CALIFORNIA DREAMING.
Day 48 – 50 degrees at 8 a.m., sunny and calm. Very quiet here even though later last night several campsites were filled, people came in and quietly set up, then left again this morning. Quick overnight stays, I guess. One loop of this campground is closed for the season – the one closer to the highway; this loop is open all year – closer to the River. Rob put the California sticker on the campground map, extending the spaces filled to the west coast.
Added California
There were five campsites occupied when we left to go exploring around 11 a.m. We paid $15 for two more nights (full fee is $15 per night; you get 50% off with the National Parks Senior Pass). The cats have settled in, happy that it’s quiet here and ravens are not jumping around on the roof. We have no internet & an intermittent phone connection. We were surprised when looking at the pamplets we’d picked up, how much there was to do in this area.
Highway 199 heading east & north, is called the “Smith River Scenic Byway”. It travels back up into Oregon eventually to Grants Pass, about 50 miles away. Many small roads wind through the forests between here & there. One of the brochures we’d picked up, the Smith River NRA Map & Guide, was a great resource with detailed maps with directions & descriptions of all the campgrounds including where dispersed camping (boondocking) is allowed. There are trail maps for hiking, places to put in for whitewater rafting, best fishing holes, historical landmarks, etc., all in this brochure. We also have a separate booklet which lists all the birding sites along the coast from the OR border south to Klamath & several in the area where we’re camping along the 199. Coastal birding & inland birding. And all of this doesn’t even take into account Redwood National Park, just west of us, & its attractions. I think we’ll be here awhile.
We drove east to check out the campgrounds & scenery around Highway 199 along the Smith River. Using the wonderful map from the Guide, we followed the directions to three NRA campgrounds along the River and left the 199 to take several dirt roads to look at dispersed area camping. Notes for us on the campground & dispersed area camping possibilities follow, beginning with the first encountered east of Panther Flat:
Grassy Flat NRA Campground, a little less than 2 miles from the Panther Flat campground at milepost 18.87, on the south side of Highway 199, was closed for the season. We parked and walked through the small campground. It was located right off the 199 & there was a decent amount of traffic noise. One side is bordered by a creek. On the other side of the creek is the Madrona River Access parking area & its 3 dispersed campsites. We could fit into a few of the Grassy Flat campsites, there is some distance between sites, and it is tree’d. No hook-ups, no dump station; the noise from Highway 199 makes this a NO.
Madrona River Access dispersed camping area, across the creek from the Grassy Flat NRA campground, is a small parking lot at milepost 19.2, allowing access for fishing. By the parking lot & near the creek, just off the 199, are 3 marked campsites, all with sites big enough for our RV, and free. Definitely could stay there for a short period of time, but there would be traffic noise, and depending on who’s using the parking lot, other interruptions are a possibility. MAYBE.
Patrick Creek NRA Campground, at milepost 22.0 off Highway 199, was a bigger campground than Grassy Flat, but again it’s right by the busy road. It was closed for the season & we were unable to determine whether our RV would fit in the sites. Until we can actually see it, NO.
Shelly Creek dispersed camping area, Patrick Creek Road (CR 316) north off Highway 199 at milepost 22.1, follow winding narrow road for about 2 miles. You can camp anywhere on this road, but there is a nice camping area called Shelly Creek on the left-hand side beyond the bridge, right by the creek, This would be a great place to camp with or without amenities. There’s nothing out here, very little (if any) traffic, a beautiful, private area. The only problem would be getting there. The road is narrow, but not too rutted, and there are slide areas where rock could come down into the road. If the road is clear, YES, camp here. And if there aren’t big puddles in the campground, YES, camp here. But it would, therefore, be necessary to drive the road & check out the campground with the Honda, in advance of driving there with the RV.
Doe Flat trailhead dispersed camping area, unfortunately we couldn’t get there to see it. We drove on a narrow, winding mountain road (Jawbone Road – forest service road 17N05, around milepost 25) heading towards the Bear Basin Butte Botanical Area. This road was probably not driveable with the RV, and it was closed at mile 8 due to storm damage. It would’ve become forest service road 16, then branch off east on the forest service road 16N02, but once we saw that the road ahead was closed, we took forest service roads 17N04, then 17N08 (Little Jones Creek Road), both narrow, bumpy dirt roads, back to Highway 199. All of these smaller roads allow dispersed camping but getting the RV very far on the roads would be iffy – NO for camping. It would, though, be nice sometime to take the Honda in further to the Bear Basin area.
Siskiyou Fork Road dispersed camping areas, at milepost 25.44, we took the road up into the hills, and took both branches off that road (forest service roads 17N01 and 18N08) until each of them ended. Great scenic drives but very narrow, rough dirt roads hugging the cliffs. You could never get an RV up there, but camping is permitted. NO.
Knopki Creek Road dispersed camping area, Knopki Creek Road (forest service road 18N07) off of Highway 199 at milepost 30.12, goes on for quite awhile, ending beyond Sanger Lake on the 18N02. This & the Youngs Valley trailhead area are surrounded by peaks reaching more than 6,000 feet high. This would be a great drive in the Honda, and we should definitely do this next time. You can camp anywhere along these roads. But soon after getting on Knopki Creek Road, we came to an old bridge which crossed the Smith River. Signs on the bridge said no weight larger than 5 tons allowed, so no RV. We turned around at that point & didn’t get to see the rest of what is probably an all-day journey into amazing country. NO for camping.
Other Notes: Dispersed camping is free and is limited to 14 days per site, unless otherwise specified, and 30 days within the Six Rivers National Forest. Most of the roads we took off of Highway 199 to check out the dispersed camping areas were dirt, some barely driveable in the Honda, and those would definitely be impossible in the RV (unless noted above). It’s pretty wild around here, not very inhabited, heavily forested, and incredibly beautiful. The area is very rugged; there are many backcountry hiking trails with hike-in campsites, and there are prime salmon fishing spots all along the Smith River. We were told that you can see the salmon spawning in the River and in its tributaries when the water level is high enough. No services or amenities are provided for dispersed camping; you must camp at least ¼ mile from developed campgrounds.
It was sunny & the high was around 60 degrees. When we got back to the RV around 3 p.m., we sat outside in the screened tent until the sun set. We don’t have a weather forecast available to us, so we’ll just play it by ear as far as what we’ll be doing each day. Even though it’s the weekend, the campground was nearly empty and very quiet.