Oct. 27, 2018
After leaving Standish we took 3 days to get to Lone Pine, CA. One night at Washo Lake State Park outside Carson City, NV.
One night at the Gardnerville, NV Wal-Mart, no picture.
And two nights at a county park north of Bishop, CA. We wanted to spend some time in Bishop and
get a feel for the place. Joe, the guy
at the Visitors Center, gave us enough
stuff to do for a week. We’d only planned
to spend 1 day in Bishop so we picked a few things to do and saved the rest for
another visit. The only thing we didn’t
like about Bishop was the lack of reasonably priced camping. We scouted a free BLM site, a $2.50 a night
(with senior pass) BLM site with great views of the mountains but a
rough road leading in and the $14 a night county park we ended up staying
in.
The free BLM site had a long washboard road with a couple of
sharp turns we didn’t think we could make with the camper. The other BLM site, named “The Pit”, had a pretty level road but with a lot of
grapefruit sized rocks that made for, well, a rocky (as in rock and roll) drive
in. While the price was definitely right
and the views were great, we thought it may not be worth any potential damage
to the camper. The last option, the
county park, was the easiest to get to (paved road) and we were getting tired
so that’s what we picked.
From a distance it looked like a pretty nice place, on a creek with some green area and lots of trees. Up close though, not so nice. It’s at the base of a large dam with steep rocky cliffs on either side. Visions of a dam burst with a wall of water racing down the manmade canyon sweeping us away in the middle of the night. There’s even signs warning of that possibility, during the spring runoff. Okay, little risk this time of year. Then there’s the threat of a boulder rolling off the cliff and crushing us in the middle of the night like a bug. That threat was still real, but what are the odds…! Those green area were places you couldn’t pitch a tent or park a camper. The rest was talcum powder like dust. And finally the creek that, according to the web site, draws fishermen, also draws mosquitos, LOTS of mosquitos, that come out at dusk, right when we were setting up! Now, being from Florida we’re familiar with mosquitos but haven’t had to deal them with in… well, several years.
From a distance it looked like a pretty nice place, on a creek with some green area and lots of trees. Up close though, not so nice. It’s at the base of a large dam with steep rocky cliffs on either side. Visions of a dam burst with a wall of water racing down the manmade canyon sweeping us away in the middle of the night. There’s even signs warning of that possibility, during the spring runoff. Okay, little risk this time of year. Then there’s the threat of a boulder rolling off the cliff and crushing us in the middle of the night like a bug. That threat was still real, but what are the odds…! Those green area were places you couldn’t pitch a tent or park a camper. The rest was talcum powder like dust. And finally the creek that, according to the web site, draws fishermen, also draws mosquitos, LOTS of mosquitos, that come out at dusk, right when we were setting up! Now, being from Florida we’re familiar with mosquitos but haven’t had to deal them with in… well, several years.
By the way, all these campsite are in… “Pleasant Valley”!
Campsite in Pleasant Valley
Fall colors in Bishop city park
Twins, same year, same color, each with a topper, one from Florida (ours), one from Texas.
Bishop is a nice little town and we'd love to come back and spend more time.
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