Jackson Lake - Shakedown Edition
September 1, 2024. Sunday
Labor Day Weekend. Redneck Yacht Club. Tent only Site 49.
I found the site and the parking lot just fine. Someone was already in Site 49 parking space. I got one of the extra sites farther down the row. Not too long before someone parked so close it's good I'm fairly slim.
Tent site small and hardpack. Sunflowers and a lake view, though.
I rode my bike to the marina, found the trail to my favorite tree, but didn't go there.
I got to the campsite around 4pm, so the sun was low enough it was very nice sitting in my chair reading Dispatches from Pluto. I got a snack around 5pm and had supper around 7. The sun set about 7:30, so I got in the tent when the mosquitoes started in. One of the RVers has shot off a couple of fireworks, but the music from the beach has stopped, and most of the screaming people are quieting down.
People are walking by on the path to the potties, and a little kid commented on how small my tent is!
The lake has several campgrounds, most RV sites. There are 8 tent only sites, in two areas. Jackson Lake is a Colorado state park, an irrigation lake which can also serve as flood control. In September, it is very low as it has been drawn down for irrigation and not refilled since it is technically high desert there and doesn't get a lot of rain.
I have camped there, in RV sites with a tent, twice before, both times in fall. The lake was lower this time than either of those times.
There was a mass exodus this morning, as expected. I woke up for the final time at 7:40ish. The noises finally stopped around midnight
last night. I had just finished the
thought that at least there weren’t sirens and the Universe didn’t want me to
feel too homesick so, you guessed it, sirens coming into the park. They kept going, first one car, then two more
a few minutes later. Presumably a
medical at one of the further campgrounds.
Did not hear them code out, so I guess all was okay.
I finally got to sleep around midnight, when the 2000 noise curfew
finally kicked in, but some animal woke me at 200. I don’t know what. I have seen neither hide nor sign of anything
but dogs, birds, mostly gulls, pelicans, and CH54 dragonflies, butterflies,
moths, flies, biting flies, some kind of elongated gnat thing, and mozzies.
Before it got too hot this morning, I walked down to the place I liked
at the far end of the park. It was in
full sun, and not worth going to later, so I came on the beach. I checked out Pelican Cove CG, and the site I
had liked was 163, but it no longer impresses me.
They aren’t keeping a tent area on the electric sites anymore. Bummer
I found my National Parks pass in the infinitely logical place I had
put it, and put it in the black binder with my car registration.
I checked the odometer, and the car in fact got 21mph on the trip
up. We shall see tomorrow if that
changes. Fingers crossed.
I sat around in the shade in my camp area, though not my camp, and read
most of the day. The water is so low the
beach is mostly dirty mud, seasoned liberally with fish carcasses. And smelly.
But a bad day at the beach is better than a day at work!
The only good thing about this campsite is there are sunflowers on both
sides and a big willow tree on one. But
there is also something to which I am desperately allergic. I have been sneezing and blowing my nose, and
had itchy eyes for 2 days! I wound up
taking Benadryl at 0300, and it knocked it down but not out. Gonna do that and some aspirin earlier.
Between the little headache, the dissatisfaction with the campground,
the car’s mileage issue, and the fact this really isn’t fun yet, I came really
close to pulling the plug and taking the losses today. Only pride is keeping me here. I’ll look again when I hit Badlands. That may be all she wrote.
Anyway, it’s close to 2000 now. It’s dark. The place is much quieter than this time last night. I am ready for bed, so I think I will finish Dispatches from Pluto, take some drugs, and go to sleep. See if things are more fun when I’m not sleep deprived.
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