The proximate cause of this particular adventure is to meet up with Martha in San Rafael for the Muir Beach Volunteer Fire Department Memorial Day Picnic (MBVFDMDP :) on Sunday May 25, with me doing a little bit of regional camping before and after.
A month ago, the Before Plan was a pretty ambitious Eastern Nevada to Lake Mead loop, but the lingering flu-crud I have just won’t go away, so I kept putting off departure and knocking off stops until eventually the Plan was pared down to a little four day jaunt down 395 to Bishop and back. Then a couple more days to get over the mountains and across the valley, then I’m in San Rafael ready to picnic!
Still, the flu-crud was sapping my energy and I found it hard to get moving … hung over on Tuesday, too tired from being hung over on Wednesday, … but I’m pretty sure Friday is gonna be the day! … but then I discover that there is a good Art Bite at the museum on Friday … after that I walked home and planted my ass on the sofa and never got up again – blame it on the flu-crud! Soooo, looks like Saturday is going to be the day!
Saturday (May 17)
Arise my usual 10:30-ish, kill 45 minutes at my usual Jungle coffee, then home to finish cleaning up and packing the van and I’m finally out of the house 3:10-ish. These trips are not about hurrying and being stressed :)
Fine dining at the Carson City In ‘n Out, conveniently located on my side of 395, e.z. off, and e.z. back on. This is less exciting than Topaz Casino steak and eggs, but it’s quicker and it’s pretty late in the day. Maybe I’ll get ’em on the way back.
Plan was to sleep at one of the June Lake campgrounds tonight. But I’m driving through Antelope Valley, and it’s already 5-ish and I’m tired of driving. The huge, wide valley dips off to the south and narrows into the West Walker River Canyon. I was enjoying looking at the spring-flooded river, and wishing that I could be next to such a river tonight, when I sped past a river-side campground that surprised me by being open! It all clicked in an instant; campground on the river; my destination is over an hour away and it’s late and I don’t want to drive that long into the evening, so … change my destination!
Here’s to snap decisions! A quick u-ey back to Chris Flats Campground for what is so far a very pleasant evening. Pretty sweet little 15-site campground strung out between 395 and the Walker River. The river is running high and and seemed unusually pretty.
WHUFU page for: Chris Flat Campground
Nestled between too-busy US 395 and the West Walker River. Everybody is either a fishermen or folks bombing down 395. The first nice federal campground coming south from Reno.
This place should be open more days of the year - closes too early in the fall, opens too late in the summer.
tonight:
Some of the fishermen at the end of the loop are partying pretty hard tonight!
Sunday
Slept well. As usual out here, it got pretty cold last night – my heat came on many times, but when the sun hit the van in the morning it quickly got hot and stuffy inside. It’s very windy today. I imagine it often is in this narrow canyon between two big valleys.
395 is a fast-moving road, full of no-nonsense drivers serious about getting somewhere. If you were to load up on diet pills and blast from LA/San Diego to Reno in one sitting, this is the road you would take! So when I leave my campground in a mellow, let’s look at the river kind of mood and pop out into the serious, Sunday-gettin-home traffic on 395, there is an immediate chillax differential between me and the line of folks who quickly appear on my rear end. I do speed up a little, but I’m kind of over that thing of ignoring my needs for your needs when driving. So I just let the LA-bound maniacs pile up until the next passing lane, where I slow enough to allow everyone in my rear-view mirror to pass me before we narrowed back to one lane. Now everybody’s happy!
As I’m creeping through Bridgeport (65 mph to 25 mph in about 1/2 mile) I see a “Coffee House” sign, and a neon “Open” sign! Woo! I had resigned myself to coffee at the odd little place in Lee Vining, but this looked worth a try, and it was. So all the rest of those miles to Bishop were eased with plenty of caffeine and lard and icing under my belt :) Oh, I also got my Sunday Chronicle at the General Store. Strategic, since the Bay Area sphere ends and the LA sphere begins south of here.
There is a lot of Sunday traffic today. No big deal for me, I want to go slow. I motor right on past all the places I often stop – the Mono Lake Overlook, Lee Vining, Mammoth, the June Lake Loop – all still lovely, but not in today’s plan.
Dining in Bishop IS part of the plan. I park in my usual spot downtown (Academy St and Main – shade trees!!). I decide to give Raymond’s Deli a try this time. Good but expensive, two sandos – a Reuben for here and an Italian sub to go cost >$19 – yikes!!
Then up, up, up, up to the Bristlecone Pine Forest … Thirteen level-ish miles from Bishop to Big Pine, then a left on 168 for eight or so easy uphill miles, then 5 really steep and demanding miles. My engine in fact briefly freaked out on this stretch, making strange unhappy noises. The outdoor temperature gauge went from 84 to 100 in a minute and a half – eeek!! I found a semi-level place to pull off for a moment and let it collect itself. Happily, my big fine Mercedes diesel returned to it’s hyper-reliable, competent self, which relieved the fuck out of me!
Then you take a left off the state road onto the forest road, for more ten or so more miles of steep and winding (but paved!) road. The scenery is extremely dramatic up here. Through the gaps to the east you can see a classic Nevada salt playa, then turning 180° you are looking across the Owens Valley at the very imposing Sierra Nevada’s. This view has a definite Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers vibe to it.
I drive to the end of the paved road, where there is a really nice Visitors Center … it’s closed, but it looks very nice and the trails and educational signs up there with it were also very … nice. :)
I backtrack a few miles back to the one and only campground up here. It is a super-sweet donation-based site maintained by the Forest Service just out of the good of their hearts … and to keep folds from randomly sleeping everywhere. By decree, you are supposed to keep your lighting down so folks can better stargaze! That totally works for me. Everything is good up here, except that the climate at 8,600′ is kicking my ass. Pretty much the way I felt at Toulomne Meadows; it is very high and very dry, and very hard on my respiratory system.
WHUFU page for: Grandview Campground
It's actually free, but there's a suggested donation of $5. Climb >4,000' of narrow curvy road out of Bishop to get to the Bristlecone Pine Forest, and your bonus is this sweet little campground.
There are no numbered sites, it's all kind of freeform in a nice way. Short walks get you spectacular views west to the Sierras across the Owens valley, and east into the interior of Nevada.
tonight:
It's actually free, but there's a suggested donation of $5. Climb >4,000' of narrow curvy road out of Bishop to get to the Bristlecone Pine Forest, and your bonus is this sweet little campground.
There are no numbered sites, it's all kind of freeform in a nice way. Short walks get you spectacular views west to the Sierras across the Owens valley, and east into the interior of Nevada.
I wandered off for what I thought was gonna be a simple turn around the campground, and ended up having a pretty good walking and climbing adventure, bushwhacking up the ridge behind the camp, digging the amazing views in all directions. I made it all the way to the western end of the ridge, which afforded pretty sweeping panorama across the Owens Valley towards the Sierras at sunset.
My only regret is not wearing my hiking boots. Since I thought I was just taking a little walk, I didn’t change from my city walking sneakers, and I pretty much thrashed them in the alkaline dust and sharp volcanic rocks :(
Monday
The drive up here yesterday was stressful and hard on the engine (>4,000′ in 15 miles). The drive back down from here is fun and easy and an all-around piece of cake. I didn’t have to touch the gas pedal for 25 miles! The views are amazing, much better downhill, since you’re looking out over the receding terrain, west at the Sierras. Uphill you’re you’re just looking at the next hairpin turn.
I stopped again at my favorite corner in Bishop for the Mexican breakfast (El Ranchito) I was so looking forward to. I do enjoy the excellent food and pleasant service, but I am finding that it wasn’t just the altitude messing me up, I am getting sicker again. ICK! This is really pissing me off.
I do a drive-by on Keough Hot Springs, to see if I like it better, and I don’t!
WHUFU page for: Reversed Creek Campground
Except for a couple of "view lots" - sites 1 and 2 - the rest of the sites are in a compact bunch, nestled in a little canyon. Right across the road from Gull Lake.
tonight:
This is a privately run campground in a popular area, so OF COURSE they raise the prices each year.
Again I drive straight up the ramp into site #1, where I am enjoying a great view of dirty weather moving in over the mountains.
REMINDER: Gull Lake CG is right across the road, and it is so uncrowded tonight that I could gotten a sweet spot right on the lake, and I am annoyed that I didn't think of that.
Whatever this nasty flu thing is, it made me too breathless and tired to walk very far, so I trudged back up the hill to the van to be sick.
Tuesday
SNOW!!! Last night I heard sounds like a storm, but I didn’t hear rain on the roof so I thought it was just wind and turned over and went back to sleep. I didn’t even consider the possibility that it was snow! Pretty shocking thing, snow falling thick and fast on the morning of May 20th!
This is a Game Changer, as they say. My next two nights were to be in the pine forest at 7,000′ at Buckeye tonight and tomorrow at Markleeville on the other side of 8,400′ Monitor Pass. At sunrise, the CalTrans website says all the passes are open, but by 10AM, all the “Closed in Winter” roads, 120, 108, 84 and 4, are CLOSED again! So my plans are gonna have to change.
I am after all, only about a three hour drive from my home, so I decide that the smart more here is just to punt for a few days and enjoy the comforts of home until the nasty weather goes away. If I was far away in the wilds of Idaho or Texas I would have to just suck it up and deal with it, but I’m not far away, I’m close to home so I will retreat to there!
The pavement is warm so the snow is not sticking so the road isn’t really dangerous, but the snow is falling really hard. On 395 on the way to Lee Vining visibility is about 1/2 mile! By the time I get to Lee Vining it’s starting to clear up, and it’s pretty nice by the time I have my coffee and pecan pie at Nicely’s. I am feeling quite a bit perkier now, so I decide that I will get a little Travertine Hot Springs action on my way home.
This works out pretty well. I somehow thought that I would have the springs to myself; that no one else would think that a cool, cloudy day would be a perfect hot springs day … but WRONG!, many other people had independently decided that this was the day to visit. But almost all were at the farther springs, so I shared the next-to-the-parking tub with just a pair of couples that appeared to be some kind of college reunion – two fancy New York folks were visiting a couple of local Mono County folks. Anyway, they were pleasant and their conversation did not suck, so I was delighted … I’ve had so much worse soaking companions at ole Travertine…
I do stop for steak and eggs at the Topaz on the way back, and I have a cute, friendly waitress and she gives me a table with a panoramic view of the lake and the steak is thick and not too tough and pretty close to medium rare, so life is good!
Wednesday – Thursday
My story to myself during this setback is that I am visiting my own house. I leave almost everything in the van – all the stuff I so laboriously packed four days ago – clothes, plates, the plastic tub that is my portable bathroom cabinet – everything but the food and my little collection of toiletries, which I take upstairs – just as if I’m staying at a friend’s house for a couple of days. As a place to visit, my place is pretty sweet!