Well for the last week or so it's been raining on and off here in SoCal. So what better time to escape to a warmer, dryer and relaxing place?
100 years ago Picacho was a gold mining town with 100 citizens. Today the site is a State Park, popular with boaters, hikers, anglers and campers. The park offers diverse scenery, including beavertail cactus, wild burros, bighorn sheep and thousands of migratory waterfowl.
Not a place you want to be in a large storm. Many of the trails/roads can become impassable for a lengthy amount of time.
Thankfully we were headed towards open skies and the dark clouds were passing behind us.
After about a hour of dirt driving we found our camp. We would be calling this home for the next few days. It was breath taking. We were amazed that we were the only ones!!
We arrived just early enough to setup camp, make dinner and catch a beautiful sunset. All the clouds back at home towards the coast really made for a great reflection for the sun.
It was a near full moon also. The reflection off the water was amazing. I really got lucky snapping this pic. Im very proud of it. Yosh, Dixie, fire, moon, river reflection, all in one shot. I think this picture will be a favorite for a long time to come.
After sleeping in, we found out that we had fellow campers down the way from us. It was no big deal though because they were very quiet and considerate coming in late in the night. They ended up being very nice and we socialized with them throughout the days. Next was a great breakfast, then grab the pole and see what type of fish 'if any' we could catch!
After not catching a single fish, but getting many bites... i figured i'd try out the kayak. This would be my first time kayaking before and it would take a few minutes for me to get my balance.. but after that all was good.
Yosh and Dixie watched from the beach. There was no way they wanted to fall in the 60 degree water.
Dixie rather just lay around in the sun and sand and get dirty.
After getting quite the workout on the kayak (fighting the current going up stream) i decided it was time to relax and break for lunch. Here's a shot of our basecamp, complete with gas grill, stove, fridge, onboard water, coffee maker, etc. Since we were in one spot for more than one day, we didn't mind breaking everything out for this trip. What was extremely nice for this trip is there were bathrooms. And very nice bathrooms i must admit. They were solar powered air conditioned bathrooms(well more like fan operated) that didn't stink and were very nice. We setup up right next to one and made it our own.
After lunch it was time for some horse shoes and to crack open the first of many beers.
There's always time for more fishing right??
My view while fishing, looking down the river south of our location. Amazing bluffs.
The sky was breath taking.
At some point in the day the reflection off the river was like glass. Made for a terrific photo.
Another great sunset on the second night.
It was time to fire up the grill and toss some nice steaks on. Seasoned the steaks and grilled some fresh veggies for a side. Complimented with a nice bottle of wine we were in good shape. Good eats!
We had a small fire after dinner. Caught the moon in the picture.
The next day i took the kayak back out. After getting used to it, i paddled over to Arizona. Talk about a work out! Fighting the current the whole way.
A view of camp from the river.
There's actually a couple islands that are under water. The river actually splits into two channels under the water. Im directly in the middle of the river at this point.
Looking north (up river). There's just something about being one with the water and having the quiet water passing you while you're all alone on the water. It's very peaceful.
After arriving back at camp, i figured i'd see if Dixie could swim. It was a successful test. She did great and loved cooling off.
She quickly went back to her old dirty ways and laid in the sun to dry. She looks like shes pretty dang comfortable (or dead) in this picture.
Visiting her mom, of course she had to stand right on the book Yosh was reading!
Another day ends, which brings yet another great sunset. I can never get enough of these. Each day was different.
The moon came out, along with the Raccoons.
Each and every night they would go through the camp looking for food. One even came right up to Yosh and Dixie and i have to chase it off. They were certainly not afraid of people, that's for sure. Each and every night we had to lock up all our food and trash. After we went to sleep they would come out and try and find food. They were very smart and in the brochure for the area, they warn you about them.
(stock photo, i wasn't lucky enough to grab the camera and shoot one)Well all good things must come to a end at some point, so we packed up and headed for home. This is the first time in a long time we didn't want to leave.
We decided to take a different way out than the way we arrived. Heading out west on Indian Pass Road.
Working strictly off the GPS, the route was easily defined.
Some sections were tight and twisty. Most of the route is in a wash. You cannot dilly dally and stop. You must keep your speed up when in the sand. Especially if your a single rig.
When you start climbing out of the canyon and up over the pass it gets a little steep and off camber. The Land Cruiser and trailer did just fine and we dropped the t-case in low range.
The views were spectacular.
Looking down at the pass behind us.
After making the ascent up the pass we leveled out on the desert plateau.
A mail box? We had no clue what this was. It was in the middle of no where.
After some high speed wash board road driving. We arrived back at the highway.
Mexico anyone?
One of our favorite places to eat is Cracker Barrel. Unfortunately, they don't have any in California. I promised Yosh we would head there before we headed home. No trip is complete without some southern fried chicken! I had to snap this pic.
With our bellys full, i gathered up my energy (i felt like taking a nap!!) and we headed for home. Another great trip in the record books! I think this will be one of our most memorable trips thus far.
On a very important side note - This park is on Arnold's list of places to shut down to save California money. Please take one second to put your name down and support keeping our state parks open!
http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/action/preservation/state-parks