Driving to Truckee

On our way to California!  This is still back in June (around now is the time of year when I'm behind on posting).  I do enjoy looking through the pictures and I hope you do too.

After a rare "no, you actually can't charge your truck at our RV park" (even after we had called to ask and gotten an affirmative) we decided to skip that overnight location and continue driving (luckily had not prepaid for once and luckily we had enough battery to make it to Barstow).  I found a rustic campground called Fossil Falls, not far from our route.  It took only a bit of dusty road to get there and we were psyched to sleep in the middle of a lava flow:

The next morning we took a little hike to see the sights, and although we found neither fossils nor falls, it was a super cool place to roam around:

Looks like climbing bolts!  This would be an interesting place to dangle off a rope:

The valley below the cliffs:

Admiring a big lava rock overhang:

We found a way to the bottom for another excellent viewpoint:

Water has done a LOT of carving work around here:

We randomly found a petroglyph while clambering around on the rocks, super cool:

The nearby cinder cone (and a barely visible Howie):

From the sign-in box - "Gravity sometimes hurts her playmates"

Thank you Fossil Falls for the quiet overnight stay and fun morning trek!

Some of the charging stations along the eastern side of the Sierras are quite scenic:

Some even more so:

And... we've made it to Truckee, our "home" for several weeks.  We started at the state park and really enjoyed the campsite and all the great trails.  And views of the lake:

Looking across at a ridge where I'd previously done a trail run:

We're getting into the big granite already:

I saw a few Donner Party mentions as I wandered around the park, including this plaque about the Emigrant Trail:

Also this tablet with the list of Donner party members (those who died and also those who survived) - I had no idea it was this many people:

The huge Pioneer Monument in the park:

A calm lake, as I start a journey around it on foot:

Fish!

And a much bigger lake (Lake Tahoe), which I did not trek around.  Enjoying the view from Picnic Rock:

It was a lovely start to some California Time.