I got off to a late start going camping and off-roading this year, but I fully intend to get my seasonal trips up to par. So Friday, July 18, I met a friend in North Fork and we headed for higher ground. The plan was to go to Mammoth Pool Reservoir and then camp and explore other nearby areas over the course of the weekend.

One of the challenges this summer was finding an area not affected by forest fires. I had a camping and off-roading trip planned for the end of June in an area near Mariposa and west of Yosemite National Park. But two fires were raging at that time and that altered the course of adventure. Sometimes that's not such a bad thing.

Spring and the slightest window of good weather tends to bring out the outdoors/off-roading bug that builds up in me over the winter. This year I revisited a favorite area to satisfy the urges and kickoff the camping season. On March 18, with the gear packed and tent trailer in tow, I set out for Dove Springs OHV Recreation Area near Red Rock Canyon State Park.

On July 26, 2007 I headed north for a weekend getaway to the Pinecrest area on Highway 108 east of Sonora in the Stanislaus National Forest. The initial plan was to camp with my sister and brother-in-law and do some off-road trail exploration with my friend from Modesto. Well, my friend wasn't able to make the trip so I ended up doing more relaxing and camping than exploring. We spent time at Pinecrest Lake, Beardsley Reservoir and the Herring Creek area. Though I didn't end up four-wheeling, I did have a great time and saw some beautiful country. Here are scenes from the trip.

The weekend of May 18-20 I spent camping at Jerseydale U.S. Forest Service Campground and exploring some of the trails in the area. I have been on the eastern end of the Miami Trail near Fish Camp where the motorcycle trails are. This time, I took about half of the route from the western end which begins opposite Jerseydale Campground on Jerseydale Road. Here are scenes from the route up to near Battalion Pass and the intersection with Chowchilla Road Miami Trail 4X4 Route.

A friend and I took a trip to Rock Front OHV recreation area in the Los Padres National Forest from March 16-19. We traveled from Fresno to Taft and then took Highway 166 past Cuyama and New Cuyama to get there. Travel time was about 3 hours. The entrance is about a half hour drive east on 166 from Santa Maria. The first day was all about traveling to the area, finding a campsite and getting set up. But once that was done, we did have time to do some exploring. Here are scenes from Day 1: Branch Creek Trail
The second day, it was all about hitting the trails and trying to see as much as we could. We did accomplish a lot and covered a lot of territory. Here are scenes from
Day 2: Canyon and Paradise Trails and Day 2: Big Rocks Trail
The third day of the trip is March 18 and the plan is to check out the Sierra Madre Road. This route is just across Highway 166 from Rock Front OHV and climbs the ridges of the neighboring Sierra Madre Mountains. Here are scenes from
Day 3: Sierra Madre Road
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I've been wanting to check out the Jawbone Canyon OHV Recreation Area ever since I went to Dove Spring OHV in fall of 2004. I got my chance, 5 days off and the perfect time of year, the first week of October 2006. So the plan was set, the gear all packed, and nothing to hold me back. Here are scenes from
Jawbone Canyon OHV Recreation Area .

After spending the first two days and nights at Jawbone Canyon OHV, we headed north to explore new territory. We packed up camp and went out Jawbone Canyon Road to the junction with Kelso Valley Road. We decided to take a route that would head out into the desert and loop back making our trip home manageable. Here are scenes from
Bird Spring Pass and vicinity.