Ollie in the Wild!

[Dennis and Melissa]

If you’ve ever been to Jasper this is what Whistler Campground looks like after the fire. Of course it’s sad, but the campground and the surrounding area are open for business. The forest is showing strong signs of recovery. Even now it’s beautiful in a different way 

[Patriot]

3 hours ago, Dennis and Melissa said:

If you’ve ever been to Jasper this is what Whistler Campground looks like after the fire. Of course it’s sad, but the campground and the surrounding area are open for business. The forest is showing strong signs of recovery. Even now it’s beautiful in a different way 

Great pics and amazing how the wild fires can destroy a forest. Looks like beautiful weather there! 

[Snackchaser]

Ollie in the Wild West!  We were one of only a few travel trailers to ever camp at the historic Cerro Gordo Silver Mine and Ghost Town, which is 8,500 feet in the California Sierra Nevada Mountains.  I took the Ollie up there while doing volunteer electrical work on a 150-year-old cabin that’s being turned into a recording studio.

The road to Cerro Gordo is challenging and requires a high-clearance, sometimes even a 4-wheel drive.  I had to use 4-low a few times to make it up the 8-mile access road with a significant elevation gain of 5,000-feet.  The dirt road winds through narrow rocky canyons, switchbacks, steep shelves, and washboards.  I was pleasantly surprised with the Oliver’s off-roading performance; the stock springs and shocks have over 30k miles and they worked perfectly to absorb the bumps and ruts without much bouncing or swaying!

At its peak in the 1870s, Cerro Gordo had a population of around 5,000, and it was the largest producer of silver in the United States.  It was like stepping back in time, and the views and sunsets were stunning.  While the town is private property, it’s open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for self-guided and sometimes guided tours.   It is considered one of the best-preserved ghost towns with interesting buildings and equipment, including the mine, a museum, boarding houses, and even the original brothel.  Unfortunately, the famous American Hotel burned down a few years ago, but it has been completely rebuilt and is close to reopening.

The town is featured in the YouTube channel “Ghost Town Living,” and they have collaborated with other popular YouTube channels for mine exploration and various projects.  Cerro Gordo is located near Lone Pine just off the famous U.S. Route 395, on the road to Death Valley.

Cheers, Geoff

Edited October 9 by Snackchaser

[Dennis and Melissa]

Here’s a different view of our Whistler campsite, taken from the summit of Whistler mountain. You get a sense of the damage done to the campground. Much of Jasper and the surrounding area did even worse. You can also see the affect of a prediction of 10 inches of snow has on the number of campers  😁

We hope to depart about 12 hours before that arrives 😱

 

 

[Dennis and Melissa]

One more post from Jasper…

Got up to go potty this morning a little after 7. It was quite foggy. On my walk back a lady warned me to watch for the elk. There was a bull and two cows. Which is a bad mix.

Sure enough, I saw a large shadow in the fog, no more than 10 yards from the Ollie. The bull. Carefully I took the widest path around him to get to the trailer.

As I rounded the front of the trailer there were the two cows. No more than 10 FEET from the front door!!!

Too late. They were all looking at me already. I scurried the last few steps as quickly and quietly as I could. Fumbled with the door. Lost a croc. Almost peed again. But made it.

 

Then got Melissa out of bed to take some pictures from INSIDE the Ollie 😂