would come by and drive him out.

We did a lot of this over the long weekend.

Yay, the sun is out!

We did a mini pot luck on Friday evening and of course, the Dutch ovens were blazing. 

Since the rain kept us from effectively stalking the local trout population, a late night crawdad hunt was in order.  

From the boat dock.

Along the shoreline.

The low water was murky, making it difficult to spot the mud bugs.

Bringing home the catch.

It took an hour to catch these by hand.

Overcast, clouds and intermittent rain didn't keep us from having a little beach and swim time.  Even though it looked cold outside, it was actually warm and humid and the lake was invigorating.

A slow, methodical easing into the water.

Indie, the Border Collie, swam non-stop for over 45 minutes.  I don't know where
he got the energy.

As usual, Dexter found a friend right off the bat.

Saturday evening was our big pot luck and something we all look forward to every year.  The food this year was amazing and with every passing season, we all get a little better with the Dutch ovens.

Of course, we had to start the evening off with a little Happy Hour...

Ready to dig in...

We had green chile chicken enchiladas, smoked/BBQ chicken wings, homemade mac-n-cheese, garlic baked potatoes, Polish sausage cooked in beer, handmade tamales, Spanish rice, steamed asparagus and vegetables.  For dessert, we had homemade apple cobbler and an amazing batch of chocolate/peanut butter brownies, both of which were made in Dutch ovens, as well as a "make your own" S'more station.  We were all stuffed like it was Thanksgiving.

The sunset on the evening of the 4th was a huge blaze of orange that even
managed to burn its way through the trees--it was intense.

We all sat around the final campfire and started making plans
for next year's trip.

And then the final night came and I crawled into my Bobcat--exhausted.

Black Rock Rendezvous, May 22-25, 2015

I met Friends of Nevada Wilderness, Friends of the Black Rock/High Rock and the Sierra Club at the 2015 Black Rock Rendezvous north of Gerlach, NV.  The theme to this event, if it didn't already have one, should have been RAIN, RAIN, RAIN. The BLM pulled out of the event at the last minute, citing the weather, so that changed the event schedule a little, but we all had a blast anyway.

Luckily, the rain only fell on the first two days and it came in waves, giving us all a chance to dodge, duck and plan around it.  We had originally planned to camp on the playa, but if any of you have ever tried to even walk on the playa when it's wet, you know why the camp was re-located to the Cassidy Mine location, which is about 17 miles north of Gerlach.  Cassidy Mine gave us a beautiful, sweeping view of the playa itself, Old Razorback Mountain, Black Rock Point and other features, of which I'm still trying to learn the names.

The photos below will give you an idea of the weather.

They were all taken on Friday afternoon...

Old Razorback can't decide if it wants to be in the rain or under the rainbow...

Old Razorback a glow in the afternoon sun.

Some of the storms looked like atom bombs on the horizon.

I finally settled on this, relatively level site.

Although I didn't see any "Wander the Westers" at the event, I did become

part of a little pop-up camper "village" with two FWCs and one Hallmark.  

The Hallmark belonged to a nice retired couple, with whom I've hot
springed with in the past.  It was nice to see them at this event.

The white Toyota/FWC belonged to a retired teacher and the green Tundra/FWC
belonged to a photographer Mindful Images who had a beautiful
portfolio of landscapes. 

One thing this event was not short of was FOOD.  We had a Dutch oven cook-off and 

pot luck on Saturday night and a burrito-themed pot luck on Sunday night.

A lot of prep work went in to each meal--thanks Friends of Nevada Wilderness staff.

The Dutch oven cook-off judges doing their thing...

Here was my Dutch oven entry of New Mexican Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas and it must have been good because
I TOOK FIRST PLACE!

And the feed begins...

Dexter kept everyone in the right line by being a canine turnstile...

Everyone managed to find a dry place to sit and eat.


Did someone say margaritas?

Will Roger and Crimson Rose (Burning Man organizers) not only made a big
vat of good, strong margaritas for everyone, but they also donated two tickets to
Burning Man for the Rendezvous raffle, which brought in a lot of money for
Friends of Nevada Wilderness

It didn't take long for the first "customer" to come forth...

While hiking around the area, I came upon many of these formations 

which appear to be tuffa that's attached itself to a rock.  

Does anyone know what they are?

On Saturday we enjoyed numerous presentations for a good part of the day.

We heard presentations on the event itself, Leave No Trace, the amateur 

rocketry club, Burning Man, etc.  Sadly, the planned rocket launches

from the playa were canceled due to weather.

Both Saturday and Sunday, there were also excursions to an opal mine, 

Planet X Pottery, day hikes and a service project at a cabin near the 

Soldier Meadows hot spring--good times!

Sunday night burrito fest and raffle...

Almost everyone who bought raffle tickets won something.  I even won twice!


I don't know why, but I thought this photo kind of
wrapped up the event's spirit...

I'm already looking forward to next year's Rendezvous.  Hopefully the weather will 

be more cooperative and we can all get out to more of the excursions, outings and

service projects that are, after all, what this whole thing is about.

Here's a Flickr link to the Friends of Nevada Wilderness, Black Rock Rendezvous photo album:
BRR Photo Album

Friends of Nevada Wilderness has a number of projects and outings throughout the

year and many will be multi-nighters in some of the most beautiful and 

vulnerable areas of Nevada, so take a look and see if a project stands out

to you.

Pacific Equestrian Center Dressage Show

This was just a quick one-nighter to see my beautiful daughter (Erin) compete in the Pacific Equestrian Center's dressage competition in Wilton, CA.  It barely fits the definition of a camping trip, but I'm including it all the same.  The drive was, for the most part, uneventful, as we were right smack dab in the middle of two storms.

I stopped at a little roadside stand along the way and bought some really sweet cherries.

Dexter and I finally arrived and met up with Erin, who had ridden to the show with other riders in her barn.  I found a nice, somewhat level parking place and “bloomed” the Bobcat (yes, I'm borrowing the term "bloomed" from the Ski3pins, which is now what I always call it).  The horse trailer to my right is actually a four-horse trailer in the rear and a really nice RV in front.

All set up...

Dexter and I did our own thing as the girls were busy preparing for tomorrow's riding.  I threw a very nice little New York steak on the grill, tossed a salad and poured a couple of glasses of red wine and watched "No Country for Old Men" on the DVD player until midnight.

My beautiful daughter Erin and her horse "Pumori"

Dressage...

Erin took a 2nd Place in her first Pacific Show (I'm so proud...)

It was really hot and muggy at the horse show, but as soon as we hit Auburn (and stopped at Akeda’s), the temp. mellowed out.  By the time we stopped at the Donner Summit rest area, it was cold and just starting to snow.  Dexter, ever the fool, got chest deep in a little pond alongside the rest area, so I had to smell “wet dog” all the way home.  Oh well, if that’s the worst thing I can say about the kid, then we’re doing alright. 

Got home to a cool, cloudy day, unpacked most of the gear and put a few cups of beans in the pressure cooker (who doesn’t like beans on a cold day?).  Now, I’ll get ready for next week’s camp trip to the Black Rock Rendezvous.