More S’camping.

This was a week ago; I wanted to get it up right after I got home, but of course didn’t, and then it felt like it was history so not worth blogging, but I’ve been enjoying reading posts from years ago, so for the sake of my future self, I’m going to do this anyway.

Got out last week for two nights in a row, and it was very successful. I’m now not only hopeful, but confident, that somehow this camping with Scamp and cats is going to work out.

The first night we spent at Daphne Grove, a small CG up in the Siskiyous and one of the prettiest spots around. Its only drawback is not enough walking nearby, but there’s some so Scamp and I coped. (If this blog had enough readers that I thought naming it would result in more people seeking it out, I wouldn’t, but there’s virtually no chance anyone will find it because of this, so. There it is.)

There are only 14 sites, and only one other was occupied overnight, and I had met and had a nice conversation with the couple in it, so I felt ok about letting critters run free.

My site.

Down by the river.

Scamp romping near the campsite. She seems to love loose leaves, tall grass, and soft sand for romping. I keep trying to get video of her bonkers puppy runs, but am batting less than 500–I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong, but I keep thinking I have a video, only to discover it’s not there when I look later. This one isn’t the best, but gives you some idea.

Shadow pulled one of his disappearing acts the afternoon/evening we got there, long enough for me to begin fretting a little. I was pretty sure I knew where he was hiding, the general area anyway, but he didn’t come out when called, even when accompanied by the rustle and rattle of food. Eventually, while walking Scamp back there, I heard Shadow doing his plaintive “where are you?” meow. I went back for Scamp’s leash so she wouldn’t chase him off, and sure enough, he came out and let me pick him up. The next morning, I let him out on leash only.

One more of Scamp at Daphne Grove. Peek-a-boo.

Had tentatively thought to try Eden Valley CG the next night, but there’s even less walking there than at Daphne Grove, so kept going, looking for likely spots on the way. The road through there is paved, but hasn’t been maintained in years, so there are some serious potholes and other hazards, though the forest service has been through and cut back the trees that fell across it over the winter.

First exploration was up an old logging road, that had this across it.

Made me wish I had my little electric chainsaw along. Though I don’t know if my inverter would handle the necessary wattage. I whacked away at it a bit with my little hatchet, but in the end it came down to whether or not I had room to get by.

Turned out I did.

Just barely, and stopping several times to get out and look and decide just how to aim the tires.

All for naught, because the road ended about 100 yards past that point, so I turned around and squeezed past all over again. If there’d been good camping, I’d have stayed, but there wasn’t.

Next try was a spot that had evidence that people–very possibly hunters–do camp there regularly, including this and at least three fire rings made of stones.

Again, no good walking in sight. So we went on, after exploring thoroughly.

What do you see when you turn your back to the sun? Your phone, clearly enough you can turn up the screen brightness.

A few miles down the road, I spotted a small sign indicating there was a toilet off to the left, and it was time for lunch, so I pulled off

And found the almost perfect spot. Vault toilet, levelish parking, shade, unused logging road that made for excellent walking, far enough off the road (which is barely used but still) that it was ok to let the critters roam free. It was even high enough that I had 1-2 bars of cell. So we stayed overnight.

After lunch, it was time for a walk. Scamp and I set off–and the cats followed. Both of them.

That’s Shadow up near Scamp, with Phantom lagging behind (first two pictures). Scamp’s agenda quickly became play-attacking Phantom (third picture.  If you look closely, you can just see him underneath Scamp), so I ended up going back for her leash to contain her.

The road had been bulldozed to create this berm to stop people from using it.

I first noticed this as commonplace about 40 years ago. I thought then and still think now that it’s just mean-spirited, and intended to keep people like me from using the forest for camping. This one is extremely steep and deep, so I ended up going around it. Others had before me–there was a little trail through the brush for that purpose.

A few pictures from walking along the logging road. I no longer remember clearly exactly where, or indeed during which of three walks I took the pictures, so I’ll just post them.

I said earlier that this was the almost perfect camping spot. The one thing it lacked was a good view. But if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need. By going off the road a bit in a few places you can get a bit of a view.

That evening, and the next morning, I confined Scamp so the cats could be out unmolested. The combination of tying her to the van, but with her crate close enough for her to get in it, worked well. The gravel there was harsh enough I didn’t feel ok just tying her out.

Being able to exclude her from the van, in a controlled way, is going to be key to camping satisfaction for the foreseeable future. CJ had been so calm and easy for so long that I had literally forgotten this part of camping with dogs–it used to be routine, but for years I hadn’t had to deal with it. I haven’t figured out what I’ll do about that when it rains, though. Still chewing on that one.

There’s another dirt road across the paved road from where we camped, so in the morning I decided to explore it. When we were all loaded up, I drove across and up it just far enough to get past the steep bit.

It had several good wide spots, where, if one were not concerned about needing shade, one could camp with a view.

You walk through some nice woods.

And about a mile or so down, you come to the end of the road, which is clearly used for camping.

At some point that morning, I noticed this. It may have been after that walk, when Scamp was tired enough to not attack Phantom. But the peace was nice in any case.

It’s a bit remote back there, so before leaving I mapped a route out on my iPad. Which turned out to not be at all reliable. I reached a fork in the road that was not shown on the map, and paved both ways. After due cogitation, relying on signs and a paper map that almost showed the area, and some logic, I took the left, which turned out well. It was a very pretty drive, and while I didn’t know where I was, I wasn’t entirely lost either. When I saw this

I figured I was nearing Roseburg because there’s a lot of rocky outcrops that look like that around there. At this point, I was following a river, but I still haven’t figured out which one. Sure enough, farms and other signs of civilization started showing up, and when I saw a guy working on clearing brush from the side of the road, he confirmed that I was where I thought I probably was, a bit south of Riddle.

Having gotten pissed off at Scamp’s crate and forced it closed in a way it didn’t want to go the previous morning, thereby tearing a couple of holes in it, I went on into Roseburg and bought this (the red one):

As you can see, Phantom approved of that arrangement, done at home when I was deciding whether or not to keep it. It’s MUCH (much much) easier to put up and take down, but smaller (good for me but maybe not so good for Scamp) and less sturdy. However, she definitely fits in it just fine now, so have decided to keep it for the summer, and if she does eventually outgrow it, or it’s so flimsy it breaks after a few uses, I’ll get something else then. Meanwhile, the old one is still usable (thank god Scamp isn’t, so far, an escape artist) and it’s nice to have one for the house and one for the van so I don’t have to move one back and forth.

Altogether it was a lovely, very successful trip. It’s been a long time since I’ve been out in a remote enough area, for long enough, that I experienced that mental shift you feel when you get back to civilization. It’s hard to describe, but anyone who has been backpacking or remote camping, or even for a long drive on remote dirt roads, has probably felt it. As I did this trip when I got back to I-5.