So we ventured out to Crag Crest as it was not a campground we have stayed at before and we were sent out this way by the camp host at Ward Lake, where we have previously stayed. It is definitely remote. You take the turn at the visitors center on the Mesa and head towards Ward Lake, the road is paved, until you pass Ward Lake, you enter into an area that has a lot of cabins and summer enthusiasts. Signs like "caution, Adults at play" are prevalent. The road turns to gravel and you go through a small little town, if you can call it that. It has a small store and a restaurant. Keep going, at some point you'll hang a left (it's marked with signs) and go a little farther until you reach Crag Crest. The road up is a bit washed out and a smaller car with low clearance might struggle a little here. We drive a big truck so it was no issue for us. The road goes up a bit into a tiny campground. Maybe 8 sites. There are two restrooms for this tiny campground. Their fees were interesting. The campground stay is just $12, one of the lower priced campgrounds up there. But they had fees for parking and for day use. I'm not real sure how they enforce those since there is no camp host and no one really at all out there. But non the less, the fees keep the honest person honest. There is a trail that comes off the campground but it was closed for logging operations. I found that to be interesting. Another camper said he went up there even though it was closed and it was weird, a road had been built and lots of down trees. This did not create any additional noise, however. I wouldn't have even known there was a logging operation up there.
I dropped a star for the bathrooms. They were really quite gross. They weren't very clean and extremely smelly. The lower girls restroom looked as though a bear had tried to break in, the upper screen was pushed in. They were not full and had a trash bag present and plenty of toilet paper but they were just really extra stinky. Another camper mentioned that the lower bathrooms may be less clean due to trail use and 4 wheeler activity along with fishing activity but we didn't see much of any of that activity and did stroll up to the upper restrooms and they were worse then the lower. We had grown accustomed to the smell of the lower and just stuck with those.
We stayed 3 nights with the anticipation of the full lunar eclipse to view from a magnificent viewpoint. We did not see the eclipse, however, we were too tired to stay up but it would have been spectacular. We had a great view of the lake below and the sunsets were lovely. We did bring up some firewood this go around and it was nice to have as it did get quite chilly up there. While it was 100 degrees below it was maybe in the 70's up there. Nice in the sun, cool in the shade.
We were geocaching on this trip and there are a lot up here and many will take you to a pretty spectacular location. Some require a bit of hiking but some are right along the road. Non the less, you will see views like no other.
The campground on Wednesday had four campers including us. It was quiet and you really couldn't even tell that other campers were there. The next day, two left, leaving just the two of us. But by Friday night, the whole place filled up! It still was pretty peaceful but the campground filled with conversation Friday night. Every morning there was a strange buzzing, I was never able to identify the source but I heard it every morning. We also had some squirrels that were less then thrilled to have us there. They did a lot of yelling at us and occasionally ran up above us to throw things at us. Ticked off wildlife, kind of comical. The site was spacious, some had better parking then others, some had almost no parking. There is no running water there, no amenities other then the restrooms. It's also very remote, there is nothing out there. Granted if there was an emergency you probably could knock on any number of cabins a short distance up the road. They all had picnic tables and fire rings. They almost all had views as well. Some were tucked more back in the trees but even those had amazing views of the night sky. I can only imagine what this place looks like with out a moon. The full moon blew out our stars but I can only imagine.
We had planned for the week to eat freeze dried meals, we didn't find out fire bans were lifted until after we made our food decisions. So we ate a bit of Mountain House Turkey Dinner Casserole which has lots of pretty good bits in it, actual turkey and carrots and celery and stuffing, all things could be identified, the texture is appealing. It has a good flavor and isn't short on seasonings and my kids love it! Win Win. We also ate Spaghetti and Lasagna. Both of which were fabulous. Tasted and looked like they should, textures were good. My kids ate a lot of instant potatoes and pasta. Although everything was tasty, it was nice to head home to home cooked meals.
I included in the pictures a homemade oatmeal that we love. Here is the recipe and where we found it.
Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal
Ingredients
- ½ cup rolled oats (or use quick oats to cook faster)
- ½ cup freeze dried bananas
- 1 tbs brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon butter powder
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter powder
- dash of cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Add all ingredients except water ahead of time into a sandwich size ziplock bag.
- When ready to eat, boil 1 cup water (it's fine to eyeball it), then add oatmeal mixture, reduce heat (if your stove allows), and let it simmer for about 5-10 minutes.
- Or if you want to save fuel or can't simmer, just add oatmeal to boiling water, cover, and wait 5-10 minutes.
