The winding, single-lane road from Huntington Lake to Edison Lake is well worth the drive to see spectacular High Sierra vistas, such as the flowing San Joaquin River

The trip looked like a disaster in the making. We left late on Friday afternoon. We were headed for a campground we'd never visited. The drive took longer than expected. It was the maiden voyage with our new tent trailer.

My wife's sense of foreboding grew with the elevation as we drove toward Huntington Lake outside Fresno on a windy mountain road. It was midnight when we finally pulled into the Rancheria Campground and started searching for a site.

After poking around in the dark, we settled on the first empty spot we found. Then the real fun began: me backing the trailer in by flashlight under April's guidance while not waking Laurel, Drew and Brooke, all sound asleep. Moments like these have ruined marriages. But they're among the funniest things you'll ever witness.

I'm usually the guy sitting by the fire watching some other family make camp in the dark. The kids can't shine the flashlight where it's needed. The husband and wife struggle with the tent, shouting at each other in whispers in a vain attempt to keep from disturbing the neighbors. It's high comedy - the best entertainment you can hope for in a campground - because it's somebody else's misfortune. Now it was my turn to take center stage.

We awoke Saturday morning to find we had one of the best sites in the campground. It was twice the size of most, providing plenty of room for the kids to run between the trunks of soaring pine trees and clamber over the nearby rocks.

Getting There Huntington Lake is located in the Sierra National Forest about two hours east of Fresno on State Route 168. Camping is available at several campgrounds around the lake and reservations can be made at www.recreation.gov. For more information contact the Sierra National Forest Supervisor's Office at 559-297-0706.

We spent the afternoon exploring around the man-made lake, which is about seven miles long and a half-mile wide. Created in the early 1900s as part of an ambitious hydroelectric project that includes nearby Shaver Lake, Huntington is set among the pines at 7,000 feet. It is a popular vacation destination, with campgrounds and cabins along the shore and sailboats and anglers plying the water.

Not far from the Rancheria Campground is the Rancheria Falls Trail, a two-mile round trip hike that leads to a spectacular waterfall. We made that our Sunday morning destination.

The hike is an easy one, with less than 1,000 feet of elevation gain. Laurel, whose 4-year-old legs are still adapting to hiking, was so busy counting butterflies and looking at wildflowers that she didn't have time to ask, "Are we there yet?"

In less than 30 minutes we were. Although there was little snow left on the surrounding peaks to feed the falls, they created a refreshing mist while tumbling and splashing 150 feet down to the pools and boulders below.

"The three of them sat in a line pitching rocks into the water. The BIGGER THE SPLASH, the more they were entertained."

After lunch we headed for Edison Lake, 20 miles beyond Huntington, and accessible only by a twisting, pot-holed, single-lane road. The drive took nearly 90 minutes with innumerable stops to let oncoming traffic pass. We didn't mind. The kids slept most of the way and the views were stunning.

Edison is also a man-made lake, but because the road limits access, it is largely undeveloped. Pine trees march from the shoreline in all directions, and to the east, the Sierra crest towers high above the valley in which the lake sits.

We wandered down to the shore in search of something more entertaining than scenery for the kids. The three of them sat in a line pitching rocks into the water. The bigger the splash, the more they were entertained.

Monday morning found us breaking camp and packing the tent trailer. One last challenge awaited us: hitching the trailer to the van. I'm proud to say the encore to Friday night's performance was brief. I lined up the hitch with the trailer on my second attempt, again depriving the neighbors of their entertainment.


Eric Harnish lives in Newhall.