October 8, 2012

Sycamore Grove Campground

Mendocino National Forest, Red Bluff CA

We really liked the little piece of paradise we had found at Chinook RV Resort in Klamath CA and with the added bonus of a great weekly rate we had considered staying another week or two.  BUT we knew it was time to move on when Sean, the camp host, informed Monte that he would be removing the floating dock in a couple of weeks in preparation of the rising water when it snows that could flood the resort.  Yikes. 

I set the alarm for 7:30 and we really didn’t want to get out of bed when it went off.  It was just too cozy and warm in bed but we wanted to get an early start so we got up.  We planned on leaving between 9:30 and 10 and that should have been possible as we had done a lot of our pre departure chores the night before but something happened that delayed us and we didn’t end up pulling out of the resort until 10:30.  Directly across the river from our site was an island where some locals had set up a camp to fish for salmon.  Monte had wanted to do some fishing while we were at the resort but when he inquired about licensing he decided it was too expensive.  To make it worth paying the fees he would have had to have fished every day while we were at the resort and then we wouldn’t have had some of the wonderful adventures we experienced.   

The camp host apologized the morning we were leaving saying he tried every day to catch a fish for us because he doesn’t like any guest leaving without having some fresh caught salmon.  As he is telling us this, one of the guys from the camp across the river who had rowed over in his boat, approached us to ask if we wanted to purchase a salmon.  He had caught three and had them on ice in a cooler.  Monte responded that he would love a fish but since we are in the process of preparing to leave he wouldn’t have time to filet it and we certainly didn’t have enough room in the fridge for a whole fish.

  David, who is Native American and whose native name is Running Wolf, said no problem and that he would not only filet the fish but cut it into portions.  So we ended up with 12 pounds of salmon for $20.  It was worth being delayed.

After hugs with the camp hosts, Sean and Marlene, and assurances that we would definitely stay there again if we ever come back to the area, we were on our way.  We drove south on Highway 101 for 50 miles and then headed east.  The next hundred miles or so was pretty tense driving as the road took us around, up and down mountains.  At some points, Monte had to slow down to 20 MPH because the turns were very sharp.  We were delayed for twenty minutes by some construction where I witnessed something amusing.  There were a couple of young guys pulled over near a turnout.  They had a pickup truck with a trailer attached.  They were attempting to put what I assumed to be a disabled car on the trailer.  There were two young women with the car.  One of the construction workers pulled up in his truck and gave the guys some planks to use as a ramp.  One of the boys got in the car and started driving up the ramp and of course first one, then the other plank cracked.  The driver sped up and made it onto the trailer just as the broken planks dropped to the ground.  I had to wonder if these boys would have gone to so much trouble if the disabled car hadn’t belonged to two cute girls.

Finally, we were led by a pilot car down the mountain through the construction area and we were on our way again.  We drove through Weaverville that looked really charming.  I would have liked to stop but it was getting late and we wanted to get to the campground before dark.  When we arrived in Red Bluff, we followed the GPS directions for the campground.  Once in the park we followed signs for the day use area because the parking lot was large enough for Monte to be able to park.  He got into my car so we could check out the sites to see which ones were available.  Sycamore Grove is a small campground in the Mendocino National Forest.  There are only 30 sites, ten of which have water and 50 amp electricity. 

Before we had headed out this morning I had gone on-line to check out which sites might be available.  Since the campground is in a National Forest reservations can be made via recreation.gov.  We don’t like to make reservations for a couple of reasons.  One reason is that we might see someplace that we would like to explore on the way to the reserved campground and wouldn’t have the option of exploring that place without losing our money as the reservation is not held with just a deposit but has to be paid in full.  The other reason we don’t like to make reservations without having seen the campground is that we might not like the location and then we are stuck there.

When I checked out the availability that morning I saw that there were 4 sites that didn’t have any reservations for the following week.  But when we arrived at the campground and spoke to the camp hosts, Pat and Nancy, we were informed that there was only one site that didn’t have reservations for the following week.  We checked out the site and it would not have been our first choice.  It was in direct sunlight, had a barking dog at the next site, and the view out of our big slide was of a construction site.  BUT since Monte has the Senior America the Beautiful pass, the site was only $12.50 per night.  We decided to take the site and stay for a week because we were looking to save some money as we have had some unexpected expenses since leaving Florida.  We also factored in that gas might go up to $6/gal in California.  (If that happens we might have to change our plans of staying in California for the next two months and go to Nevada or Arizona.)

While Monte backed into a very difficult site to back into (which he did like he was an old pro) I filled out the envelope the camp hosts had given us, added a check for two nights, and deposited it in the “Iron Ranger”, a box for self-registration.  The sites are only available for non-reservation for two nights.  To stay longer, reservation and credit card payment must be made on-line through www.Recreation.gov.  I went on-line and reserved the site for an additional 5 days. 

After setting up I made us a quick dinner and we settled in for the night.  There is no wife available at the campground so we will have to use our own Mifi sparingly.  But after raising the antenna we discovered we had excellent TV reception so we watched a couple of shows and by 11pm I was nodding off.  It had been an exhausting day.