Milestones
- 36th time camping in 36 months (SHOW ON MAP)
- 1st time camping in Santa Clara County
- Rained 1.15 inches in 12 hrs
Hidden Gem
The campground is located in a 1,147-acre natural park on the eastern side of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The park has several small waterfalls. Uva is the Spanish word for grape. I saw several wineries as I drove up.
Christmas Storm of ‘25
There was NOBODY at the campground except for me and the camp-host. I guess the severe storm warnings, atmospheric river, flood watch, downed trees, traffic accidents and power outages were a discouragement for people. I had a great time. Soggy?… sure. But, totally worth it.
Look at all the moss… I wonder if it rains much around here?
I did some exploring before dinner and darkness. This is Swanson Creek along Waterfall Loop Nature Trail.
There was even moss growing on the side of the hill.
The moss on the trees was spectacular. I really didn’t expect such a beautiful forest.
I “busted out” …. That’s camping slang for ‘carefully setup’… my Starlink antenna and powered it with my new 1000Wh Jackery portable (22lb) battery. I closed the back hatch on my car so it wouldn’t get soaked. Worked like a champ.
 |  |
I cooked 2 baked potatoes at home, and then heated them up on the fire with a Bratwurst. Brought some ranch dressing for the potato… Fantastic. Unfortunately, it started to rain before I finished dinner. It rained most of the night. I was dry in my tent, and I slept well.
I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom… in between the rain. When I came out of the restroom, there was a deer 30 ft away staring at me. We both froze for a second, and then we each turned and went on with our lives.
Beautiful photos of a beautiful area. Thank you!
I always thought the food tasted better while out camping. In Ohio, sometimes we would go fishing and frog gigging late in the evening and then fix the fish and frog legs on the grill. The taste couldn’t be matched. When you said you had “rebaked potatoes” and Bratwurst, my mouth started to water. Supper can’t be far away.
Never acquired a taste for frog legs… but when my relatives go swimming, they execute a perfect “frog kick”…. LOL!
What a beautiful place! Great pictures! Now I must go there.
It was so good to see you!!! Happy New Year! Happy camping!
Ed
Nice photos! I did not know about this park. Thanks for the info! I also liked your Mare Island photo in the email you sent about this camping trip. I’m not sure if you are aware, but there are some billionaire Sili Valley Tech Bros who have been messing w/ Solano County over their massive development scheme called “California Forever”. The locals (google & FB search for “California for Never”) are not thrilled w/ the scheme, in part b/c it will compromise Travis AFB operations, upon which the county’s economy depends. In 2025 the Tech Bros have been throwing spaghetti @ the wall to see if any of their ideas will stick. Over the summer they hit on the idea of bringing shipbuilding to Solano County @ Collinsville (a sleepy backwater on the Delta), thereby irritating the Mare Island folks who – quite legitimately – feel their location, history and legacy infrastructure w/ shipbuilding should take precedence over the largely empty and comparatively remote Collinsville area. The Tech Bros latest pasta toss has been to get Suisun City to annex a 7-mile cherry stem to connect w/ their massive land holdings in the sticks. That proposal is now in the LAFCO process. It has spawned a recall movement against Suisun City Council members. These are interesting times.
Very interesting. I’m a big fan of leveraging the existing infrastructure at Mare Island. But, politics is rarely logical.
“Every nation gets the government it deserves” Joseph de Maistre