100 Nights In Ss Joyful Tear (#450)

The maiden voyage of the SS Joyful Tear (#450) was in October 2011. It took 5 years to achieve our first 100 nights (114 nights to be exact, and 11,200 miles) - through a combination of monthly 3-day weekends within 1-2 hours of home, and a 1-2 week trip each year. Our tow vehicle is a 2004 Volvo XC90.

Our long trip in 2012 was a 7-night trip to Southern California (Pinnacles National Park, El Capitan State Beach, Montana de Oro, Morro Bay and San Simeon). Weekend trips were to Wright’s Beach, Costanoa, Bodega Dunes, Hendy Woods, and Big Basin.

Our long trip in 2013 was a 13-day trip to southern Utah (Carrizo Plain, Red Rock State Park near Las Vegas, Zion, Escalante Petrified Forest, Kodachrome Basin, Stateline, and Red Rock again). The absolute highlight was being fortunate enough to get two of the 20 daily permits to day hike into the Wave formation on BLM land near Vermillion Cliffs. Weekend trips were to Half Moon Bay, Samuel P. Taylor, and Camp Lotus.

The long trip in 2014 was only 5 nights to Morro Bay and Kirk Creek. Weekend trips were to Big Basin, Memorial County Park, Bothe-Napa, El Capitan State Beach (the beginning of an aborted trip due to TV issues), Camp Lotus (with a day of rafting the south fork of the American River), and Big Sur Campground.

We headed north for our 7-night trip in 2015 (not counting the nights staying with friends in Ashland). We camped on Mt. Shasta to the sound of drumming, La Pine near Bend OR, and Crater Lake. Weekend trips were to Pinnacles, Wright’s Beach, New Brighton (twice), Bothe-Napa, Hendy Woods (starting our tradition of camping there while attending our favorite winery’s barrel tasting event), and Half Moon Bay.

Wrapping up our first 5 years, we took an amazing 18-night trip back to southern Utah in 2016: Silver Lake (on the June Lake loop), Great Basin National Park, Arches Devil’s Canyon Campground, Dead Horse Point State Park, Goblin Valley State Park, Capital Reef Fruita Campground (one of our very favorite parks), Zion Watchman Campground (where one daughter and her roommate joined us and we hiked Angel’s Landing), Valley of Fire State Park, and Red Rock Canyon State Park near Mojave. We wouldn’t suggest this trip in August (it was HOT! and you really couldn't hike after 1 pm), but all of the campgrounds were wonderful. The weekend trips were repeat locations of some of our favorites.

We are now up to 171 nights and loving it. Happy travels.

 

Thanks for the story.

 

We are now ready to report on the second 100 nights! We have continued to enjoy our local campgrounds for long weekends each month, adding longer trips each summer.

2017's longer trip was to southern California. El Capitan near Santa Barbara and then tried a Hipcamp near Carrizo Plain for the superbloom. We were the only occupants on the mesa of a working ranch (Songdog) - absolutely beautiful.

Highlights of 2018 included having snow while at Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park, another trip to El Capitan, and then 11 nights in the Sierra Nevada. We went to Wawona (south part of Yosemite) when it was 100 degrees with no camp shower, but the adjacent Merced River was LOVELY! (Bear ran across the road right in front of our car, and then climbed up the embankment like a squirrel up a tree - impressive site!) On to Grover Hot Springs, with hiking to Lake Winnemucca at Carson Pass (wow!!), and then Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe (with a view site).

We just got back from our longest trip ever - 28 days to the Pacific Northwest, primarily Washington State. Oregon included Rogue Elk County Park near Trail OR (with a site right on the Rogue River in a lovely park) and a night at a relative's curb in Portland. In Washington, we went to Seaquest State Park, 50 miles west of Mt St. Helens, and then Cougar Rock at Mt. Rainier National Park. Then on to Panorama Point at Baker Lake (14 sites with pit toilets and well water, but right on the lake with a view of Shuksan - one of our favorite sites ever). Deception Pass State Park on Whidbey Island, before catching a ferry to Moran State Park on Orcas Island for 4 nights. When we were doing our laundry before catching the ferry (with our trailer parked outside the laundromat), the original owner of #455 (Tom) tracked us down to say hi - we realized that we were both original owners and our trailers might have been in the nest together! Next was Olympic National Park, staying in both Sol Duc in the forest with hot springs and Kalaloch on the Pacific Ocean. Also a night on Lake Quinault. From there, we headed home down the coast, with two nights each in Cape Lookout (with great ice cream at Tillamook) and Harris Beach in Oregon, and Patrick's Point in California. I don't want to call it a trip of a lifetime only because we want to do more trips like this one!

We are now at 213 nights and going strong! Happy camping.

 

Wow I’m impressed! I live in Washington and have been to many of the places you mentioned.

 

Loved reading your stories - lots of nights for you and lots of adventures. We just returned from an adventure that included Sol Duc campground. Fun times!

 

We are just back from a 31-night trip to New Mexico and Utah, bringing us to 300 nights and (finally) to more than 25,000 haul miles. (we seem to have driven an average of just less than 100 miles per night - wondering how that compares to the experience of others). Here are the highlights since we last reported in at 200 nights.

* Long weekends in the San Francisco Bay Area - increasingly with friends that want in on the camping experience.
* Last June, we went to Coeur d'Alene, Glacier NP (when the eastern half was closed due to the pandemic), Yellowstone, and Grand Teton. We added a pop-up shelter and portable toilet to our gear to provide an option if we wanted to feel safer at particular campgrounds from a virus perspective (although we found that we were mostly with RVers who were using their own bathrooms). We figure this gear is a good investment, because now we can boondock easier.
* California deserts in February - Joshua Tree NP and Anza-Borrego.
* Our longest trip to date: A couple of nights in Sedona, then 2 weeks in a counter-clockwise circle of New Mexico (focusing on NPs and Monuments), dipping into Texas for Guadalupe Mountains NP and into Colorado for Mesa Verde, then into southern Utah (Capitol Reef and Zion). We learned so much about Ancestral Puebloans in New Mexico, and then focused on the geology in Utah. Highlights (beyond the obvious National Parks) included Chaco Culture National Monument (despite the 13-mile washboarded road to get to the campground) and Ghost Ranch (camping at Riana Campground at Lake Albiquiu). Manzano Mountains near Albuquerque. We had more wind that we wanted in several locations, and talked to several people who noted that the seasonal wind was occurring later in the year than they were used to. Campgrounds were very full - it is true what they say about more people wanting to explore camping. We met so many nice people - several full-timers and many out for months at a time. Quite the trip!