So today was awards ceremony day at my son, Atreides', school. He has had issue all school year long due to his ADHD/ODD/SPD and has made great strides in improving. For the last month or so he has pretty much gotten 100% on his spelling tests and improved over 40% on his science and math. (he is in 2nd grade btw). So his teacher, who has had him for an entire year mutilates his name to the point that he doesn't even realize he has been called. His classmates say "I think that's you". The fact that the other kids had to use the work "I THINK" means they aren't 100% sure, but they are assuming so because it sounds like his nickname "Trey". She pronounced it "a-TREY NATCH-REENER". His name is Atreides (atray-deez) Nach (sounds like the composer Bach) Reiner (as in the actor Rob Reiner). 1 year and she couldn't get it right. I am truly offended and I know my son was hurt. He worked hard and didn't get the full recognition he deserved. The expected him to work his ass of, which he did, yet she couldn't put in the slightest effort to get his name right. ONE PISSED OFF MOMMY right now. I will be having a talk with his teacher and the principal. We have an IEP (Independent Educational Program) in place for him, and part of that is to boost his self confidence. How is this supposed to help when his own teacher can't even get his name right.
Ok, venting done for the day.
grrrrr
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Thursday, May 25, 2017
CHILAO CAMPGROUND - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Payment -- Bring a pen. On the Kiosk at the front of the Little Pines loop you will find an envelope with the window tag and post marker tag. Take that with you to your site, put some of your stuff there so no one else will take it. Go back to the kiosk and write down your pad number and put your $12 (per night) fee in the envelope and stick it in the lock box. Exact change. No one there to give you change. We checked in at 5 pm on 10/10 and we paid for 2 days, and check out was 11 am Monday morning. They usually have a clip on the site post marker, but bring one just in case and hang the tag on your review mirror.
Water ---There are faucets throughout the loops. But on 10/10 - 10/12 the water was off due to a leak.
Bathrooms --- A few port-a-potties. Nasty! Spiders, Flies, gnats, mosquitos. Keep the toilet seat down so they aren't in the port a potties and keep the door closed so that they die in there instead of keeping the door open and allowing new and olds one to go in and out.
Toilet paper --- provided and well stocked.
Bugs --- Bring an arsenal of bug killer. Ants, flies, gnats, yellowjackets mosquitos, beetles, and a few I've never seen before and have no Idea what they were. You are at war with this buggers and they see you as a walking buffet.
Neighbors --- Most neighbors play their music until about sundown, then they turn it off.
Rangers --- They come around often, day and night. They do enforce the rules. Which is great to know, especially if you have bothersome neighbors.
Animals --- There are bears and wildcats. We just didn't see any. There are no bear lock boxes, but is suggested that you lock your food in your car or up in a tree. Keep any food that have strong smells out of your tent.
Fire Rings -- These are provided, one per site.
Tables --- One Wooden table per site pad.
Local Store -- NONE! There is Newcombs Restaurant and Bar (motorcycle hangout) just a little down the road, but it is strictly those two things. They do not sell anything you'd need for camping. Please bring whatever water, Ice, Dry Ice, Bug Spray, etc with you, or get it in La Canada on your way in. It is roughly 23 1/2 miles from the edge of La Canada/Flintridge to Chilao Campgrounds. That's one way.
Garbage Receptacles --- There are a few garbage bins that are kept shut, please brings bags that tie shut so garbage isn't strewn everywhere.
The DRIVE -- Luckily they graded this road rather well, so the inclines are not steep. Even a 2002 Ford Taurus with 100k miles on it had no problem handlings the roads. Just make sure your radiator is in good working conditions because it can get very hot up there, for you and your car/truck.
Gas Stations --- NONE. Gas up at La Canada/Flintridge. There are NO gas stations anywhere on this mountain.
Motorcyclists -- This road is a cyclists dream. You have to be a special breed of super human to ride a motorcycle down and up that road as fast as some do. To you, my hats are off and I bow to you!! But, some may not be veterans at riding and tend to take some of those curves wide. Please remember to stay more to the right of the road just in case one of those newbies shoots around that corner.
Police Officers --- YES they do patrol those roads. YES, they will pull you over. YES, they loveeee motorcyclists! So don't speed, for everyone's safety. Please.
TURN OUTS --- You will see MANY of these up the mountain. They aren't just for site seeing. Although they are great for this. They are also for you to pull over so that faster traffic behind you can pass you. You do NOT want to be the source of a massive back up on that mountain because you are too afraid to drive the speed limit. This irritates everyone, so pull over and allow others to pass.
ROADWORK --- As of 10/12/2015 they are paving the roads a little below Chilao up towards Buckhorn. So there is loose gravel on that part of the road. You will need to follow a LEAD TRUCK in order to go up and down that section.
HUNTERS --- Deer season opened Saturday, October 10, 2015. At first I saw a few guys in camo gear off to the side of the road with rifles. Deliverance started to play in the back of my head. Only after we settled into our site and the guys next to us had a table covered in weapons were we told it was the first day of hunting seaon. Thank GOD, I thought a revolution was being staged at first. So be mindful that there are hunters out there when you take your hikes.
Overall, we loved it.
COLDBROOK CAMPGROUND - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
We wanted to go winter camping. UMMMM.. yeah, not gonna do that again unless we have a blast furnace with us.
Visited Sunday, December 27 - Tuesday December 29, 2015.
FEES: Bring a pen. On the Kiosk at the entrance you will find an envelope with the window tag and post marker tag [$12 per night] [$10 with Adventure Pass] [$6 for Disability Pass]. Bring exact amounts. Day use pass is $5.
CHECK OUT TIME: 2pm following day.
CAMP HOST: His name is Ron. He lives there year round. He is awesome, knowledgeable, and very helpful. If you have any questions please ask him. Also say hi to his black cat Arthur. He is located on Pad #4 at entrance. Also, if there is an emergency you can contact him and he has the ability to call for assistance.
PAD SITES: 21 pads, but only 20 are available year round.
WATER: There are faucets throughout the campground. Clean, fresh, drinkable mountain water. Ice cold in December.
BATHROOM: Many throughout the campground. Plastic toilets (no metal). CLEAN! With plenty of toilet paper.
BUGS: No BUGS in December. Summer may be different.
NEIGHBORS: We went on December 27-29th so we had only one other campsite visitors (Jim and Mike).
WILDLIFE: Bears, snakes, squirrels and deer and other small critters. We saw only squirrels and Deer; a family of 7 deer which was cool.
FIRE RINGS: one per site. (please clean before and after use - DO NOT leave a messy pit!!)
TABLES: One Wooden table per site pad.
FIREWOOD: You can use the fallen wood throughout the campsite. Just bring an ax and handsaw of some kind. No need to ever buy firewood from a store.
STORE: Either stop in Azusa before coming up the mountain, or you can get some last minute emergency items at the Crystal Café which is 8 miles up the mountain from the campground.
GARBAGE RECEPTACLES: Bear Garbage cans throughout site. USE THEM!! DO NOT give bears a reason to visit you or others near you.
GAS STATION: NONE. Gas up in Azusa. There are NO gas stations anywhere on this mountain.
TRAILS: There are many trails throughout the campsite and beyond.
THE BROOK: There is indeed a small brook that runs through the campground. Between site 9 and 11 at the top of the loop is a small path towards where the brook comes out of the mountain, there is a HUGE corrugated tunnel that runs through the mountain, so you can go to the other side and see where the water comes through.
TRAFFIC: Almost no traffic going up. From Disneyland to campsite it took us 55 minutes total.
CELL RECEPTION: Cell reception stops at the bottom of the mountain where the last section of housing is.
FOOD: I pre-made our meals and had them triple wrapped in foil so they could be cooked within the foil. (1) Denver omelets. (2) Deconstructed stuffed peppers. (3) Hobo tri tip/potato/yellow pepper/onions/carrots in burgundy balsamic sauce. (4) Steaks (5) Breaded Chicken strips (6) Bacon -lots of it (7) Southwest Stuffed baked potatoes (8) cubed ham and cheese and crackers (9) junk food - chips, oreos, hot chocolate.
WEATHER: It was 36° day and 21° night. The wind was 2-6 mph days and 14-24 mph at night. STRONG! We were more impressed that our tent made it with no issues at all. No snow at the campground, but it did snow up at Crystal Lake 8 miles up the road.
If you freeze your food and items at home, you won't need ice for the cooler. It's cold enough to keep everything frozen.
You will need MANY blankets and sleeping bags if you do not have a heating system. Since we didn't, we clipped solar blankets over the top of the tent fly and then put the rain barrier over it. We then placed solar blankets inside our tent to reflect heat from the walls. We placed two blankets on the floor of the tent and then our air mattresses. Then a sleeping bag, and covered it with 4 blankets and 1 Swiss Army Blanket to cover our heads. With all this, we were super warm. Only when we had to get up to go to the bathroom did we feel the full force of the cold. We tried using fire stones in a deep pan to keep the tent warm, but it only lasted for 2 hours. Don't bring a tempurpedic type pillow or mattress with you during this type of weather, it will literally freeze solid. My pillow was a useless brick for sleeping, but was a great wind barrier between the air mattress and tent. Bring warm clothes, scarves and gloves. Bring a few pairs of gloves. One pair specifically for cooking and one for day use and one for night! you don't want to smell dirt and or food when you sleep. If you can smell it, so can the bears.
Remember, keep your dirty/stained clothes in the car and wear clean clothes to sleep in. Keep your food in the car and not in the tent.
Also, if by chance you are a diabetic, please note that at these temperatures, your glucometer will give you a temperature error. You will need to get the monitor warm first so it will register properly.
Overall we loved this little place. Had we not had our 6 year old son, we would have stayed many more days, even with the cold. NO RESERVATIONS NEEDED!! 1ST COME 1ST SERVED!!
We also went during one of the other holidays, I think it was memorial day or labor day, but man, i had never seen so many tents in such small spaces. Avoid if possible, unless someone got your spot ahead of time.
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
THE KERN RIVER TUBING AND CAMPING - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
So for this one, I am going to cover THE KERN RIVER. Please note the river is long and there are numerous paid/public campgrounds, paid/private campgrounds and free/dispersed campgrounds.
We go to a free/dispersed site (Lower Spring Hill Campground) but next to it is also Upper Spring Hill Campground which is a little rockier).
DIRECTIONS
I live in Orange County and going to the camp out at the Kern, I have to drive roughly 3 1/2 hours to get there which is about 190 miles. There are two main ways you can get there that is pretty easy. Notes the directions are from Anaheim, CA. I live close to Disneyland.
I-5 to CA-99 to 178/155/495 to HWY 99
1. Take I-5 NORTH to CA-99 then to CA-178 (E/Rosedale HWY) (roughly 136 miles)
2. You will take CA-178 to CA-155/495
(This is Wofford Heights Road that turns into Burlando Road then turns into Kernville Road) this will take you into KERNVILLE
3. It is a small stretch of road that ends on SIERRA HWY (which is also HWY 99). TURN LEFT
4. You will drive roughly 9 miles to get to Lower Spring Hill Campgrounds.
When you hit the 8 mile mark you will see CORRAL CREEK RESORT off to the right. They
have a daytime picnic area you if you are in to that kind of thing.
5. 1 mile past this is the entrance to both Lower and Upper Spring Hill Campgrounds. In the photo you will notice that it is marked only by a small sign. It DOES NOT have a Federal Park large brown sign. It's a small dirt path. You will see some port-a-potties by the entrance to the left of the path. We camp out by the trees on the riverbank directly across from the entrance. You can't see the port-a-potties in the photo since the trees are covering it.
6. The Road is NOT ask winding as the alternate way (listed below). It's more long and winding.
I-5 to CA-99 to CA-65 to CA-155 to HWY 99
1. Take I-5 NORTH to CA-99 then to CA-155
2. The road is SUPER INSANE WINDING up in the mountains. If you get car sick, this is NOT
the road you should take. But it is extremely scenic the closer you get to Wofford Heights.
3. The 155 will take you into KERNVILLE. Once you are in Kernville follow the directions above.
FIREWOOD - You CAN NOT BRING OUTSIDE WOOD TO THE CAMPGROUNDS. You can collect fallen firewood, but you CAN NOT chop any wood if it isn't already dead and on the ground. Of course, you can always make a small hop, skip and jump to BODFISH to go to the FIREWOOD GUY (https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-firewood-guy-bodfish). GUESS WHAT, they deliver to the campgrounds. Who knew!! They know the campgrounds like the backs of their hands. CALL first to make sure this hasn't changed.
-wheel barrow (soft wood) $20
-wheel barrow (hard wood) $25
-regular bundle (6.50)
ICE - You can always get ice at gas stations, Walmart, Sierra Market or Riverkern General Store to name a few. NO ONE in the Valley sells DRY ICE. Bummer!! We get ours at the closest Smart and Final (In Bakersfield - take I-5 to CA-99 but go up to the CA-178 turn left on "F" Street to it's end and the S&F is there). If your site is adjacent to the water, you can strap your ice chest to a tree with a rope. The ice will last several days this way.
FIRE PERMITS - You need a fire permit to use any of kind of fire at the campgrounds along the Kern River. Go to this site (http://www.preventwildfireca.org/Campfire-Permit/) and watch the 2 minute video. It will have a quiz section afterwards. Roughly 10 questions (if memory serves me correct). After the quiz it will provide you with a fire permit for you to print and keep with you at the campsite.
FIRE ALERTS - Check on the forestry page (https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/sequoia/alerts-notices) go to the middle of the page and you will see this section. Click on the KERN RIVER CAMPING RESTRICTIONS. See below the alert page to see the ORDER enforcing the fire regulations.
ROAD CLOSURES - http://roads.kerndsa.com/road-status-closures (map of all major roads) Here is a small snippet of the road closures. go to site and click the down arrow for more roads.
List is from May 2017.
BANKS - There are only 2 banks in Kernville. It is funny how one never thinks about this until
you are where you want to be and find you have to back track forever and a day to get back to it.
- 44 Big Blue Rd
Kernville, CA 93238 (760) 376-2251 - 27 Big Blue Rd
Kernville, CA 93238 (760) 376-2211
However, Lake Isabella has a few more.
- 5946 Lake Isabella Blvd
Lake Isabella, CA 93240 (760) 379-4671 - 5610 Lake Isabella Blvd
Lake Isabella, CA 93240 (760) 379-4335 - 6212 Lake Isabella Blvd
Lake Isabella, CA 93240 (760) 379-3642 - 6100 Lake Isabella Blvd
Lake Isabella, CA 93240 (760) 379-2691
However, Bakersfield has many more. I have listed the one for
Chase Bank. 2680 Mount Vernon Ave, Bakersfield, CA 93306 When you take the CA-99 to CA-178, it is there, close to a WALMART (2601 Fashion Plaza, Bakersfield, CA 93306)
FISHING LICENSE - BELOW are some of the places you can get a license.
Search Results
I saw no other animals other than squirrels. I saw some dragonflies, flies, birds, bees and ants.
Big ants that think you are a walking buffet of international flavor. What we do it bring but spray and make sure to sweep the ground where we are going to have our tent and then spray the bug stuff. Place down a tarp and put our tent on the tarp. Then we spray around the edges of that tarp. Our tent has a front porch area that is netted off, so we have it sprayed in there and we place a fake green grass carpet and a huge towel and a big tub of water to the side. So when we come in and rinse off our feet, dry with the towel and we can walk around our tent.
ELECTRICITY
None. Forget it. Unless your vehicle has an ac/dc port or a car battery port, your car or a generator is the only way you will be power up your electric stuff. One of the things I do is bring battery operated fairy lights. String those up in the tent or outside and it gives off enough light and can be turned off when needed. No plugs. Love Fairy lights.
VAULT BATHROOMS/SHOWERS - Only the paid/Public and paid/Private campgrounds have vault bathrooms. Some have showers. You can go to (http://www.kernvalley.com/news/kerncamp.htm) and it will list all the sites and how much it is per night, what basic amenities and what length RV's will fit. Please note that many of the paid/public do allow for RV's but some of the sites are small and some RV's will NOT fit.
RIVER ACCESS
As you can see you can choose from the Maps below you can choose from:
* LOWER KERN (South of Lake Isabella)
* UPPER KERN (North of Lake Isabella and Kernville)
* FORKS of the KERN (North of Johnsonville Bridge)
* THE PUT-IN- TAKE OUT map (4th one below) is where you can put your raft/kayak/tube in to float down and where you can take them out.
Lower and Upper Springhill is located almost dead center of the 3rd map. Right where it says Corral Creek. Between Salmon Creek Corridor and Thunder Run is a smooth 2+/- mile stretch of river perfect for tubing, even with small kids. Just make sure they are riding with an adult and are roped together.
INTERNET - For those of you who are tethered to the digital world, you lose internet connection even before you leave the Kernville city limits. Unless it has been boosted since last July 2016. So my suggestion for many of you is to try converting YouTube videos into files you access without internet access. If you have kids who are YouTube addicts (as my son is) You can go to the following website (https://www.onlinevideoconverter.com/video-converter). Go to You Tube, find your video and copy and paste the link into the converter. Make sure you choose MP4, MP4v or .mov or .avi and it will convert it so you can save it on your laptop or a removable drive once it has been completed. This is a total blessing since my son nearly melts down if he can't watch his videos. Weirdly enough they are how to videos.
TUBING/RAFTING
It has been quite some time since I have taken a vacation. Actually, last July 4th weekend was the last time. We went to the Kern River to go river rafting. It was between 90's to low 100's but there was enough of a breeze to make it enjoyable. Nights were just awesome. We have a portable fan that we did not need it. The lower end of the water is just the right depth to put your chair into the water and have the river rush over you. My little family LOVES this place.
There was this family that placed a rock wall going across the river about half way. They did this a decade or so ago and on the 4th of July weekend they were there again and reinforced the wall. This allowed the smaller children to play without the risk of them floating away in that split second where a parent might sneeze. If you type in Lower Springhill Campground KERN River, you will see some photos I posted online.
It is a dispersed site, so that means it's free, but it is first come first serve. No vault bathrooms, just several porta-potties. They clean them once a week and make sure there is enough toilet paper. I have yet to ever have NO toilet paper. I always carry my own on the off chance that it does happen. No showers. There are garbage dumpsters by the porta-potties. The good news is that the Rangers do come around to check out the crowds. On the 4th we had some serious jerks (to put it mildly) playing Narco-corridos till 3 am in the morning at full blast. They had a fire going (fire restriction) they had tubs of beer (glass bottles which are illegal there) and they were camped within 25 feet of the water. A huge Ranger who I dubbed the "walking tree trunk" came and had them leave. For the rest of us we were able to finally enjoy our week.
The cool thing about this river is there is a good 2 1/2 mile stretch of relatively calm water. You have a person drive up to the portion near Salmon Creek Corridor, drop off and then have the driver go back down to where Thunder Run begins which is a narrow pathway for the river to run through. Thunder Run is right where Lower Springhill ends. Just REPEAT!
If you don't have any large inner tubes, just stop off at Walmart in Bakersfield to pick them up for under The red and white one is about $12.88 and the green and black is about $9.97. Sierra Market has similar, but I am unsure on the prices. I do believe they were a little higher, but not by much.
NATURAL ROCK SLIDES
If you go up HWY 99 further, you will pull off to the right to go towards the Peppermint Falls Campgrounds. These campgrounds are in the more forest portion (see 3rd photo below that someone else took, but it is a good shot of what it looks like there). So it feels more like you are enclosed with the beautiful tall trees around you. Very Cool.
But around this campground are natural water rock slides. (See photos below). There is a rope that someone strung up so you can climb back up the rocks once you've slide down into the water. The rocks can be wicked slippery. There is a small portion at the upper portion of the slides where you can place a chair and just chill under the shade with the comforting sounds of a tiny waterfall beside you. It doesn't look that high in the photos but the boys are 7 years old so a rope is needed. The algae makes it so slippery, I cannot express this enough. Wear something that will grip well. There is other rock slides, however those are usually more crowded and a little too extreme for kids. This one isn't crowded and is great for kids. The photos below were taken on Sunday July 3rd and it was vacant, until about 20 minutes in then another group with 7 boys showed up about the same age as my son. Serendipity! They all had such a blast.
Here is a video on HOW to get there, full directions. Click on this You Tube Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ukv9lUV3q4&t=109s
If you look at the Video it shows it much better.
To get to the waterslide: From the intersection of Western Divide Highway and Parker Pass Road (2.6 miles south of Trail of 100 Giants), head east on Parker Pass Road. After 6.5 miles, turn north on Lloyd Meadow Road (Forest Route 22S82) and take that road for 5.7 miles to a parking area on the right side of the road. A dirt fire road (Route 22S90) leads uphill to the left. Park where it is permitted and hike up the fire road up for half a mile. As the road rounds a bend, the creek will be visible pouring over a large rock. Break off the trail here and get ready for the most fun you can have in Giant Sequoia National Monument.
Trailhead address: Forest Route 22S82, Sequoia National Forest, Springville, CA 93208
Trailhead coordinates: 36.027466, -118.515284 (36° 01′ 38.87″N 118° 30′ 55.02″W)
Trailhead coordinates: 36.027466, -118.515284 (36° 01′ 38.87″N 118° 30′ 55.02″W)
Well, that is all I can think of now. I know i'll come back at a later time and revise this. Perhaps with lots more photos and videos. We shall see. 1 week and counting. Impatiently. Time to reset my internal clock. Whenever I camp, my whole body resets and I feel amazing. I also lose about 15 pounds do to all the hiking, swimming and tubing we do. BRING IT!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
August 30, 2017 - Updated KERN RIVER water Flow Graph
For those of you who love camping near the KERN RIVER and rafting and tubing as much as my little family does, this updated chart (as of tod...
-
One of my co-workers had asked me when I was going to have my own blog that would help parents with all the stuff I have learned that cou... -
Chilao has two loops. Manzanita and Little Pines. There are roughly 83 spots total. Almost a 50/50 split, but I believe Manzanita has a ... -
For those of you who love camping near the KERN RIVER and rafting and tubing as much as my little family does, this updated chart (as of tod...