State Parks – Page 2 – Small Wanders

05-08 Oct 2022: Kanab Utah

After all the hikes and scenic drives at Zion & Bryce Canyon, by the time we arrived at Kanab, we were tired. So we shortened our 4 night stay at Kanab RV Corral to 3 nights. It’s a RV campground with full hookups on the south end of town. Close to everything, practical, affordable but not scenic.

Kanab is a great base-camp to explore southern Utah and northern Arizona. We were hoping to hike the Wave but did not win a permit in the online lottery. The Wave Lottery has changed from ‘in-person next-day permit’ lottery at the Kanab Visitor Center to an online ‘two-days-from-now permit’ lottery at recreation.gov. The details including ‘geofencing’ (ie you have to be in the area when participating) can be found at visitsouthernutah.com and here at BLM.gov.

Sand Caves

Since we shortened our visit by a day and arrived early afternoon Wednesday. We spent the afternoon hiking to the Sand Caves just north of town.

Grand Canyon North Rim

Besides the Wave, another excursion we planned was visiting the north rim of the Grand Canyon. It’s about 80mi south of Kanab and a great drive for fall colors in October.

Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park

Since we didn’t get the Wave permit, we visited the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park our last day. We rented a sled and had a great time sledding down the huge coral sand dune. The ride down was incredibly fun but the trudge back up was exhausting. This was a great change to our usual routine of finding a trail but still quite a workout.

13 Aug 2022: Smith Rock/Trillian Lake

by JamesAugust 13, 2022April 16, 2024Day Trips / Hikes / Oregon / Sightseeing / State Parks / Travel / Trips

For our drive back to Portland, we took the south Mt Hood route – highways 97 & 26, stopping at Smith Rock and Trillian Lake along the way.
Smith Rock has been a place I’ve wanted to visit for quite awhile. I didn’t realize it was so close to Bend so it was an easy detour as we drove that direction towards Portland.

The Crooked River Trail is an easy hike especially when compared to Misery Ridge & River Trail which takes you to the top of Misery Ridge. Although it was getting hot by noon, there were trees offering shade along the trail. The Smith Rock valley and cliffs reminded us of Utah, specifically Zion. Like Zion, it is very popular with rock climbers and we spotted several as we made our way down the trail. It’s a great, easy hike once you get down into the valley. The start and end incline is pretty steep but short, only 321ft.

Trillian Lake

Trillian Lake is only ~2mi off Highway 26 so a short and easy detour. It is an extremely busy lake especially on Sunday with a lot of swimmers, kayakers, and paddle boarders (kayaks & paddle-boards are available for rent btw). But we found parking since it was late in the day (~6 pm) and wanted to use our $5 day pass (bought online). There is a campground here and it would be a wonderful place to stay with a RV. The weather was clear so Mt Hood was reflected in the lake. I’m sure with a morning calm the reflection would be even better. But late in the day was okay since I found a calm section near the dam. We did not hike the lake loop, just to the southern trail to the ‘dam’. We wanted to arrive in Portland before dark (>9pm) and it was a few hours away.

10-13 Aug 2022: Bend/La Pine Oregon

by JamesAugust 11, 2022April 16, 2024Day Trips / Hikes / Oregon / Sightseeing / State Parks / Travel / Trips

We always enjoy visiting Oregon particularly Central Oregon where my brother moved 30+yrs ago.
There is so much to see and do outdoors around Bend. Now that we are retired, enjoying a RV lifestyle. We can really appreciate places like La Pine, away from the urban sprawl of southern California.

There are an amazing amount of places to see and trails to hike under a hour’s drive from Bend-La Pine. Just 15mins from La Pine is Newberry National Volcanic Monument with Paulina Lake and Big Obsidian Flow. We did the short hike to Obsidian Flow before having lunch at East Lake. The photos will never do this place justice. Very short hike with steep metal stairs at the beginning then an easy trail with benches and lookouts along the way.

15-17 July 2022: Bass Lake

by JamesJuly 15, 2022April 16, 2024California / Campgrounds / Day Trips / Hikes / Sightseeing / State Parks / Travel / Yosemite

Bass Lake at Yosemite RV Resort is ~372mi from Oceanside, CA. So after a 1-night stop in Bakersfield, we arrived at Bass Lake at ~2pm 15 Jul 2022 – it was 95°F.

Bass Lake at Yosemite RV Resort has both a members-only section and public campsites (RV & tent). The campground is on the lake’s eastern slope so many sites are terraces, especially the non-member sites. We were assigned site 67, a terraced campsite where backing in was a bit of a challenge. It is angled on a curve section of road (see campsite map), and sloped, making the wdh hitch disconnect difficult.
Once unhitched and leveled, we cranked up the AC and relaxed in Howie until it cooled down. The wooded campground is beautiful with a short quarter mile hike to the lake. So our 1st evening we did the short hike on the Willow Creek trail to the lake. Mosquito repellent is a necessity and bear spray an extra precaution although the trail is short and well-traveled.

Most of the eastern shore of Bass Lake is private property and marinas. The northern and western shores are US Dept of Agriculture (USDA) property with several primitive campgrounds & day-use beaches. Parking on the shoreline street does not appear subject to the $10 day use fee.
On Saturday, we stopped to rent a boat at the Bass Lake Marina but everything was booked so we reserved a pontoon boat for 8am Sunday. Next, we drove the west side of the lake and enjoyed some time soaking in the cool water. Having passed the lakeside Forks Resort cafe earlier, we went back for lunch on their shaded outdoor patio. Turns out we could have rented a boat here. So if Bass Lake Boat Rentals (basslakeboatrentals.com) has nothing available, check around.

Tripadvisor highly recommended the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad Moonlight Special. They serve BBQ before taking passengers on a 100+yr old steam engine ride through the forest, stopping for a campfire sing-along. It was a fun time and the starlit train ride back was memorable.

The Bass Lake Boat Rentals and Watersports marina was adjacent our campground so easy to get to by 7:15am. They recommend arriving well before your rental time so the line queue, paperwork & orientation does not take time from your rental window. Their pontoon boats are very similar to one we rented at Big Bear Lake so orientation went quickly. The lake gets really busy by late morning so boating early, when the lake is glassy, is a more relaxing, pleasurable experience. As we pulled out, a fisherman caught & released a good size bass right by the marina’s dock. The lake is long and narrow so great for water-skiing. I fished near the dam as recommended by the marina host but didn’t have a nibble. Bass Lake was an enjoyable stop on our way to Yosemite.

29 Apr – 03 May 2022: Kauai

by JamesApril 29, 2022April 16, 2024Day Trips / Hawaii / Hikes / Kauai / Sightseeing / State Parks / Travel / Trips

After a week in Maui, we ‘hopped over’ to Kauai. It’s the last major Hawaiian Island we’ve wanted to visit and considered to be the least crowded of the four main islands. We stayed in Lihue so we could access both the southwest and northern parts of the island. We had a rental car and put about 288mi on it in 3 days. Unfortunately, day 4 was spent at the hotel due to food-related illness so our last day was quiet.
Kauai is beautiful and easy to drive although the Waimea Canyon drive is slow with many switchbacks. Tour buses visit the main Waimea Lookout but do not appear to head further up the canyon. The highlight of our trip was Waimea State Park and the ‘moderate’ (more like hard!) Canyon Trail hike. Like Maui, the weather continued to be windy with scattered showers but warm, not hot. Great weather to explore the island and get photos with interesting skies. Like Maui, the weather and landscape – rainforest vs dry – depends on which side of the island you are on.
Most of the beaches tended to be rough for snorkeling but many have protective coves or jetties. Many of Kauai’s waterfalls are near the road but access to the base of the waterfalls requires kayaks &/or hiking.

19 Feb 2022: Finally Bighorn Sheep

by JamesFebruary 19, 2022April 16, 2024Anza-Borrego State Park / California / Campgrounds / Camping / State Parks / Wildlife

11am – an hour before departure from Borrego Palm Canyon Campground: on our way back to campsite 105, we drove to the day-use parking lot to turn-around. A Ranger directing traffic for Palm Canyon Trail parking had me pull into a parking spot and before I could tell him “I’m just turning around”. He pointed out the Bighorn Sheep near the road. We were finally able to see & photograph a pair of young male Bighorns. They were less than 100yards from our new campsite – if we were still at site 97, we probably would have missed them. They were not disturbed by the dozen hikers in the Palm Canyon parking lot & trailhead. In fact, they crossed the trail & were unconcerned with our presence. I brought my 200-500mm Nikon zoom lens this trip just for this reason. It was a bright enough morning that I was able to hand-hold this long lens. Here are some of my favorites taken just 30mins before we were to leave for 29Palms/Joshua Tree.

After Anza-Borrego, we headed to Twentynine Palms/Joshua Tree, a 2.5hr drive. I was on Cloud-9. Our Anza-Borrego stay was fun but this morning’s Bighorn Sheep encounter made it extra special. Some regulars at Anza say they see them all the time. I’m just glad we did before we left.

18 Feb 2022: The Slot

by JamesFebruary 18, 2022April 16, 2024Anza-Borrego State Park / California / Hikes / State Parks

Anza-Borrego State Park is the largest state park in California so the drive to The Slot actually leaves the park then re-enters. From Borrego Palm Canyon Campground it’s ~17mi 27mins. The dirt road ‘entrance’ (Borrego Mountain Wash on Google Maps) is pretty easy to miss since it’s not marked. Our navigation app said to park on the CA-78. But do not do that since the trailhead & parking lot is ~0.8mi up the wash. This road is not paved and has some soft spots but a 4×4 isn’t required unless muddy. The day-use (fee required) parking area near the trailhead has minimal facilities, just directional signs & a vault toilet restroom. Be sure to bring drinking water since there isn’t any running water.

Google Street View of The Slot entrance, Borrego Mountain Wash ‘Road’

Alltrails describes the trail as a loop but we hiked to the”Drop Off’ then back. The Slot is a canyon with some VERY narrow passages ie you have to slip through sideways or scramble over. Some canyon walls look like dirt/mud with layers of sedimentary rock and others are sandstone. A couple spots require scrambling over fallen rocks & cliff-side that block the trail. Otherwise it’s fairly flat & has wider areas amongst the narrow sections. These wider areas are a good place to stop if you hear people approaching from the narrows so there’s room for them to pass. Although it feels claustrophobic in the very narrow sections, the trail opens into wider canyon frequently. This isn’t nearly as breathtaking as Antelope Canyon or Buckskin Gulch. But it is a beautiful, worth-while, unique hike if you are in Anza-Borrego.

17 Feb 2022: Palm Canyon Trail-Montezuma Rd

by JamesFebruary 17, 2022April 16, 2024Anza-Borrego State Park / California / Hikes / State Parks

Since we were staying in Borrego Palm Canyon Campground. The trailhead was just a feet hundred feet from our campsite. On Thursday, there were fewer hikers especially at 9:30am. This trail can get pretty busy especially on the weekends. Plus it is a popular trail for school & nature tours with a day-use, fee-based parking lot on the north side of the campground.
The reason it’s a popular hike is it an easy well-maintained trail with a creek & waterfall. Plus Bighorn Sheep are often in the area and spotted on or close to the trail. Seeing and photographing Bighorn Sheep was my main goal when booking this campground. But they are wild and unpredictable so we did not see any this day.
The Palm Grove Oasis area at the end of the trail is off-limits so the trail ends in a rocky overlook. Charring of the palm trunks is visible on most of the tall palms. New growth is flourishing and hopefully they’ll be able to open the area up again in a few more years. Since this is our first trip here, we do not have any idea what it was like before the fire.

No Bighorn Sheep spotted during our hike this morning so after grabbing lunch at Carlee’s Place in Borrego Springs. We headed up Montezuma Valley Rd since Bighorn Sheep are often spotted along that stretch of Anza-Borrego. Along the way, we drove by the DeAnza Country Club where other hikers mentioned seeing sheep – no luck there either. Their website has a photo of several Bighorns drinking from the golf course water hazard – pretty funny. So they do visit there during the drier time of the year.
The drive up Montezuma Valley Rd is scenic, with a beautiful panoramic vista at the lookout, but no sheep were spotted. It’s actually an alternate route to San Diego and we passed several RVs as we drove to the summit before turning around.
So I settled on metal ‘animals’, photographing some of the sculptures we missed during our Jan Anza-Borrego day-trip. Photographing wildlife is very much like fishing or going whale watching.

16-19 Feb 2022: Anza-Borrego State Park

by JamesFebruary 16, 2022April 16, 2024Anza-Borrego State Park / California / Campgrounds / Camping / State Parks

After a short Valentine’s Day visit with family in Indio, we moved to Borrego Palm Canyon Campground in the State Park. Although Sat-Sun were completely booked for months, we were able to get three nights – two at one site (97), one nearby (105). So on Friday we had to move a couple hundred feet to a different site. It was a pain to have to move but the new site was only a few hundred feet away. It turned out to be quick and easy since we were dry-camping without any hookups. But we were much farther from the restroom, in a more remote spot. This would turn out to be a lucky change in my quest to photograph Bighorn Sheep.

Borrego Palm Canyon Campground has full hookup camping (parking-lot-style camping, completely booked) and dispersed campsites (some spotty availability during the week). There’s a very well-maintain restroom with flushing toilets, sinks, and hot private showers that require tokens (2 for $1). Scattered around the dry-camps are also vault toilets and water faucets to fill containers. It’s a very nice State Park campground – highly recommended.

22 Jan 2022: Salton Sea

by JamesJanuary 22, 2022April 16, 2024California / Day Trips / Hikes / Indio/Palm Springs / Sightseeing / State Parks / Trips

After a lot of driving to Anza-Borrego & Fonts Point yesterday, another long drive into Joshua Tree will wait till next trip. So while Carol visited family, I did a shorter drive to the Salton Sea. I’ve seen photos of this area and thought it looked interesting photographically. It was still windy and there were great clouds that made for beautiful light.