Chilao campground

Today's post is a happy and breakthrough one for many reasons. First and foremost....I survived a 5000'+ elevation with no negative higher altitude issues which is great news for potential future camping. The second reason is we were able to test our new 100Watt portable solar panel and third was the immense amount of wildlife and beautiful views we witnessed!

Only a one hour (Vanagon speed) drive from Pasadena, this is the site that we came upon to enjoy our weekend.

The air was clean and crisp and our site had amazing views.

First off I need to discuss our new solar set-up. I noticed that the 80Watt panel we have in the luggage rack was barely able to keep up with the CF-25 cooler along with other charging needs and would limit our battery use over long periods so decided to get a portable 100W panel to add to our energy production. Hooking into the existing wiring was quite easy after purchasing some Y-connectors which now give 180Watts of power.

A little messy with the wiring but I will clean it up. This is the new Y-Connector that allows me to run my new 100Watt portable solar panel (or both 180Watt) with a simple snap of the MC4 connectors. I was more than satisfied with the power output when I had everything hooked up and still made more power than I could use.

Lets get to some of the amazing wildlife we encountered while at our campsite. There were plenty of lizards soaking up the sun including this little guy in the bottom corner that was competing for some rays.

The sun brought out many other cold blooded animals including a friendly snake right beside us.

After all the other campers had left, a curious coyote checked out what was available......

 

There was 20 minutes of frustrated crying but eventually Brooke went down for her nap.

Followed by some play time with mom.

Dinner cooked over a fire was delicious.

Once dinner was finished, it was time for a movie in the van.

Then watched the sun go down.

After our camping excursions are over we generally rate them as successful or not and this rated as a good one. I am more than pleased that we can now pull in over 10amps of free power during peak sun periods with our solar set-up. We are also looking forward to testing out some other high altitude campsites in the future.