Looking east toward my car-camping site on the mud flat of Crater Island. It is just left of the vertical centerline and about half-way out in the area of vegetation. The Green Weenie (my Toyota Sienna) handles this bumpy/uneven dirt/sand road as long as I drive slowly and steer carefully. The campsite is a jumping-off point for hikes on the mud flat and is as quiet a place as one could hope for: no generators, no screaming kids, no pots clanging, no car doors slamming, and no engines being revved up.

The mud flat is about 30 vertical feet below the main Crater Island road (behind this point). That elevation change makes a difference with cell phone reception. On the mud flat there is no service, but on the road behind me there is. So once I'm at the campsite and want to phone my wife, I walk up to the main road (about a quarter of a mile) to get a signal.