The Breakfast Club: Gardnerville 2011

Friday, 26 Apr 2011

Marc writes:

I left for Gardnerville a day early, camping at Wolf Creek Friday evening. Wolf Creek is an primitive camp area about 5 miles from Highway 4. The last 3 miles are dirt. The only amenity is a pit toilet. No water. No marked sites. No perminent fire ring. No picnic tables. And perhaps best of all… almost no people. When I got to the campsite Friday afternoon there was a single tent pitched. As I was fixing my dinner around 6:30 two trucks pulling horse trailers pulled in. That was it. At night the only thing I heard was the sound of the nearby creek.

I set up my tarp in addition to my tent for afternoon shade. The final bit of set up was to pull one of my aluminum panniers off the bike to use as a table. That done I made a cup of coffee and sat down to relax. Alas, my plans of catching up on some reading went awry as my Kindle screen died somewhere between Tracy and the campsite.

There were several stone ring fire pits made by previous campers. I’d camped next to one of them. A walk around the campground found that some had left over fire wood. I found enough to set me up for an evening fire. The next camper will find some left over fire wood next to the stone pit I used. I also walked down to the creek with a foldable bucket and filled it with water. The water is for campfire control and drowning the coals before I leave.

I lit the fire about 15 minutes before sundown and spent the evening staring into the flames. I hadn’t done that in a long, long time. About 9:30 I started letting the fire die down and made sure everything was put away before climbing into the tent. The night was uneventful save waking once to hear the patter of rain. There must not have been much as things were dry when I climbed out of the tent around 7 AM.

camp set-up

No Neighbors

Coffee time

Dinner time

Relaxing after dinner

Enjoying the fire

Next day

As I was eating my breakfast, a banana and some toast, there was another cloud-burst. I moved my chair under the tarp to stay dry. It was hardly necessary as the rain lasted but a few minutes. I was in no hurry to leave so made a second cup of coffee before starting to break camp and pack the bike. That bucket of water went into the fire pit. Good thing… there were still some smoldering coals from the night before.

I took Monitor pass (Highway 89) to 395, detouring down a dirt road at the top of the pass a short distance just to see what was there. I stopped when the road turned rocky. Had I not been alone I may have continued on. Although, looking at google maps I think that the road dead ends. However, Big Springs Rd which you can pick up a little further east on 89 goes all the way to 395 north of Topaz Lake. Leviathan Mine Rd also goes to 395. Maybe next year.

I headed south on 395 to check out some camp grounds near Sonora Junction. Mostly I was killing time before getting to Gardnerville. Sonora Bridge campground looks OK. Chris Flat doesn’t. Bootleg is said to be RV and motorhome friendly… which is a negative for me.

I headed north on 395 stopping in Walker where I made a cup of coffee at a rest stop/county park. When done I got back on the bike and headed north. I still wound up checking in to the motel in Gardnerville before 1 PM.