May 7-11: Brite Lake

May 9, 2011
Brite Lake, Tehachapi, CA

I was going to call this post “We’ve never been up here before”, but we’ll probably be saying that numerous times over the course of this year’s travels.

Monday, we said “goodbye” to the Antelope Valley (no, we’ve never seen an antelope there) and left Lancaster.  Unlike the first portion of our trip, where we’ve visited places we’re familiar with, we started exploring new territory.  It was less than 60 miles of travel, but we were soon heading upwards in elevation to Tehachapi.  Our route took us north on CA-14 to the little town of Mojave, then east on CA-58.  All good roads and about 2,000 feet of elevation gain.

Brite Lake (their spelling, not mine) is a small man-made reservoir that’s part of the local water supply system.  It’s owned by the local water authority, which has seen fit to open it up for fishing (no swimming) and boating (electric motors only).  They’ve created a rustic campground with 18 RV spaces and 20+ tent spots.  We cheated a bit, having taken a ride up here last Sunday while we were parked in Lancaster to scope things out.  I wanted to make sure we’d be able to get in and out, as Google Earth can only tell us so much.

So far, so good, though.  We found a route that didn’t require us to go through Beautiful Downtown Tehachapi, and we were able to drive the 5 miles out of town to get here without any incidents.  Plus, a 50 Amp water/electric site is only $20 a night. Good deal!

We picked a site and realized that it wasn’t as level as it looked, so moved one site over.  After self-registering through Thursday, we deployed the dog pens and lawn chairs and settled in for a relaxing stay.  It didn’t take us too long to realize that we’d better stay another day because we have good satellite reception and most TV shows are nearing their season finales (isn’t that a crappy reason to arrange a travel schedule?).

We took a quick trip into town yesterday to hit the Albertson’s, but otherwise we’ve been relaxing.  I took a walk around the lake yesterday and was surprised to find it only 1.8 miles.  Today, I looped around and then back and got in my “normal” 3.5 miles.

There are quite a few birds here, from little starlings or wrens to ducks and geese to a pair of large hawks.  There’s even a crane that’s been hanging around for the past two days.  There are also quite a few ground squirrels living in dens all over the place.  We can tell that some of the campsites don’t get a huge amount of use by the way the vermin have taken over, with den entrances and exits strategically placed near the power pedestals and water spigots.

Yesterday, while I was walking, the crane flew up from the lake and landed in the grass near a squirrel den.  It was funny to see their standoff for a few minutes.  I’m not sure which one was more surprised.  I couldn’t get closer without disturbing them, so I just continued on.

Somewhere over the years, the facility had a woodcarver-in-residence.  There are wooden sculptures all over the property, ranging from totems by the entrance to the Park to pieces that match the names of each “street” (like “Coyote Run” and “Squirrel Lane”).  The “art” near the dump station is especially amusing.  We have some pictures but will get more at a better time of day before we leave.

Overall, we like it here.  Being about 4,500 feet in elevation, it’s been cooler than Lancaster/California City to the east or Bakersfield to the west.  We’ll continue to enjoy this area for the rest of the week, as we’re heading toward Sacramento on Saturday.