We hied off to John Martin again this weekend, to the Hasty campground.
Things are winding down there. Most of the campsites were vacant. The main shower house and the secondary one, back in the 'eighties' sites, were still open. IIRC, they will close at the end of the month, though the laundry, dishwashing sink, and accessible shower, all at the same end of the main building, will remain open.
Ducks are quacking about, but we did not see any geese to speak of. The water level has dropped drastically from the glorious days of this past spring.
The new Blackstone griddle really does work like a champ. We did a heartstopper breakfast Saturday morning, and fajitas Saturday evening. We also did burgers - roadkill patties with grilled potatoes, actually - Friday evening, but Friday evening was quite nippy and still a bit breezy, so we snuffled inside the Cassie.
We went over to the main reservoir, intending to flail the water to a froth with one of the highly vaunted Panther Martins, but the water levels were so low that I wasn't going to climb down those rocks to get to it. Instead, we cruised around Hasty Lake by way of Trumpville (Caddoa). The dam road is closed for work so you have to take the roundabout way to get to the other side.
Before that, however, having neglected to bring water along, we went over to the visitor center. It was closed while the rangers were out doing ranger things. So we went to the Hasty Market - actually, Valley Market - over in Hasty. In all the years we have been going to John Martin, this was the first time stopping in there. It's quite the nifty little joint, offering pizza, and deli sandwiches and lunches. The young lady at the cash register was quite friendly.
Over on the far side of John Martin, The Squeeze gathered some more dye and fiber plants, including more yucca. Her hand-rolled yucca twine project came out very well indeed; she is going to make more to use in an as-yet-to-be-determined project.
It was quite nippy both nights we were there, dropping down below freezing for short periods in the early hours. No frozen pipes, though, and we were quite toasty in the Cassie.
And a good time was had by all.
