Hope and I went to Turkey Creek, outside Klondyke, on Sunday. We camped in the canyon, that's BLM land, and fire restrictions had just been enacted on May 24th. So, no camp fire, BBQ grill or citronella torches like we planned. Everything to eat was made on the propane grill, but it was still great. The bugs were a minor nuisance, and nothing bit us like the mosquitoes around my house do. Monday morning we could hear, but not see, a large hive of bees in the tree near us, but they didn't come near us.
We were camped about .7 miles north of the sign that points to the Native American ruins in a VERY cool spot. As we drove south through the canyon towards the start of Rug Road, we saw no one. We had only passed one group of campers at one other spot in the canyon the day before and only a couple of people drove past us at any point on Sunday. In other words, it was pretty quiet in there for the most part. We had passed two L.E. vehicles on the way in, and not knowing what type of patrolling they were going to sustain, we decided to follow the law on the fire thing.
We began the climb out of the canyon and were on the eastern end of Rug Road! It is difficult almost immediately, but not from a gearing or traction standpoint, necessarily, although I had to stack my own rocks at several points. It was tippy. To the point of scary-tippy, as in, I thought we were going over and into the canyon. It's nerve wracking when you're the only truck. I think the first mile took us over an hour, but to me, that was the hardest part.
We spent most of the trail with the speedometer on the peg, meaning we were below 5 mph, and it took about 5 hours to emerge at a summit where we could see Mammoth, still about an hour's drive away. The trail is very rough. It would be equally difficult going the opposite direction, but at different spots, I'm sure. It's really a test of machine and of endurance driving in that attention is required at all times; there are virtually no smooth or easy sections.
We encountered no one from the time we left our camp site until we were in the city of Mammoth. There was one empty truck parked at the top of the Rug Road hill but no one around and that was it. There are not a lot of trails I know about (but I'll bet some of you guys do) that are that deserted, especially on a holiday weekend. Looking back on it, I'm glad we had lots of water, food and cell phones, even though it would have been a hike to make them work.
For anyone considering taking that trail, be prepared. If you had to walk out, it's a long way. If you get hurt, no one's coming along. You are truly in the middle of nowhere. It was fantastic and I'm glad that we went and even more glad we made it. It's about a 300 mile round trip from Phoenix, BTW.
John B.
