ring-necked pheasant many, many red tailed hawks, most intimate ever for me a coyote a noble 10-12 point mule deer buck, then later a whole herd of lesser mule deer northern harrier Northern Spoonbill, (I think) buffleheads and redheads Sandhill crane (couldn’t stop to get a good look ):
large reserve, very flat (former Lake Lahontan), nice viewing areas, allegedly camping
Pretty campground and park on a little lake made from damming Putah Creek, the outflow of Lake Berrysea. The park is long and skinny following the south side of the lake/creek for quite a while. On the north side is the fairly busy road from the lake to the freeway. Some trucks and a lot of noisy motorcycles.
Nearest gas is > 80 miles in any direction. An unexpected valley full of reedy marshes in the middle of endless high country desert. There's little warm pool and bathhouse with two showers that run always forever. The whole thing is quite unexpected!
Very low tech, just pull the van up to a picnic table and hang out
Quite busy on Friday night. Lots of large, happy groups. Part of the crowd is for the observatory and the Friday night astronomy show!
A little too close to I-5 (the road noise is really loud), but visually you'd never know it. Pretty little park centered on a cute little duck pond. Exit 163 on Oregon I-5. For tent camping you just park where you want on the grass, very cool!
Just a parking area with trees and picnic tables. I enjoyed it here. The water spigot is 40' from the lot in a field and looks like it might be dicey, but the water was delicious!
itty bitty reservoir, campground was unexpectedly full with someone's family reunion, so I drove a mile further on up the road and camped in a meadow. Worked out fine.
In a little valley off I-15, with a little stream feeding a series of little ponds.
busy but pretty quiet, very scenic. nature trail. a short hike past the swimming pond to a great sunset over non-swimming Sardine Lake, shining off the Sierra Buttes to the left.
pretty but nondescript little spot in the interior of the state. Really nice fall colors when I was there, big yellow leaves covering everything!
A really interesting place. The entrance and Visitors Center are five miles off the highway, then it's another five miles to the payoff, the lighthouse and actual Gulf of Mexico. The Visitors Center looks quite deluxe, but both times I have been hurrying to make sunset at the beach, and both times I forgot to return in the morning.