Restored

Burney Creek
Originally uploaded by jenworth.

Camping trip was most excellent.

We went with P's wing-it method, which is a little different than Little Miss Planner's methodology. Although I did some research online and had printouts and such, really, it all came down to getting in the car and driving. We looked at, and rejected, campgrounds along Lake Shasta. Too populated, too many RV's, too tourtisty for our tastes. We like our camping to be more remote and free of people close by.

We drove farther north, and headed out 89 East past McCloud. Saw more campgrounds. At about 6pm, we declared a winner. Algoma campground was on Forest Service land. No running water, and an unmaintained vault toilet. It was also free, and we scored a site on McCloud river, with no people in sight. It was awesome hearing the river at all times.

Spent two nights there, checking out the McCloud River waterfalls, the towns of Weed and Mt. Shasta, and having slow mornings. I now have a souvenir "Experience Weed, California" t-shirt to commemorate the trip.

We decided to do some road trippin'. Headed out 89 East again, to check out Burney Falls, drove through Lassen National Park (awesome! far less crowded than Yosemite, and some darn purty landscapes!) We had a snowball fight in August near Mt. Lassen peak; well, not so much as a snowball fight as I ambushed my traveling partner. Made a mental note that I'd love to hike up Lassen peak sometime, plus that place is so uncrowded it would be great for backpacking.

Kept on truckin' out of Lassen and decided to find our campsite for the night. We drove to Lake Almanor and found a nicely empty campground on the south shore of the Lake. It was blissfully quiet thanks to it being Sunday evening. P made a bean stew that even after cooking for, oh, about three hours and two cannisters of propane, the beans were still hard in the center. Go figure. Late and dark into the evening, we heard a noise that caused P to pause (note: only pause, because being a manly-man, he does not frighten. ha!). I recognized the screams as a pack of coyotes in the night. To those who've not experienced such a sounds, it sounds quite like a screaming child and something not-quite-human. Wild!

Next morning we tried to cook those damn beans some more in hopes of having breakfast, but after another hour they still were hard. (And even after two more hours at home that evening: still hard! what the hell?). Finally we gave up on the beans, and headed out. We took Highway 70 down the North Fork of the Feather River. Unbelievably gorgeous territory. Shocking to come into the Delta Towns that were utter shite. Made our way back home, relaxed and happy to have had a few days in nature.

This week has been more dental work, more errands, and then it's back to work for me on Monday! Two weeks off was great, not enough, but hey! That's all some staffers get all year. Ouch! Anyway, I have to wrap my brain around the idea of long hours and such again, but at least did my annual hourly rate increase, so I can't complain too much.

Except I'd like to live someplace more mellow and less crowded. Some day, perhaps.