We had taken our new camper out twice--once to Eastern Washington for three days of hiking and one day of biking on the Island Empire Bike Ride, and then once to South Whidbey State Park to camp with Adam.
It performed well both times. It's like living in the lap of luxury.
Want some heat? Push a button.
Want to take the camper off of the pickup? Push a button.
Want to keep things frozen all week? Push a button.
Want a cool breeze through the camper? Push a button.
Want to see how much battery you have left, how much water is in your freshwater tank, etc.? Push a button.
Want to watch TV? Push a button.
Want to pay for it? Turn on the US Bank website and push a button.
Nothing is gerry-rigged to work. Everything is where it is supposed to be. We even have a bathroom, although I doubt we'll ever use it. We'd rather use bathrooms at campgrounds that other people have to clean, or the great out-of-doors which requires no cleaning. But it works great for storage, which we need more of, and if we ever change our minds and want to use our camper in a different way then we now have that option.
First are some photos from our first camping trip in it, to Eastern Washington.
Driving away:
We stayed at at Yakima Sportsman State Park. The camping spots were kind of close to each other, and the ones close to bathrooms were basically in a row in a flat area. Not very picturesque or private. But it was fairly nice.
It allowed us to try out one of the important features of our new camper, which was to be able to easily remove it from the pickup, and then live in it as a free-standing unit. Like a tent. That was a major reason for getting a new camper--so we could drive the pickup sans camper to trail heads to hike. We were fortunate that on our first road trip to the Southwest the previous year the trail heads for hikes were either close to where we camped (often right at the campgrounds) or a short bike ride away. However, there are many spots where there is great hiking but where the trail heads might be 20 or so miles away from where we might camp, and on roads that are not too rough for an F-250 but are too rough for a camper. We wanted to be able to leave the camper and then drive to these trail heads.
That's what we tried out, and it worked great. We easily removed the camper from the pickup, and then each day drove about 10-15 miles to hikes.
The first one was to the Yakima River Rim. We drove the pickup about two miles up a road that was almost too rough for even it, then parked, and hiked up to the rim. The hike involved a bit of a climb, but the sights of the Yakima River from the rim were stunning.
Our next hike was through Cowchise Canyon, which at one time had been a railroad line. We took a spur up the side of the mountain from this trail and hiked on the mesa above.
This hike was memorable because it was our first exchange with a rattlesnake, which we heard warning us as we passed close by where it was hiding in a bush. Never heard one live before--very loud. We gave it a wide berth.
Our last day we hiked up Bear Canyon, a pleasant hike (except for the part where we got lost). No bears, though.
The next day we drove to the Tri-Cities for the Inland Empire Bike Ride. Stayed at a nice RV park, got up early, and rode 80 miles as part of our training for the STP. It was a nice ride. Around mile 20 we climbed for several miles up a canyon. Quite a climb, especially because we were not yet in prime (for us) bicycle shape. But it was fun and rewarding and a needed break from hiking.
Of course, I had a flat.
Our next trip in the new camper was to South Whidbey State Park with Adam. We spent the afternoon at the beach. Adam is such a blast. He built sand castles, got buried in the sand, made s'mores, the whole bit. It's the third time he's been to the park, and he seems to enjoy it, and us too.
One of the things we learned from our first two trial runs with the new Lance is that even though we had an extra battery installed in it, the camper draws much more electricity than did our old camper. We found that we might only be able to stay out for about three days without getting them recharged--clearly not long enough for us. Even when not in use, the propane/CO2 tester draws electricity, as does the clock. When in use, the refrigerator uses electricity for its gauges and thermostat, even though the power is supplied by propane. And we haven't even used the hot water heater or the furnace--both of which also use the batteries to run their gauges. Then, of course, we have to watch our brand new camper TV in the evenings, which draws power. The jacks for removing and installing the camper also run off of the 12 volt system. Lots of ways power is taken from the camper batteries that they weren't in the old Chinook.
Needing to recharge our batteries about every three days would mean 2-3 times more stays in RV resorts to charge batteries than we have planned. This is a problem. Not only do we generally not like RV resorts (exception: 29 Palms), but it is expensive to stay at them. We want to be able to stay away from almost all of them, if possible, and stay in National Parks until we run out of food and have to make a run to a town somewhere for more. And we DON'T want a generator.
Solution: A solar panel. The money we got from the sale the Chinook just about covered the cost of a large solar panel.
So our trip to Kachess lake was for fun and to test it out.
And it was also to celebrate our one-year wedding anniversary!
The campground at Kachess lake was OK, about in the middle as campgrounds go and on the low end of National Park campgrounds. Once again the park hosts were gracious and helpful. The only problem, actually sort of a major one for us, is that this campground doesn't set a limit on the number of people who can be at campsites. We rented a spot for five days, what appeared to be a nice and relatively secluded one, only to learn two days later that a huge group of people rented the ones across from us and set up anywhere from 9-10 tents in each site! Vehicles stuffed every which way.
I felt like the Grinch: "all the noise noise noise noise NOISE!"
We have learned a good rule: If a campground has the word "Lake" in it, stay away. We are not motor-boat, jet-ski, rubber-raft people. We want to get away from civilization, not just pick it up and bring it with us.
Our hikes:
Our first hike was different from anything we have done before--mostly because I fell 6 times! I had only fallen one other time on a hike, some three years ago, on some ice. Vicky fell once.
I hurt my repaired foot on one of the falls, a particularly nasty one. It was all black and blue the next few days. That's the bad news. The good news is that it was on our way back to the trail head. We were on our way back because we had decided that the trail was not safe, so instead of pushing ourselves, we went back.
The hike was to Twin Lakes, and from there up to the Pacific Crest Trail, and from there to a trail that led downward to Twin Lakes making a loop. The first two parts of the trail were fine, if somewhat difficult. The hike to Twin Lakes was about one mile, with mile elevation gain. The small lake was beautiful (we didn't see the upper lake).
The hike from there to the Pacific Crest Trail was about two miles with severe elevation gain and on a rough trail. At times it felt more like a scramble than a hike. There had been several avalanches here in recent years, which meant lots of climbing over and under fallen trees:
It was hard work, even after all of our training for the STP. Our trail guide book indicated we had about a four mile walk on the Pacific Crest Trail until our trail to the descent, and this is where we ran into trouble--snow packs. One occasionally runs into them when hiking, generally earlier in the year than the end of July, though. We crossed three or four of them, when we could see the trail on the other side. Vicky slipped on one, and I did on the same one, in the same place.
After three or four of them we ran into one large one where we couldn't see the trail on the other side. We decided at that point that we were too early in the year to do this trail safely, that we didn't have the appropriate equipment (Yaktraxs), and that we wanted enough time to safely descend the way we had come if need be. So we turned back. I slipped twice on the snowbanks returning.
On our way back along the PCT we ran into a guy who said "the trail is slippery back there." We had already crossed that section, quite easily, an hour earlier, but when we went over it this time, I fell three times! I think it was a combination of factors. One is that my repaired foot is weak, especially in the toe area. I have no feeling there, the nerves having been cut during the three surgeries. So I don't have toes to help my balance. Another factor is that I use cheap hiking boots--they are cheap because the better ones don't come in my size.
But a major factor is that the trail was simply bad. Although it was dirt, it was like ice in spots. My most wicked fall was because the trail just crumbled beneath me. Vicky was behind me and watched the trail just fall away, and me with it. I fell onto my trekking pole which wasn't strong enough to keep me upright. I destroyed it as I fell backward onto a log. I could do nothing to prevent the fall.
I was lucky, we were lucky, whatever. But somehow, I don't know how, when I fell, I dug my right foot into the dirt to try to keep myself erect (even though I was falling to my left) and injured the repaired toes on my right foot.
These things will happen, and I accept them as the risk of being in the outdoors. However, even though the trail was a terrible one (remember the scramble up? well it was also a sit-down and scoot-down-at-times trail down as well), we were fine after my bad fall. We still had three useful trekking poles (note to anyone reading; never do mountain hikes without trekking poles), and I was hiking slowly enough that I didn't fall hard or far. We were both being cautious about the drop-off.
The lessons here are obvious: when something seems wrong, turn back. I'm so glad we did. We didn't get caught in a situation where we were unsafe, we trusted our instincts that the trail wasn't quite right, and, with the exception of YakTraxs, we had the right equipment. We've also established a new rule, which we have dubbed the "safety rule." Either of us can invoke the safety rule at any time and we turn back. The other person doesn't have to agree. The person invoking the safety rule gets two votes.
Well, other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, did you enjoy the play?
Well, other than the nasty falls, the hike was still beautiful and quite an exertion. My thighs were very angry with me for about three days. I know I know about cross-training, but still, after 205 miles of bike riding two weeks before, and almost 1800 biking miles this season, plus about 200 miles of hiking, I do one hike and can hardly walk because I'm sore? I must be getting old or something.
We had planned on hiking all four days, but when my toe swelled up and got black and blue we realized we needed to change our plan. Vicky found several nice walks in the area. Walking involves using one's foot, as opposed to climbing which involves bending one's toes. So for the next few days we took some nice 4-5 mile walks on trails. Not what we had planned, but still fun, and we saw some interesting and beautiful sites, and got some good exercise. My toes will heal and we will be back out doing real hiking within a few weeks. By the time we left Kachess Lake, they were already feeling better.
One of the walks was through the Snoqualmie Tunnel--2+ miles long. It's a cool old railroad tunnel that is now part of the John Wayne Pioneer Trail. It was fun, and interesting, and we had it to ourselves for most of the time.
We entered it from the east side, feeling a huge draft of cold air hitting us. We used our headlamps since there was no lighting in the tunnel. After walking about 100 yards or so we could see a small pinprick of light. We found out that this was the other end of the tunnel, some 2 miles away.
The other side of the tunnel:
Beautiful view of the pass on this side of the tunnel:
The next day we went to Franklin Falls.
And on our last day walked several miles along the John Wayne trail outside of Easton.
The solar panel perfumed much better than we had expected. Every day, with about 4-5 hours of sunlight on it, the panel completely recharged our batteries.
What this means is that we can do what we had hoped--dry camp (i.e., with no electrical or water hookups) for as long as we want. This will especially be true in the Southwest where the sunlight will be more extreme and more consistent than in the Pacific Northwest, where at best one can get a few hours of sunlight because of the trees.
Yes!!!! No RV "Resorts" for this couple!
And since every time we avoid an RV resort we will save somewhere in the $30-40 range, we should pay off the cost of the solar panel in a couple of seasons.
We had a wonderful anniversary celebration. We took a 5-mile walk in the morning, came back to our campsite and ate pineapple salsa Vicky made the night before, and then had a delicious dinner consisting of meatloaf and mashed potatoes that Vicky made.
Tomorrow we head back to Seattle for Ian's birthday party.
Oh yes, on one of our excursions we came across the world's smallest mountain get-away home.
