January 2010 CA Caverns Camping (formerly Mar 2010)

[Shari G-E]

Mike and I have been planning a trip to California Caverns, near Angel's Camp. I have never seen stalagmites and stalagtites and the other remarkable underground mineral phenomena, and I really want to go! While Moaning Caverns, etc. sounds more exciting, California Caverns is/are more generally accessible (for those of us such as myself, who is missing a significant amount of cartilage in the left knee and has a hardware store in the right).
http://www.caverntours.com/CalifRt.htm
As far as camping, Bigtreeway and Westywoman know the Gold Country camp areas near Angel's Camp way better than I. Anybody wanna go Jan 23-24?

[Romy]

I think that about a 30-45 min drive from the caverns would yield a good NF spot somewhere. Anyone want to go a-scouting?

[Shari G-E]

Pg 98? I don't have a Gazetteer: I think I want one, but I don't even know what the hell it is, really. :-)

Regis said:

Page 98. Is everyone on page 98 of the Nor cal gazetteer? The elevation isn't that high. Might not be snow there in January. Might be cold and wet which is worse to me

[Shari G-E]

around the fire . . . /


Regis said:

The smallest maps, if my info is correct, are the 7.5 minute maps. It's scale is 1 : 24k. These are the ones used for backpacking. They show the most detail. They are put out by the US geological survey people.

Maybe I'll gather up examples of all that I have for a map tutorial at this weekends GTG. In between tasty beverages, of course.

[Romy]

Regis, that's some sweet work!

[westywoman (Melissa)]

As a map woman, I may have to make a stealth run to REI this week and find some GD maps! I left a message at the "Gold Country BLM" field office today and have not yet had my phone call returned. Apparently there are no live people there, just machines. I won't be able to join the map tutorial this weekend, but will make arrangements to share what ever I find about BLM and NFS lands. Crazy that it is so secret!

Romy said:

Regis, that's some sweet work!

[westywoman (Melissa)]

Amen, brother!

Yes, the 70's were good to me.

[Jenn Frederick]

I'm not volunteering or anything, but I think if we sent a scout to just go drive around within the BLM or NF border, that would be more effective at finding a large level-ish camping spot then spending money on fancy maps. In my experience, maps can usually guide you to a general area, but once you get there, people have usually cleared out roads (which aren't on the map) that lead to good camping spots.
Regis- you have a good point about finding a level spot by looking for wide spaces between contour lines on the topo maps - however, when we were camping out on BLM land at the lost coast, we found a large leveled out camping spot on the side of one of the steepest hills you could imagine along the coast. It could easily accommodate 4 to 5 buses. So don't rule those steep places out. :-)

[Shari G-E]

Yeah, I agree about the recon. I think you have to see it to really know where it is and what the terrain is really like. I'd have to see if our boring car's ('99 Dodge) tranny will make a hill trip. The clutch is seriously slipping. Damn, seems like we'll never get those bus tires. Hummm, my mom and dad live less than an hour north of Sac, maybe I could talk them into an adventure . . . and travel in Silverado truck style--just thinking out loud, so to speak.

Jenn Frederick said:

I'm not volunteering or anything, but I think if we sent a scout to just go drive around within the BLM or NF border, that would be more effective at finding a large level-ish camping spot then spending money on fancy maps. In my experience, maps can usually guide you to a general area, but once you get there, people have usually cleared out roads (which aren't on the map) that lead to good camping spots.
Regis- you have a good point about finding a level spot by looking for wide spaces between contour lines on the topo maps - however, when we were camping out on BLM land at the lost coast, we found a large leveled out camping spot on the side of one of the steepest hills you could imagine along the coast. It could easily accommodate 4 to 5 buses. So don't rule those steep places out. :-)

[Shari G-E]

Block 13 includes the Fricot Rd section that we spoke of before. The pale yellow/tan of that block is listed in the key as "'other federal land." It's a little disconcerting that the BLM color of yellow is nearly the same as "Indian Land." We definitely need recon.

Regis said:

This is a link to the Stanislaus NF map. Click on the left side of the map for a blow up. The first thing that caught my eye is High Mountain. Go two blocks up from that to block 14. You can see Cave City. I assume that the yellow patches are BLM. The green will be Forest land. Pick your spot

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/forestvisitormaps/stanislaus/

[westywoman (Melissa)]

It is still my intention to get to the BLM in El Dorado Hills office this week to pick up the San Andreas and Placerville area maps and whatever else looks good. They are $4 each so I am also willing to take orders.

Regis said:

I noticed the same thing . The real map and maybe a visit to the BLM or NF ranger office will show this better.

[westywoman (Melissa)]

I have a copy of the Tahoe National Forest map and it shows every campground and road along with streams & lakes. It also shows the BLM land areas but no details. So, I think at $13.95 these are a good investment.

Regis said:

http://www.totalescape.com/active/campstuff/NF/NFS.html

I'm thinking that these are the maps to have. I have the Mendecino map and it is informative.

But as far as ordering, I'll take, Plumas, Sequoia, Sierra and Stanislaus. Ooo la la

[Shari G-E]

If you are on a map quest, I'm interested in Plumas, Lassen, Shasta-Trinity, Sierra. I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a map today; I can send $$ to your home address if you like.

Melissa said:

It is still my intention to get to the BLM in El Dorado Hills office this week to pick up the San Andreas and Placerville area maps and whatever else looks good. They are $4 each so I am also willing to take orders.

Regis said:

I noticed the same thing . The real map and maybe a visit to the BLM or NF ranger office will show this better.