A Walk Up the Creek At Murdock Crossing

Saturday September 30, 2023 Murdock Crossing, Plumas National Forest CA.

Raining

It was raining lightly this morning so I stayed in the dry van, hoping it would let up around noon.clouds

 

Walk up the creek

The rain let up around eleven so I decided to go for a walk up along the creek in the front of the van. I did don my rain jacket,  just in case.van2

 

Last Chance Creek at Murdock Crossing

I walked up along the left bank checking out the creek as I went.creek3

 

There’s lots of water in this creek, thanks to the beaver that have been working it over for years.creek4

 

The creek was very scenic as I made my way up along it.creek6

 

Eventually, I came to this big meadow that the creek went through.meadow5

 

I followed the creek through the meadow and was getting tired out and was about ready to turn around and head back.creek7

 

Turn around time

This was as far as I went as my back was getting a bit sore and I didn’t want to over do it.creek8

 

So, I turned back and was eyeing those big rocks off to the right for a place to sit down and take a break, which I did.rocks9

 

On the way back I decided to walk a bit higher up from the creek bank and go through the forest as it was easier walking and sometimes there was even a cow trail.woods10

 

There were a few big rocks I had to work my way around.rocks11

 

But mostly it was easy going.woods12

 

I made it back to the van and went in for a nap.van13

 

A bit later I heard a motor and looked out to see this modern cowboy herding his ten cattle through the meadow on his quad runner.

Not long after that the rain returned and rained a bit harder than this morning for a couple of hours before letting up. It’s now raining lightly off and on.

I’m not sure about the weather, but I think this is the last day of the rain, we’ll see.

Plans

If the rain lets up, I plan to drive the short distance to the spring to tank up with drinking water and then do some exploring looking for some crawdads and maybe moving to another camp spot.

Nice day.

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Traveling From the Desert To the Plumas National Forest

Friday September 29, 2023 Traveling to Plumas National Forest CA.

Out the vans doors

This was the view out the doors when I got it going this morning on Willow Creek Reservoir.view1

 

That was worth another picture without the doors.view2

 

And some birds on the water.birds3

 

Traveling day

That’s what kind of day it was going to be. I had about two hours  of good dirt and gravel road to get to Winnemucca, Then, about three hours of traveling I80 west which is not my  kind of road.

I got gas for the van in Winnemucca and posted a blog.

I made it to the Pyramid Lake turn off and headed north on the worse rocky and wash-boardy road I’ve been on in a long time. There was over fifteen miles of less then ten miles an hour of real bad stuff.

The road did start out this way until I was about half way up the side of the lake.road4

 

I suffered through that nasty stuff. The gravel road did get better as I headed north west and stopped here to check the map and take a short break. The road still had some wash-board, but not near as bad as the bad one.road5

 

The road improved a lot as I got closer to highway 395 up near my destination, Janesville, CA.road6

 

I topped off the gas tank at Janesville and headed into the Plumas forest. Lots of the trees got burned a few years ago in a forest fire. This is the road I’m taking into the forest and is paved almost all the way to my camp spot, except for the last half mile.road7

 

But not all of the forest go burned and a lot of it is still green as far as the trees go.forest8

 

Base Camp

I pulled into what I call Base Camp and parked to have a look around.van9

 

Creek

I walked up the creek for a couple hundred yards. Looks good. I didn’t see the beaver.creek10

 

And down the creek looks good too. Lots of clouds. It’s might rain a bit tonight and as I’m typing, it’s starting to rain, just a bit. And it’s picking up, so maybe I’ll get the can washed.creek12

 

I moved the van into a spot I thought would be good to get some morning sun and had a nice view of the meadow and was mostly level., If that doesn’t work out, I’ll move it until it does. I can also see some of the creek from this spot.camped11

 

Plans

I plan to spend some time here in this forest, doing some stuff and taking it easy. I’m in need of some spring water, so I’ll be visiting the spring to fill up  my bottles. And I’ll be checking on some crawdads and maybe go for a yak up at Antelope Lake which is close by.

Nice day, except for the nasty wash-board stuff, but hey, if you don’t know what’s bad, how can you appreciate the good.

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