July 21 - 24 was the 2nd Mancation weekend trip for me.
Like the first one, I headed toward the Sierras, namely an area near Icehouse Reservoir on the edge of the Desolation Wilderness. I arrived Thursday night around 9 PM and checked campgrounds but they were all booked so after spending almost two hours driving around from site to site I started watching the GPS for forest service/OHV roads. I found one that looked promising and drove down. Of course, I've had mixed results with trying to find unofficial campsites late at night and kept my fingers crossed as I headed down a steep hill of an area that looked promising, at least on a 2 dimensional GPS map! I managed to find a site at the bottom of the grade and off a little bit. I backed the trailer in and leveled things out and it worked out great. It was near the end of a now defunct logging road and there was a family group camped out a few hundred yards away with tents.
I brought along the VFR in the back of the truck so the next morning I unloaded it and took several rides through the area on Friday, spending some time sitting by the different lakes and hopping on the Internet to keep tabs on things when I had signal and take in the mountains and at one lake, a few mosquitos!
Saturday morning I met up with my friend Lance Bucher of Placerville, my old neighbor and we had breakfast in Markleeville and then headed up one of our favorite roads, Highway 4. While we weren't trying to put a knee down we did have an enthusiastic ride up and back down the pass. I love any twisty road with a 20% + grade! Unfortunately since I started riding Ebbett's, it's clearly become much more popular but with cars and weekend drivers who often seem to have a tough time respecting the fact that it's only a 1.5 lane road and just because there aren't lane markers that they should stay toward their side of the road. All in all though, a great ride. I went back that afternoon for some more riding around the Icehouse area and came back for an early dinner and some reading.
Sunday morning came around and it was time to head home. It was a great solo camping trip, good man time, lots of fun.
