Well it was too soon (and snowy!) to stop and camp at Lassen National Park, but we didn’t want to spend money on a hotel in Truckee or Lake Tahoe… (we have a tent and we’re using it!) We ended up pulling into Prosser Creek Reservoir in the early afternoon. The sun was out and it was nice and dry, even though it was a bit cold still. It’s too early for dinner so why not go for a bike ride?
There are actually a TON of trails out here. The Emigrant trail runs right through the area, along with Donner Pass etc. We may have to plan an actual road trip down here to go biking. We didn’t really explore a lot and just took the bikes down to the river to move our legs after sitting in the truck all day. and yes, I dug around the creek for rocks as usual.
One thing that I’ve realized annoys the shit out of me about camping in general is that by the time we have all of the stuff we need to live outside, cook real food, stay warm, and stay entertained, the entire truck is full. I spent DAYS sitting next to bags of chips. The loaf of bread emerged amazingly unscathed.
Either way, we returned from our little jaunt through the woods warmed up and with the feeling back in our legs. We were now ready for dinner. As luck would have it we managed to choose a camping spot with full cell coverage so Jason could check the weather.. where he uncovered a massive storm about to barrel its way through in an hour or two. Great. So that’s not nearly enough time to make dinner, eat it, and clean it up without freezing our asses off. So we just made peanut butter sandwiches and ate them in the tent. Overall it’s still not the worst dinner I’ve ever had. 😉
So that all looks lovely, right? Nice sunshine and a camp site under some pretty tall trees… However the reality was that we spent the night huddling in our sleeping bags trying to keep warm while freezing rain pummeled the tent. I’m glad that my bag is rated for -35*. (seriously, the thing is about the size of a 55 gallon drum rolled up. It’s ridiculous, but it works!) See below.
Not to sound like a wimp, but I don’t want to camp in 20 degree weather. That’s not fun. We woke up to parts of the tent frozen solid which made it a complete bitch to put away. Goodbye fingertips! At this point we were both considering whether it would be outlandish to go buy a camper…
After sitting in the truck long enough to regain feeling in our hands, Jason and I headed down into the town of Truckee for breakfast and coffee. Hot breakfast and hot coffee. In my case, I’ll take the coffee first.