Surviving July

Dispersed campers below Haystack Mountain

OK, July isn’t over just yet.  We still have three more days, including the 31^st which is not only a full moon but a blue moon.  But wow, has July ever been busy.  From the 4^th of July weekend on, our campground has been packed.  We’ve been completely full every Friday night and most Saturday nights, and we actually had to put the “Campground Full” sign up on Sunday, July 19. 

And it’s not just us.  Every campground along the south slope of the Mirror Lake Highway was full last weekend.  I spoke with two distraught dads after 8:00 PM on Friday, July 24.  The trailer was packed, the family was excited to go camping, and they just couldn't find a spot.  I advised them to go up and over the pass and try the campgrounds on the North Slope heading toward Evanston – or to just pull off on a dirt road and camp.

Yes, you can do that.  Our Forest Service reps tell us that people are allowed to camp pretty much anywhere along the Mirror Lake highway – which is one of the reasons they instituted the Recreation Fee program.  They call it dispersed camping, and a lot of people do it.  If you’re self-contained, or at least self-reliant, dispersed camping can be a fun experience.  The upside – it’s a lot cheaper than camping in an improved campground.  Your $6 Recreation pass covers you for three days.  The downside – there are no restrooms, picnic tables, or improved fire pits.  Also, no cool camp hosts there to answer your questions and sell you dry firewood.

Campers are actually just a small part of what’s been keeping us busy this July.  Washington Lake is located less than a quarter mile from the Crystal Lake Trailhead, which leads to several lakes and is extremely popular with hikers, backpackers, and scout troops.  According to the Forest Service, there is room for 57 cars in the trailhead parking lot.  It’s usually full by 10:00 AM on Friday. 

We were warned by the Forest Service that last year so many cars parked along the roads of our campground that trailers couldn’t get in or out.  So we’ve been very proactive about directing hikers to the overflow parking.  We answer a lot of questions about the hiking trails, give out a lot of trail maps and sell an occasional recreation pass.  Good customer service to be sure, but it’s more for the campers in our campground than for the hikers.  And it takes a lot of time.

We finally got a breather on Sunday, July 26.  Most of the campers left, and just a few arrived to take their place.  We actually had a chance to do some cleanup, and then to sit on our front porch and enjoy the afternoon.  We think the worst is behind us – at least until Labor Day weekend.  Wish us luck!

Welcome to Washington Lake

We got the call on Wednesday, June 17.  The Forest Service had cleared the fallen trees and had deemed Washington Lake safe to open.  How soon could we get there?  They really wanted us open for the weekend.

So we kicked it into high gear.  Paul brought the trailer home and we spent all afternoon packing and loading.  Thankfully we had already cleaned it and had done as much as we could prior to the final load, but as all of you who own trailers know well, it’s still a lot of work.  That said, we pulled out on Thursday morning at about 10:30 AM.  It was not exactly a stress-free departure, but we won’t go into that…

We stopped at Shady Dell to pick up our keys and fill up with water.  Our area managers were delighted to see us and promised to bring our supplies that afternoon.  With that assurance, we headed up to set up the trailer.  The plan was to lock the gates behind us, set up our trailer, wait for our supplies and open to the public on Friday.

When we arrived at the gate to Washington Lake Campground, a truck with a pop-up trailer and an SUV parked directly behind us.  Of course, we were now blocking the road to the Crystal Lake Trailhead as we attempted to open the gate.  None of the keys we had would open the lock.  One would go in, but would not turn.  We managed to back up a little bit so traffic could go around us. 

The man in the truck with the pop-up came to help.  He and Paul diagnosed that the key was bent, so he fetched a hammer and some WD-40.  They pounded out the key, sprayed it, and we got the gate open.  Of course, we weren’t going to tell the man that had just helped us so much that he couldn’t come in and camp, so he followed us in.  We shut the gate behind us.

As we were setting up, a young lady and a dog came under the gate.  “Can I please camp here?”  I told her we only had one bathroom open and one roll of toilet paper, and that none of the sites were clean.  That was OK, she said.  So we let her in.  Soon after that another pop-up trailer came up.  Resistance was futile.  We opened the gates.

As campers came in, we gave them fair warning.  The sites had not been cleaned.  Only one stall in each restroom was open, and there was only one roll of toilet paper in each.  Oh and by the way, we’re still charging the full campground fees.  We’ll bring a receipt as soon as we get them.  Nobody left.

By the time our area managers rolled in at about 9:00 PM with our supplies, we had filled eight sites.  By Friday, after working our tails off, all 38 of our sites were full.  Looks like it’s going to be a busy summer.