Family Camping on the Mokelumne River

L

lambertiana

Gold Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2000
Messages
9,279
Every year we go camping with my wife's family on the Mokelumne River below Salt Springs Reservoir. We have been going there since 1992, and I really like it there. First, some pictures around camp:
100_1146.jpg


100_1169.jpg


The forest there is primarily Ponderosa Pine/Incense Cedar/California Black Oak. The Ponderosa and cedar there get to about 5' diameter; the ones in this picture next to our tent are average sized 3' diameter:
100_1168.jpg


I didn't have much time to hunt for fatwood, but I did find a stump that yielded some decent quality stuff (sorry, I didn't have my camera with me when I found it, so no pics). Interestingly, this fatwood smelled exactly like Pine Sol.

We camped right on the Mokelumne River; here are some shots of the river itself:
100_1148.jpg


100_1207.jpg


100_1213.jpg


I always go up Garnet Hill, which is right behind our camp. This is a view from near the top:
100_1172.jpg


And this is how it got its name (just part of my haul this year):
100_1189.jpg
 
We camped right at the confluence of Moore Creek and Mokelumne River. I like to go up the creek, it is a really nice spot:
100_1164.jpg


100_1159.jpg


100_1158.jpg


And we had a visitor:
100_1220.jpg


100_1223.jpg


As usual, we all had a very good time, and the trip ended far too soon.
 
Looks like a great place. Is it an established campground? Looks like it 'cause of the table. How close are the neighbors?
 
looks like you had a great time with the family...
were you not worried about being so close to and level with the river?
 
What a great place!

Looks like a real good time.

be careful my friend of those rising rivers due to flash floods. allot of deaths not too long ago because of it. poor campers near the river never knew what hit them. stay safe my Friend.
 
those are some great pics, I really like the river pics the best, thanks for sharing!!!!
 
Nice pics, looks like a beautiful area. I'll have to check that area out next time I'm up that way.
 
Lambertiana, hola

I know you're into geology but do you make stuff with those garnets too?

Waterside camping looks great but what about the skeeters? DEET, nets. ??
 
Id love to wet a line in that river. Great pics bro!! That rattler is gorgeous.
 
Nice pics, looks like a really nice place to get away from the madness that comes from city life. Nice finds too:thumbup: That Rattler was cool as well...nice inlays and keychains:D

Thanks for sharing.

Chris
 
awesome pics John... that is such a gorgeous area..:thumbup: i would love to get my hands on some of those cool rocks too...:)
 
Wow! I can't believe how little camp gear there was this year. Is she starting to go light? It's as low impact as I have seen.

Looks like a nice place to camp - and the water is running higher this year.

And by the first picture, am I correct in assuming the saga continues?
 
Normally I much prefer true wilderness in the back country, but that means serious backpacking and my wife won't do that. I have to make some concessions when we go with her family. Nonetheless, I do like it there.

The campsites there are managed by the Forest Service, they are non-reservable first-come first-served, with no fees charged. Depending on where you are, your neighbors can be close (20 yards away) or further away (this time our nearest neighbors were about 75 yards away). And there are some scattered unofficial sites along the river where you will have no neighbors at all, we have camped at one of them a few times.

It doesn't look that way in the pictures, but we were a good 10' above the river. And with a dam a couple miles upstream, the water flow is controlled (besides a few feeder streams below the dam). This time of year, the mosquitoes are pretty thick, but when we have gone in early September there were no mosquitoes, which is common in the Sierras. DEET keeps them at bay.

This river has a lot of fishing pressure, so the fish are used to seeing lures and bait and are picky. But we have caught some decent rainbows and brookies in it.

I don't do anything with the garnets. Since I have been going there for 18 years, I have a big pile of them now. And sometimes I find some dark green tourmaline, too.

We had less gear this year, which was a huge relief. Some of the other family members who bring truckloads of junk were not there this year, too.

The water level is higher than what I normally see for two reasons. The first is that this is a high snowpack year, and the second is that we have usually gone during the Labor Day weekend, when flows are lower. The river is very cold right now, that water is fresh snowmelt.

And the first picture is deceptive - she came along as just a "friend", that could change any day (again).

Mike - Next time we have a Bush Bash, send me a reminder and I'll bring some garnets along. Or you could go there, the garnets are easy to find and there are plenty there. It would be about a 3.5 hour drive from your place.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top