Mundo4x4Casa
West slope, N. Ser. Nev.
ROAMING THE EASTERN SIERRA NEVADA CALDERA
Over the years, Jeanie and I have tried to develop a theme or projets de voyages for our travels in our off-road truck camper, the XTC. On a successful Pacific Rim Volcano Road Trip four years ago, http://forums.woodalls.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/26445083.cfm we found we love to examine anything to do with one of natures most powerful spectacles. We visited volcanoes when sailing the Hawaiian Islands. We love the Yellowstone Caldera, especially since we have been there a couple times……before it blows!
As for a theme on the just completed trip, it can be summed up with this: sometimes things don't work out as planned, even when they're not planned. Since completing a drivetrain upgrade to the old RAM I was anxious to find something steep, narrow, remote and sandy to try out all the new traction ghee-ghaws and 35", non-grave digger tires on steel wheels. The truth is, we had no itinerary, we just set out with 7 days worth of provisions. The original trip was postponed a week because of inclement weather and rescheduled during a high pressure time. Why? Because we can. Then we talked about leaving on the Monday before the election, but that did't seem like a good idea to be out of cell phone and cable TV range and have no election results. Then, because we can, we got an early check in into the PepperMill Casino in Reno for election eve figuring we'd get a snootful in the free room. The TC was parked in a large outdoor parking lot right under a streetlamp. I noticed a few security cameras around so tried to get into the best viewing area.
We set out the next morning traveling south on Highway 395 toward our eventual goal, The Eureka Dunes, The Bristlecone Pine area and vicinity. We was waylaid.
We turned right to ascend the paved Virginia Lakes road and turned right again to the gravel Dunderberg Road to the second spur dirt road and finally to a little plateau overlooking an unobstructed, 270 degree view of Nevada. At 8800 feet, the temperature dropped into the 20's (F) by dawn. Here you can see a piece of Mono Lake and some mountains in Nevada:
We've never used this very stopover before, but the openness was breathtaking. Near the end of day:
Looking out our back door toward Nevada at dusk:
After some great shredded pork tacos with cabbage and salsa we settled into our habit of playing Backgammon until we drop. We brought an extra comforter along considering the low temps just before sunup and actually used it. I took a fellow forumer's advice and did not use the hot water heater unless we were taking a shower that day. We heated water on the range top in a 2 quart pan which was enough to split between washing and rinsing in the plastic tub. But there is a little technique involved. It was kind of like the dishes version of the G.I. Shower. Well, except the dishes part as there were no dishes to wash, only utensils. Paper plates. Whoda thunk water would be more valuable than paper anyway?
The morning brought new light to old vistas:
Our newest ladder setup which is flexible as to how high the rear of the truck resides:
We had no cell service which worried Jeanie as she is in daily contact with her 100 year old mother living near us. We quickly packed up and moved down the hill toward Conway Summit which had a gigantic cell phone tower and five dots on the signal strength to have our breakfast. We hit a CalTrans road block right next to Mono Lake so i took a picture. It's pretty clear as we were not moving, there was no traffic, and the window was rolled down. This was a good foil to the smeary out of focus pic through the front window of a moving RV.
Down the road I wanted to observe how the tires would do in sand so we turned left into the largest stand of Jeffrey Pine in the world. Lots of sand and pumice. Pumice? Yes, the residual blow material from certain….volcanic activity. We were close to the Mono Craters. Volcanic craters. We were in the bowels of the Mammoth Caldera. We roamed around on smooth sandy roads with our non-grave digger tires, just being tourists and started to think about our resting place for the day.
After resuming Highway 395 south we spotted a familiar cross road; Deadman Creek road. “Oh, we have to do that”, says Jeanie as we had been on a wonderful jeep trail right up against the ramparts of the Sierra Nevada some 12 years ago and agreed that it was one of our favorite spots to camp. Here's the same spot those 12 years ago:
CONTINUED ON PART TWO
Over the years, Jeanie and I have tried to develop a theme or projets de voyages for our travels in our off-road truck camper, the XTC. On a successful Pacific Rim Volcano Road Trip four years ago, http://forums.woodalls.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/26445083.cfm we found we love to examine anything to do with one of natures most powerful spectacles. We visited volcanoes when sailing the Hawaiian Islands. We love the Yellowstone Caldera, especially since we have been there a couple times……before it blows!
As for a theme on the just completed trip, it can be summed up with this: sometimes things don't work out as planned, even when they're not planned. Since completing a drivetrain upgrade to the old RAM I was anxious to find something steep, narrow, remote and sandy to try out all the new traction ghee-ghaws and 35", non-grave digger tires on steel wheels. The truth is, we had no itinerary, we just set out with 7 days worth of provisions. The original trip was postponed a week because of inclement weather and rescheduled during a high pressure time. Why? Because we can. Then we talked about leaving on the Monday before the election, but that did't seem like a good idea to be out of cell phone and cable TV range and have no election results. Then, because we can, we got an early check in into the PepperMill Casino in Reno for election eve figuring we'd get a snootful in the free room. The TC was parked in a large outdoor parking lot right under a streetlamp. I noticed a few security cameras around so tried to get into the best viewing area.
We set out the next morning traveling south on Highway 395 toward our eventual goal, The Eureka Dunes, The Bristlecone Pine area and vicinity. We was waylaid.
We turned right to ascend the paved Virginia Lakes road and turned right again to the gravel Dunderberg Road to the second spur dirt road and finally to a little plateau overlooking an unobstructed, 270 degree view of Nevada. At 8800 feet, the temperature dropped into the 20's (F) by dawn. Here you can see a piece of Mono Lake and some mountains in Nevada:
We've never used this very stopover before, but the openness was breathtaking. Near the end of day:
Looking out our back door toward Nevada at dusk:
After some great shredded pork tacos with cabbage and salsa we settled into our habit of playing Backgammon until we drop. We brought an extra comforter along considering the low temps just before sunup and actually used it. I took a fellow forumer's advice and did not use the hot water heater unless we were taking a shower that day. We heated water on the range top in a 2 quart pan which was enough to split between washing and rinsing in the plastic tub. But there is a little technique involved. It was kind of like the dishes version of the G.I. Shower. Well, except the dishes part as there were no dishes to wash, only utensils. Paper plates. Whoda thunk water would be more valuable than paper anyway?
The morning brought new light to old vistas:
Our newest ladder setup which is flexible as to how high the rear of the truck resides:
We had no cell service which worried Jeanie as she is in daily contact with her 100 year old mother living near us. We quickly packed up and moved down the hill toward Conway Summit which had a gigantic cell phone tower and five dots on the signal strength to have our breakfast. We hit a CalTrans road block right next to Mono Lake so i took a picture. It's pretty clear as we were not moving, there was no traffic, and the window was rolled down. This was a good foil to the smeary out of focus pic through the front window of a moving RV.
Down the road I wanted to observe how the tires would do in sand so we turned left into the largest stand of Jeffrey Pine in the world. Lots of sand and pumice. Pumice? Yes, the residual blow material from certain….volcanic activity. We were close to the Mono Craters. Volcanic craters. We were in the bowels of the Mammoth Caldera. We roamed around on smooth sandy roads with our non-grave digger tires, just being tourists and started to think about our resting place for the day.
After resuming Highway 395 south we spotted a familiar cross road; Deadman Creek road. “Oh, we have to do that”, says Jeanie as we had been on a wonderful jeep trail right up against the ramparts of the Sierra Nevada some 12 years ago and agreed that it was one of our favorite spots to camp. Here's the same spot those 12 years ago:
CONTINUED ON PART TWO
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