Tag: National Forests

Wind River Range, Wyoming

After we left the Tetons I really wanted to go check out the Wind River Range. I had planned a backpacking trip to the Cirque of Towers(Google some pictures!) years before and it didn’t end up happening. So this was my chance to get a look. We stopped at Rim Station for a night on the way to dump, shower, and refill our water and propane (The only night we’ve paid for in over a month now!). It was a nice park right on the border of the national forest. From there we drove into Pinedale to stock up on groceries again.

From there it was back to the boondocks 🙂 We stayed at a spot about half way up Skyline Dr(740) and the road lives up to it’s name with some pretty spectacular views. Our spot was at the Nordic Ski area, during the summer there are 5 to 7 spots there all very well spread out and several of them would fit almost anything. I found the spot indirectly through FreeCampsites.net. The road was mentioned as having nicer spots than down by the lake. We confirmed this with the ranger whose station is actually on the way up(convenient or what?). Even better it’s a paved road all the way up to the nordic ski area (and beyond to Trails End), then it’s a good dirt road. Unfortunately there was construction along Skyline Dr but the delay wasn’t more then 10 minutes and you couldn’t hear it from the spot.

After getting situated we decided to ride our bikes up to Trails End. It was a long uphill ride but the views were spectacular. It took us about two hours to ride up and about 15 minutes down. I forgot to start my GPS but I’m pretty sure we hit 35-40 mph, it was amazing. The next day we went back up to Trails End to do some hiking. Again the views were stunning, much like the Tetons but with a lot fewer people. The forest can be difficult to access so it’s mostly backpackers in the area and even then the trail-heads are usually down long gravel roads. Luckily not the case on Skyline Dr.

However the next day we drove about an hour from 191 to 352 and finally to 650 to get to another trailhead where you can hike some of the CDT(Continental Divide Trail). 650 is a 10 mile gravel road that runs along the Green River all the way to green river lakes. There are boondocking spots all along both 650 and 600 also, with many on the river. From there you can hike the CDT to views of Flat Top a stunning mountain with a…… flat top. The view across the lake and on to Flat Top is on the cover of the map for this ranger district if that tells you anything. Speaking of maps, whatever you do, do not buy the official map for this ranger district. It was next to useless Benchmark Wyoming book had much(much!) more detail. None of the trails in the wilderness area were on the map?? Also be aware that the maps at the trailhead list the trail numbers but on the trail they have names?? Anyways we were able to find our way despite all of that.

I will definitely be coming back to the Wind River Range, I still haven’t done the hike to the Cirque de Towers. It was too cold to go without getting a new sleeping bag for Victoria (I ended up buying a used Western Mountaineering bag in Moab for $150!). If you like to hike or backpack this has to be one of the premier areas in the country. Plus since it’s a National Forest we can take our dog with us. Yes she can hike 10-15 miles a day in the mountains no problem.

Up next Dinosaur National Monument.

Redwood National and State Parks

Firstly you might wonder why it is called a National AND State Parks, this is because the National Park was not formed until 1968. However prior to that a large portion of the area was state parks. Now it is managed jointly by the National Park Service and California State Parks, hence the name.

Since only days before we arrived here we were in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park viewing the redwoods family member, the sequoia, you may wonder what is the difference between the two species of giant trees. The first major difference is where they grow, the sequoia only grow on the western slopes of the Sierra Mountains between 4,000 and 7,000 ft of elevation and the Redwood only grow in the coastal areas of Northern California, along with a few miles into southern Oregon. Giant Redwoods live up to 2000 years, grow up to 380 ft tall, have bark up to 12 in thick, and a diameter of up to 30 ft. In contrast a Sequoia can live up to 3000 years, grow up to 300 ft, have bark up to 3 ft thick, and also grow to a diameter of up to 30 ft. The Giant Redwood are the tallest trees in the world but on the other hand the Sequoias are the largest trees in the world by volume. This is because the sequoias carry their girth almost the full height while redwoods taper more. Either of them can have branches that are as big as the truck of a regular large tree. On average, in my experience, the redwoods tend to be taller while the sequoias have a larger diameter.

The two parks are in quite different ecosystems as mention above, Redwood National Park runs along the beautiful northern California coast while Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are in the stunning Sierra mountains. What this means in practice is that there is a lot more “civilization” surrounding Redwood Nation Park. Both have national forests nearby but it would be a longer drive to boondock in one near Redwood NP. The road to Redwood NP, while a bit windy and hilly, is nothing compared to the roads leading into Sequoia-Kings Canyon NP.

This also means in general that the hiking in Redwood NP is much less strenuous. You can also hike along up and down the coast which could make for a very unique backpacking trip. We hiked the James Irvine trail to the coast, then down the coast for a mile, and the took the Miners Ridge trail to loop back to our car at the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park visitors center. It was a perfect day hike in that we got to see a number of ecosystems in ~8 miles and were able to make it a loop. There were also a number of short hikes right off the road that were very nice also. At this point I should also mention that simply driving Highway 101 will provide you with some beautiful scenery, huge trees, and the opportunity to see some gray whales.

As far as my perspective on the trees themselves I found the sequoias to be individually more impressive. Go back and look at the picture of me on the stump in that post or the picture of the tree that was used as a HOUSE for example! However collectively I thought the Redwood forest was more impressive. This was because while the sequoias seemed to be scattered here and there, the redwoods dominated the forest. We hiked and drove for miles and miles all while being surrounded by a majority of redwood trees. Either way both parks are recommended, neither more than the other. It simply depends on what your looking for. If you want to go backpacking I’d say Sequoia-Kings Canyon NP would be the choice. If you’d prefer to stay in a cabin or with full hookups in your rv and tour by car I’d recommended Redwood NP. Redwood NP also tends to be more temperate, while they were getting snow in Sequoia-Kings Canyon NP we were enjoying 60 to 80 degree days. Both parks will blow your mind.

We decided to stay at Elk Country RV Resort and Campground which was just outside of the National Park. We didn’t bother to try to stay in the National or State parks as many of them had restrictions on the size of your rig and had no hookups but cost just as much without being in any better location. We had full hookups and the park was nearly empty. The elk in their name is no joke, at any point in time you might look out and see 20 of them chowing down in the prairie. I also saw a fox and a skunk while walking around at night. Thankfully the skunk turned and ran as soon as he saw me. They had two different areas you could choose from to camp (it used to be two different campgrounds). One was in a heavily forested area and the other was a wide open field. We chose the forested area, of course, but to each their own.

Although the owner seemed like a nice enough guy, he was a bit of moron. Even though Victoria, I, and the few other campers who were there(including two of his camp hosts!) we were unable to get onto the advertised free WiFi for our entire stay. He continued to insist that since it worked on his phone there was nothing wrong with it. So if you need WiFi avoid this park(and be sure to let them know why, maybe he’ll get the message ;). With Verizon I did have both voice and data(as usual) while Victoria with AT&T did not(as usual).

Elk Country RV Resort and Campground
216 Idlewood Lane Trinidad, California 95570
Phone: +1 707 488 2181
Email: info@elkcountryrvresort.com

P.S. Be sure to check out our previous post about Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park for more information and some very cool pictures.

What is “Boondocking” and what do you need?

Two roof mounted panels
My Two 100 Watt solar panels mounted on the roof of our fifth wheel.

So before we left I had some additional equipment installed to allow us to boondock fairly comfortably. Your probably wondering what boondocking is. It basically camping without the usual hookups you get if you stay in a developed camp (Water, Electric, Sewer). Boondocking opens up where you can stay tremendously including National Parks, National Forests, BLM Land, and even Walmart parking lots if necessary. In most National Forests and BLM lands and many other types of wilderness you are allowed to camp any where as long as you are off the road. This allows you to not only save money(it’s usually free) but also gets you out of the sometimes crowded and loud campgrounds. There are also many “Primitive” campgrounds in these parks that allow RV’s but don’t have hookups. Being able to stay in those can be a real boon when the regular campgrounds are booked up.

The first items I had installed were two 200 watt solar panels along with a MPPT solar charge controller. This allows us to charge our batteries while camping without an electric hookup. This is important if you enjoy such things as lights. Another option for this that a lot of people go with is a generator. However they are loud, need regular maintenance, and have to be watched while running. The solar panels on the other hand need almost no maintenance (A wipe down periodically), are completely silent, and are fully automatic. The disadvantage is of course that they only work while the sun is up and to match the capacity of a large generator you would need a LOT of solar. Instead we plan to ration our electric “budget.” I do have a very small generator my dad gave me for backup if we have several days of overcast but we are not relying on it.

The panels I had installed were purchased as a kit from Amazon(there is a link below if your interested). The reason I chose to go with two 100 watt panels was because we currently have room for two batteries. A rule of thumb is to have one watt per amp hour of battery storage. The price on solar panels has come down drastically in the past few years, they are as much as a quarter the price now. This makes it so anyone who has an RV or a sailboat ought to have at least a panel or two.

I also choose to go with an MPPT charge controller versus a PWM because although it is slightly more expensive it is also quite a bit more efficient (as much a 25% in cool weather). They have kits with both types available on Amazon.

Solar panels are the number one item people add to their RV to prepare to boondock. Without them you would be limited to your battery capacity, usually only a day or two, or you could just forgo electrics all together. Considering we have slides that require electricity going without wouldn’t be fun and we want to have the ability to spend up to a week out enjoying solitude. We won’t be doing much boondocking till this summer as we are only spending a day or two in each spot so we can make it out west in a reasonable amount of time. Anyways, if you have any questions about our solar panels, fire away.

Check back in a week or so for part two where I’ll discuss what two other items we had to have before we left to be ready to spend some time outside of developed campgrounds.

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