Lower Lee Vining Campground

After several weeks of "civilization", I found a great national forest campground about 12 miles east of Yosemite via Tioga Pass. In addition to being very peaceful and serene, it's only $7/night with a senior pass.

Nestled amongst the pines

By a babbling brook

Watching the bears... wait, what do they mean "BEARS"

Bunny Ranch

On my way to Virginia City, I passed the entrance to the world famous Bunny Ranch (caution: "R" rated website). I was curious so I drove up to the "ranch". Here's the first sign (literally) that you are not in Kansas anymore...

And just in case you are unaware of the nature of their business...

Then you arrive at the main building...

At this point I figured a "low roller" like myself would be better off continuing on to Virginia City rather than going inside and embarrassing myself in front of a group of young women (I do that enough as it is).

PS - Virginia City is an interesting place but a little too touristy for my taste. However, if you are into browsing/shopping, then you would enjoy the experience.

Roadside Americana

Click on photos to enlarge...

Hot August Nights

Hot August Nights, the largest classic car event in the country, starts this week in Reno and the park is beginning to fill up with "high end" motorhomes and their toys...

As you might expect, the RV parks in the area are raising their prices for the week ($90/night here) so I will be moving to Carson City tomorrow.

Update: I have heard of people finding an original, mint condition vintage car that was stored for years in someone's garage but this is the first time I have actually seen one. According to the owner, this 1953 Chevrolet has only 17,000 miles on the odometer and everything is stock from the factory including the upholstery...

Another classic...

Wildfires

Unfortunately, the wildfires in Oregon and Washington have made travel on the back roads so problematic that I have cancelled my plans to tour the Pacific Northwest this summer. I am currently in Reno, NV where I will be working on a new itinerary over the next couple of days. As I once told Bobby Burns: "the best laid plans of mice and men sometimes go awry". Actually, I said "s**t happens" and he cleaned it up.

Oregon Scenic Highway

Just to get a feel for the area, I drove the truck up Highway 52 to Ukiah and then Highway 51 back to Sumpter. All in all a nice drive through some very pristine wilderness. In some respects, it was like stepping back in time.

Old mining operation

A piece of roadside Americana

I brake for fawns

Sumpter, Oregon

Is a historic gold mining town located in the Elkhorn Mountain Range that I have chosen as my base camp to explore the eastern portion of the state.

Population ~200

Just off main street is the massive Sumpter Valley Dredge which was last used to mine gold in 1954.

Each bucket weighs one ton

In Memory of Bob Micklick

Last Spring I had the good fortunate to pull into a RV site next to Bob "The Gray Fox" Micklick, an avid off-road enthusiast, who had over a million miles in Jeeps and had been coming to Moab since 1967. We became friends and rode together there and again in Arizona that winter. I learned of Bob's passing last night via the following email that I presume was sent to everyone by one of his friends on his behalf...

Adios Amigos,

I have led my last trail,

I have told my last tale,

I have caught my last fish,

and I send my last e-mail.

I departed, peacefully, on my last great journey this morning at 9:13. I leave you with wonderful memories of all the grand trails that we have traveled together over the years. Miss me, but not too much! "Don't Ya know" Keep on Wheelin and enjoy every day to the utmost!

The Gray Fox

4th of July

Jim & Terri, owners of the South-Forty RV Park, had a catered barbecue dinner for the entire park. Great food with good people - not a bad way to spend the fourth of July...

GPicSync

GPicSync is a free, open source software program that automatically inserts location from your gps track log into your digital photos metadata so they can also be used with any 'geocode aware' application like Picasa, Google Earth, Flickr, etc. This allows you to see where the photo was taken on a map. Here is an image that contains photos from a walk around the RV park (click on photo to enlarge)...

Today's Photos

Snow angel in June

Investment property

Gail's gold mine

50 Inch Trails

We rode our RZRs southeast of Marysvale to Paiute Trails 54, 53, 33. Although these trails are black (most difficult) on the map, they are really more like intermediate trails for experienced riders. I like them for their variety; if you don't like what you see now, just wait 15 minutes.

Happy campers

Magnificent aspen forests

Surprise of the day

Moving On Up

Last year Terry and Gail moved to a cozy, one bedroom, no bath fixer-upper southwest of Marysvale. Well, they have been saving their money and this year they are moving to a more spacious, fancier abode...

Although still a one bedroom, it does come with an outdoor bath

Other photos of the day...

It's not easy being on the cutting edge of fashion

This rattlesnake made Terry's day

Power Couple

Terry and Gail drove down from Alpine to ride the Paiute Trail with me. It was a little too windy and cool to be on the trails today so we took the truck up to Fish Lake where Terry had taken family vacations when he was a kid. Here is a photo of the dynamic duo taken in front of the lodge built in 1911...

This area is part of the Old Spanish Trail which was a trade route between Santa Fe, NM and Los Angeles, CA as early as the late 1500s. At one of the pull-offs, there are these metal silhouettes that represent the earlier explorers, trappers and traders...

Critters

Our group decided to take a late afternoon ride up to Barney Lake to try our luck at fishing and to see some deer and elk on our way back. As we are heading up the mountain, Beth spots this sheep/goat on a narrow rock ledge...

At the lake I catch this trophy trout (someone call Guinness World Records)...

And on the way back the group in the lead vehicle saw six elk but they ran into the woods before the rest of us could catch a glimpse of them. However, we did see a whole bunch of deer including this group of eight...

Barney Lake

The mountains of southern Utah offer a pleasant change of scenery after Arizona and Moab. Snow capped peaks, white water streams and beautiful aspen and pine forests are a feast for the eyes. Today, we rode over to Monroe for lunch via Barney Lake...

Custom Trailer

My neighbor designed this unique trailer to haul both his side-by-side and car behind his motorhome without triple towing...

He starts by loading the UTV

Which is winched up to the mezzanine level

And then the car is driven underneath

Rube Goldberg would have been proud.

Paiute Trail #77

We were able to punch our way through the snow drifts at ~11,000 feet which allowed us to make the 77 loop...

And just in case an electromagnetic pulse wiped out our gps, we had our expert guide dog, Chevy, to make sure we did not get lost...

South-Forty RV Park

I am back at the South-Forty RV Park in Marysvale, UT. In my opinion, this is the best location for exploring the Paiute Trail System as it is centrally located to all of the trails which you can ride to directly from the park.  And at $300/month plus electric, it is a great value. Click here to view posts of past adventures in the area.

Heart of Sinbad Road

This 24 mile route runs north from Goblin Valley State Park to I-70 through the middle of the southern portion of the San Rafael Swell. It also provides access to a number of other scenic roads and ORV trails within the Southern Swell. In the case of off-road riding, I would suggest traveling with a group as I could count on one hand the number of vehicles I encountered during this two hour drive.

Well preserved pictographs dating back over a 1,000 years

Stone buildings constructed in the early 1900's during a radium mining boom

Goblin Valley State Park

Goblin Valley State Park is known for its unique, sandstone "goblin" rock formations. This is where the boy scout leader toppled one, posted the video on YouTube and then was prosecuted for it (click here for more info). The movies "Galaxy Quest" and "City Slickers 2" were filmed here.