Ok, ok, so I gripped about private campgrounds and how unappealing they are - neighbors too close, less wildlife, among other things. So this week we spent in Forest Service campgrounds and...well, some of our experiences weren't as nice as we've had other times.
Fremont Lake - Forest Service Campground out of Pinedale, WY: Only 7 miles out of town and on a paved road. That's cool. Should have been leary when the turn off the main drag was about like going into a shopping center parking lot...as we turned the corner - yep, it's a street. Off we go on a nice 2 lane road for 3 miles. Then we turn into the forest service land. Still 2 lanes - we can tell because there is a faded yellow line in the center of the 16' road. 4 more miles. Oh, I forgot to say that the roadsides haven't been cleared for many a year and no, there isn't 16' left. Lots of patches for potholes - many more needed - deep potholes! Ah, finally we are to a beautiful wooded campground: lots of aspen! .
Alas, same people who haven't cut back the entrance road haven't been here either. Nice paved sites - 8' wide. Nice pull thru's - 8' wide paving with broken pavement and drop-offs 4-6" - that's where the wheels go - where the side of the rig goes are aspen branches (soft) mostly - the fir boughs weren't. Lookee here, we finally got all 6 wheels on the pavement.
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Oh, I forgot to mention that they have a warning for their speed bumps 4" high - really steep and short - kinda like going over a 4x4. When we left, it took 20 minutes to go .8 of a mile to get out of the campground. Many places the cleared path was only 7 1/2' wide - lots of scrapping down the side with the undergrowth...and more potholes...and those speed bumps! Pretty place. Saw a buck go thru our site one morning.
So we decided, we've learned our lesson, we will unhook and go check out the campground first.
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Well, we didn't at our next stop which was Calamity Campground on the Palisades Reservoir in Idaho. I think the name of the campground should have been a clue. I knew we crossed a dam - no problem. I just didn't realize we'd have to run a one-lane chicane to get to the campground. Nothing I have read said that. All the road area in orange is one-lane. Where the arrow is is a square corner at a natural rock wall that you can't see around. There is a mirror to see if anybody is coming but we were real glad that nobody was because we can't back up while towing the CRV. Besides campers coming up this road, there is a boat launch so boats on trailers are part of the heavy traffic.
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Well, we didn't at our next stop which was Calamity Campground on the Palisades Reservoir in Idaho. I think the name of the campground should have been a clue. I knew we crossed a dam - no problem. I just didn't realize we'd have to run a one-lane chicane to get to the campground. Nothing I have read said that. All the road area in orange is one-lane. Where the arrow is is a square corner at a natural rock wall that you can't see around. There is a mirror to see if anybody is coming but we were real glad that nobody was because we can't back up while towing the CRV. Besides campers coming up this road, there is a boat launch so boats on trailers are part of the heavy traffic.
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This is what the road looked like from the CRV as we went back down to reconnoiter our plan of attack. I was the pilot car and Dean did not bring the RV through until I turned the 90 degree corner because nobody was out there. I think that a traffic light limiting it to one way traffic would be good. Or even a warning horn at the 90 degree.
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So these were my Forest Service campground stories for the week.
