100 miles of forest roads in a weekend – pt1

I’ve always dreamed of spending a chunk of my life off-asphalt – just driving for days on the dirt and gravel forest roads that sprinkle the West. I’ve always shy’d away from it though, some times due to the hit in my mileage and others from the safety concerns. He is an old van and in all reality was never intended for off-road trekking. He’s no Sportsmobile. It has only been this year that Big Blue has really had that ability with the larger tires and slightly raised suspension and we have been spending more time off road than ever before. Armed with a ton of info from our neighbor trail worker from our last spot – as well as Kerri’s satellite map scouting – we left our boondocking spot near Mineral on Friday evening for one big weekend adventure. First we needed a quick stop in town to resupply. That is where Chester came in with a grocery store and a top-off of the ol’ fuel tank… and then we were off.

It was only a few minutes before sunset, but we pulled into our first stop of the weekend on Friday night. It wasn’t far out of Chester, but Domingo Spring Campground checked all the boxes. Forest camping, no Internet, and we had the place all to ourselves. Yea, we could have boondocked right next door but the tiny little campground had a vault toilet (a luxury), fresh water, and trash cans. We desperately needed to dump some trash, and the sign was quite clear that the cans were for paying campers only… so we paid as to not take advantage of the Forest Service.

Domingo Spring, I assume, was found by some guy named Domingo. I don’t really know but that is the story I’m going with. The Spring was right outside the campground, but the water that ran out of the spring came directly through the campground – splitting it in half. A walkway traversed over the marshy meadow, which was as picturesque as I could ask for.

In the morning we walked the campground, checked out the spring and pool, then headed out to take our first dip into Lassen Volcanic National Park. Way down at the South-East corner of the park, accessible only by a long and winding road through the forest is the Warner Valley section of the National Park. Here we set out on a 5-mile (round trip) hike out to what the NPS calls the “Devil’s Kitchen”. Sounds cool right? It is a hydro-thermal area – one of many I presume – of boiling water and steam coming up through the rocks. Very much like a mini Yellowstone here, and thankfully without the huge crowds.

Now, late in the afternoon, we had to drive back down the same forest roads we came up and return to Chester. Not for any reason other than to pass through the town, though I did top-off the fuel and candy again before popping right back out the other side. We only drove a few miles on the main highway before taking a hard left and back onto forest roads, in which we would spend the next two nights traversing.

The location we were going to spend our Saturday night  turned out to be a bust. A cute little lake (Echo Lake) was recommended by Tracey, the trail worker, but ended up being a local favorite and crowded. We moved on to a place Kerri had earmarked to explore. Hay Meadows was our spot. Way down at the end of a dirt road, it looks used very little by anyone. We parked and swung open the doors to setup camp. An amazing marshy-meadow was visible through the trees right outside Big Blue’s side doors.

The dogs got to run around like crazy, playing fetch and dipping paws in the marshy waters. Kerri and I relaxed over a fine van-prepared meal, some cocktails, conversation, and a game of Yahtzee while the sun set. This is what van-life is all about!

to be continued…