Wright's TrailsEnd: The Rest of 2013

Thursday, January 2, 2014

The Rest of 2013

Looking back, it is amazing how many great places we stayed in our beautiful western part of the US. May brought some of the more well known spots, such as Bryce Canyon and Zion where we have been before. Though this time we were able to get a campsite right in Zion for four days. That was neat as we could walk to the Shuttle that takes you around the park where we had a number of good hikes. First we had gone to the Bryce Canyon area, boondocking a few days near Red Canyon and about 15 minutes from Bryce and then sometime at the beautiful RED Canyon which is aptly named. We explored Bryce and were even able to hike the Rim with Savannah one day.

Winchester Bay

View from Red Canyon Campground

Watchman Campground, Zion

Zion Visitor Center

We stayed a few days at Sandy Hollow a little north of Zion and explored Kolob Canyon, which is in the northern part of Zion and a place we had not been before.

Some changes in when we would return to So Cal for doctor appts, etc gave us 3 weeks to fill and we decided on the Grand Canyon, which for some reason we had not gone to. We were very happy with our decision as we were amazed at how , well, grand it is. Pictures don't do it justice. You have to see it in person. First we went to the North Rim, which actually opened the day after we arrived at the campground at Jacob Lake, about 40 miles from the entrance to the National Park.

We stayed at another national forest camp near the South Rim, not far from the entrance for more WOW moments.

We went back to So Cal for a few weeks as I mentioned we would. We had gotten a phone call from Jojoba that a spot was available and decided it was a good time to get one as we were going to be in the area anyway. We went straight there, picked a spot and spent time transferring stuff from our storage unit in Irvine to the one on our lot. We also spent time with family and attended several block parties and happy hours in the short time in Jojoba. However, the road called and we answered heading up north by way of Hwy 395. We have traveled this hwy many, many times but only spending time in Mammoth and Lake Tahoe. This time we stayed at new spots. We did spent some time in Mammoth for the 4th of July but at a new FREE campground not too far from town. Alabama Hills near Lone Pine was a special trip checking out the placed where hundreds of movies were filmed. We spent a few days at a great little boondocking spot overlooking Mono Lake where we would like to stay longer another time. We got in some good paddling and hikes as well.

Alabama Hills

Tuttle Creek Campground

Mt Whitney in the background

Mammoth area

Lake George, Mammoth

Mammoth 4th Parade

Hiking at Lake George

View from Mono Lake boondocking spot

We hit a couple more new spots on 395, Washoe State Park, near Reno and Eagle Lake, where we had a nice private boon docking spot.

Eagle Lake

Oregon and Washington were our next stops for the rest of the summer. We spent some time on the Oregon Coast, at Brookings, a nice county park, Huntley, inland and warmer, near Gold Beach and back to the colder coast at Cape Blanco State Park. It was beautiful but cold and wind caused us to again head a little inland to Edson Creek Recreation Area on the Sixes River.

Brookings

Huntley

Cape Blanco Lighthouse

Near our Edson Creek campground

Day at Bandon

A few more days at Winchester Bay and then we headed inland to Eugene and then a return trip to Silver Falls State Park, east of Salem, OR for some hikes to some of the 7 waterfalls in the PArk.

View from our site at Winchester

Swimming Beach at Silver Falls

Silver Falls falls

.Our next stop was Elochoman Slough Marina, which is in Cathlament, Washington, on the Columbia River, Another site on the water. While there took a drive one day into Long Beach another to the Farmers Market in Astoria.

The Marina

Astoria Bridge

We continued north to the the rain forest area of Washington, Lake Quinault, one of our favorite spots, where we got the prime site with beautiful view.

Our view at Lake Quinault

Hiking in the Rain Forest

We found a great place to stay for the week before and during Labor Day. South Beach Campground, near Klaloch, was awesome. Unfortunately our week was shorten due to heavy rains and a lot of leaking inside our MH. We spent the long weekend at the Escapees Resort, near Port Townsend.

South Beach

After the weekend, we headed back south to Oregon stopping at a city park near Portland on the Willamette and a return stop to Ashland, this time staying at Lake Emigrant.

On the Willamette

Lake Emigrant

We headed back to California with a few stops, including 10 days at one of our very favor spots, Avila Beach, then back to Jojoba. We enjoyed the rest of the year at Jojoba. Christmas was spent at Kristi and Brock's. My nieces and their family had other family to visit, but my Dad and our kids, along with George and Flea were there for a nice dinner. The Saturday after XMAS, we went to Honda Center with Kristi and Brock to see our Ducks win yet another home game. We want the CUP, Stanley Cup, that is. They are playing so good. We really miss having season tickets.