Camping, finally!
 

Well, four months after our purchase, numerous hours getting familiar with the trailer and creating checklists so I lessen the possibility of doing an uh-oh, an initial overnight shakedown trip in a local campground, and a trip to Camping World to attempt to get my hitch correct, we are going camping!

We'll be leaving one week from today with another couple who has a trailer to head to the coast and will be staying at a California National Guard base alled Camp San Luis Obispo. They have a small RV park there (only 12 sites) with pull throughs and full hook ups for $23 a night. I'm very familiar with the base and area as I used to work for SLO County right next door to the base. We have a son in the area so will be visiting with him as well as seeing the local sights.

After 5 nights there, we will be heading back up to the mountains to Shaver Lake in the western Sierra for 4 nights where we will meet up with my brother-in-law and his wife who are renting a small motorhome. This will be their first RV experience so it should be interesting- talk about a couple of newbies! :D:D

Awesome man! Hope you have a great trip and all goes well. I'm not too far behind you. Shooting to take mine out around mid October for a few days for it's first trip.

Remember, without pictures it didn't happen.

Just made it back safely from our maiden voyage. Had a blast!

Pictures and more detail forthcoming.

Camp San Luis Obispo
 

Here are a few pictures from the first stop on our trip. Camp San Luis Obispo is the original California National Guard Base. The base has only 12 RV sites, all pull through and full hookups. Not bad for $23 a night! There is also an overflow area (dry camping) for only 5 bucks a night. You must have access to military bases or be a guest of someone who does to camp there. It's a great location for visiting areas on the Central Coast such as Hearst Castle, Cambria, and Pismo Beach.

Shaver Lake
 

Our next stop was the Shaver Lake area. We stayed at Camp Edison which is a private campground, at 5,500 ft. elevation, owned by the utility company Southern California Edison. There we met up with my brother-in-law and his wife, who had rented a motorhome. We stayed in the "Lakeview" sites, which were $48 a night with electric only. We stayed there 4 nights and after the first night, were the only campers in our loop other than the camp host. The "blood moon eclipse" occurred on early Wednesday morning so we woke up at 3 am to observe it (sorry, no photos). The lake level was low (at 50% capacity which is the minimum it must be maintained for hydro electric requirements) but was still beautiful. We took a day trip up to Huntington Lake which is 20 miles up Hwy 168 at an elevation of 7,000. It was only at 15% capacity, a reflection of our ongoing drought. Nearby is the China Peak ski resort.

More Shaver Lake
 

Some more photos . . .

Kings Canyon National Park
 

Our last stop was at Kings Canyon National Park. We spent two nights at the Azalea Campground which is about 3 miles from the entrance on Hwy. 180 at the 6,500 ft. level. The Park Service had already closed many of the other campgrounds in the area in preparation for the off-season so Azalea was fairly crowded, especially on Friday night.

The park is actually comprised of two areas separated by about 30 miles. The upper part where we camped was the Grant Grove area and is the location of the General Grant sequoia which is, I believe, the largest tree by volume, in the US. The other part of the park is the actual canyon. If you've never been there, I highly recommend it! John Muir, the naturalist who was instrumental in getting Yosemite recognition as a national park, described the canyon as rivaling the Yosemite Valley.

Here is more info if you are interested in planning a visit:

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks (U.S. National Park Service)

More Kings Canyon
 

More photos of the canyon area . . .

Grant Grove Area
 

Photos of the giant sequoias and General Grant tree . . .

Glad you had a great trip Greg. With our drought conditions, I was surprised to see pictures of water falls this late in the season.:)

Thanks for the pictures, Greg. We've camped in Yosemite, but never in King's Canyon. I'll have to do that next time.

That was a great picture of the falcon. Was it fairly tame, or were you just lucky?

- Jack

As was I, Garry. It's good to know there is still a little water left in SoCal!

That was actually a red-tailed hawk that decided to pay us a visit to our campsite. He later flew to the picnic table and then took off after his dinner. We did have a very tame squirrel that kept visiting us though. He was obviously used to campers as he tried to get inside my brother-in-laws rented motorhome by hanging on the screen door. It was able to undo the door latch and only failed to get inside because the door hung up! This is not a tall tale- that was one smart, brave, (and annoying) squirrel!

If you go to King's Canyon, Jack, I recommend you camp at one of the campgrounds near the entrance until you drive down into the canyon before taking the trailer down. Your smaller trailer may be no problem but I wouldn't feel comfortable taking the 24 footer there as the road is pretty steep and narrow in places with lots of twistys. The road is overall quite nice though and there are four wonderful campsites near the river deep in the canyon if you're brave enough to do it- I'm not there yet!!! Lots of hiking available down there if you are into that. From the end of the road, you can get a wilderness permit and hike and camp in the high Sierra. There are trails that link up with the Pacific Crest trail:

https://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/

Thanks for posting the photos. beautiful.