well off the beathen path

  Adjusting Your Water Well Pressure Gauge needs to be mounted vertically to prevent water intrusion. If it gets very cold and water freezes inside the gauge, the Bourdon tube will be damaged. This can cause it to add an extra 30 psi to all readings, which is confusing. Having the gauge upright is better to read and keeps the water out. Oh yeah, if it freezes, it's best if the plumbing is insulated with pipe wrap, or the like.  I learned these lessons the hard way. Well Cap should not be loose. The cap is a sandwich of steel plates with a rubber seal that gets squished and becomes wider, sealing itself in the well tube. It is possible for the cap on a new installation to become loose after the rubber forms to its new shape and takes a set. The fasteners on top (4 nuts on mine) should be evenly tightened. Don't over-tighten it, think valve cover gasket, not lug nuts. Bladder Tank Pre-charge needs to be set correctly. Properly pressurized bladder tank is adjusted to 2 psi bel...

Our government has a way with acronyms, and broken URLs. .gov broken links It always amazes me that the most link repairs I tackle on Total Escape is predominantly for the dot gov web links. USFS has a fondness for the PDF pages w/ Alerts & Notices being almost cryptic. Outdated, old search features rarely produce what you are really looking for. Instead you get some long document from a meeting a decade ago. The US Forest Service has changed their URL structure at least half a dozen times since they came online, back in 2000. No need for redirects, or better forethought, old broken links are found all the time within the government managed web. wildfire info Incident Web Incident Information System INCIweb for short You would think that something as serious as wildfire information and maps would be a high priority, but the web site responsible for tracking individual fires - could not decide on a stable web address. The URL has changed a few times over the past decade; it was a .o...

California terrain was the main reason I relocated to the Golden State, way back in 1984. I had just graduated from high school and like millions, decided to head west to see what the West Coast was all about. I immediately fell in love with Southern California, the desert and Baja California. Enrolling at a community college in San Diego County, I began a journey of exploration, artistic dreams, documenting and in the field photography.    As a starving artist student, I would spend my free time (away from work and school), out camping in the nearby deserts or local mountains. It was always a gorgeous place to do my reading assignments, homework, and it was a cheap way to spend a weekend. Now 40 years later - I'm still here in Cali. Northern Sierra. Loving it, traveling, working and documenting all the wild landscapes that I came out here to enjoy. Created a web site (back in 1996), just so I could follow my passions of working for myself. However, the last decade of wildfi...

Yes indeed, Total Escape is alive and well - and still online! the redesign is finally here 2019 October marks the 23rd year of our presence on the world wide web. Site founder, DanaMite has been redesigning the site and making it easier to find everything - over 10,000 pages on just California. This particular overhaul has been years in the making and I needed to 'hire out' on certain skills in to accomplish it. Big thanks goes to  Jamison  who helped me get CSS headers in order and looking great, and the new navigation launched last month on Total Escape. Mobile users will be pointed to the main URL  http://www.totalescape.com/index.html Desktop users can still use the classic feel http://www.totalescape.com/classic.html Search Bar is located back on top, the Outside Blog now visually matches the rest of the site, and we have created some new sub-sections of the site, which include: DESTINATIONS - http://totalescape.com/destinations/ JOURNEY - h...

Los Padres NF: Half Moon Camp 2006 Day Fire wildfire burned most of the Sespe Wilderness Piru Creek Camping Lockwood Valley, Sespe Wilderness Trailheads Late afternoon sun at uncrowded Half Moon campground   Los Padres National Forest West of Frazier Park & north of Ojai Camping - 12 camp sites on creek @ 4700' elevation vault toilet, creek, pine forest, Sespe Wilderness first come, first served camping Max Camper Length: 0 RV, motorhomes, camper trailers are not advised Access by long dirt road with creek crossings, high clearance recommended. Lockwood Ranger Station: 661-245-3731 Backpacking, car camping, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, hunting, mountain biking, off-roading. Piru Creek valley overlook on the way to Mutau Flat and Half Moon From Ojai, California take Hwy 33. Turn right (east) on Lockwood Valley. Turn right (south) on Mutau Flat Road #7N03 and continue 9 miles to the campground at junction with #7N13. From Frazier Park,...

Camping without a campfire sounds like swimming without water to some people. Half the reason to go camping is to sit around the group fire at night enjoying the gorgeous night air & good conversation. Here in California we have many fire restrictions in place, especially in Southern California. With the expanding population moving in to the state, we now have less rural lands available than ever before. Current ongoing drought conditions in much of California means tight restrictions on campfires - inside and outside of campgrounds. You are responsible for knowing the campfire restrictions in the forest you are visiting, so make sure to find out ahead of time. NFS   Late Summer to Autumn season campfire restrictions can apply to backpacking in the high country, back roads dispersed camping, and sometimes even regular campgrounds. When wildfire danger is greatest no campfires are allowed anywhere in the forest, even inside developed campgrounds. Our over-managed f...

Campground Reservations w/ Reserve America are back! just in time for summer No hurry, no worries, as you coast down the forested route to your premiere camping destination. A shady campground near an alpine lake or fishing creek is a favorite destination for many in California. Summer time is here and it seems everyone is on vacation; but alas, you have camping reservations at this perfect spot - a camp site held specifically for you. Over the past two decades Total Escape has seen numerous affiliate programs disappear, hundreds of independent lodges go out of business and recreation outfitters close shop. About 5 years ago ReserveAmerica , the nationwide campground reservation system, was acquired by Active.com. Soon after most of our campground links were null and void, so DanaMite updated them to something more relevant. Well it has taken a several years but we finally got all the new camping reservation links back up, so you can now reserve a campground through Tot...