Imagine this in your very own backyard...
Basecamp Aspen Grove.
The Hobitat.
Creature comforts. Now, in case you are wondering, if Pam is "working" then what am I doing? "But, honey, I have to catch these precious moments on camera!"
We love hiking, camping, fishing, and cooking in the Gr8YdOpn.
The one that DIDN'T get away! Now, as for the rainbow trout, I forgot to get a picture until after we ate it. Oh well. The fish were very tasty.We depart for Aspen Grove again by way of Sonora Pass due to the Big Meadow fire closing the road from Crane Flat to White Wolf.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
We leave work a little after 3:00 p.m. and head up the 99 to Manteca then heading east towards Bridgeport and spending the night at Walker River Lodge. We arrive in Bridgeport around 8:15. We check into our room, freshen up a bit and then walked to Rhino's go grab a sandwich to eat, and went to bed. The room was next to the Walker River. Really nice.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
We arise only to see the severity of the smoke in the valley from the Big Meadow fire. You could barely see the Sierra Nevada. We eat breakfast at Hays Street Cafe before heading south towards Lee Vining and the Aspen Grove campground.
We arrive to find out our Site 30 we had hoped to secure was already taken. We travelled a little further down the camp road and settled into Site 45, which was a lot better than Site 30. There was a fallen log where we set up out tent next to.
We head up to the meadow adjacent to Tioga Lake to dig up some wild onions and to look around for places to fish. My wife had fished here years ago with her children and encountered a black bear in this area as well.
It drizzled a little just enough to settle the dust.
Friday, September 4, 2009
We drive to Lee Vining to purchase more fishing tackle. The air in the valley was 100 percent better than the day before. The easterly winds have blown the smoke out. Did the fire crews contain the Big Meadow fire? The only smoke we could smell was from the campsites.
We go fishing for the first time at Tioga Lake. We fish along the shore at first with no luck. Then we move to a stream from Dana Lakes that feeds into Tioga Lake. My wife reels in a 9 inch brown trout. I barely get a nibble. I did manage to reel in someone's fishing fly. I love fishing. We had to quit around 4:00 p.m. because it started to get overcast, windy and cold.
Again, the drizzle arrived again.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
We again drive to Lee Vining to stock up on some lures and headed out to a small dam just east of our campsite along Highway 120. Fishing along the shore my wife snags a 15 inch rainbow trout! The only "bites" I get are from the mosquitoes! I love fishing. Oh, I already said that!
Later that night we feast on our catches of the past two days along with brown rice and cooked vegetables.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Time to pack up and head home. We were going to return home by way of Sonora Pass. We stopped in the Lee Vining convenience store and asked the cashier if he had any news from the road closure. He said he just made a phone call and said the road was now open between White Wolf and Crane Flat, but the road to the valley was still closed. We had to exit the west side and drive towards Groveland and Coulterville. There was devastation everywhere. Sad that the prescribed burn on August 26 went wrong. Hopefully, El Nino will spare anymore devastation.
