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NCLR - Northern California Land Rover Club

September 16-18: Eastern Sierra Mines & Ghost Towns

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DHappel Mentor

DHappel

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Good trip, nice and laid back run of about 80 miles on the trail Saturday with stops for lunch and exploring/photos/etc.  A few really interesting areas; I particularly liked the canyon we ran through after leaving the Aurora cemetery site.  We were also lucky to have Checkers along to defend us from rampaging deer.

 

My pics:

https://goo.gl/photos/tdLpJ7mLRK1RP3Ej9

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TomOwen Newbie

TomOwen

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Hey Folks,

 

Welcome back, trip looks great.

 

 

Here is a Smug Album if you'd like to share here as well.

 

Gallery: https://norcalrovers.smugmug.com/Trip-Photos/Bodie2016/

Mobile App Link (viewing): https://norcalrovers.smugmug.com/Trip-Photos/Bodie2016?mobile=true

Upload  https://NorCalRovers.smugmug.com/upload/BznXxC/Bodie2016

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RedRover Newbie

RedRover

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Trip Report, Eastern Sierra Mines & Ghost Towns 2016

Friday

Erin & I got up way earlier than we normally prefer to, but had the truck almost fully loaded the night before, so we almost made our departure time of 6:30AM from the Chevron/Starbucks over near the SJ airport.

Chris and Jason were already fueled up and ready to go -- the D90 and Disco II (respectively) looked fully loaded and readied for an enjoyable weekend trip out to the east!

We departed via 880 and eventually made our way out to our first waypoint in Riverbank, a small town just off of 99/120. There was a grocery store and Starbucks for folks to pack those final items and get a reasonably civilized cup of coffee before we started toward our final destination for the evening.

As we arrived, Don & Michele were already set up and ready to roll in the LR3. (Also got a note from Justin that he wasn't going to be able to make it, so we dropped one truck at this point.) I ran out to pick up my dad while folks were filling up at the Boyett Petrol station; just as we were all about to head out, two cars (unrelated to the group) got in an accident and became something to watch while we waited for everyone to get to a full tank.

Onward

We started to progress east on Hwy 108; the traffic was minimal and save for a couple of single lane, manned traffic stops, we had very little in our way toward Bridgeport. The drive was beautiful with plenty of colors to look at and other interesting features that kept our interest.

Arriving into Bridgeport, we stopped at the Shell station, did a fill-up so we were prepared for the morning departure. Some folks picked up some last-minute items and we made our way to Honeymoon Flat CG.

The campground was sparse with trees on one half of the property, but the two spots our trucks were able to grab had plenty of trees and a beautiful creek that ran behind us... a nice sound to go to sleep to, for sure!

But sleep wasn't in the cards quite yet -- everyone got their chef hats on and we prepared all sorts of food. Erin and I put together some hot dogs with chili, while Chris amazed all with his Chicken Wing cooking skills. We also watched Don and his Jetboil Genesis make an edible pasta, of which they would tire of by the end of the trip (*the pasta, not the Jetboil.)

And who could forget Jason with the Cobb Grill?  This little wonder, with it's steam/smoke eminating from the center contained a tasty tri-tip, potatoes and onion for all to share. After everyone had their fill, the campfire was started and the chairs came out. Apparently, when the chairs and food come out, so do the deer -- we enlisted Checkers the Dog as our official watch out -- any time the wily deer tried to steal our food or make home in our tents, Checkers was there to fend them off.

We sat around for a while but like any good fire, you've got to bring out the late-night beverages. Michele prepped us all with a helping of hot chocolate (and perhaps a splash of something else in it to make the evening more festive) and we slowly dropped one-by-one until it was time to go to bed. Almost.

Welcome Lauro and Holly!

A new member (Lauroness) made his way after work to our campsite so he could catch up for the Saturday off-road portion. Admittedly I was already snoring away, but apparently they arrived around 11 and Don/Michele were there to welcome them. Luckily they were loaded with an RTT so setup was quick and the slumber deep.

Saturday

Everyone got up on time -- the goal was to be rolling by 9AM but a certain someone (cough*) couldn't seem to cook breakfast and get the tent put away in time! Luckily our club is full of awesome and friendly people who helped Erin & I get things packed -- our departure was only about 20 minutes past... from a club historical perspective... not too shabby!

We proceeded to backtrack slightly to the Shell station we had encountered the day prior; some folks ran in and did a quick 'refresh' in the bathrooms and we were off!

After about 8 minutes of road travel, we reached our first waypoint at Masonic road. The comfortable gravel quickly turned to dirt and we were certainly not on the paved roads for the well-heeled any longer.

About 15 minutes in, we received a radio call out from Jason and the Disco II; a leak from the radiator reserve tank that was suspected on the drive up was in full-pressure, spraying-all-over-the-engine-compartment mode. Some quick thinking and various gooey substances (including tape) eventually blocked the point of leak -- with a splash of coolant to replace the outspray, we were ready to reach our first destination, Chemung Mine.

The old mine had quite a bit left on it; the buildings were fairly intact, save for a few (thousand) bullet holes. Some old cars, trapped within a ring of trees were forever buried at the mine. We walked, took photos and generally gawked at what is considered one of the most haunted places out in the Bodie region. Time to keep moving...

We proceeded onward, driving through what turned into a rocky, dusty trail -- the map took us away from the main path and onto something that, while totally doable by stock Land Rovers, would have been no match for a Prius. :D

Continuing, we passed the Nevada state line and proceeded toward a cemetery site - - after Don tried to identify where the cemetery was and came up empty, we all jumped back in the trucks, wishing for a place that we could relax and have some lunch.

Troopers as they were, the whole crew agreed to drive an additional 30 minutes as we scoped out a non-barren area to take a rest. Not necessarily an oasis but certainly better, we stumbled upon Aurora Cemetery, a well-preserved nod to the pioneers that helped craft this area (and including some of their descendants.)

Everyone got out, had a rest and started setting up for lunch. Almost like magic, Lauro and Holly pulled out a full sized table for everyone to set up and eat! Also, Don and Jason took another look at the radiator reservoir, identified yet another location where it was leaking and sealed it up for a 2nd time.

Bellies full and respect given to those who came and went far before us (including those who served for our freedom) we regrouped and headed toward the final stop on our off-road time, Bodie.

 

Bodie

Bodie was a huge and extraordinarily well-preserved ghost town; reading the old newspaper clips, you could sense the level of excitement and activity around this now-abandoned town. Folks like Mark Twain made this their home in hopes of striking it rich on gold prospects.

At this point, the trail had worn us down with the rocks -- it was time to head to our next campsite. As we proceeded West back toward Mono Lake and Yosemite, we noticed two massive plumes of smoke coming from a fire on the far southwest side of the lake -- curious but without internet, we all watched as the smoke grew greater, thicker and more ominous. Furthermore, our campsite was in that direction!

We did a quick stop at Mobil for fuel and headed toward our next campsite, Big Bend CG in the Inyo NF, right on the outskirts of Yosemite. Fumbling around for the reserved site, I quickly realized that there are apparently TWO Big Bend Campgrounds in California. We had no reservation!

Out of pure luck, there were three sites available in an otherwise very full campground. We took them, set up and actually had a great evening together with the crew. Stories were passed, along with plenty of adult beverages in hand and of course, some nourishment from a long day on trail. Pasta was on the menu (again) from Don/Michele, to which they surmised, they were 'off of' going forward. Do not expect pasta loaded in the LR3 anytime soon.

Sunday AM

Early camp break was predicated by the trail leader but folks were implored to stay -- Lauro and Holly hung back and decided to make more of Sunday -- the rest of the caravan got in line and we headed back west as a foursome.

I had an absolutely great time and the group we went with was awesome -- everyone was in good spirits and we had a series of great cooks on staff to make it even more enjoyable!

Special thanks to Chris and Lauro/Holly -- first trips with NCLR and they went through it like champs!

Until next time,

Jared

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lithium1330 Collaborator

lithium1330

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Tom,

 

I can certainly upload them on smug.

i have about 130 pictures - just want to make sure I'm not gonna cross any storage limits.

 

 

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TomOwen Newbie

TomOwen

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Trip Report, Eastern Sierra Mines & Ghost Towns 2016

 

 

 

We proceeded onward, driving through what turned into a rocky, dusty trail -- the map took us away from the main path and onto something that, while totally doable by stock Land Rovers, would have been no match for a Prius. :D

 

 

Jared

Great write-up !  This part spoke to me ;-)  Thank you!

 

Nick, the rest of this sounds like it is outside my "Radius of Courage", no?

 

Cheers!

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DHappel Mentor

DHappel

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HinesDisco et al, here's a link to my gaia track of our route on Saturday.  I didn't start recording until we left the first mine, so I don't have the bit we traveled from camp to there, but that was all road anyway and it's easy enough to find the starting point.

 

https://www.gaiagps.com/datasummary/track/debb16812a3894de355c22ca28d4ad22d9e5566d/

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hinesdisco2 Newbie

hinesdisco2

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HinesDisco et al, here's a link to my gaia track of our route on Saturday.  I didn't start recording until we left the first mine, so I don't have the bit we traveled from camp to there, but that was all road anyway and it's easy enough to find the starting point.

 

https://www.gaiagps.com/datasummary/track/debb16812a3894de355c22ca28d4ad22d9e5566d/

thanks     fun to see a saved route in the app    

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  • 1 year later...
hinesdisco2 Newbie

hinesdisco2

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By any chance, does anyone have Gaia or google maps for this trip? Looks like exactly what I want to check out this coming weekend. If anyone is up to check this area out and recreate this ride, let me know/.

. I’m very interested. I went last year. I can give a definite answer tomorrow

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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RedRover Newbie

RedRover

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Here is the track (it probably has a lot of junk mapping how we got up there), so dial it in to suit your tastes...

 

Enjoy!

 

https://www.gaiagps.com/public/SYf2MQh5j1tSSFVryLign7bk

 

(P.S. The little 'tail' that shoots off to the south at Bridgeport likely heads to the campground we stayed at -- it was a pretty nice one but kind of small and I could see it getting booked during certain times of the year.)

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