| Back to Recently |
| Mendocino 10/18/15 - 10/25/15 (The long way,
almost a 1400 mile trip) |
 |
| Van Damme State Park campsite
28 |
| Spent a week on the road for
an over nighter with a friend at Van Damme State Park in Mendocino (3
hour drive each way from Vallejo). It
was pretty much overcast the whole trip, which is a nice change from the
normal desert sunny skies. It got down to near freezing at Mono Lake at
night. (6200' elevation) I was nice to have some snow in the high Sierra
after a summer of almost none. The Glaciers are even starting to disappear
after years of drought. |
| Owens Valley |
 |
 |
| Some fresh snow in the Sierra to start the
fall season |
| Sunday night there
was a huge thunderhead and lightning storm going on to the east of camp.
Since I couldn't hear the thunder, I assumed it wasn't over Saline
Valley but probably farther off around northern Death Valley. Turns out
it stalled over the Scotty's Castle area (Grapevine Canyon) and dumped
2.7 inches of rain They called it a 1000 year storm, Scotty's Castle is
closed for at least a year. Battery was dead on the Gopro or I would
have tried recording the lightning flashes. Without the thunder it
didn't scare Mya. The next day I got low passes by an F-18 at only a
hundred feet or so. He even turned canopy towards me but I was unable to
grab my camera in time. |
| Mono Lake |
 |
 |
| 2015 |
2006 |
 |
 |
| 2015 |
2005 |
 |
| Years of progress wiped out. Mono Lake has no
outlet and only goes down due to evaporation. A 8 foot drop is a lot of
water because of it's large surface area (LA diverting water impedes
refilling) |
 |
 |
| My 6 foot measuring stick |
Sand getting too deep, backed up 1/2 mile. Looking for
Indian Spring on southeast end of Mono Lake. |
 |
 |
| Part of the wasteland on the southeastern
side of the lake |
Looking up Lee Vining Canyon |
| Lake Don Pedro (New
Don Pedro Reservoir) |
 |
 |
| Lake Don Pedro like most reservoirs in California is extremely
low. |
Tuolumne River Below the Dam |
| Vallejo |
 |
 |
| Stopped at
the old CSTSC area on Mare Island (It was Combat Systems Technician
Schools Command now Touro University) |
| I got to go to my
favorite pizza place (Napoli's) with old friends as well as visit a
couple others in the short time I was in Vallejo. |
| Mendocino |
 |
 |
| Little River running through the campground is just a
small creek |
Beach at Van Damme was overcast and dreary on Friday |
| Half the campsites at Van Damme were closed
as well as all the sites at nearby Russian Gulch. Off season is just as
crowded as in season because they pack you in through closures. Took 132
from Cloverdale to get to the coast near Fort Bragg and 20 back to 101
for a different route home. Both roads are winding and heavily forested
including some second and third growth redwoods. |
 |
 |
| |
I remembered my room mate as being prettier the night
before |
| Back to Recently |