Tuesday 9-13 Palistades Dam Recreation Area

 

Palisades Dam Recreation Area

It's suppose to rain for a few days and we don't want to be without power for multiple days. We can't use the solar panels when we don't have sun. Yesterday, we had trouble getting solar because our camp site was in the trees, while this is great for keeping us cool it is not great for solar power. Larry had to chase the sun by continually moving our solar panel but our battery for the house never recuperated  from me charging the computer the night before.

We decided to move down the road to Palisades Dam Recreation Area. It's a campground with power sites and sites without and if you cross over to the other side of the river via a bridge you can stay in a dispersed camping area.

I made pancakes for breakfast. then we put things away.

Before leaving Palisades Creek Campground, I went and asked Nick our camp host where the closest place to get propane was because we were getting low. He said go to the main road and take a left and go a mile. There will be a gas station with a big tank. Perfect, it was on the way to the dam. 

We stopped at the Chevron to get propane. The lady was very nice and filled the tank. It took 5 gallons. She knew what she was doing, she didn't wait for the pump to shut off she just stopped it at 5 gallons. Then we were back on the road. 

We arrived about 9:00 am. Larry was surprised by the number of available sites, on Sunday there were only three, today it was almost empty. I guess it's because it's Tuesday. We talked to the host, he was on his way out. He told us to find a site and gave us a envelope to fill out ($15.00 per night because of the Senior America the Beautiful Pass). We found a back in site and it was level, we set the Minnie up for a couple of nights. Now we can charge everything up. We also have internet.

After setting up we went for a half hour walk to get familiar with the campground. It was a little nippy so we wore our jackets. We walked down to the boat ramp. We watched people launch their boats. It was very interesting because most to the boats didn't have a motor and had three people. The middle guy had to use two oars to row into the current and closer to the dam. The current would then take them down the river to Palisades Creek about three miles, which would take them about two hours. We figured the middle guy was hired to take the other two fishing, that's why he was doing all the work. He also baited the hook of the fishing poles. At the dam we saw a lot of gulls floating in the current. After watching a bit we walked around the campground. It's a big campground with a lot of sites.

Fishing on the Palisades River

 

The bridge to the dispersed campsites

 

Living on the mountain

By the time we got back it was almost time for lunch. 

Before we move to a new location Larry does some research, we like to go to places that have hiking trails. Larry found that there were some trails in the dispersed camping area. After lunch we went on a hour walk to check them out. He said there was a trailhead 1.5 miles up the road from us. As we walked the road we found a couple of trails. Offroad vehicles such as ATV's are allowed on these trails. We were about .5 mile up the road and found a lot of elk tracks going up a dirt road. We followed the dirt road for about .5 mile before turning around. We didn't see any elk but we did see a snake. Larry was walking in front of me and almost stepped on it. It scared him because he was concentrating on looking for elk. When we got back to the main road we crossed and continued looking for elk. We finally gave up. We headed back to the campground. We had to walk down a steep rocky hill. It had big rocks and I slid a bit, I didn't exactly fall but I sat down. I got up and slowly walked down the hill. Larry was a lot braver so he had to wait and direct me down the hill. Then we were back on the main road and went to the Minnie.

 

Snake in the trail

In the afternoon I walked around the campground for an hour and a half . After dinner Larry and I walked around for a half hour. After Larry went inside I walked another 20 minutes. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group. 

A beautiful caterpillar during our walk

After getting my steps I started reading another book called Prince of Darkness (Justin de Quincy Mysteries Book 4) by Sharon Kay Penman. It's a medieval mystery. 

We had a laid back day.