Living out of a 2019 Subaru Ascent named Mirja
After staying in the wonderful area of Inyo National Forest for a week, visiting all of the alien planets of volcanic activity in the area, I hadn’t quite had enough. I decided to visit Mono Lake and the nearby Panum Crater before heading up to a new camping location I scoped out in the Lake Tahoe area.
On Friday, I left the Keyesville SRMA area near Lake Isabella, and began my journey through the Southern Sierra Nevada. I had scoped out a pathway through the area, with three campsites, which I had hoped to take a good, long while to get through. Due to lack of cell reception, however, I ended up traveling them all, seeing all of the following: Sequoia National Forest, Giant Sequoia National Monument, Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon National Park, Sierra National Forest, Yosemite National Park, and Inyo National Forest.
After more than long enough hanging out in a motel room, the weekend finally came, and I was off to see some more adventure! I planned to hit up Pinnacles National Park, the BLM operated Laguna Mountain Recreation Area in Central California, and finally end up in the lower, southern Sierra Nevadas Sunday night. It didn’t quite happen exactly like that.
Leaving San Diego since my last post on here, I headed up to the greater Los Angeles area, where I visited family for a week. It was a fun week with the family, hanging out and enjoying my time in an apartment for a bit. From there, I headed on North, attempting a couple of campground in different sections of the Los Padres National Forest. That turned into one hell of an adventure over the last couple of days!
On Thursday, June 25, I headed out of my camp spot in Cabin Hollow with plans to head to Las Vegas one night and then San Diego. I made the decision to drive through Zion National Park on my way to Vegas, which was absolutely amazing! It took a bit longer, but I hadn’t been through Zion before, so I enjoyed the drive, before meeting up with my parents in Vegas.
I don’t much like leaving a camp spot early and putting off work onto the weekends, but Willow Springs was just too much for me to stay! Packing up, I headed back up to I-70, where I headed west through the San Rafael Swell and Fishlake National Forest. I absolutely love that drive–one of my favorites. I pulled off onto US-89, which I found to be an absolutely stunning drive as well!
I was really sad to be leaving the Pole Mountain camp, but I had a plan and wanted to try to stick to it to the best of my ability. So, I set off for Willow Springs campground in BLM land just outside of Moab, Utah and Arches National Park.
After heading out from the Badlands, I made a quick stop in Rapid City to fill up on water and buy a few extra bits of food supplies. From there, I headed into Wyoming, towards the Pole Mountain area of Medicine Bow National Forest, between Laramie and Cheyenne.
The drive was largely uneventful, except for passing through a gorgeous area of the Black Hills in South Dakota and more gorgeous area in Wyoming before hooking up onto I-25. I followed that to Cheyenne, where I got off at Wyoming State Route 210, and followed that into Medicine Bow National Forest. There was some really terrible storms blowing through as I drove on 210, making me nervous about getting the camp spot I was hoping for. However, it had passed by the Pole Mountain area without significant effect, and the drive through that area was absolutely stunning.
On Thursday, May 28th, 2015, I turned in my keys to the apartment and began the new life out of the car. After a stop in the dentist office for some last minute work, I traveled to the San Diego harbor to spend the night with my parents, who live on their boat. The following day, the three of us packed up my car and set out on our way towards Minnesota.
