Category Archives: Boondocking

Birding, Boondocking, Camping, Nature, Travel

Wild Horses And Wildlife Refuges

April 4, 2015 Keevan 8 Comments

Happy Easter!

Desert National Wildlife Refuge:

We hadn’t planned on backtracking, but after talking with and exchanging information with some fellow nomads, we realize there are a few more places we want to visit before leaving this part of Nevada.

We head off to Desert National Wildlife Refuge…Five long washboarded dirt and gravel road miles, and arrive late enough that it is really too late to see much. DNWF makes it clear that dry camping is allowable on the back roads of the refuge, so we find us a lovely spot, watch the sunset, and retire, so we can get going early enough the next morning to be able to hike a couple of trails before it warms up too much, and while the birds are most active.

It’s a beautiful place, a true oasis in the middle of the desert. Most of the back country requires a 4 wheel drive to crisscross the mountains and dirt roads, and although our Van has pretty high clearance, we decide not to take her on any more bumpy rides, after all the work we put into her this past winter.

We spend the morning around Corn Creek instead. Tall Cottonwoods, native shrubbery, ponds, walkways, trails, and lush green meadows surround a beautiful new visitor center. We hike on some of the trails, and enjoy a slow and easy time of it. It’s very relaxing to just hang out and enjoy the wildlife here. We meet a photographer from Massachusetts, exchange bird information, and spend much time chatting away the morning.

So many birds are busy building nests now! They are flying to and fro carrying all sorts of materials. This little Verdin has quite a mouthful!

We continue to laze around here until it starts to heat up and all is quiet in the woods.

Cold Creek Village

After making it back out and off of that horrible washboard road, (which evidently is about to get paved) we drive a few miles up the highway and take a left turn up Cold Creek Road.

This is an interesting area – the entire village of Cold Creek is off grid. The off grid homes are not just little cabins, but real substantial sized houses, all with solar panels mounted on roofs. The surrounding area is a large ATV riding area. And it is also a quaint community where wild horses roam freely.

We find it to be a beautiful valley, with snow covered peaks rising up from the desert floor.

These Wild Horses here seem much more tame than other wild horses we’ve seen. Surely they interact with the people who live in the Cold Creek community.

Of course there are signs posted asking visitors not to feed them, but there is evidence that they do get handouts, and they act like they are used to at least occasionally getting treats from someone.

Pretty hard to resist those eyes and soft noses.

No treats from us, but I did get to rub a few of those noses.

It’s the middle of the day while we visit, and mostly the horses are pretty quiet, but we do find a few youngsters a bit more frisky.

Nothing like wild horses in the desert mountains!

Ash Meadows Wildlife Refuge:

Finally we wander into Ash Meadows Wildlife Refuge, on the southern border of the huge Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex. On the northeast corner of the DNWF is where Pahranagat National Refuge is located. Remember, we were there last week.

We are surprised by yet another oasis, rare fish living in the spring water here, and more large reservoirs of water. Where does all this water come from?? I thought deserts didn’t have water!

We mostly drive around these reservoirs, then pull up to the visitor center, after it is closed for the day, and enjoy a picnic dinner all alone enjoying a lovely dusk as evening befalls us.

Shall I say how surprised we are, that we are loving this part of Nevada so much.

After all, we are just a stone’s throw away from Yucca Mountain, and the largest military Nuclear testing site in the West.

But that’s another story… ❧

Boondocking, Nature, Travel

Valley of Fire

March 22, 2015 Keevan 3 Comments

Valley of Fire

Since we’ve been exploring “other” areas of the Mojave Desert, we decide to visit the area north of Las Vegas, in Nevada.

On the route northward, we camp along the Colorado River, and plan on camping in Lake Mead Recreational Area. Hoo Boy, when we arrive, we find out it is Spring break here, and all Nevadan’s it seems, take their break around this lake and river.

Where else would one go I guess, if one lives in Nevada?

A little creativity, some solid research, and a bit of luck, lands us a few hidden gems for some out of the way spots to spend a few nights.

After long stretches of Creosote bush and low lying desert scrub, bypassing the lower end of Lake Mead, we instead drive the scenic back road to Valley of Fire State Park.

Ooh la la…Here it seems, is where all the Beauty of this vast and lonely state wound up eons ago.

Large mountains of red sandstone formations formed from ancient sand dunes, stand majestically against brilliant golden hues.

Imagine dinosaurs roaming here, and later Anasazi Indians gathering and hunting these canyons. The later leaving their artwork on the rock cliffs.

In more modern times, “bad” guys hid from the law in the last century, in these same box canyons, which I’m sure hold untold secrets and some rip roaring stories unknown to us present day nomads.

We meet our first Chuckwalla!!

He does look dinosaur-ish, doesn’t he?

We don’t camp in the park, the campgrounds are taken over by humongous motor homes, all with power cords leading to I wonder where? There is only one tent in the entire upper loop of the park.

We go back to our hidden jewell at night time, and enjoy the park during the day.

Before leaving we meet this little tyke…not very dinosaur looking, but awfully cute.

❧

Boondocking, Campervan, Camping, Nature, Travel

Alabama Hills Of The West

December 9, 2014 Keevan 6 Comments

Leaving the Big City Lights, we were looking forward to Death Valley National Park.

But really, it just didn’t do much for us after everywhere we’ve been. And the campgrounds there…well what can I say, they were pretty much dusty, graveled parking lots with wall to wall people.

I guess it’s a popular spot for this time of year.

We couldn’t bring ourselves to camp in this situation, so we just kept going.

We drove to Lone Pine, a little town above the pitiful remains of Owens Lake, on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

We had heard about the Alabama Hills, where so many movies have been made, they named the road there, ingeniously “Movie Road.” According to local lore, over 400 hollywood movies have been filmed in these hills.

Were we ever wowed when we drove in, just hoping to find a place to sleep for the night! Boulders and mountains and lots of open spaces with views to die for.

Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the continental United States with a summit of 14, 505 feet, was what we saw from our van door here! This is actually the back side of Whitney, seen from the east. How majestic her grandeur.

We felt pretty humbled and privileged to be camped here. To think that the likes of John Wayne to Johnny Depp have left their footprints here in the dust, and may have camped in the exact spot we did. (Well – probably not this exact spot, but maybe close by.)

Not a bad spot for morning coffee and breakfast. My own “John/ny” cooking up some yummy grub.

I wonder how much you would have to pay for a kitchen window with this view??

I wish I could say this was us, jogging along the road, but we enjoyed the view just as much while casually walking along behind these lucky folks who obviously run here often.

Another time when it’s just really hard to pull away…

We’ll be back here again.

❧

PS…For those who care, I am now officially caught up and current on this blog!!!

Boondocking, Camping, Nature, Simple Living, Travel, Van Living

California

December 7, 2014 Keevan Leave a comment

We just can’t leave the desert behind.

Here we find ourselves in the Mohave National Preserve back in California. We always love the Mohave for it’s peacefulness and lack of crowds. This shot above was our camping spot for the night, nestled in among the Joshua trees, but ouch, the temperatures just keep getting colder and colder.

When we finally woke up to a couple of inches of ice in Pia’s dog dish, we decided it was time to make some serious miles. But it was Thanksgiving weekend, and we wanted to both enjoy a bit of indulgence and avoid the highways full of traffic.

So we headed over to Las Vegas, Nevada, where there was plenty of action and a nice big Whole Foods Market, with a delicious Thanksgiving buffet all set up in their hot food bar.

We spent our first ever night sleeping in a casino parking lot, which was actually pretty quiet and secure feeling.

We took a Thanksgiving Day Drive and Hike around Red Rock Canyon Wilderness Preserve just outside of Las Vegas.

Signs all over the place said to watch out for wild horses and burros. And to be cautious of tortoise crossing, but no luck today…we didn’t see any of the above. But the rocks and trails were awesome.

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all.

❧

Boondocking, Campervan, Camping, Nature, Travel

Crisscrossing New Mexico

November 13, 2014 Keevan 2 Comments

9/24/14 – 9/28/14

Back into Taos, we tried re-charging the A/C. It did’t do the trick, so we had someone look at it, who spent quite a few hours on it and traced it back to the relay under the dash. The part we needed had to be ordered by a Volkswagon dealer and had to come from Dallas, Texas. It had to be paid for in person, before anyone would order it. We had to go to Albuerque or Santa Fe. No brainer. We headed to Santa Fe.

Not a bad town to wait for a part. We enjoyed the plaza and native artists selling their wares. We bought a few gifts, did some sightseeing, and delighted in some New Mexico fall colors.

When the part arrived, we picked it up, quickly installed it, and ta-da…had cold air blasting into the cab.

To try out our refreshing luxury, we moseyed over to Bandelier National Park. Mostly we needed a place to camp for the night, and the park was handy.

A peaceful setting to enjoy the evening and early morning.

Some interesting campers were also visiting. In fact a lot of these Western Bluebirds were camping along side of us.

This Northern Flicker and White-breasted Nuthatch didn’t mind sharing a site.

Pretty sure this was a Merlin watching over the entire loop.

We moved on after these visitors left and lots of the two legged type moved in. (It was a weekend.)

Found this place a little quieter and more to our liking up a forest service road. Room for Pia to run and play, and plenty of New Mexico sunshine for the solar panel.

Some of these Bluebirds thought so too, as they followed us to our new camping spot.

img_7757-version-2 (1)

We drove by and visited Valles Caldera National Preserve.

It was a beautiful valley, but there was no place to spend the night. We inched our way around the Jemez mountains.

A quiet walk in the Santa Fe National Forest.

Nature’s sculpture…

And yet another lovely peaceful camping spot, thanks to the forest service folks for maintaining their roads.

The countryside changes abruptly.

Emerging out of the forest and into Jemez Pueblo.

It was about here when our air conditioner quit working again…

❧

Boondocking, Camping, Nature, Travel

Respite Along The Rio Grande

November 11, 2014 Keevan Leave a comment

9/21/14

Somewhere between Farmington and Taos on a quite warm day, our air conditioner quit working…

We rolled down the windows, endured the warm breeze, quit talking to each other, due to the loud road noise, and became a bit crabby. By the time we pulled into Taos, it was rush hour, cars were sitting still in every lane and the lights were all red and lasted forever. It was Friday, and also unseasonably hot for Taos.

Instead of a gentle stroll along the plaza as planned, we really just wanted to find a place to stop and camp, so we left town shortly after arriving, heading up the mountain to cooler pastures, on which the map showed numerous campgrounds. It didn’t take us long to learn that the forest service had closed all those campgrounds for the season, just two days ago.

We kept driving until it got very dark, when around a corner we went, and met in the middle of a very dark two lane country road, two very big and very all BLACK cows just standing right smack in the middle of that dark road. It was a very very near miss, which could have resulted in a very bad disaster for both us and the cows.

But calamity was averted, thanks to the fact that the road had no one coming in the other direction. Whew, it really was time to stop. So in the very next, very little, very dark town of Angel Fire…we found of all things a Visitor Center. Well, we certainly were visitors, and we needed some centering. We did what any logical wandering nomad would do, and found a far little corner, hunkered down in the parking lot, and turned in for the night.

All was well the next morning, never a soul did we see before departing to journey further along the very scenic drive in the Carson National Forest. It was foggy. Really foggy. So foggy, we didn’t see the very scenic drive until around noon.

The sun did finally come out, and the sun did shine. It was warm again. But happily, we found ourselves parked along the mighty Rio Grande River, high above the Rio Grande Gorge. I wanted to hike to the bottom. Glad we took the easy trail. It was pretty rugged, I could only imagine what the challenging and difficult trails were like. But it was a lovely hike down and awesome to be on the Rio Grande River.

While lingering at the water’s edge, Fred and I both at the same time spotted a huge mountain sheep across the river high up on the cliff. Then we spotted another and another. There were seven altogether, and we watched them for a long while, while enjoying the rolling river and expansive views. As we started back up the ascent, the sheep started their own descent. It was amazing to watch them sure-footedly going down the rocky cliff and gravely trail. We humans were so carefully picking our boulders, and placing our feet, while they were almost as graceful as ballerinas on tiptoes.

We stopped near the top for water and power bars, and watched them again for another hour or so.

Of course I took lots of photos and got some really great shots. But somewhere along the way, I either lost the memory card, or accidentally deleted it, because it is now nowhere to be found.

After our exciting day with the sheep, we lucked out and found a wonderful campground in the Wild Rivers Recreation Area. This one was operated by the BLM who managed to keep it open.

Peace at last.

And a comfy, quiet evening under huge cloud filled skies. And no it didn’t rain. Yet.

❧

Boondocking, Nature, Simple Living, Travel

Wandering Along The St. Joe

August 18, 2014 Keevan 2 Comments

8/4/14 – 8/5/14

Leaving Idaho, we pulled ourselves away from Harrison and the Osprey, and passed by St. Maries, where we wandered along the gorgeous St. Joe River.

Even though campgrounds line the river, many were full of campers / aka fishermen enjoying some fishing.

As night was fast falling, we were kind of grumpily looking for a nice little spot, when we came across a dirt road pullout with two campfire rings right on the river. We pulled in, set up, ate some quick dinner, and settled in until morning.

Rugged mountains, clear flowing water, and many colors of beautiful rocks greeted us along with the morning sun.

We walked the river, enjoyed the scenery, collected some rocks, guessed what they were, and wondered about minerals.

At one point in life, we would have hauled this bounty of collected rocks around with us, and taken them home for memories. Now, after learning to enjoy life with less stuff, we created a sacred circle of the rocks on top of a stump and left them for the next person to enjoy, or for Mother Nature to take back to the river with next winter’s storms and flooding river banks. We’re learning to enjoy the beauty of the moment, without having to possess it’s artifacts.

Growing right along a path, where back country hikers travel off the main trail to camp in this same spot, we found this delicate little beauty, Monotropa hypopithys.

And lots of these purple Asters.

Languishing in the Beauty, we eventually packed up and continued down the highway, which, by the way, turned into gravel the moment we crossed the Montana border. Stopping for a toilet break at the next camping spot we were gently reminded that we were now entering GRIZZLY country.

I really hope that a hunter out hunting bear knows the difference between a black bear and a Grizz, but I suppose unfortunately there are some hunters out there that really don’t know. Anyway, I really enjoy these signs posted everywhere. They are educational for the rest of us!

❧

Boondocking, Travel

From Desert to Water

August 2, 2014 Keevan 3 Comments

Campfire ring with sunset behind mountains — Desert Boondocking

Driving through the Nevada emptiness, we turn off the highway and follow some sketchy directions found on the internet, following miles and miles of gravel roads in search of a cool spot to camp. We arrive at this quaint little used spot along a creek, complete with shade and a very quiet and level camping site. It’s 100 degrees out, but here by the water, we are cozy and comfortable. Lucky Day.

The drive through southern Idaho along the Little Salmon River is beautiful and scenic. We spend a night at a campground outside of McCall. We quickly visit the town of McCall before heading out, but I couldn’t recognize it at all, remembering it just a bit from visiting friends there long, long ago.

We drive past lush green meadows, alive and vibrant, home to what seem to be REALLY happy looking cows. Velvet green forests blanket the hills, there’s water everywhere. Rivers, streams, creeks, and waterfalls. The land is beautiful, as I remember.

We pass steep rocky mountains populated with miles of pine trees, and little old log cabins dotting the hillsides. It’s July. The bottomlands are green, the treeless hills are brown. There’s an odd mixture of remnants of old homesteads, scattered among rusty metal industrial trash, peppered with modern new lodges catering to the tourists with dollars dangling from deep pockets.

Nearing the Northern panhandle, (that skinny little arm of Idaho) the landscape changes from rolling wheat fields back to forested mountains. I’m lost. The towns I remember no longer exist. The little smoke shops and general stores are nowhere to be seen. In their place are many, many new shiny metal thrown up buildings, and huge made to look old cabin style resort structures. The little winding two lane highway I drove daily, has been replaced by a mega four lane freeway.

I can’t even find the road that I once lived on. The tribal buildings are monolithic. The casino stands stately in the field.

Finally arriving south of Coeur d’ Alene, there is a yacht club where once a simple restaurant lived. I have memories of my co-worker and friend, who lived south along the highway, boating to work, because she could never drive the little snow covered road. Now, another friend tells me, it takes her about ten minutes in the winter, and the drive is a breeze.

The downtown area has been completely rebuilt. Mazes of new buildings, high rises, and hip little shops line the once simple main street.

I feel like I’ve been left in “Happy Days”, while the town fast forwarded into some futuristic movie. It’s been 33 years since I’ve lived here, and even the brief visits since, seem foggy.

View of Coeur d'Alene Lake from Beauty Bay — Coeur d’Alene Lake

It is still as gorgeous as ever. And I feel like I am finding a bit of my heart, left here, many, many years ago. So much love, so much sadness, much growth and introspection took place in these mountains and along the lake edges when I was young.

Memories have faded, but it is wonderful being back!

Boondocking, Campervan, Camping, Travel, Van Living

Camping Woes and Elk

June 30, 2014 Keevan Leave a comment

Finding spots along the coast to spend the night has been a bit of a challenge. Since we never really know where we are going to be, it’s hard to make reservations in advance for a campground. Especially the state parks are usually full at this time of the year. There’s not much forest land along the coast either for U.S. Forest Service campgrounds, (which we prefer) or dispersed camping on National Forest land. Weekends in particular are impossible since that’s when most of the public goes camping!

Having our bed in the back of our van makes it possible for us to take cover and sleep in some interesting places.

We generally tend to avoid rest areas, since they tend to be extremely noisy being near highways and full of big trucks keeping their refrigerator units going all night long. But it just so happens that somewhere above Arcata, and below Cresent City, there is a very beautiful, very quiet, very clean Rest Area. And as long as you don’t stay longer than ten hours at a time, it is perfectly legal to sleep there. We very rarely EVER sleep more than ten hours!!

Leaving early in the morning, we were rewarded with this peaceful sight of relaxing Roosevelt elk.

And this big fellow, watching over the ladies while munching his morning chow.

Roosevelt elk (according to wikipedia) are the largest of the four subspecies of elk found in North America. Such a beautiful sight they are.

They don’t seem to have a problem finding a place to bed down. They are protected here from being hunted, so long as they stay on state property!

Our lack of planning in our travels leads to much spontaneity and many delights such as this. Sleeping in a Rest Area makes it all worth while when we get to wake up and greet the day this way!

❧

We really enjoyed Cresent City, spending time along the beach and pier watching the shore birds. There were more Black Oystercatchers nesting, Canada Geese, Cormorants, and of course lots of seagulls.

A bit sad to leave the coast, but inching up and inland to visit our good friend in Redmond, Oregon is the goal. Moving inland will also hopefully make finding camping spots a bit easier.

❧

Boondocking, Camping, Simple Living, Travel, Van Living

Cruising Westward

June 10, 2014 Keevan 2 Comments

Leaving Utah Behind

After overloading on so much National Parkitis, we were ready for a little relaxation. The Parks in Utah are really magnificent, but there really is a limit, and taking in so many beautiful vistas in one trip results in a touch of scenic wonder overdose.

The fact is that Memorial Day weekend, a major holiday celebrated in huge fashion around the Moab area, combined with a storm front moving into town, had us looking at the map again. We wanted to spend one more night in the desert outside of Moab, but were concerned about rain on the very sandy roads we were camping on. Checking the weather over and over again, the weather people assured us no more rain would be occurring until mid-day on Friday.

We believed them.

Suckers we were!!!

We awoke at 4:00 a.m. to the pitter patter of raindrops falling on little Ms. Keevan. We discussed staying, we discussed going. We both tossed and turned in bed. The saying goes, if it rains, and you are on back roads in the desert, be prepared to stay put put for day or so, until the rain soaks in and the roads are once again dry and drivable. We had already decided to move on, and really didn’t want to stay put in the muck for a few days. Back and forth went the discussion, until finally at 4:15, we got up, dressed, threw everything on the bed, pulled the top down, and beat like heck, slipping and sliding out, all the way to the highway.

We drove, trying to get ahead of the rain, which was more of a downpour than a shower, the entire width of the state to western Utah, where we happily camped on dry BLM land with another great view.

The next morning we made our way into eastern Nevada, where we found the most desirable of forest service campgrounds, with lots of “NO ATV’s” on sign posts. Ah bless these parks gods from heaven. Just my type of people. We spent a couple of days at Ward Mountain Campground unwinding, relaxing, reading, and taking a lovely hike through the junipers and pinyon pine forests.

Through the Wastelands

Nevada. Now Central Nevada is it’s own character for sure. So much nothingness! And in between the nothingness, is missile testing sites, heaped up junkyards, and half filled pee bottles strewn along the highway. Mountain ranges separated by vast flatlands.

Sounds pretty destitute for sure, but in a way it was relaxing, so much nothingness, after so much everythingness of parks, rocks, beauty, tourists, visitor centers, and overpriced souvenirs.

But here’s the real story. When we went with the flow of the nothingness of Nevada, it all came to life!

First we came across a large band of Bighorn Sheep!! Not two or three mind you, but at least a hundred of them. So close to the road, we could tell the rams from the ewes. (By the horns, is how you tell.) They were so amazingly awesome!

Next, after alternately looking for wildlife and reading my magazine, I spot a lone Pronghorn Antelope!

And if that’s not enough, tooling down the highway, over yonder, we start spotting small herds of wild horses! Yes, those horses. The famous herds of wild horses of Nevada.

O.k. no more wonders of all wonders please!! We need to start looking for a place to sleep for the night, the shadows are getting long, and the sky is dimming. The last mountain range we pass over is the last bit of forest land for a long while, so we’re looking hard for a dirt road to turn off on. I spot one off to the side. Fred does a u-turn, and we turn in to check it out.

Driving slowly over the bumps and lava rocks we come around a bend, and shhh…”Fred, there’s a horse, right there!” And another, and another, and a young baby in the herd. A beautiful palomino. A Big Black. Wow.

This is where we’re camping.

Another wow. This is the view out our door tonight. Dreams of slumber overcome us.

Life is Good. There is beauty everywhere. We just have to allow it in.

❧

Keevan Soul