On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
UncleEbeneezer
After another brutally hot Summer, we were very much looking forward to some cool weather up in the Sierra for our annual, Fall Foliage trip. This year we decided to make our home base further north than last year and finally try camping at June Lakes. The June Lakes region tends to peak a bit later (around 10/17-ish) than the early spots like Bishop Creek so we knew that we’d be taking a slight risk of going up too early (10/6) but figured that we could always drive to spots that were already showing peak color, which turned out to be the case.
A good friend of mine told me years ago that Reversed Creek Campground, was his favorite in the area, so we deferred to that and booked a site (#8) that had several aspens surrounding the site. Like last year, we wanted to camp in/amongst the golden aspens.
After a major panic attack when the rental car agency called to tell us they were out of cars, the night before our trip, we finally managed to get a vehicle from a different location and hit the road. When we left Los Angeles it was still in the 90’s.
Our drive up to the Sierra was fairly uneventful except for a Target stop in Palmdale and a brief detour up to Pine Creek Canyon, which was unfortunately a bit of a dud since the aspens hadn’t even begun to turn there yet. It does look like it would be amazing if you can get the timing right though. So we continued up to June Lakes and found our site at Reversed Creek Campground. Just as we were arriving it started to rain :(
We were a bit underwhelmed by the campground at first since many of the aspens had already had a bunch of their leaves knocked down by wind, greatly decreasing the privacy/solitude since you could really easily see your neighbors. Plus it was raining!
So we decided to just set up the tent, throwing everything inside it and go to June Lakes Brewery for a bite and some beers until the rain passed.
Once the rain passed our campground looked much better. While the campsites are a bit close together, it’s still quite a lovely environment. The bathrooms were clean, had flush toilets and HEATERS!!
View of the mountains (and trash!) from our campground.
Our little hang-out spot by the fire-pit!
After years of doing “A”/Pyramid-shaped fires we’ve now become big fans of “H” or “#” shaped ones.
June Lakes is lovely in the morning. This picture is actually from a few days later when I ran to get us fancy coffees in town, before we had to pack up and head home. The sunrise lighting was really cool.
The next installment in our trip will feature the first of several gorgeous locations we visited during a pretty epic day of driving (and some hiking too). See you there :)
Maxim
I love early-morning light. Thanks for the pics!
BretH
So sensible! Looks like a lovely spot, looking forward to more from your hike
AM in NC
I love love love the adventures you post here. Thank you for sharing them with us!!!
HinTN
Despite the intense summer heat and drought we had quite a colorful Autumn. It was late and lingers still this Thanksgiving day. Thanks for the visit to the Sierras. I love the air there.
Torrey
Great pictures. Our family used to go camping when I was a kid. Your pictures bring some of that back. It’s a good morning for it.
lashonharangue
We have stayed at the campground in June Lakes several times. Thanks for the photos.
WaterGirl
Love the fall colors in these pictures! (Also love the magenta chairs, I have never seen foldable chairs in that happy color.)
Scout211
Thanks for the California camping pics. We aren’t camping anymore at our ages (and my husband’s health issues) so these pics bring back so many good memories over several decades.
The science of campfires! More good memories. At a camp I went to as a kid every summer, we were taught how to start a campfire using just one match. We earned badges at the end of the week and this was one of the tests. We had to build a fire and start it from only one match to earn one of the badges. They taught us that the most effective way to start a campfire and to keep it going is to build a “teepee” of tinder then over the tinder “teepee” you add the kindling. Then you place the fuel wood in a “log cabin” around the “teepee.” I’ve used that method since and it has always worked well. So that method encompasses both of your methods. I’m sure there are numerous ways to build a good campfire and every one is great because campfires are just really great. I miss that experience.
Did I mention I loved camping? Thank you for bringing back all the memories.
Trivia Man
@Maxim: Alpenglow at sunset is more well known, but i prefer morning alpenglow as it is more exciting to watch it emerge from the darkness.
Trivia Man
@AM in NC: Also enjoy these. Little touches about how you build the fire and a nugget about small physical features (like heaters!) help with immersion to the pictures. Nice to toss in context with EPIC PICTURE gallery.
UncleEbeneezer
@AM in NC: Oh thank you! So glad you enjoy them. They are also fun to compile and good for giving my memory a work-out. Many times I don’t put them together until a few weeks or months later and have to go back and figure out which day was which for which location and event etc.
UncleEbeneezer
@Scout211: That’s pretty much our typical setup and the same one my wife learned as a kid. For some reason (probably just shitty luck with damp wood) we had a run of crappy fires so I looked up an article and found several different approaches. The nice thing about the H-style approach is that it is easier to cook over than the tee pee method (which sometimes gets to tall for the fire pit grill).
StringOnAStick
Love aspens anytime but especially the fall. Thanks!
UncleEbeneezer
@lashonharangue: This campground or June Lakes Campground? We drove through JLCG and it looks awesome, but it’s very popular too and books up fast. I think we may try for it next time though because it looks pretty great.
UncleEbeneezer
@WaterGirl: Those chairs are a bit heavy and pack up a bit bigger than we’d like. We got them like ten years ago. Nowadays they probably have ones that are much lighter and not so bulky when packed. But yeah, the magenta was a choice :)
UncleEbeneezer
@StringOnAStick: The aspens/color will get much better in the next chapters.
UncleEbeneezer
@HinTN: Are you in TN? I just watched a video from the Smokies and the fall color is really gorgeous out there.
MobiusKlein
I was camping at Reversed Creek in August 2023, and loved the heck out of that town. Different campsite, but not by much.
We too had car trouble, and had to drive 5 miles in ‘limp mode’ to a town on the west slope of the Sierras, which is a whole different bit of our insanity. One rental later, we were back on track to Reversed Creek. Would go again, for sure.
Quaker in a BasementThi
This style of camping is new to me. I am intrigued.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
Looks nice, I only visited Bishop Creek and Big Pine Creek this year.
UncleEbeneezer
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA: Bishop and BPC were both basically at (or a little past) peak when we were up there. We probably woulda been better off there but since we had done Bishop Park last year and Big Pine Creek earlier this Summer, we took a gamble on June Lakes area. We still got some good stuff but definitely not as good as in the years when we lucked out with peak color.