Crystal Basin Boondocking - Memorial Day 2020

Crystal Basin Boondocking and Two Peaks

El Dorado County, CA

Tahoe National Forest

We have been locked down for the last few months and couldn't wait to get back out to nature. We were really needing to get away for a weekend and un-plug. As soon as the travel restrictions eased and parts of National Forests reopened, we hashed a plan. We would get Shirley Scamp out of storage and hook her up to Pearl (2020 Ford Ranger) for their first outing together. We decided on the Crystal Basin because confirmation with park rangers assured us that most of the forest service roads were open and that meant dispersed camping (Boondocking) was acceptable.

This was the first time Shirley Scamp had been hooked up to Pearl, and they played well together.

We both have lived in Northern California our whole lives. We have driven past Bridal Veil Falls, off highway 50, hundreds of times. We finally stopped for a photo opp, and to recheck all the towing gear connections were good, before we ventured off road.

We made our way up Ice House Reservoir road until we found Pickett Pen Road, now we are getting dirt on our tires. This road is easily managed with most vehicles or at the very least, high clearance vehicles......no 4x4 required.

Pickett Pen Road run along a ridgeline and there are plenty of dispersed camp areas to choose from.

We saw this great spot on Caltopo.com and pulled in to check it out.

And we found this...….

And this...…………..

AND THIS...…...

This beautiful spot had been trashed by thoughtless and inconsiderate campers. It was almost a deal breaker and we discussed moving on, but we decided to have some lunch and then do some cleanup.

Now, I'm not saying that everyone who drinks Coors Light / Mountain Dew, and shoots guns, and shops at Walmart are A$$holes...…………….but every A$$hole who leaves a mess like this, seems to shop at Walmart, drink Coors Light and shoot guns.

Cleanup took a little over an hour, now time to set camp.

We rebuilt the trashed fire ring and repurposed the grate from the shot up Ozark Trail camp stove to be the base for the logs.

Cleaned up camp...…….

……...Happy Camper

First campfire of the season, and it smelled amazing

Foil wrapped hot rock for warming the bed, temps would be in the upper 20s overnight.

Taking in the views from our campsite as we prepare to head out on our days adventure. Hiking fire roads up to Two Peaks and attempting to summit one or both.

That's the look of two happy outdoor adventurers...…... who can finally be outdoors.

1.5 miles as the crow flies, but over five miles hiking along forest service roads.

About a mile down the road from camp we come to a gate that blocks access to the road and across Big Silver Creek. Knowing that motor vehicle access was blocked insured some quite roads for hikers and bikers.

You can smell the bridge across Big Silver Creek before you can see it... .ahhhh the smell of creosote.

Just past the bridge we saw this old rusted object, it looked like a boat pontoon but the front portion was bulbous and the rear came to a point. It had a brass screw plug and another opening that resembled and old gas screw cap...... Maybe a fuel tank of some sort?

The roads were well maintained and the grades, easy to ascend.

We were in and out of shade for large segments.

Two Peaks East in the background through the trees and here is we connect up with a hiking trail leading us towards the Two Peaks trail which runs north, and to an easier approach for the climb.

And here is the trail connection as designated by the rock cairn on the log and some blue trail tape on the manzanita.

Patches of snow began dotting the trail and since we were about to descend, we decided to eat lunch here.

The trail is getting hard to recognize with all the snow coverage.

At this point we decided to reevaluate our situation. It was just after noon and we would have to find our way down a snow covered ridge and onto another trail segment, hike 1.5 miles more and then scramble up to a mountain top approximately 1000 feet of elevation gain. If we continued to push on, we estimated our return time to camp would be roughly 7pm...…...this being the first 10+ mile day of hiking at elevation this year, we decided to turn back.

But first we did a little exploring and found another gated section of road running along the south side of Two Peaks...…..apparently its the VeerKamp and Neilsen property.

Back out and onto the snow edged road, we made our way back to camp.

Two Peaks fading in the background...… another time.

X marks camp and you can see our highlighted route

We got back to camp with time to relax and make dinner...... and catch a beautiful twilight after sunset.

Each year, for the past five, this weekend has been reserved for a three day music festival in Napa called BottleRock, but this year COVID19 has put everything on hold, so I created a Socially Distant BottleRock experience, right in camp for us both.