Greetings from a procrastinator, and More from Sisters Oregon

As usual when we get stationary for awhile I forget about making new blog posts.  I get busy and tell myself "I'll do it later". Well this is muuuuch later!  For the sake of continuity,  I'm making this post that I should have made last June.  Then I'll bring everything up to date.

May 28, 2021

Sisters Oregon is a former timber camp that's been transformed into a quaint little town with a modern western theme. It's named for three near-by peeks called The Three Sisters; Faith (North Sister), Hope (Middle Sister) and Charity (South Sister).

Life size silhouettes outside of town with the Three Sisters in the distance.

The draw for us was the boondocking opportunities and the trails.

Our site was just 2 1/2 miles from town along a "fun" single track trail winding through the pines.

We took advantage of the trails going on several bike rides during our stay.

May 30, 2021

The Sisters Stampede mountain bike race has 2 courses, 14 and 27 mile.  Both courses pass by our site.

From our site we could see the road that was the out going leg at the 4 mile mark from the start. The trail beside our site is on the return leg 2 1/2 miles from the finish.

The race was kind of anticlimactic. Sure, we could see all the riders pass by on the home stretch.  But with riders spread out and little room on the trail for passing, it was just a lot of cyclists riding by.

Really enjoying our time in the forest outside of Sisters OR, we'd have stayed longer but we had "some place to be" on June 1.

Coming next, "Yaquina Head, Summer 2021" followed by "Sisters Revisited".

Sisters Oregon

Leaving Walker Lake NV, we crossed into California just north of Reno NV. A night at Honey Lake RV Park was our next stop to do laundry and have a LOOOONG hot shower.

Honey Lake campsite

Next we headed for Tulelake Fair Grounds RV Park to wait out some weather and do some cooking.

Tulelake CA is surrounded by agricultural land. Most of the RV sites back up to an irrigation ditch that has become a little wetlands ecosystem with many birds and frogs, lots of frogs. Each night we fell asleep amidst a frog chorus.

Tulelake site

The next "fun" stop was boondocking in the Deschutes National Forest south of Sisters Or.

As we were setting up, some mountain bike riders came by. Without realizing it our site was about 50 ft from the Peterson Ridge Trail.

A little while later a fellow came buy posting brightly colored arrow signs on the trail.

This coming Sunday (5/30/21) is the Sisters Stampede mountain bike race and we'll have a front row seat to all the action!

More to come...

February in May!

May 20, 2021

We were going to leave Walker Lake today but the winds were just too strong.  

The day started sunny with high winds stirring up white caps on the lake.

As the day progressed clouds moved in and the temp. started to fall.

Thisafternoon we went for a blustery walk.  Two days ago it was 87°!

The weather alert called for February like conditions with a low of 36° tonight and a mix of rain and snow at 4600 ft, we're at 4100.   

Tomorrow's supposed to be better.  We'll see!

More from Walker lake NV

May 21, 2021

As forecast we woke up to light rain and 38°.  

There was a possible weather window later in the day where we could make it to the next stop but the forecast for tomorrow was even better.  With time on our hands we opted to stay one more day and make a big pot of soup on this cold rainy day.

Much more snow in the mountains.

Here's some random pictures from what turned out to be a week long stay at Walker lake.

We're second from the left.

Sun setting over the mointains.

This sign is hard to read even when standing right in front of it.

There are sign's at various location's around the area indicating the lake level in certain years.  Our spot was at the 1949 level.

We took a trip into Hawthorne (14 miles south) for grocery's and propane. Hawthorne is the home of Hawthorne Army Depot known as "the worlds largest depot".  Established in 1930 as the Hawthorne Naval Amunition Depot, control was passed to the Army in 1977.  The depot covers 226 sq. mi. and has 600,000 square feet storage space in 2,427 bunkers.

Bunkers as far ss the eye can see.

Red arrow marks our spot on this wide view from the road south toward Hawthorne NV.

We arrived at Sportsmans Beach as a safe heaven from the wind and rain.  We stayed the next few day because of the great views and good weather.  By the end of the week it was back to being a shelter from the wind, rain and now cold. 

It's time to move on!

Solar warmer! Cooker?

Western Nevada, US 95

May 13, 2021

On our last day in Red Rock 

Campground the high temp. was 92°, too warm for dry camping (no A/C) .  We were ready to leave the Las Vegas area!

Heading north on US 95, a route we've never taken.

Stopped for construction...

...Twice!

Being the first in line, we got to talk with the flag person.  The long delay was due to someone running the construction zone.  The Highway Patrol had to catch him and haul him off to jail. Turns out he was running drugs!

Continuing north.

You get the idea, not much to see in western Nevada! 

Stopped for a... uh... break!

May 13, 14, 2021

Stopped for a night each in Beatty and Tonopah NV (forgot to take campsite pictures).

Tonopah, home of the Clown Motel!?!?

May 15, 2021

Getting an early start, we resumed our trek north on US 95.  There were heavy winds and thunder storms coming later in the day.  We had several possible stopping points already picked out.

Weather started moving in 5 miles from one of our destinations, 

Sportman's Beach, a BLM campground on Walker Lake.

We're the blue dot.

We pulled in and found a nice level spot, didn't even un-hitch the truck.  There's a major slope as you get closer to the water.  We chose a lower site for a little wind protection on the broad side. Didn't work, winds were from the north east, right along the shoreline, hiting us from the rear.  Rock & Roll!  At least we wern't driving in the 20 mph winds!

May 16, 2021

The day dawned with partly cloudy blue skies. 

Early in the afternoon we went for a walk, but it didn't last long, more weather moving in.

Along with the thunder storms came small hail.

May 17, 2021

Finally the weather moved south and the forcast called for clear skie and 81°.  This is by far our best campsite in Nevada. With no compelling reason to leave, we'll hang out here for a few more days to enjoy the good weather and great views.  And oh-by-the-way, fantastic cell service!