She is not too thrilled about using a bucket and sponge to bath with while we explore the wild mountains and streams.  I was nice enough to offer her a blue tarp to place over the back doors of van for privacy.  This was not good enough for her.  The boys and I are completely content with stripping down when nobody is around.  My wife on the other hand does not want even a squirrel to look at her while she showers.

We have seen a lot of people with portable shower tents that even macho men like me appreciate.  You can hang a shower bag, stick a porta-potties inside, or use them as dressing rooms.

What Camp Shower Is The Best?

The best portable camp shower tent is one that is easy to set up.  Search out YouTube videos and Amazon product reviews.  I am leaning towards the Trekker that is available through Amazon, Cabelas, or Ebay.  It sets up in less than a minute.  The poles are internally attached.  The reviews online are stellar.  The selling point for me is the YouTube video that shows a person setting it up indoors.

Ebay has a wide selection of quality camp privacy showers.   Ebay is a great place to shop as long as you know exactly what you want.

 If I was not married and did not have to worry about creature comforts for my wonderful wife, I would stick with a bucket of hot or cold water, a car wash chamois from Walmart, and some Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint soap.  All I do is dip the chamois in hot water and add some soap to it.  I  give myself a “car wash” sponge bath with the peppermint soap.  It feels so good and refreshing.  After completely washing my entire body, I  I rinse the chamois and then dip it in hot water and rinse myself with the hot towel.  You can bathe this way and use less than a liter of water and still be clean.  If you need to wash your hair, then it will take more water.

She has this thing about wanting to fish off the rugged coast of northern California.  The coast scares me because the waves, slippery rocks, ocean currents, waves, and weather are so unpredictable.   I am trying to coax her to fish for trout in beautiful mountain lakes and streams.  This is much safer and I don’t have to be watching her or the kids 100% of the time.  I have fished the Sierra Nevada mountains since the late 1980 and the only dangers that I face are the mosquitoes.

I discovered the Ebbets Pass area area while searching online for trout fishing. I got real intrigued when I read about Ebbets Pass Sporting-goods store in a small town of Arnold. Evidently, the proprietor, Bill, is the go to guy when it comes to fishing in this area. He is passionate and very knowledgeable about hunting, fishing, and anything that has to do with outdoor living. I decided to give him a call before he made the trip up here with my family. He was extremely helpful on the telephone and promised to take care me when I brought my family up here to fish.

We arrived at Ebbets Pass Sporting Goods Store early in the afternoon and met Bill.  True to his word, he hooked us up with a nice assortment of fishing gear.  He loaded our reels with the proper weight fishing line for trout.  This sporting goods store is small, but is packed with everything from fire arms to  snow boards.  I could spend my yearly pay check here in a day or two.

He noticed that my wife had brought along what looked like deep-sea fishing poles. Not wanting to insult us or hurt my beloved wife’s feelings, he courteously installed trout fishing line over the existing heavy fishing line. Additionally, he sold us just a few necessary items for trout fishing in the rivers and lakes.

I asked him about some lightweight poles for trout fishing and he suggested some very inexpensive Diawa rod and reel combos. It did not cost much more than it would have to install fishing line on our ocean fishing poles. I bought 2 of them and was very happy. Bill also gave us copy drawings of how to set up our salmon eggs and power bait on the fishing line. He was extremely helpful. Even though, we were there for just a few minutes, the store quickly became crowded with other fishermen that were desperate for Bill’s knowledge. He still is extremely patient with us, even with other customers waiting. He treated us like we were his only customers.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

1234►

As usual on our camping trips, we usually spend more time eating than anything else.  Camping makes me so hungry.  The coup de grace of all the meals were hamburgers topped bacon, eggs, onions, and wedged in between a home made sour dough biscuit.  Idy called them “over the top burgers”.

Day 1

We were so excited about this fishing trip, that we  hurriedly left the house without all the proper fishing equipment.   It’s a good thing there are knowledgeable people like Bill around to outfit us and send us off with the right stuff. He suggested that we drive another 30 min. up the road and camp at Stanislaus River campground. We arrived there and were very happy that it’ still free. In haste, we prepared our fishing poles and attempted to try our hand at fishing on the Stanislaus River. We scored goose eggs. Nada. All we saw were minnows. Didn’t matter to us. We got to fish. I called everything off at 6 PM and said it’s time to eat.

My wife  is an amazing cook. She had lamb chops ready to go. My boys quickly gathered firewood and we had the StoveTek fired up and ready to cook our evening dinner. My wife  cooked lamb and potatoes in the wok. She commented that food always tastes better outdoors. I agree. Nonetheless, this was a meal that was good enough to serve to any guests back home. We were so relaxed and ate at such a leisurely pace, that we did not finish dinner until it was nearly dark. This would’ve been okay, if we did not have to do the dishes. By the time that we had everything cleaned up, and organized, it was approximately 9:30 in the evening.

Stanislaus River campground is a nice and tidy camp situated on the Stanislaus River. Most of the camp sites are fairly large and private. We chose the last site that was adjacent to the river and did not have any neighbors. When we woke up  in the middle of night, I noticed the stars were out and so beautiful. It was pitch black everywhere around us except for the twinkling of the over head stars. Everything was so still except for the river water rushing over the rocks. It is almost hard to believe that we are only 2 1/2 hours away from home.

It’s nearly 5 in the afternoon, and we did not catch a single fish all day. I’m sitting in my camp chair watching my 2 boys play near the river. I don’t think that they have a care in the world about catching fish. They just want to have fun. They are building a little city by the river. I’m sure that if we can’t fish that they would still be happy. Building the city near the river is just as much fun as fishing. I had my afternoon cup of coffee with a piece of shortbread that my wonderful wife packed for me, and I am enjoying myself thoroughly. I could sit here all day and not care if I caught my fishing limit or not.

Day 2

After sleeping in until 7 AM, we loaded up our van and drove to New Spicer Meadow Reservoir for a day of trout fishing.  The reservoir sits in a granite basin with snow covered peaks in the back ground.  It’s beautiful. Most of the people fishing in the reservoir were using power bait attached to a small hook.  Our set up was basic: 3 foot leader attached to an egg-slider weight.  We did not start fishing until 11 AM.  We took way too long to set everything up.  Most of the folks fishing near the reservoir got their catch early in the morning.  We did not get one bite.  We fished for approximately 4 hours before we returned to Stanislaus River campground to rest.

After drinking my afternoon cup of Java, my wonderful wife said it’s time for dinner. The boys got busy and collected enough firewood for the StoveTek and to have a bonfire after dinner.  My wife made a huge batch of honest-to-God cowboy chili. The dinner tasted so good.  Had cold cantaloupe and cucumber from the cooler.  Cheese, salsa with chips as appetizer. We washed the dishes and sat near the bonfire. I read out of the book , “Teaching Hearts And Training Minds.”  My wife and I were going to watch a movie, but we were so tired that we decided to go to bed.

Check out these photos using the StoveTek.   It’s a beast and will cook your meal fast.  We bought the StoveTek Delux because you can adjust the heat via the door on the bottom.  You can use it on the ground or the top of the picnic table.

Day 3

At approximately 6 AM following morning, DW was getting restless and wanted to go fishing again.  Unbelievable that she was up before I was. She said she was staring at me  and wiggling herself to wake me up.  Back home, she never gets out of bed till she gets breakfast in bed from one of the kids.  So  riding on my wife’s enthusiasm, I loaded what little equipment that was left outside, and we headed right back to New Spicer Meadow Reservoir for another day of fishing. I made up a nice cup of hot coffee and took this with me to our fishing spot. I cast out a line loaded with sparkle power bait and was going to sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee. A pesky little trout interrupted my coffee break by biting on my line and swallowing the hook.  I almost spilled my coffee when that line started jiggling. I caught my first fish and was extremely excited. The 2 men next to us were also catching a lot of fish. We were confident that we were going to get fish. I told everyone to get ready to catch  trout.  My family  had no more luck after catching this one trout though. That was one expensive trout after computing the gas and the equipment bought to catch it.

The noon day sun was getting unbearably hot for us city dwellers that we had to break for lunch.  Ate  chili, cantaloupe, and quesadillas. Wife took a catnap while the kids and I read under the shade.

I took a nice long break until the weather cooled down a bit and then went on a nice long hike almost all the way to the dam.  I was tired of the power bait and waiting for the fish to bite.  I connected my Castmaster lure and tried my angling skills.  No success.

After dinner, we decided to try night fishing upon the recommendation of some locals.  This is something that I have never done.  We parked near the Spicer Meadow Reservoir dam.  The sun was just setting.  All of our poles were ready to go.  In a matter of minutes it went from a nice sun set to almost pitch black.  Even with flash lights, it was hard to make our way around near the lake.  We decided to hang up our rod and reels for the weekend  and get ready for sleeping.  We camped next to a local family in an RV.  Seems like most of the locals disperse camp just like us.  We often pass as locals because our van just blends in and does not look like a camping rig.

I would recommend New Spicer Meadow Reservoir to anyone looking for a great place to camp and fish.  If you know what you are doing, you will catch a lot of fish. We will for sure be going back to this place, better equipped with the right lines, hook, bait, and experience.  We are determined to catch trout and lots of them. We will be practicing in the meantime in our local lakes.

Recently, my wife is engrossed in survival type of camping.  She literally wants to forage for our food.  We purchased a Stovetek wood burning rocket stove, fishing poles, down sleeping bags, and a gravity fed water filter.  While she is in the survival camping mode, we have started to look at ultra light weight camping gear.  Seems kind of funny considering that we drive a beast that can carry a thousands pounds of camping gear without sagging.

Why go light?  Light weight and ultra light weight camping gear gives you a lot of mobility freedom.  We can park our van and cram a lot of our gear into small back packs and walk into camp sites.  I don’t want to own one set of gear for car camping and one set and another for back packing.  Getting double use out of equipment makes more sense to me.

The first item that we plan on getting is the Emberlit light weight wood burning rocket stove.  It weighs less than a pound and does not require the user to carry extra fuel.  I mean if you camping, you should have fuel readily available.  It does have it’s limitations for back packing into areas that have a no open fire restriction in place.  Even though the flame is contained, I think you may get fined for having an open fire.  Check with the Forest Service before you leave.

Even though I am not a sport fisherman, the idea of catching my own dinner always thrills me.  I enjoy eating fresh fish.  A complete light weight fishing set up weighs less than a pound!  This is about the same weight that one meal is going to weigh.  I pack about 3 pounds of food for every day that I am on the trail.  This is dry weight.

Click on the fan to learn more and read the reviews…

Camping always entails a constant battle with the elements.  When I am on trips with my family, we pack winter down jackets, swimming shorts, gloves, mittens, and beanie caps.  Night time temperatures may dip down in the low 30′s while the day time high sometimes hits  100 degrees Fahrenheit.  I can deal with the cold.  It’s the hot temperatures that are hard to work around.  Keeping our van cool to sleep in on hot night has become a challenge.  We have lots of windows and leaving them open helped after letting in the breeze for half the night.  However, mosquitoes became a problem.

A friend suggested running the vehicle fan because it’s a 12 volt low amp fan.  I need to look into this as I already own the fan and the vehicle.

I contemplated installing an overhead roof fan, but really did not want to fork out another $300. Our van is old. But $300 here and there adds up fast on a van that cost us $1000. I found this great fan that is made for RVS. It’s quite and it really blows a breeze.

The first time that we slept in our van, we did not have a fan to cool off the inside. What we really needed was a roof fan. We bought the van the same day that we were leaving, so we did not have time any type of portable electric fan.

Another option that works nearly as good as the roof vent/fan is the portable Endless Breeze by Fan-Tastic Vent will keep your vehicle cool while it’s parked as long as you leave a window cracked.

The reviews are off the hook for the Fan-Tastic Endless Breeze. This unit is portable and can be moved anywhere there is power. People move it from one end of the van to another. You can take it in and out of vehicles. If you have an adapter, it makes a good fan to use at home.

It’s quite and is going to last for years.  Full time RVers use this fan.  You may want to look on Craigslist for a used or free one.  It sure beats sleeping in a hot van.

Growing up in Minnesota, I fished with a cane pole, bobber, hook, and worms.  It always worked.  I could catch as many crappies, blue gills, and sun fish as I wanted.  However, I was a super-hyper active child with little patience  waiting for a fish to bite.  If I knew that you could catch fish by throwing a stick of dynamite in the water, I would have been fishing that way.  I preferred riding wheelies on my bicycle to waiting for a fish to bite on my line or lure.

By the time I was 12 years old, I was spearing carp and shooting them with a bow and arrow.  This was a lot more exciting than waiting for those silver things called fish to bite.  We had contests to see who could kill the most carp.  While in my teens, my buddies and I would snag carp with huge hooks and deposit them on our friends doorsteps in the middle of the night after ringing their doorbell a dozen or so times.  Sometimes fire crackers were placed in their mouths.

This winter, my beautiful wife returned from a trip to the Philippines and informed our family that we were now fisherman.  Her brother insisted that our boys learn to fish.  She rushed over to Walmart and spent a large sum of money on fishing “stuff”.  Most of the “stuff” will end up in a scrap heap.  My wife always has grand ideas until she realizes the work involved in projects.  I get the pleasure of paying for and implementing her projects.

I have dragged her across the country on camping trips with fishing poles and lures.  Not once has she ever asked to get her fishing license.  The kids usually cast their line and bait into the water until either the bale of the reel or end of the rod falls into the water causing them to give up and do something fun like running around the playground rather than wait for a stupid fish to bite.

I have a garden shed full of broken fishing rods and reels.  My kids tend to get bored with fishing and somehow lose half of their gear before we reach the water.

My wife is determined to make fisherman out of all us.  She has no idea what she is doing.  She drives to Walmart countless times and brings home hooks, line, and sinkers and tell us in an excited voice “Let’s go fishing!”  I say “Where?”  She say funny things like “Anywhere there is fish”.  I try to explain that most of the mountain lakes for trout are frozen until June or July.   The reservoirs near us are usually hot, ugly, and require a boat.  We don’t own a boat and my wife hates the heat.  On a recent trip to a small lake in Garin Regional park,  she set out to catch bass with salmon eggs.  Mmm..”those are for trout honey”.

I do my best to explain to her that we need a plan.  I advise that ocean fishing is different from fresh water fishing.  It does not matter to her.  She just wants to go fishing.  She does not seem to understand that each specie of fish has a different diet.  Bait is bait and a hook is a hook.

She got a little mad when I told her I would not take the kids fishing unless they practiced in the back yard.  I was not going to let her or the boys snag my prize trout lures that I have owned for 25 years.  Even though fishing is not my sport, I take it serious and love to catch and eat fish.  Never in my life would I waste my time for catch and release fishing.  That rates up there with watching bowling on a late night TV.

Last weekend she dragged us all out of bed at 4:30 AM.  She is known to stay up until 4:30 AM, but never in my life have I ever seen her get out of bed to do something and smile about it.  We drove 100 miles round trip for her to watch people fishing at Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay.  She brought 3 poles set up for fresh water fishing.  Of course we did not have any bait to put on our small hooks.  She asked me on the way over if I had my tackle box that I use for trout fishing.  I told her that trout are fresh water fish and don’t usually live in the ocean.  A lure is a lure to her.  She is driving me crazy.  While she was “fishing” with my youngest son Zachary, I explored the nearby tide pools.  That was fun!

She watches Youtube for hours about shooting fish with arrows propelled from a sling shot.  These crazy videos have other shows of “interest” such as digging for clams with a device that resembles a water cannon.  She had me watching a video of this crazy Hawaiian hanging by giant diaper in tree with a sling shoot and arrows shooting at wild pigs.  She liked the sound of the pig squealing after he got hit!

Yes, we are still happily married.  I keep weapons away from her.  We have several Airsoft Pistols that she is afraid to operate.  Nerf guns are banned in our house.  Yet she wants to go and kill wild animals!  This scares me.

Every time she sees a wild turkey running around the hills, she gets all excited about shooting one with a sling shot!   I don’t understand how she goes from catching fish to shooting wild pigs & turkeys all in the same breath.

She jumps from one adventure to another.  Her latest idea for me to make (not her) is PVC fishing pole that uses a short line that you drop into the rocks to catch eels and rock fish.  I think she calls it poke fishing.  It’s a near death experience because it requires you to crawl on slippery rocks and carefully drop your hook and line a hole where rock fish like to hide.  I need to find out if it’s illegal because if it is, then maybe she will move on to another method of fishing that is safer.

If you think this is bad, her girl friend Melissa got her into all kinds of weird stuff like eating wild plants and herbs.  They buy gallons of vodka and use it to make potions from wild herbs that they buy from a company in Oregon.  We spend hundreds of dollars on stuff that looks like what I used to dump out of the lawn mower bag.  I wonder if this company gets their stuff at the city composting pile.

When Idy and Mellisa go on hikes, they call it foraging.  I call it tempting Mr. Poison Oak.  I see  cattle and wild animals eating grass and other things.  But these girls are having their husbands eating thistles and nettles!

I am not a gun or fishing guy.  And I sure aint no Euell Gibbons.  My wife and her girl friend Melissa are trying to make the men of their homes eat off the land and drink all kinds of home-made magic potions made from “edible”wild herbs that look and smell awful.  If she just sticks to fishing, then maybe I might be okay.  Maybe I can take her to the fish tanks at Ranch 99 (Asian Market)  that stock live fish to eat.  We can bring them home and “catch” them in the bath tub.

The campground is primitive.  It offers stove pipe outhouses and water.  This is all I ever need.  The less the better.  More ammenities means more crowds.  The BLM manages the campground.  BLM and cheap camping are usually synomonous.  Last time I camped there, it was less than $10.  It’s first come-first served.  No reservations.  Be there early as it usually fills up during thes summer months.

There is a lot of dispersed BLM camping in the area if you pull off on gravel roads.  Travel at your own risk as the BLM wants to keep the area as primitive as possible.  If you plan on dispersed camping, check with the local BLM office for specific rules and regulations.  Never leave anything behind.  No trace camping is the rule.

What really made the trip for me was the run to Lower Calf Creek Falls early in the morning.  It’s less than 3.5 miles each way, so I managed to run to the falls and back in less than 90 minutes.  It’s supposed to be a 90 minute walk each way.   If you do the hike early in the morning, you avoid all the heat.  The steep canyon walls shade you from any direct sunlight.

The colors of the canyon walls with the morning sunrise was beautiful.  The evening sun set would have been equally as beautiful.

Bring your camera and pack some food and water.  You will not be dissappointed with the hike.  It’s a moderate to difficult hike for most people.  If you are in shape, it’s easy.

Get the Benchmark Road Atlas from Amazon to help navigate through all the byways and highways of Utah.  I get a Benchmark Atlas for every state that I travel in.  They pay for themselves in a day if you disperse camp.

Austin, Nevada Main Street

In 2004, my family loaded up our 1991 Honda Accord station wagon and traveled west to Colorado.  Since I am adventurous by nature, I did not want to travel on busy freeways  and highways.  My wife and I chose US Highway 50 duly noted as the Loneliest Highway In The USA.  It’s quiet because there are no major attractions on the way except the magnificent beauty of the endless mountain ranges that cover the state of Nevada.  However, it’s far from lonely when start noticing other people traveling through the state to see how lonely it is.  I have seen bicyclist, RVs, motorcycles, and an occasional bicycle making the wonderful trek through Nevada.  You may think that Nevada is one big waste land of dry desert.   It probably has more mountain ranges than any other state in Lower 50.  The Loneliest Highway in the USA cuts through at least a dozen mountain ranges and offers panoramic views across the entire state.  It even boasts Great Basin National Park at the East end of the state that is a rare treasure worth visiting.

Why Drive US Through Nevada?

Our first stop for a break is usually in the city of  Fallon for a quick breakfast or lunch.  Fallon has a good sized Walmart for you to purchase camping gear and fill the cooler with ice and last minute food items.  You will not find a decent size grocery store until you arrive at Ely.  It has a nice city park with a playground.  My boys still love running around in city parks.  Another favorite place to stop and gawk is sand dune hills recreation area.  Out in the middle of no where are these giant sand dunes that people ride motorcycles, atvs, and 4x4s.  The kids love it!

I find it so fascinating to visit historical towns that are not tourist traps.  The the few owns that you drive through are real operating western towns that make you feel as if you are traveling backwards in time.  Austin is one of these wonderful places worth stopping at.  There is a nice city park located on the west end of the town that has a swimming pool and picnic table to eat at.  We have never been able to use the swimming pool as we usually arrive on Sunday.  I have never seen a no camping sign in the city park.  It would not hurt to ask.

The small town of Austin is where we usually make our first official night for camping at Bob Scott campground.   When you first arrive to Austin, it has an almost ghost town like feel for it.  There is an old hotel that has an operational bar, an Episcopal church, a Catholic church, and  a Methodist church.

The town is almost built on a cliff or at least the side of a mountain.  There is nothing level in the entire city.  If you rolled a ball from the east end of main street to the west end, it would roll very fast.  However, main street it too windy to even attempt this.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

123►

The fun does not stop at Austin.  There is still Eureka, Ely, Garnet Hill, and Great Basin National Park to visit.  On 2 separate occasions, my wife requested to spend a day digging for garnets at Garnet Hill.  Even though the day time temperatures were always hot, it was always worth our time to find garnets.  If you are a rock hound, this is the place to go.

The infamous shoe tree is another favorite break for us.  Some one had a great idea and threw a shoe up in an old tree.  Other people copied the idea and now there are hundreds of old shoes hanging from the tree.

We had a wonderful time camping at Wallowa Lake Campground in the Wallowa Mountains.  However, we sure missed the peace and quiet of dispersed camping in the national forest.  We washed our clothes, scrubbed and showered our bodies and decided that we  had enough of the amenities of Oregon State Park Campgrounds.

We opted for a trip to the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway.  We had no idea where we were going to sleep.  When you choose to go the dispersed route, you never let things like not having a campsite bother you.

Our van is our traveling hotel.  I carry 5 gallon plastic Coleman water jug and a Big Berkey water filtration system to keep us hydrated.  Water is more important than food.  As long as there is a small place to pull into that is almost level, we can sleep.

We found the Lick Creek campground by turning off of what we thought was an old forest road.  It looked like a nice place to camp because it was right on the creek.  We were so excited to finding the perfect campsite until we saw FEE AREA sign.  Good thing it was only $3 to camp here.  There is nothing like having bubbling creek to sleep by at night.  Salmon were swimming in the creek as it was spawning season.  We had the entire campground to ourselves.

I went on an early morning run and found an unoccupied and abandoned National Forest house about 1/4 mile from the campground.

If you like a campground, we never mind paying a small fee.  However, paying $22-$30 a night really cuts into your budget when you are on the road for a long time.

Directions:

From Enterprise, Oregon travel south on Oregon State 82 to Joseph for about 6.5 miles; In Joseph turn left on Oregon State 350 for about 8 miles; Turn right on the Wallowa Loop Road (also known as the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway); Travel on this road which eventually becomes Forest Road 39 for 16 miles. The campground is on the left after the Lick Creek crossing.

Advisory: The scenic byway is usually closed by snow from late October through late May or early June and is not passable with motor vehicles.

My impressions of the campground was much different.  When I arrived at Lost Lake, I was taken back by the beauty of the dense forest and how secluded it felt.   Wild huckleberries were growing everywhere.  You could literally sit in an area and eat them without moving. This place is a remote mountain retreat that is worth visiting.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how private most of the campsites were.  I did not see any luxuries like I thought I heard the guy talking about.   The running water was  cold.  There were stove pipe outhouses.  The camp store has a showering facility that charges $3 for a nice hot shower.  We carry a solar shower bag and save the $12 it would cost our family for showers.

The resort that is separate from the campground.  Campers can shop at the tiny grocery store and rent boats and flotation devices.  We bought 2 inflatable tubes for our boys to play around in.  Surprisingly, their prices were comparable to Walmart.

We ended up camping there not because of the resort amenities, but because we needed a place to camp for the night.  We wanted to camp in an area that offered beauty and solitude.  It seemed like a short distance on the map from the main road.   Driving the winding mountain road was not easy-even in my all wheel drive Subaru.

Camping is getting  expensive.  The cheapest campsite at Lost Lake is $25 for a tent site.  I did not see much difference between the tent or rv sites as both had water and no electricity.  It must have been the size of the parking space.

If you want to save money on the campsite, Lost Lake has an incredible day use area located right on the lake that for time being is free.   It has picnic tables, water, and is shady.  We spent 2 full days in the day use areas lounging by the lake and returned to our campsite to sleep.  If we ever return to this place, we will find some free nearby dispersed camping in the national forest and take advantage of the day use area.

The nights are cold at Lost Lake.  Make sure that you have a warm sleeping bag.  Amazon, LL Bean, Back Country, and REI have some great deals on sleeping bags.  My down bag kept me warm on the cold nights.

Hart mountain is really off the beaten path.  It’s not on the way to or from anywhere.  You have to make it a point to drive there.  The gravel roads can be bumpy when driving up or down the mountain grade.  Hart mountain is located on top a high plateau with steep cliffs.  The drive up gives you beautiful views of the watershed below.  My kids said it was like being on an African Safari in the savannas.  How they knew this is beyond me because we have never been to Africa.

The area boast 2 natural hot springs which we really enjoy.  One of the springs is developed.  You sit or stand inside a large open air tub.  The hot spring rests in a field a few hundred feet away and is not visible nor marked.  Both are wonderful.

Other than a basic visitors center with a small museum,  there are no services such as electricity and running water at the campgrounds.   Camping at Hart Mountain is primitive at best.  There a few clean stove pipe outhouse toilets.  Don’t expect picnic tables and fire rings either.  This is bush camping.  Drinking water is available at refuge headquarters. Camping is on a first-come, first-served basis. There are no reservations and no camping fees.  This is my kind of camping.

When we pulled into the camping area with our old white cargo van, we were surrounded by a group of Land Rovers with tents on the roofs.  The people belonged to Land Rover club that hunts deer and antelope with bow and arrows.  This fascinated my wife who now is determined for me to become skilled in archery.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

12345►