Tuesday, February 14
We are now sitting in site 438 in the Rivernook Campground in Kernville. We left Bishop on Saturday, and went to Lone Pine, where we got a site at Boulder Creek RV for two nights. Our intent was to do a little laundry, dump our tanks, and enjoy a little TV before we headed to the Kern River and no hookups. We'd called the Kern River ranger station, and the recording (it was the weekend) said Fairview Campground was open. Fairview is 20 miles north of Kernville, and is our favorite Kern River spot.
On the way from Lone Pine on Monday, I figured I'd double-check on Fairview and called the ranger station to talk to a live person. The ranger told us the recording was wrong, and Fairview was closed. That left Headquarters, where the sites are too small, boondocking on the upper river, Cove, which is open-space boondocking, and Camp 9, on the northeast shore of Lake Isabella. We opted initially for Camp 9. With our America the Beautiful pass, we'd only pay $8.50 per night. However, Camp 9 was a disappointment. Sure, we'd have had the enormous campground entirely to ourselves, but it was in the wide open, getting hit by the winds off the lake, and just didn't look like a place we wanted to stay.
As we drove north, we discussed our options, and I decided to call Rivernook, which is a large private campground on the river just north of Kernville. They told us they'd just re-opened on Saturday, and we could have our pick of sites on the river. So, at $40 a night (ack!), here we are. Don prefers established campgrounds and hookups over boon docking, so to him, the cost is worth it. I chose not to argue. So of course, I'm enjoying the hookups, too.
This is the view from our front door.
Yesterday the weather was beautiful, and Don took the truck and drove about 30 miles upriver to the wild trout section. You have to hike in a mile, but the fishing's worth it. I lazed around camp, did some hand sewing and reading, and had a wonderfully relaxing day.
Today it's raining lightly--a mild storm that's giving snow to the higher elevations--so I'm planning on going to my favorite antique/junk store and the coffee shop (to use the WiFi since this campground doesn't have it).
Now for a story: Last Friday, when we were still camped at Pleasant Valley Campground, I'd gone into town. Coming back, I hit the top of the hill looking down on the campground, and saw thick black smoke rising from the general area of our trailer. Immediately I thought our trailer was on fire. My heart started pounding, and I nearly hyperventilated. A half mile closer revealed that the smoke was actually coming from behind the trailer. Whew. A crew from the correctional facility west of Bishop was burning off sections of invasive weeds, and had 8 different spots to do within the campground.
They even had two trailers move so they could do the spot in the photos below.
This one is only about 30 yards from our trailer. My heart has finally stopped pounding!
Update: I'm sitting in the Big Blue Bear Cafe, the only place in town with WiFi, and it's not working. So I guess I'll post this when we get home Friday.
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