Living in the Most Trashed Tourist Destination in America (Lower 48) | Van Life

How's it going everybody? I'm Mickey 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, my dad moves into my van. We take you to the fascinating Mono Lake, swim in its salty waters, and then go wild camping in the forest for the evening. We leave off our adventures hiking to a dome crater, then meeting up with friends for a barbecue in Lake Tahoe. We are taking the steep but short hike all the way down to the shore. It is so worth getting down here at 7am. It is so peaceful. Not a single person. Oh yeah, and did I mention this is technically a nude beach? Fun fact. And why we're here so early? To get some shots. Lake Tahoe is one of my favorite places in the world. I'm so excited to jump in this lake before anyone gets here. There's nothing like a Tahoe cold plunge. But also, it's kind of sad because tourism has become really disastrous to this area. So this past weekend, people flocked here for the 4th of July, and it was absolutely shocking what I saw. What some might consider the most beautiful place in the world looked more like a landfill. On July 5th, 400 plus people got together and over 8,500 pounds of trash were collected in just three hours. And this isn't something that's only happening in Tahoe. This is happening all over the world. So if I can influence you guys at all this week, it's to go out in your own communities and advocate for change. Leave places better than how you found them. Clean up even if it wasn't your doing. A lot of times we think we're just one person, we can't make an impact, but collectively we can do so much. I hope that I maybe opened up some of your eyes or maybe made you realize that you can make a difference. But in the meantime, we are in one of the most beautiful places on earth and one of my favorite coves. So I think it's time for a cold plunge and a little bit more trash cleanup. Let's do it. Perfect time, you guys. The beach is starting to get pretty packed with tourists. So what do you say we get off the beaten path a little bit and head back to the van? This place is truly so beautiful. So let's stop trashing it, huh? All right. Steep climb back up. We made it back to the van. Full bag of trash. You guys, we can be better than that. All right, you guys. I know just the spot to beat the tourism, but still get incredible views and a taste of Lake Tahoe Basin. Let's hit it. All right. We are getting geared up for quite a long hike. I think we're going to do maybe seven or eight miles today, but it is absolutely beautiful and I cannot wait to show you the less touristy side of Lake Tahoe. Let's hit it. All right. You ready, camp? Can't forget the trusty bucket hat. You guys, I don't care what you say. Sun protection is sexy. Let's hit it. Camper, you making friends already? All right. We're going to high tail up the trail as far as we can and get away from all this nice pollution. So today, Camper and I are hiking along the Tahoe Rim Trail. Now, the Tahoe Rim Trail is a 170 mile trail that goes all around the Lake Tahoe Basin. Sitting in the Sierra Nevada range in California and Nevada. We made it to our first actual viewpoint. Camper's got a head start. This is absolutely amazing. I'm having so much fun, but we are not done yet. I looked on the map to see if there was a river or anything, and it looks like there's one about two more miles down the trail. So I think we're going to go try to find it. Let's go. One of my favorite things about hiking, besides the movement and the gorgeous views, is actually all the small stuff that I notice on the trail, like these beautiful trees and plants, all the insects around me and flowers. Nature is so fascinating. This smells so good. Now, this is one of my favorite trees. So behind me is an aspen. Now, an aspen grove is fascinating because it's actually one single organism. So essentially, we're looking at one tree. It's insane. I love it. Well, mission accomplished. We made it to the creek. Much smaller than expected, but it was still a fun adventure. Good news is we made it to our destination. The water is absolutely beautiful. A little bit overgrown, so we're not exactly going to be swimming in it, but that was amazing. So on that note, we are going to head back to the van the same way that we came. So we're going to meet you guys there. Here we are. Excuse me, sir. Can I please have my spot back? Thank you. Slide into the front seat. I think that's the most fun part of my van, is that I can't walk into the front seat. I have to bolt and slide right in. All right, camp, you want to find a place to boondock for the evening? Oh, yeah. All right, camper, we're here. See what we can find. This place looks much more packed than it ever has in the past. Wow, there's so many RVs and buses. Oh, well, there'll be something for us. I know it. This is the one. Yay. But we are going to back in for safety reasons. Whenever I'm picking out a spot, I always make sure to reverse in so I have multiple ways to exit and I don't block myself in. We're here. All right, you guys, in my van, I have two sources of power. I have my house battery that is 1,200 amp hours of battery. Yes, that's a huge battery, but believe it or not, I actually go through it all. That gets charged with the solar panels on my roof or through driving with second alternator. And I have my Jackery portable power station as my backup power. I've been using the Jackery portable power station for over three years now. It is one of my favorite devices on the road. When I lived in a Prius for three years, I used it for everything from cooking to working and boiling water. It's also amazing for in a home or during emergencies. And if that power outage goes on for even longer than expected, there are three different ways to charge it. That's through a wall plug, through a car charger driving, and directly through the sun, which is one of my favorite features. If you would like one for yourself, please use the link in my description as that really helps out Camper and I, but also I have a huge discount code down there for you guys that will always be valid. All right, what do you guys say we check this place out and get situated? Let's go camp. All right, I think it's shower time before it starts getting too cold out. I haven't used this yet. I guess I'm kind of too short for the escalator trick. It's dinner time, mother suckas. I'm so deliriously tired. All right, here's the final test. Will it all fit in? You know, it's probably easier to do one at a time, but you know, this is just how we do things around here. All right, you guys, while this is cooking, I have a super exciting update for you all. If you remember back in November, my family and I were in Mexico where we had some amazing adventures, but I also took the time to do some dog rescue work with Rescate Todos Santos, run by an angel of a woman named Chanel, who essentially runs the whole thing all on her own. While we were down there, we helped a few animals, but especially one named Radar, and I was so impacted by the situation and seeing it firsthand that I asked if we could get involved and set up spay and neuter clinics in the area to try to combat it right from the source. And I'm so excited to announce that this week we officially did our first spay and neuter clinic for the dogs down in that area in Mexico. We were able to help over 140 animals, and I am so hoping we can keep this going. If you would like to learn more about Rescate Todos Santos or Camper Cares, the charity project I started funded by my YouTube ad revenue and your generous donations, I'll put some links in the description below. In the meantime, I will try to continue to keep you guys updated. And on that note, it is time for dinner. All right, dinner's served, camper. So good. Good boy, you deserve it. We did a big hike today. We're doing another one tomorrow. Oh my goodness, where did the camper go? Camper, you a tired boy. You ready to go to sleep, mister? Good night, camper. I love you. Night, everybody. Oh, hi, camper. Good morning. Hi, dear. How did you sleep? Oh, good boy. We should do some exploring. I did have a hike in mind, but I think we'll save that for another day and explore in our backyard. I kind of want to try to get up there. And if Google Maps is correct, there's a lake up there. So it could be really, really fun. Camper's already got the exploring down. I am so excited. We have a huge surprise for you in like four hours. But in the meantime, let's go find this lake. Loop, swoop, pull. All right, we got our sun hat. We're ready to go. That's it. All right, so we're just going to take this little trail here to the forest roads. And then from there, we should be able to get up to the lake. I used to be able to drive up there, but now it's all blocked off. We did it. Come on. Just making our way around the lake because it seems like there's a huge collection of pollen on this side. Hoping there's a little bit less on the opposite. Maybe this is where we're going in. We made it to the waterfall. All right, you guys, so here's the thing. Rookie move. I forgot my bathing suit bottoms. So, yeah, underwear it is. I just could put a little emoji over it. That was awesome. But we have somewhere to be. We have two hours to get to Reno Airport to pick someone up who's coming on a one-way ticket. Can you guess who that is in the comments?