Upon arriving in Greater Sacto from SoCal on Friday 7/14, after trailering a pop-up and hauling 3 kayaks, 3 kids, my bride, 4 ice chests, 7 boxes of self-split firewood, and a 75 lb. pit bull mix named Sadie (aside: she used to be this homeboy's lady) up the rollercoaster of potholes that is the 99, I opened my email to discover that those wonderful human beings over there at Recreation.gov decided to let me know at 4:30 P.M. THAT DAY that my reservations for Lassen National Park from 7/16-7/22 had been cancelled. Mind you, we made these reservations months ago, and these soulless morons couldn't figure out how to let me know earlier. Allegedly, there was "tree danger" there... not sure what that means, but I'm assuming it has to do with the snowfall this past winter, access to the campsite, and perhaps their inability to plan ahead anything much more complicated than a dog's breakfast.
Calling the toll-free number in the email was utterly useless, although the complete lack of compassion offered by the phone operator did serve to raise my blood pressure even further. Her supervisor was more kind, but equally helpless to solve our dilemma.
Recognizing that I was mere seconds away from going on a shooting rampage through the streets of Roseville, Mrs. Picante-- pragmatist that she is-- got on the computer and started looking for the needle in a haystack: a 5 day reservable campground within 4 hours' drive, with a one-day lead time. If you've ever tried to make camping reservations in CA, you understand how futile this can prove to be.
Miracle of miracles: she found a 5-dayer at Logger Campground, right on Stampede Reservoir west of Reno, and I felt a little better.
On Sunday, we endured a 20 mile backtrack due to the road closure, but eventually took some country roads to arrive at Logger.
In short, I was so pleased! Desolate, deep Pondersosa pine forest ringed a beautiful alpine lake (well, reservoir). The campsites are situated in half a dozen one-way loops. Like most places in California, no hookups to speak of, but long, wide pads for setting up your camper or trailer, and large sites for tents or just running around.
Pit toilets aren't always awesome, but these were cleaned daily and well-maintained. A water spigot was the only available water, but easier than bringing your own. Campsites feature a fire ring and a BBQ; we used both extensively.
The camp hosts in our loop were sweet to my kids and very friendly.
The campsite is situated on the Emigrant Trail, which rings a portion of the lake. Generally easy shore access around the lake, and with all the snowmelt, the water was very high. Great for kayaking, fishing, and water sports. Not a lot of meatheads out there with dragboats, either... again, pretty desolate with 13 miles of one lane bumpy road between our campfire ring and Hwy 89.
ORV access roads were advertised, but we didn't see a lot of that either. Instead, we saw Ospreys hunting for trout and Kokanee salmon, a doe with twin fawns, and plenty of squirrels.
Cell service is spotty-- a slight problem when the group of teenagers next to us one night started blowing things up in their campfire at 3 AM... but then, I was a kid too, once. And kudos to them, they actually came over and apologized for their noise the next morning. Who knew?
In any event, we really enjoyed this campsite, and doubly so because of our last minute change. Special thanks to Mrs. Picante for pulling the hat trick while I sat there pouting. It seems the age old third grade debate is closer to being answered: girls are better than boys. read more