New Year
Every New Years Eve I make a non-negotiable plan to spend a quiet night in nature and set up to practice my own take on the Japanese tradition of Hatsuhinode. By awaking pre-dawn and welcoming the 1st sunrise of the New Year, I focus on gratefulness, wishes, prayers and intentions for 2026 in peace.
Where I was camped in the weeks prior to the conclusion of 2025 was NOT the perfect peaceful location I had desired to be for this beautiful New Years Day start, and I HAD to get outta there. All I, or any of my fellow nomadic wanderers, heard for 2 weeks at Jean Dry Lake Beds was gunfire, fireworks, offroad vehicles and the overwhelming sensory disruption of Tannerite exploding following rounds and rounds of incessant shooting. While it is legal for people to practice their gun range skills on BLM land in this specific Nevada landscape, I could not handle another minute of the disruptive behavior. This camping area is a wonderful location near Las Vegas, and the landscape is stunning with sunrises & sunsets lighting up the valley between the surrounding mountains, and I will stay again in the future. I fully support the Second Amendment, so don’t get me wrong on that stance.
So, as all wanderers do, I Googled “dispersed camping near me” and clicked around on the CAMPENDIUM app to see where others may suggest. With 300,000+ people planning to go to Las Vegas for New Years this year, I decided south would be my best direction. The I-15 was easily accessible from my campsite, and I hit the open road towards Baker, CA.
Did you know
Did you know the “World’s Tallest Thermometer” is in Baker and this town is known as the “The Gateway to Death Valley”? If you wander by, stop and see Billy at the gift shop under the 134’ tall thermometer structure and buy a postcard for $1.00. They’ll even MAIL it for you, so no postcard stamps are needed though I always carry postcard stamps of my own.
Afton Canyon BLM Campground is 29 miles south of Baker and sounded like a hidden gem, with $6.00 / night campsites and notes that there are rarely any other campers there, so I was all in. “Grand Canyon of the Mojave” here I come! Off I-15 the road is very, very washboard and traveling at a slow pace is essential. There were a couple tight sections where only 1 vehicle at a time could drive and a kind man driving a white Subaru backed up for me so I could continue hauling my house down the twisty road towards the Mojave River.
YES! This was almost a golden ticket. I stayed at site #10 which was at the end of the small campground. I deposited my cash into the yellow envelope, attached the stub to the clip on the post, hung my rearview mirror tag receipt in Seymore, and settled in.
What I knew was I couldn’t escape this weeks rainy & stormy forecast that covered most of southern CA, NV, AZ so the awning went out, the chair unpacked, my mini Innostage firepit assembled and Starlink turned on. After clocking out of work for the last day of 2025, I got to work on my firewood stash. It was great to use the hatchet my dad gave me years ago and 2 lb mallet I ordered as a “gift to me” for Christmas to split the wood into thinner pieces that the firepit would accept. I’m grateful for the blessing of my sunny disposition, rainy weather or not, so I wandered along the river to explore then settled in with a mini campfire shielded from the rain drops under Moose’s awning to pause & reflect on 2025.
2025 proved some hard lessons but there is not a single moment I wish went any other way including $13,000+ in truck repairs, but I’ll cover these in a future post.
2025 recap
Some highlights and lowlights of 2025
January – Finding a puppy, Lake Havasu Xscapers Bash, learning my ex-husband died
February – Friends showing up when needed, dog sitting customers & respite in Yuma
March – Nesting with friends in AZ, flying to MD to dog sit, hellacious winds of Quartszite
April – Camping in Joshua Tree & driving CA 395 in 28-degree weather with no RV heat
May -My 1st truck radiator on the Loneliest Highway US 50 & 2nd radiator 1 week later
June – Utah & fire pit therapy, Moab’s too hot, Gunnison’s too hot, too; Buena Vista, CO
July – Missing wheels, Golden, CO river tubing & wandering north to Wonderful Wyoming
August – Las Vegas 30th Friendiversary, my 50th state ND, repair shop sleepovers
September – Lake Superior, the UP, Mackinac Island & ferry rides, missing reunions
October – PA family bonding, two flights PA to NV for my Las Vegas boyfriend, Doggle
November – Driving some of Route 66, PA, WV, VA, TN, AL, MS, LA, TX, OK, NM, AZ, NV
December – Resting with dogs, engine repairs and Jean Dry Lake Beds BLM camping
Waking up on New Years AM pre-dawn in the drizzly rain, I started a campfire, made a cup of coffee and soaked in the peaceful sound of my neighbor’s whirring generator, failing to let it truly bother my inner peace. After a while it ran out of gas and I said the universe “thank you” and returned to reflection, prayer, journaling and knowing in my soul there is nowhere else I’d rather be. I’m living what was once a dream in 2015 every day and happy.
I’ve put over 23,000 miles on Seymore & Moose in the last year and a half and every time I leave a campsite, I tell it thank you for the lessons learned and look longingly down the long white lines of open highway for the next best backcountry destination full of peace.
Hugs and love across the miles,
The Wilderness Gypsy
