Camping at Dinkey Creek

Sean knows that I love camping.  He also knows that I love where I grew up camping, Dinkey Creek.  When we talked about going camping I complained to him that I want certain requirements:  it needed to be very wooded and feel like the mountains (So Cal is mainly chaparral and definitely doesn't have that fresh mountain smell) and it needs to have recreational water nearby.  Let's be honest, living in Southern California, its kinda hard to meet these requirements.  Plus a lot of campsites are first come first serve which just causes undue stress on figuring out if you're actually gonna get ANY campsite.  After one particular lament about not having access to good camping (cause Im spoiled) Sean finally said, why don't we just go to Dinkey Creek?  I quickly said yes before he changed his mind.

Dinkey is about 4 hours away from our house so I knew it would be a commitment.  Sean and I also talked about how we want to do vacations with friends so I invited my high school friend Kristin and her family to go camping with us.  I was a little weary because I knew it would be a four hour drive for her too since she lives up north.  I was pleasantly surprised when she said yes!  Yeah!  We were going to Dinkey!

You have to go through the foothills to get to the mountains and Sean kept teasing me that he hadn't seen any trees yet (one of my requirements for good camping).  I told him just wait.  I forgot how fast the terrain changes and soon we were right in the middle of the mountains. As we drove past Shaver and turned on Dinkey Creek Road, Sean admitted it was pretty amazing and beautiful.  And there were trees.  Lots of them.

See lots of trees!

My other requirement for good camping was water access.  I love how there is an accessible creek that is alongside the campground.  We found a small watering hole for ourselves and luckily Kristin's family brought inner tubes which were perfect for relaxing in the water.  I could have spent all day there and was a little sad to leave.

The creek just flows over the rocks which make it so fun to go rock hopping!

This was the little watering hole we found for ourselves.

The water levels were significantly lower than they used to be.  There were more natural rock slides than this.

This is the watering hole we always went to growing up.  The water levels were so low!

You can find any place along the creek to claim as your own.

The tubes were so relaxing.

We also drove to a small grove of Sequoia trees.  It is amazing to see these trees just smack dab in the middle of the Ponderosa Pines.  There arent any other Sequoias in the area.  We learned that Sequoia's are very unique to the Sierra Nevadas.  It made me a little proud to be a Californian and it also made me recommit to the desire of exploring more of the state.

Look at tiny Sean!

Sean was trying to throw acorns through the hole.

This tree was COVERED in carvings.  I also took a family picture here 7 years ago.

I was so happy that my friend Kristin joined us!

Our campsite was perfect for our needs.  Our company was great, our food was great and it felt wonderful to be tucked away in the mountains with no connection to the outside world.  I didn't even think twice about what's happening on Facebook or for that matter, what was happening at home.  

It took us a few tries to get the height just right on our hammock.

Didn't think we would find the Honor System some place other than BYU!

Our campsite.

I grew up playing in these rocks.  This was the view from our tent.

This was how close the neighboring campsite was.  Lucky for us it wasn't occupied.

After we were done camping Sean confessed that Dinkey was pretty amazing.  He now understood why I always talked about it.  He is already planning our next vacation there.

Relaxation!