July-August, 2024
Ah me, my last afternoon here. Tomorrow morning I’ll be hitching up and heading home.
It’s been such a great camping trip!
In the photo above, you can see some of the sprinklers that were set out on Monday and Tuesday this week … sprinklers that I moved to help the fellow that had to move sprinklers around the entire state park every day. (He thanked me profusely for helping.)
I had a perfect campsite. And I had the whole place to myself when I arrived on Sunday. Had it all to myself on Monday too. On Tuesday evening one other camper arrived, and one set of folks arrived and took a cabin. The place got busier later in the week. But still, everyone was quiet in the evening and morning, everyone was courteous. But boy was I spoiled by how empty this small campground area was for more than two days!
And yet … and yet … the table in my trailer, my seating area, my living area, is at the very back of my trailer. So, while I was here, my view was of a garbage bin (dark brown box in the photo above), and of the wildfire damage behind my trailer. I loved it here, I really did. But I wondered if there might be a way to have a different view from the back of my trailer.
On Thursday this week, some other folks arrived with their pickup truck and trailer and parked their trailer in the opposite direction! I hadn’t thought of that, but that would have solved my “view” problem perfectly.
Here below are two Google Earth images. The first one is what I did. The brown line is the drive into the campground. Then the BLUE rectangle is my trailer, and the small BROWN rectangle is my truck. The RED line at the back of the trailer is where I sit, where the table is, where the large windows are and where my view is. In the image below, and while I was camped here, the back of my trailer looked out at the trees and the garbage bin and the wildfire damage, NOT at the lake/reservoir. Notice that everyone else in the image below is parked the same way I was.
BUT, what the folks did who parked differently is in the image below. They pulled in, then pulled AROUND the end of the campground, then pulled the “wrong” way into a campsite, such that the back RED end of their trailer was facing the lake (wow, how cool!), and the truck was facing the woods and the garbage container. What a great idea!
This alternate method of parking a rig was ok with the state park officials. It would require a long power cord to reach the electrical outlet, but I have that. Ok, next time I go camping here, I’ll wait for a time when I can get that end spot, and then I’ll park with my trailer’s view window looking out over the lake. 🙂
Don’t get me wrong, though. I wasn’t suffering too badly here. 🙂 It was gorgeous! The photos below were taken earlier in the week before anyone else arrived. I tend not to take photos of other people, or at least I don’t post those photos online very often. By Wednesday evening this week, these campsites and the cabins were pretty much all taken. Still, it was quiet.
In the photo above, you can see a large green area with lawn and trees past the cabins. I walked out there, to the edge of the trees and turned around to face the cabins and took the photo below. Yes, that’s the big white truck and Towhee the Trailer right in the middle.
Then (below) looking a bit to the left towards the edge where the land meets that reservoir/lake …
I walked away further from my campsite, further into the trees, then looked back towards my small campground. In among those trees was a nice play area for kids. But you can see it’s a long way from the small camping area where I was in the distance. I was ok with that. 🙂 Yes, that white dot in the distance is Towhee the Trailer. The large, main campground in Conconully State Park is now right behind where I’m standing when I took the photo below.
And then I turned around, turned my back to the playground, and saw this (below) … the larger and CROWDED campground. Oh boy, I’m glad I was camped in that smaller campground.
Here below is a Google Earth image of the entire Conconully State Park. The larger, crowded campground is on the right, then the playground (circled in RED), then the small, quiet campground (where I was) is on the left. Vehicle access to each camping area is shown by the two yellow arrows … so there were separate roadways to each camping area.
I walked through that larger camping area a little bit, but it wasn’t my cup of tea so I didn’t stay long. I did come across this log cabin replica below. It was inside the state park.
And then there was this large, original, old bell (below).
But my favorite sight was this fellow below. There were several more deer, but all the others got out of sight around behind the building before I could get a photo of all of them.
And then I walked back to the small, quiet side of the campground, back to my truck and trailer. It was getting late in the afternoon so it was time to start tidying up inside the trailer, moving some things into the back seat of the truck, getting ready to head out tomorrow morning for the long drive home. The drive to get here last Sunday from the trailer’s storage unit took me 5-1/2 hours. Heading home tomorrow, Friday, I might run into heavier traffic, so I wanted an early start.
Except for that little hair-pin cliff experience (yikes!), this was a wonderful week. And even that experience had some joy to it and taught me some things.
This has been such a nice campground! I’ve had great adventures. I wish I could stay, but I can come back. When I do, I’ll get that end spot and I’ll park the other way around! 🙂
I can’t imagine why everybody doesn’t want to be in the smaller loop!
Me too, Dawn. I made the reservation, having never been there before, and was wondering why the place was so empty with online registrations and was a bit worried about that. Ha! no worries!
Of course you would help moving the sprinklers, you are a nice person! I wish more of us would HELP other people rather than hurting or critizing people. Ok, lovely photos. 🙂
Thanks David. My sentiments as well. We are spending millions/billions of dollars deporting perfectly wonderful people, why not spend that money to HELP those people, educate them, get them training. Sure some folks aren’t that great, but then how many USA citizens aren’t that great either. As you say, let’s HELP people, not hurt them. And let’s move sprinklers for each other too. 🙂
Wow, you were there in July-August, and that small campground was empty!? except for you? for two full days? And the large crowded campground was full. Well that’s dumb. And even the deer go to the large busy campground. Goofy. Gorgeous photos, lovely campground. I hope you go back and show us how Towhee the Trailer parks the RIGHT way. 🙂
Yep, right on, Nevada. I was amazed that the large, noisy campground was packed, and yet the small quiet campground was empty. AND that smaller campground had a view of the lake! But, shhhh, don’t tell anyone ok? 🙂
Looks like you had lots of fun!
I did, Jack, thank you! Nice to have you here. 🙂
Loved the whole week. Well, all except that hair-pin turn thing!! I’ve not been camping in my life so it’s really interesting to see how it’s done, the options. Now I can see why so many people go camping, it’s beautiful and you can see and learn so much more about the world. I really appreciate how you seek out things to learn, not just sit at your campsite. Like Dawn said, I can’t imagine why everyone isn’t in that smaller loop. You pick the best spots! 🙂
Thanks Lori. Well, lot’s of people have super busy lives and just want to get away from all of that, go camping, and just sit!! I sure understand that. But I can “just sit” at home since I’m retired, so I’m more interested in adventure and learning. Though I’m not so fond of hair-pin curves, that was a little bit too MUCH adventure for me. Thanks for your comments, I like all of them. 🙂
Smart of you to watch what other people do, that we can learn from, like parking the other way around! 🙂 That was cool.
I like the history you find, and the deer you find. Safe travels home tomorrow.
Thanks Babe. Nice comment, much appreciated. And thanks for the safe travels wish. 🙂
I’m wondering why they arranged those 5 campsites and those 5 cabins in that small, quiet area they way they did. When I look on google earth there is TONS of room to have put all five camping sites backed right up to the lake, AND all five cabins also right on the lake, looking right at the lake too. Then the cabins would be near the kids play area, but not the campsites, good for everyone. Your idea of parking backwards (so to speak), made me think. 🙂 Ok, if I ever get over to Western Washington or even to the Cascade Mountains, this will be one of my destinations. Thanks for all you do!!
Oh, I hadn’t thought of that arrangement, Susan. That would have been super! Line the five campsites up right on the lake, then next to that, line the five cabins up on the lake (removing those trees). And the people in the cabins with kids would be close to the play area. Wow, you should be in charge of campground design, truly, I really mean that. If you are still of working age and want to apply to the Washington State Parks for a job designing (or RE-designing) campgrounds, let me know … I’ll tell them you are spectacular. 🙂
I like that other way of parking the trailer, and I like it when people learn from each other. That was a great camping trip to read about, well except for that one little thing that scared all of us too! 🙂 Have a safe trip home. Thank you.
Thanks Fran. 🙂 I did have a safe trip home, thanks to your wishes and others here too. Best wishes to you too.
Yep, small loop is the best. Leave those other zoom-zoom folks to themselves.
That replica log cabin doesn’t look right … there’s a “window” in the back where there would NOT have been a window back in the 1800s, not without shutters and there aren’t shutters on this window (I found other photos on the internet) … and there is no caulking in between the logs … and there is no chimney for a woodstove for the winter … etc. But that school bell is cool. Great week, thanks for taking me along. 🙂 No more hair-pin turns ok?
You nailed it Nebraska. That “replica” cabin wasn’t so great, for all the reasons you wrote. I took several photos from inside the cabin, but I didn’t post them here because the “build” was NOT what it would have been back in the 1800s. The effort to replicate the cabin was super, but the folks just didn’t pull it off really well did they?
Ok, no more hair-pin turns! 🙂
What a wonderful week. Of course, we have now put Conconully on our list of destinations (the small campsite area). We have attended two of the Escape Trailer annual gatherings in Osoyoos in Canada, just north of Conconully, since we live in BC, Canada. But we never ventured across that dotted line to explore that area down in Washington. We think maybe next year we will! We’ve explored many other places in the USA, but not around the Conconully or Okanogan areas.
Interesting question about parking “backwards”, we’ve sometimes thought about doing that but the signs in campgrounds are specific about that so we never have. What do you think?
Also, that replica log cabin. It would NOT have had boards for a roof, it would have had logs … one row lateral and one row vertical, then lots of caulking … but this replica has sawn flat boards for the roof which are obviously not a replica of what would have been back then. And yes we found more photos online that showed that.
Jim here is impressed with that large semi-rig/camper. What do you think? We love your blogs, your adventures, your questions, your discoveries, and the fact that you welcome all comments. How refreshing. 🙂 Great campground info. Great photos.
Janey (and Jim)
I love your comments, Janey & Jim. We really do need to meet one of these days. I’ve thought about attending an Osoyoos gathering of Escape trailers, but it’s a long drive for me, and then across the border (Covid border issues… then Trump shit).
Yes, the signs in the Conconully campground were specific about direction of travel and parking your rig, but when I asked the park rangers about that, they said it didn’t really matter, mostly the direction signs were there so people would be able to plug into electricity with a short electrical cord, but if you have a longer cord, then they are very much ok with parking either direction.
And yes, that cabin in the 1800s would not have had finely manufactured board roofing material … one of the photos I took when I was inside the cabin showed those boards. I just couldn’t post that photo. I was disappointed in the “replica” rebuild. I like the effort, don’t get me wrong, but even the basic structure wasn’t replicated.
Ha! Jim and I are on the same page. I actually loved that large semi-rig truck and trailer too. For one thing, it was exceptionally well maintained. Even the ATV (a HUGE all-terrain-vehicle) on the back of the cab was exceptionally clean and well-maintained. As well, the area around their campsite was clean, a few chairs outside but those people seemed courteous about the environment … both the physical plant/bird environment and the people environment. I don’t have a problem with those sorts of folks.
Love your comments. 🙂 Always.
My mates and I now tour campsites or camp spots here (you call them campgrounds, I believe). What we call a pitch, you call a campsite. Language is interesting. It’s great fun for us to compare your places to ours. All of them are beautiful.
Henry, I love that! You and your mates drive around looking at campsites and pitches and compare them with the “campgrounds” and “campsites” here in the USA. I have thought about returning to Britain and renting a caravan and traveling England and Wales and Scotland for five or six months (or maybe hiring a narrowboat with my boating experience). How beautiful that would be. I might not ever do that (I’m 77 years old now), but if I do, I will be in touch with you! But even if I don’t, I truly enjoy our contact and connection. Thank you for your support and your comments. I’m sure glad you are here. 🙂
Always felt it was better to check around before setting up. You’d be surprised what you can find that will help you enjoy it.
Yep, good advice FG.