This last weekend I decided to take advantage of the long weekend and make it just a bit longer. The original plan was to go a bit more north but it looked like a storm was going to hit that area, and at the elevations I was thinking of, that probably meant snow. I kept looking at weather reports going south until I didnt see anymore rain. Now, this was all being done Friday around 1am, on the Memorial Day Holiday weekend, with no reservations and planning to leave really early to find a spot.

My search landed upon a campground called Wa Ka Luu Hep Yoo (the sign read "Wakalu Hep Yo"). The description in my book sounded good so the final plan was made. Our attempts to leave bright and early at 6am kept getting foiled but we were finally on the road by 7:15.

The drive there was not too bad, only hitting traffic in the Mantecca area. When we finally made it to the site, the place was absolutley beautiful.

We setup camp and relaxed for a bit before setting out to explore the river. The water was very cold and moving quickly, it looked like a fun river to go white water rafting on. Soon we returned to camp for dinner and to make our first fire. To think we almost didnt think we'd need a fire. As to grew darker it also started to become colder. Very cold. I was going to be testing out the warmth range of my sleeping bag finally. To date it had only ever been used for a cool summer's night at Lake Don Pedro.

We woke up to a sound of something hitting the tent. Rain? No, it sounded solid, in fact it was hail. The hail would come off and on thoughout the morning, during breakfast. We decided it was a good day to explore in the car. So up the hill it was to find a trail I had read about. We ventured up to Bear Valley ski resort. To get there we drove through, rain, then hail and finally snow flurries. It was no surprised to find that the trailhead was covered in about 6 feet of snow. We ventured around the area on some side roads before heading back down the hill.

The second night would be even colder, our fire was built a little bit better but soon a wind blocking structure appeared in hopes of fending off the cold night. The 3rd night would proove to be our best fire, finally a significant level of heat was produced to enjoy the evening. More time was spent relaxing by the river and exploring the nearby towns.

Overall it was a fun trip and a very relaxing one. Next time there will be some protection from the rain/hail and I think it will make it even better.

Many more pictures can been seen in the photo gallery.