Van Camping California’s Most MYSTERIOUS Locations

How's it going everybody? I'm Nikki Delventhal and this is my dog Camper Delventhal. We lived in a Prius full-time for three years but now we're in a 4x4 Sprinter and we're here to take you along on the wild ride. So fasten up your seat belts and let's have some fun. Don't forget if you like what you see, like, subscribe, comment, share with your friends and turn on notifications. Camper and I would be so thankful. On last week's episode, Camper and I start our morning at a very noisy truck stop. We get ready for the day and then head to one of my absolute favorite places to go wild camping. When we get there, we decide to have a slow day in nature, making lunch, going on a hike, and watching the sunset before bed. We leave off our adventures finding some beautiful seasonal wildflowers, finding a well to swim in, and securing a camp spot for the night. Good morning you sexy mother truckers. I hope you're having a wonderful day. We have a super super exciting day in van life. We are going to do some major off-the-beaten-path exploring, looking for slot canyons, ancient lakes, volcanic craters. Oh you think we can look for some beefy prehistoric bones, you know, and maybe some lady pups? Oh yeah, the possibilities are endless. We're gonna have a ton of fun, but first we gotta get there. So let's hit the road. This is my favorite type of adventure. We are using Google Satellite to find massive cracks in the ground that were made over 13,000 years ago from a volcanic eruption underneath the lake. The challenge is there are no marked trails. I don't know how long we're gonna be out there, but I really hope we find them. So let's go. So the trick here is I'm looking down on Google Satellite and I see the cracks, so we are just gonna keep walking in the direction of those cracks. What you got? You got a good stick. Go get it! He goes, hurry up snowfolk. He's just sniffing his way over. If he finds them, I'm gonna be so pumped. Seems about right. Follow the camper tracks. It kind of feels like you're hiking in sand dunes. What a workout. All right, camper has lost all responsibility. He accidentally took us a mile west, so we just racked on a few more miles, but that's okay. Nature is cool, but creepy crawlies. There it is. I think we made it. I thought this was it, and then I looked at Google Satellite, and then realized we have like a whole nother mile. Just as I was starting to think, where the heck are we going? We found them! All right, we are going in. Can you guys believe this was formed from a volcanic eruption underneath the lake? It's incredible. So places like over here get as far as 10 feet wide, but as we keep going, some of these canyons will get as small as one foot, and apparently they're 45 feet tall and higher. Nature is wild. Gotta squeeze through here. Look at all these mineral deposits. On the way out. This is more like a cave with a lot of rock fall. I don't think we need to test that, but we can look from the top. This is wild. This was the coolest adventure ever, and now let's hustle back to the van. We're back, just in time for more people at the trailhead. You guys, I think we officially broke her in. There are so many scratches. I have a feeling there's going to be a lot more of those. All right, load up, Cam. I am hungry, but I think we should find a place to sleep for the night first, just in case that rain hits us. Let's kick it. Woo! We got a little snack. We got green juice, and we got sourdough crackers. Now we can go. One more thing. Totally forgot Buddha dog. I knew something was missing. The reason so much of this area is flooded, not just over here, is this year the Sierra, and especially in this area, got 300% more snow than the national average. So what that means is with a ton more snow, there's a ton more snow melt, and that means the rivers are so much higher, the lakes are so much higher, literally just flooding out everything. We found the actual best camp spot on the planet. I mean, we've done pretty good in the past, but I would say this is like a top five. Wow. Camper, what do you think? Oh yeah, this smells amazing. So I'm going to go find more stuff to sniff while you make us some dinner. All right, what is on the menu? You guys, we went to a farmer's market this week, and we got so many good veggies. It's going to be so good. Kale, pepper, onion, carrots, mushroom, zucchini, potatoes. Here you go, good boy. I feel like you're supposed to put in one thing at a time, but you know, let's live a little. Okay, maybe that was too much stuff. That's what I'm talking about. I'm so excited to try this. All right, camp, first round of cleaning. Enjoy. Good boy, bring it back. Look what camper found, some friends. Let's go, we got to see them. They're so beautiful, huh? Time to go inside and let the sun go down. I think it's been a little while. What do you say we have a movie night? Oh God, what was that? Oh my God. Damn moths. You cannot have moths in here. All right, now who's ready for a movie night? Mom, can you please wake up now? Okay, hi camper. All right, it's coffee time. I'm not going to be as lazy today. Man overboard. Oh, crushed it. Have you imprisoned yourself? Sometimes you got to put some chin strength into it. Half coffee, half milk. It's usually the name of the game. Probably could have got a utensil, but whatever. Places like this are so special. And honestly, I feel like I have a really hard time with it because a lot of my favorite places like this have been shut down all over the country because of just trashing and disrespect and people not following L&T ethics, but just also overpopulation and geotagging. And it's really hard for me because I feel like it's my responsibility to protect these places, but also to promote going outdoors. And it worries me sometimes that it'll get into the wrong hands. Please follow Leave No Trace ethics, respect the land, respect the people around you, and tread lightly. We only get one earth and it's not going to be getting any nicer anytime soon. Let's treat it like it's our home. It is our home. Home, sweet home. Wow, what a magical coffee break. We were literally sitting over there for like three hours, but now I think it's time to change up. Maybe we'll get a little workout in before we do a little more exploring. All right. First thing we're going to do is grab all our workout gear. Living in a van, it's all about maximum functionality. So not only do we use the Max Trax 4 recovery off-road, but we also use it for a killer bicep workout. These things are pretty heavy. They got to be like 15 pounds each, I bet. We're going to slide out our pull-up bar, knee pad, home gym by a Delvin hauler, and a nice cute trainer boy. You couldn't unnaturally look like this. I don't need to workout. People would pay top dollar for these jeans. All right, you guys ready? We're going to pump you up. Cue the music. We're going to start with some dance aerobics. How about a little rowing workout? All right, camera away. Three more rounds. We'll see you for breakfast. All right, what are we going to do here? What's your favorite time of day camper? I didn't hear you. What's your favorite time of day camper? Because mine is coffee and breakfast after you work out or go on a really epic hike. What she said, but also big bones and maybe some ladies with big bones. Little change of plans. We were going to go searching for wild horses and flowers, but the area is really washed out and flooded, and apparently cars have been getting stuck there all week. So instead, we are going to go to this super cool place, and it's right down the road. I don't even know how to explain it until we get there. All right, let's get out of here. Look at this parking spot with beautiful views of the lake. I love that. So apparently you can drive the two miles to the lake on a pretty gnarly road, but I don't know. I kind of want some exercise today. This area gets a ton of mosquitoes, so I'm going to try this sunscreen bug spray stuff. I think this is like 10 years old. Hopefully, it still works. Oh, yeah, we're going safari, Delventhal, for sure. Who's ready to see what's out there? All right, you guys, we've got a steep climb down, but because of the toxic algae, we got to leash up because we don't want any of that in our lives. No, no, no. You can see them from up here. How incredible is that? So I'm pretty excited. I've been wanting to see these columns for quite a few years now, and today, we're finally getting to it. So big things today. Not doing as much B-roll because there's so many mosquitoes. We are getting eaten alive. Oh, my goodness. I got to get past the mosquitoes. Get past the mosquitoes. Oh, my God, there's so many. Researchers say that these columns were formed over 700,000 years ago through volcanic activity, where the cold water would go down as the hot was steaming up, creating these perfect cylindrical columns. What's even cooler is the columns come straight through the top. It seems as if parts of the column have completely dropped off over here. We're going to tighten up our hat here, like super tight, because we are going to run full speed back up that sand and pray the mosquitoes don't get us because they've already gotten us a bunch. Let's go. Let's go, camper. Oh, my God. There's so many. Oh, God. There's so many. It works like a charm. Look at that in 30 seconds. Home sweet home. Nobody took our spot. Oh, this is a long hike when you got to get the camera. This hike and booty can't get through there, but you can. Oh, that's right. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Reverse it. Reverse it.