Wandering the Warner's.

Here I am doing yoga on a picnic table at Lily Lake in the Warner Mountain of NE California.
We spent two weeks exploring and camping there in September.

I want to share with you the food we ate, the places we camped and people we met.

Camping food doesn't need to be freeze dried or tasteless. You don't need to live on trail mix or canned pork and beans. I spent some time before we left making the food we enjoy and freezing it. This has a double advantage, your food will last longer and it provides "ice" for  your cooler.

Here is a pan of Gina's beans that I made and froze. They were great in tacos one night and for lunch another day. I don't skimp on my cooking utensils either, no flimsy aluminum cookware for me, I bring my cast iron skillet and my stainless steel pot. I love my Coleman stove :-)

We always bring our own water in these easy to use container. Some of the best camping spots are the ones that don't provide water.

Blue Lake at the southern end of the Warner's was such a treat. There was a great hike all the way around it and the swimming was refreshing.

So was the quart of fresh tomato juice I froze. When it was completely defrosted it made a welcome addition to lunch. My quinoa salad also traveled well and made great lunches or a dinner side dish.

I found my Asian slaw made great  camping food too, you can make it in advance. Cabbage, the main ingredient is fairly durable and this salad actually improves with age. It was a nice addition to lunch and I used it with my curried chicken in wraps for dinner on those warm evenings.

Massage kale salad was another great way to get fresh greens later in our trip, when the fresh tomatoes and other veggies were gone. I washed and tore the kale into bite size pieces ahead of time. When it was time to make the salad into the second week of our trip, I just added some lemon juice, olive oil  and salt. It was a great lunch and dinner addition.

On the subject of lunches, Bob favors a can of sardines with crackers and fresh fruit or a salad. It's best to eat sardines straight from a can and in a location with a trash can near by. Not a good choice in bear country.

I love the classic cheese and cracker fare, with fresh tomatoes or apples and my homemade nut butter.

One day while driving to check out another place camp we ran across Stringer's Orchard on highway 395 almost to the Oregon boarder. It was open and the sign said free tasting.

 They use the local wild plum to make wine, brandy and gin !! The owner was so accommodating, knowledgeable and fun to talk to. I usually don't drink but I really enjoyed tasting the dry plum wine and plum gin. They both has great plum favor without being sweet.

Bob enjoyed seeing how it all was made. Here is the owner with the copper still from Germany, it looks so Steam Punk !! Do check out their website and of course, they ship !!

I tried to have both very simple and slightly more complex meals to make. On the days we were arriving at a campsite dinner was simple. Here we are having a carrot ginger soup ( made ahead and frozen) and sausages. I also made green soup to freeze and bring along.

On a day when I had more time, I would make something a little more complex like red sauce on pasta. I brought my own roasted tomatoes, which I added to sauteed onions, garlic and red bell peppers. It made a tasty sauce for the pasta.

I used it another night over polenta. You can buy it in a tube at Trader Joes, it doesn't need to be refrigerated until you open it. This was a big plus and made it the perfect food for later in the trip as my fresh stuff got used up. 

You can see the crusty French bread in the skillet with the polenta rounds. It was a creative way to warm it up, at that point in the trip that bread needed some heat ;-)

We did some rock hunting, too. The Warner's are a very volcanic range and we found lots of beautiful obsidian in several different colors.

I have yet to touch on breakfast, I guess because it is one of the easiest meals to do while out camping.
I use the same premise as I use with dinner, if we have to be off early in the morning, we stick with granola and cold cereal with yogurt or milk and fresh fruit. If we have more time I make hot cereal or to really indulge, bacon and eggs. The smell of bacon cooking drives anyone nearby crazy !!

One evening at Lily Lake we happen to meet Nita and Jim, who lived nearby on the state line at New Pine Creek. They were so friendly and invited us to come see their garden and cabins on our way out  the next day. We had the time and were so glad we stopped by. Nita is an amazing gardener and Jim is an amazing woodworker. These photos don't do their place justice and Bob was too shy to take any photos inside their cabins. Do go to their website to see their place and all the cool things they are up to.

They were at Lily Lake that evening to host a picnic supper for a field study group from Oregon State University. A anthropology professor and her two grad students had spent the summer in their rental cabins while they did their research into the economy and food sources for this very rural community.

Birds were a big part of this trip as well. We saw this great horned owl snoozing in an aspen tree near Cedarville.

 And most of the lakes we stayed at were frequented by bald eagles and lots of fishing osprey.

We fished as well and were quite successful at Lily Lake.

Our last lakeside camp was Juanita Lake, not in the Warner's but rather in the Cascades above Mount Shasta. It was another gem with a lovely paved trail around the lake and spectacular reflections.

As a treat to ourselves after a dozen days without a real shower, we checked into what we call The Caboose Motel in Dunsmuir, CA. We used to stop here on our way home from family vacations in Eastern Washington.

Yes, you really do stay inside the cabooses !!

That's me hanging upside down from the handy bar on the ceiling.

And we treated ourselves to breakfast the next day at Yak's. We loved the name and were even more enthralled when we realized that the road worker was wearing a yak costume to help the new cafe promote it's opening.

They roast their own coffee, use local produce and meats and make most of their own sauces. We were very impressed with their food.

This was my Mount Shasta veggie hash with a side of bacon, yum !!

All in all it was a fabulous trip made even better by the great food and greta company :-)