Caliente, NV
With many places still closed and our desire to take the pop-up out again for Ella’s birthday weekend, Scott sought out a cool (in both senses of the word) place to go. We settled on Caliente, NV and it did not disappoint.
In order to break up the three hour drive, we stopped in Ash Springs to see some petroglyphs and let the kids out. Our final destination was the forest at Oak Springs Summit, just West of Caliente. We camped in solitude at 6,200ft. The days were warm enough and the nights were cold enough to turn on the heater. It was perfect!
As we’ve used the new pop-up three times now, we are learning that although it was sold to us nearly brand new, it has some design flaws. For example, in our recent Gold Butte trip we learned that the bathtub leaks, after we bathed Miles and was mid Ella bath, of course. Thankfully, Scott is extremely handy and this has since been fixed. Little did we know, Scott’s handyman skills would be needed yet again.
Upon arrival, we found a great spot, the kids were entertained, and Scott starts to put up the top using the electric motor (something we never had with the 1989, hand crank, Skamper we were used to). Mid rise, it stops rising. Fortunately, after many minutes, Scott was able to disconnect the battery from the trailer and using alligator clips from our solar panel, he connected the motor directly to the battery and…the top started moving! But it wasn’t moving up as we had hoped; it was lowering. Again, Scott thought about what the ‘switch’ would be and decided to switch the black and the red cables, thinking this would be the only way for the motor to reverse directions. And guess what? He didn’t get electrocuted, nor did he blow anything up. In fact, the top of the trailer starting moving up! He’s so smart!
After setting up camp, we drove into Caliente so Scott could get some thicker electrical cables for when he had to lower the trailer, as the ones he was using were starting to melt. (I’m not an electrician but melting electrical cables doesn’t sound encouraging). To round out the day, we did a short hike at Kershaw-Ryan State Park.
The next morning we drove through the beautiful Rainbow Canyon to Elgin and beyond. We had no idea that this area was so lush with greenery and the canyon so colorful! We stopped for lunch near the river and watched a train go by!
Basin and Range National Monument was our next stop. The area we wanted to see, called White River Narrows, is known for his vast number of petroglyphs. Oh my goodness, some areas had petroglyphs on top of petroglyphs! It was quite amazing to think about what the Indians were sharing with their rock art.
The next day, April 26th, was Ella’s 2nd birthday! And a birthday is not a birthday unless you spend it on top of your own mountain. (We had randomly found Ella Mtn. on a map before we left and thought this would be the perfect way to celebrate her awesomeness).
Although we always have a great time camping in our new trailer, I’m always happy to come home to our house, where we all have our own rooms and Miles crying doesn’t wake Ella in the middle of the night.