Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Yreka to Dos Reis County Park

 

Camping at Dos Reis County Park

Feb 15. It was raining in the morning. We got on the road early so we wouldn't be arriving at a campground at night.  Unfortunately Mount Shasta was shrouded in Cloud when we drove by.  Lake Shasta was reasonably full after last year's big snowfall.

I love driving through the northern part of the Central Valley.  You drive past flowering almond orchards and olive groves. Then you get to the flooded rice fields. We drove past big flocks of snow geese and egrets.  There was even a rogue flock of chickens feeding at the side of the freeway.

Sacramento traffic was busy but straightforward.  At Lodi we turned off for Westgate Landing Regional Park.  Recent I-Overlander reviews give it a bad rating due to miserable camp host, terrible washrooms and a ridiculous reservation system but we had fond memories of camping here in 2020 and walking the dikes along the Mokelumne River.

We arrived at the park at 2 pm.  There was no sign of the miserable camp host except a NO TRESPASSING sign on the fence around his rv.  Very confusing signage, but it did say no entry without a reservation.  And the access to the campsites was roped off with a locked chain.

We managed to get turned around and drove off toward another regional park 30 minutes South.  Dos Reis Park on the San Jouquin River has the same ridiculous reservation system and confusing signage but it has a friendly camphost and that made all the difference.  Also they didn't lock access to the sites.  The host showed up as I was trying to make reservations online and suggested we phone the parks department.  

People, I don't think you can travel to the US  by the seat of your pants anymore.  Most Walmarts won't let you park overnight, and campsites  don't take cash, you need reservations. Fortunately, I checked tomorrow's camp spot and was able to reserve the last 2 sites. It's President's Day Weekend and I should have known better.  Last year we got caught at Lake Havasu thinking we could camp in the overflow parking but even that was full. We ended up parking in the desert after dark.

Luckily we have reservations from here on.

Anyway,  the sun was out, it was warm.  I was in my shirtsleeves.  We walked along the dyke and saw a great horned owl, a great egret, 



house finches, goldfinches, a great horned owl and the bird of the day,  scrub jays. We sat outside in our lawn chairs till dark!



The washrooms, however, are dismal.  There is just one toilet with a stained lid for the whole park.  The showers were locked from 10:30 to 6 pm so I can't report on their condition. They charged us $35 plus $10 admin fee for one night. Plus $1 for a dog.

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