Day 5

Methow Brewfest in Wintrhop, WA

We got the invite to go do some brew tasting with a couple of great people, Kendal and Shawn. The Methow Valley Brewfest was held in the Wintrhop Barn about 40 minutes from home, so we also decided it was a perfect opportunity for a little RTT camping (thanks Kendal, for the suggestion). We stayed at the South Summit of our favorite, local ski spot, the Loup Loup.

Just a couple of teachers, enjoying their summer, tasting craft beer

Dinner in Winthrop

We went for a stroll through town to walk off the beer and find some dinner. We went to a favorite spot, Carlos 1800, which has Yucatan food that is amazing! We'd never sat outside before, and the view of the Methow River was perfect. Dang it, wish I had taken a picture. I was too busy shoveling in pepita salad and Cochinita Pibil. If you really would like to see where we ate, click on the link on the name of the restaurant, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and watch their video. The spot outside where people are sitting...that was our table.

Traveling back through Twisp, we decided to take the back-road, and stopped at this pretty spot for a picture of the breathtaking Methow River.

Camping at South Summit, Loup Loup, Hwy. 20

This was the perfect opportunity to try the RTT for a quick pull into a site, set-up fast, camp situation. Kendal and Shawn have a truck with a camper, so they were equipped and ready for a short overnighter as well. We visit this snow park several times each winter to do our cross country skiing, and our awesome, little, local ski hill The Loup Loup Ski Bowl is right across the highway. We've gone on a few fall hikes and bike rides here also, but I don't think we've ever been to the spot in early summer. How beautiful! So green!

I'm not going to lie...it was chilly. Immediately following set-up, we were all in our pants and drinking hot chocolate (adult-style). We retreated to S & K's camper for some game time. It is fun to hang out with others who appreciate learning new and creative games. For the rest of you game-lovers our there. Here's what we played, all interesting and different.

   

Before heading up the ladder, Jeff and I enjoyed a little walk around time to take in the night sky. I have to tell you...stars in our hometown are incredibly visible...in our backyard. Go out about 20 miles, like we were this night, and you can see the milky way like a white paint smear in the sky. The available viewing space from the clearing in the parking area where we camped gave way to a dome of beauty. Jeff commented that we need to have a star party here with staff, students, and parents soon. It's the perfect spot to take the telescope out for an observation night.

And then it was time for night five in the RTT. Here it is all lit up and ready for us to retire for the night.

In the morning, we enjoyed more visit time, sipped our coffee and made breakfast. Jeff, Shawn, and Kendal played another game (Phase 10 - the dice version), and I did a little bird wandering. Then, we packed up and headed home. 20 minutes from home...another awesome adventure!!

Quick Recap of Day 5

South Summit Camping - So close to home, that was nice. We didn't actually camp in the campsites, because, surprisingly, there were 3-4 other groups there camping already. I have a feeling this spot doesn't usually fill up, and the people who were there seemed to be all together. The parking area worked fine, for our needs for the evening, but it would be hard to make a fire there (not sure we're even still aloud to make them this time of year so close to the valley). The star and planet gazing opportunities were OUTSTANDING!

Lessons Learned - It is nice to camp with friends, especially those with campers on cool nights. Headlamps...we keep forgetting our headlamps. Those would be much easier to wear on your head while climbing the ladder instead of holding a lantern or a flashlight. We do appreciate the LED lights in the RTT (see picture above). And finally, we really enjoyed our time, walking around to look at the sky before bed, especially for those nights when you can't sleep with your sky lights open because of the chill. Last tip - pee twice before getting up on top of the RTT...just in case. This is just another reason to do a little star gazing.

Day 4

Minimalist Camping...Yay or Nay?

I had a goal for our next tent trip. After many, many camping trips over the years, I have to say that the one thing that always gets to me is how freakin' long it takes to get ready for the trip. All the planning, organizing, packing, squeezing... which is fine, when we have 3 or more days that we need to prepare for. But, with this 20 day challenge that we have taken on, I knew we were going to need some practice cutting down on the load. I want us to be able to leave on a whim, without too much planning or hassle, and be able to go for just a night or two at a time.

Jeff was a little apprehensive about my plan. After all, he has spent years perfecting the packing of camping supplies into containers and boxes. They are well organized tubs that hold every, single, possible thing you could ever need; from twist ties to coffee creamer, games, frisbees, toilet paper, I'm not kidding. We are well prepared for every situation. All that stuff is fantastic, but with the dog crates in the FJ, and no boat to load up with extra stuff, we were also pressed on space.

We planned our supplies into four main categories; food, camping supplies, personal items, and dog necessities. The idea was to try to pack less than usual in each category.

Food

We kept it super simple...no raw meat, portioned out sizes, very little prep. Since we were leaving home after lunch we only needed an afternoon snack, dinner, and breakfast the next morning. We figured we'd stop for early dinner in Conconully on the way back home (which we did!). For snacks we packed salami and coppa, crackers, and a brie spread, pre-cut honeydew (it was so delicious) and strawberries. I pre-made turkey and ham sandwiches, coleslaw from the market deli, and chips for dinner. Breakfast the next day was a simple egg, turkey sausage (pre-cooked), onion, and mushroom scramble, served in tortillas with our new favorite hot sauce (Marie Sharps...from Belize). I also packed a small zip bag with a few tiny paper plates and napkins, 1 fork and 1 knife. The best part...hardly any cooler space. I used my darling cooler bag that Zoe and Max got me for Mother's Day (for food), and we packed a small, soft cooler for a few drinks. Here's what the final food pile looked like before putting it into one, small cooler with ice packs instead of ice (RED DUTCH OVEN NOT INCLUDED...it was just sitting on my stove when I took the picture).

Camping Supplies

Like I said, we have just about everything a camper could ever need. It was hard to do, but we narrowed our packing list to just the necessaries that we knew we would need or really, really want to have; stove with propane, 1 pan (not in picture), coffee pot and our coffee press, lantern, hammock (which we, unfortunately, didn't get to use), and a jug of water. Instead of packing these into our usual tub of stuff, we just wedged them into the FJ's cargo compartment bag in the back. Not shown...we packed two chairs, a pop-up table, and 4-5 pieces of wood for burning.

Personal Items

We fit everything else we would need into one sling style bag that tucked away in back. We brought lotion, sunscreen, bug spray, a bug candle (not needed...no mosquitoes, surprisingly), our Kindles, phone chargers (which plug into Jeff's portable battery that is in the car), binoculars, wipes, a cribbage board and cards, and a couple other necessary items. We pretty much went with the clothes on our backs and shoved a couple jackets in the back before we left (see more about the clothing later in post...Jeff was way more prepared than I was). We packed our new sheets to try out up in the tent and our pillows (can't live without them). The other thing that was thrown in at the last minute (and I'm so thankful it was)...a fold up, portable stadium blanket.

Dog Necessities 

There's not too much skimping to do here. They need what they need. Since the pups can't sleep in the RTT with us, we knew we had to bring both crates, so they could sleep in the vehicle at night. We didn't know what to expect at the campground, as far as freedom goes...so their tethering anchors and leashes were a must. And then, of course, we brought them their food and portable water dish full of water.

All packed up (Newton in his crate and Lily are in front of all of this)

Kerr Campground

For this one-nighter, we decided to revisit an area real close to home that we have only recently discovered, Kerr Campground, about 15 minutes out of Conconully. The weather forecast said 20% chance of rain (although I'm sure I saw the number 50% at some point, somewhere)...but that's OK. We needed to try out the camp set up in the rain sometime anyway. Along North Fork Salmon Creek Road, you'll run into several small campsites set under the trees and right on the creek. We passed Cottonwood Campground, Oriole Campground, and pulled into the next one, Kerr Campground.

We found the perfect little spot (#5), right on the water, and not very close to others, so the dogs could be off leashes most of the time. Here's the spot once we got set up, which didn't take long, and all our necessities out and on the table. And...yes, it looks like it might rain soon (forshadowing  💧).

Lily and Newton

...and it was time for a snack.

...and a walk...

Everything was going great. The fur babes were having a fantastic time (they just love to be outside and be included), and the weather was holding up. We were exploring the creek, where we saw a log bridge calling Jeff's name. I hopped up on the log to take his picture, lost my balance, and WOOOPS!! Dropped my phone into the creek! Yikes! It was laying on the bottom of a fast moving creek, under about 2 feet of water. Although the phone is waterproof, I had to act fast. I just jumped right in, clothes and all. I retrieved the phone, and then Jeff snapped this picture of me. The first one was not very flattering. He asked me to smile for this one.

So, now I had no dry clothes, other than the one pair of shorts I was wearing before it cooled off. My shoes were soaked, but I did have a pair of sandals (never leave home without them). Luckily, Jeff hadn't followed my packing rules completely, and he had an extra pair of socks and undies, so that is what I wore (and my down jacket). My top was fine, but my bottom half was freezing.

Then came the rain. We had predicted it anyway, so we were fairly prepared, other than the fact that I was walking around in shorts and night was settling in with a rainstorm. We put up the awning off the other side of the car, plopped our two chairs under the cover, and played cribbage while we ate our precooked dinner. Easy-peasy. The rain fly on the top of the RTT hadn't been used yet, and it did a great job keeping us dry for the evening. The rain didn't last long, either, so Jeff made me a fire to warm my legs, and YES!!! so glad we packed that stadium blanket.

Jeff did a great job making fire without a hatchet to cut kindling. He just found wood pieces and small branches to use instead. I really think a hatchet should have been part of our minimalist list, but Max had borrowed ours to go camping with friends. Next time.

We climbed the ladder a little early that evening. It was getting chilly!! But...this time, we had sheets and a pretty sweet setup for sleeping. A fell asleep almost instantly, and before we knew it, it was morning.

The sun was breaking and breakfast was delicious. One thing I love about camping in public sites is that you always meet the most interesting people. And everyone is always happy. Who wouldn't be happy if they were camping? A nice couple from Lacey stopped to talk to us about all the birds they had spotted on their venture through Okanogan County. They had seen 117 species since they left home. Wow! We did some more walking around and exploring, and then packed up to head out for a long drive home. We wanted to keep heading out North Fork Salmon Creek Road (NF-38) with our destination being Tiffany Springs Campground, a place we'd never checked out before.

A little morning reading and warming time while my pants and boots dried off

The view in our backyard

Beautiful, Mountain Drive

This next section is heavy on pictures, which speak for themselves. What a gorgeous place. We climbed the road for a couple hours, stopping here and there to take in the views. The FJ Cruiser sure does handle those bumpy, rutted roads well. We passed several campsites and trailheads, taking pictures of all the signs so we can plan for another adventure later. The wildflowers were vibrant and abundant, so I picked a bouquet to bring home. I have a personal rule to never do this, unless there are thousands of flowers around, and there were.

We ran into very few other travelers, including a group of 4-wheelers that were behind us almost the whole way. Once we reached Tiffany Springs, we took a trail (maybe a mile, mile and a half out) to a nice little lake. The dogs loved being off leash and running around. The mosquitoes got me here a little bit, but it was worth the views. The area last burned 13 years ago in the Tripod Fire, so the trees were blackened, ominous, but beautiful at the same time. And things are slowly growing back into a lush forest once again.

Snack and a beverage at Tiffany Springs Campground

Happy Dogs

Tiffany Lake

Do you see Jeff?

We continued another couple of hours down the other side of the loop, and ended up in Conconully for an early dinner, as planned. There are only a couple restaurants in this hopping summer destination, but they are both fantastic places. We went to Red Rock Saloon for pizza, which we'd never had there before. Wow!!! Awesome pie!

Quick Recap of Day 4

Kerr Campground - We'll be back for sure! This was close to home (30-40 minutes tops), campsites are few but far between each other for privacy, and camping right on the creek is pretty much unbeatable. They have restrooms, garbage disposal, and the campsites were well taken care of. There's no water, so bring your own. We found lots of small wood pieces to use as fire starters. There were a couple other sites that could hold 2 or 3 families. The downside - no reservations, so it's taking a gamble if you want to plan a trip.

Tiffany Springs Campground - This would be a nice place to stay sometime, but it took a long time to get to, and once you are there, you'll want to stay for a couple days. The views were spectacular. Since it takes a sturdy, all terrain vehicle to get here, if you see anyone at all, they'll probably be on ATVs or bikes (we saw both). There was also a Eurovan and a pop-up camper/truck, so the road is doable in a tough rig.

Lessons Learned: Minimalist camping wasn't quite what I expected. We DID save on room, which was nice since we had the pups with us, but I don't think we saved any time in packing. In fact, it might have even taken longer because we found ourselves digging into Jeff's already well packed boxes just to find the few things we pulled out to bring with us. Carefully planning and portioning out food was fabulous. Where we usually have a humongous cooler which takes up tons of space, the carry cooler we brought was plenty. ALWAYS bring spare clothes. You never know what is going to happen. And lastly, know the weather report. Had we not known there was a chance of rain, we wouldn't have had the rain fly on and awning set up before it started. BONUS: I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the heated seats in the FJ.

OVERALL - Success and good times in 24 hours! Woohoo! I am ready to do it again! How about tonight?

Day 3

Scooteney Reservoir Campground

Waking up to a beautiful, sunny day at Potholes State Park, we weren't even sure where we were going to end up for night three. We (OK, I...) had 3 big goals for the day; check out Scooteney Lake, see Palouse Falls, and revisit a childhood memory at Ayer Boat Basin on the Snake River. We figured we'd do them in that order and just stay wherever we ended up. That is the beauty of the RTT, after all...just pop up that tent where ever we land.

First Stop: Scooteney Reservoir Campground, right off Hwy. 17, a little south of Othello, WA, was a place I've been curious about for awhile now. When Jeff and I were doing some research beforehand, we saw that the campground (no reservations allowed) looked nice and the lake interesting. We made a quick stop, and agreed that this would be the place to return to after our other adventures that day. We even picked a spot...#36, and hoped that it would still be available when we came back.

Connell

We got back on the road to get some groceries (ice, firewood, dinner to cook for the night), fill up on gas, and get a bite to eat before the hour-long drive to Palouse Falls. Connell, WA was the perfect stop. In all my travels through this area growing up and my road trips as an adult, I'm not sure if I have ever stopped in the town of Connell, or even driven through it, for that matter.

We made a short stop downtown to take a couple pictures of the artwork sculptures (all on tables and chairs spread out around town...so cute!) and the buildings. I loved this one of Kaffrin's Coffee Shop, and then another historic building across the street. But...we ended up heading back to the other end of town to go to the first place that Jeff had spotted, Michael Jays. The owners were so friendly and greeted us as their first customers of the day by asking about where we were from and letting us choose the sports event on TV. We talked tennis, school sports, and then FJ Cruisers...because, they had one too! We saw it when we parked outside (maybe that is why Jeff wanted to go there). It is always so nice to meet people in other towns with connections, similar interests, and interesting stories.

And here is a poker game we caught in mid action right on a main corner of town. Jeff tried to give some of his expertise in making bets.

Palouse Falls

With a satisfied belly, we were off on the road again, with a one hour trek to Palouse Falls State Park. I am sure I went here, at least once as a kid, but I don't remember it like this. It was a little drive off the main road, and quite a few visitors were there, despite the heat, and it was toasty by noon.

Palouse Falls State Park was Awe-some! It was also hot as an oven out there...not sure the exact temp, but probably in the high 90s, in this dry heat...not something we are used to...yet. And, I didn't wear very good walking shoes (yeah, I was in my Birks...surprise, surprise), so we opted to just walk to the viewpoint and not out around the falls. If you look closely, you'll see brave (and sweaty, I'm sure) people out there near those rock pinnacles at the top left of the falls. Did you know that Palouse Falls is the Washington State Waterfall? You can camp up there, if you don't mind hundreds of tourists walking around you all day and the extreme heat. I can imagine the views at sunset are amazing!

Ha ha! Yep, that picture set up was Jeff's idea.

Ayer Boat Basin

When I was growing up, one place that we went, what seemed like all the time, was Ayer Boat Basin on the Snake River. The thing I remember most is the rocks; rock beach, rocky hillside, rock parking area. Usually we'd just park the truck and camper right on the edge of the lake and fish and swim all day. It was always super hot. I recall spending lots of time there with my friend Gretchen and her family. We'd swim waaaay out to the other side of the basin. I was scared to venture out that far, I remember, because I couldn't see the bottom (there could be anything down there!!) and we'd swim right up against the steep rock cliff so far away from everyone. I felt brave out there. I wondered if the basin was as vast and huge as I remembered, so that is was sparked our visit.

WARNING: Google Maps isn't always the best source of directions. I should have known when my phone told us to take that right, almost directly after crossing the Snake River at Lyon's Ferry (another fond childhood spot). It sure didn't look familiar to be driving on a gravel one lane road. It was called "Ayer Road" though, so it must get there, eventually. Eventually was correct. We kept plodding along, stopping to open the gated off roadway (four gates, actually), meandering past grassy fields and a dozen or so cows, and then ended up on the other side in the small town of Ayer, WA. Not sure that anyone actually lives there or that the road we were on had been driven in awhile, but we made it...about 45 minutes later. I'm sure we were less than 5 miles away when we began that trek.

If you look closely in this next one, you can see one of the make-shift gates that we had to open and close to get through the road. 

When I was young, I used to see these power lines all over. I always thought of them as giant robotic cat-like creatures. We saw plenty this day.

And...finally, we arrived.

There are still a lot of rocks at Ayer Boat Basin, and the hills are still rocky too, but the edge of the lake and the lake itself are so different than I remember. I guess 40 years of time can change a thing or two. There's lots of vegetation around the edge of the lake, and the basin is filled with dark, murky water, and a lot of river weeds. It would be fantastic with a canoe! In fact, instead of kids jumping and splashing in the lake and parents stuck to lawn chairs and holding their trusty fishing poles, all we saw were a couple kayaks and a pelican. There were people camping at one end, and we did see a boat leave the basin through the tunnel to the Snake when we first arrived. My Grandpa had a boat, and my dad had a boat, and we would launch from the basin and go out on the river through a little tunnel on occasion. I remember being super excited when we would escape the basin for a little extra adventure and go find a sandy beach somewhere on the river to fish and swim.

And...no, not nearly as big as I remember it. But, I guess I was little back then. Glad I got to fulfill my curiosity about this place.

Me at Ayer Boat Basin

Scooteney Lake

It was early afternoon at this point, and super steamy. We began the journey back to Scooteney hoping our coveted #36 was still available. It was. It wasn't long before camp was set and we were in the water cooling off. The spot was pretty perfect, right on the water, and we could moor the boat at a dock just in front of our campsite.We timed our boat exploring for dusk so that we could enjoy the evening water birds and the sunset. Jeff caught a Walleye, which he later let go (Thank you, darling husband), and we just tootled around and enjoyed the lake. Breathtaking!!!

We had a late dinner (Al Pastor from the Connell Market). YUM!! We made a fire and roasted more marshmallows. This time we had coconut, chocolate cookies to sandwich them between (think Girl Scout Samoas), and then fell asleep under the stars, listening to bullfrogs croak like cows and crickets chirping. I slept like a baby.

The next morning, things took a turn away from perfection. Jeff must have woken up quite early because he was already out in the middle of the lake. First, the sprinklers came on...right on top of all our stuff we had piled in the grass. I should have known better, after all, the grass has to stay green somehow. I moved everything to a new spot and then those sprinklers turned on next. :)

Then, I discovered that the bathrooms, which WERE conveniently right across the road from us, had a lovely sign taped to the door; "Closed for Repairs," except the word "repairs" was crossed off and "theft" was written in. What? What was there to steal out of this tiny little room with just a sink and a toilet? Toilet paper? Considering there were only 5 of us staying in the entire park, and we were one of only two groups without an RV (hence, using the facilities) I felt like I was either being blamed or being punished for something I didn't do. Anyway, we decided to pack it up (the RTT) before heading out on the lake one last time so that we could use the vehicle to drive to the day use area and use their bathroom...which was disgusting and needed cleaned, by the way.

Another twisted event happened to Jeff early that morning. While out on the lake on his solo fishing venture, he ran into a small island. Yes, an island of rocks...totally unmarked, other than the birds we later saw sitting on them. The lake was shallow everywhere, but not 20 feet from this "island" it was 18 feet deep, according to the handy-dandy fish finder. It dinged his motor a bit, but we lucked out with no damage to the boat.

Rock Island

Luckily, we decided to stay on the lake a little longer and explore, because the day ended up being a gold mine, when it comes to birding. Turns out, there was a lot more to Scooteney Lake than we originally thought. We headed to the south end of the lake, which turned into a narrow channel of moving water, which opened up into another lake, and then another, and another. It was a chain of lakes, all deeper than the main lake and teeming with wildlife. We saw Cinnamon Teals, Mallards, Western Grebes, Sandpipers, Terns, Gulls, Coots, and two Pelicans, one of which let me take photo after photo, even after chasing him off into flight a couple times.

Sandpiper

American Great White Pelican

Quick Recap of Day 3

Scooteney Reservoir Campground: Beautiful spot, fantastic birding, gorgeous sunset, nice and convenient boat mooring, not too crowded, even on Father's Day weekend. The downsides of this place: unmarked, random rock islands, shallow water, lots of goose poop (but the darling goose families with their goslings were worth dealing with it), and a cranky caretaker who only wanted to mow his lawn (2 times in 24 hours, not kidding) instead of cleaning bathrooms.

Lessons Learned: Check out the bathometric (did I say that right, Jeff?) maps of lakes before venturing out in them so we know the depth layout. We also learned that we have to set up the RTT before the awning on the other side of the car. Did that first this time and had to put it back to get the Velcro off of the tent cover.

I also have a mission for the next trip. We are pretty organized campers. We have a place for everything and everything in its place...but...I think we pack way more than we need. I am planning the next one using a "Minimalist's Camping List" that I have started on the kitchen chalkboard.
Until then...here is a gorgeous field of canola that we saw on our drive back home. Does anyone know why it looks like stripes? So cool, but confusing!