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Post by High Sierra Fan on Mar 10, 2024 12:23:40 GMT -8
So I’ve a four day gap between two of my Yosemite wilderness permits. I’m looking between Bishop, more specifically White Mountain and the Bristlecones along with Horseshoe Meadow or Wawona Hotel and general southern Yosemite day hiking and photography.
Thoughts?
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rebeccad
Trail Wise!
Writing like a maniac
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Post by rebeccad on Mar 15, 2024 18:27:06 GMT -8
For me it would be the bristlecones
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Mar 15, 2024 20:29:57 GMT -8
For me it would be the bristlecones I’m definitely leaning that way. I really like that mountain and I’d like to again compare those trees to Great Basin which I intend to catch on the way back to here in PA. The different ecosystem in itself has attraction. And I may once again (my third!) need to get my 4Runner 5k interval maintenance done at Perry Toyota in Bishop, the best sign if a good road trip imho!😎😎😎 needing scheduled maintenance halfway through. |
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Mar 17, 2024 7:28:10 GMT -8
Made me laugh about the 5K maintenance. I’ve had mine done in a number of odd places  |
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Post by bluefish on Mar 23, 2024 4:59:46 GMT -8
The Bristlecones are so other-worldly. I built a strange pre-cursor mountain bike in the 70's to play around in the Whites. I've taken my wife to the Methuselah Grove a few times. Never gets old. hehehe. I wonder how much traffic it gets now, we saw no one when we went, but that was pre-Covid?
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Mar 23, 2024 13:28:25 GMT -8
To the visitor center is reasonably popular. (Per my two post Covid visits the last two summers back. The upper groves I’ll see one or two other vehicles. Maybe in part due to the warning signs when the road stops being paved about the tire slashing geology and thousand dollar up front towing services for when you blow two tires on the same rock. Gotta love dolomite!
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Mar 23, 2024 15:54:20 GMT -8
To the visitor center is reasonably popular. (Per my two post Covid visits the last two summers back. The upper groves I’ll see one or two other vehicles. Maybe in part due to the warning signs when the road stops being paved about the tire slashing geology and thousand dollar up front towing services for when you blow two tires on the same rock. Gotta love dolomite! Yes, that gave me pause the last time I was up there. But my husband took the old Prius to the upper grove with no issues, so sometime I'll probably do it. I was there maybe 3 summers back? Didn't see many people on the trail from the VC, but we were camped nearby and hit the trail very early. |
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Post by hikerchick395 on Mar 24, 2024 8:34:15 GMT -8
The dirt road portion changes every year. Last year it took a beating with the big snow year and runoff. We didn't get up there last year until May 31.  |
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Mar 24, 2024 8:59:17 GMT -8
To the visitor center is reasonably popular. (Per my two post Covid visits the last two summers back. The upper groves I’ll see one or two other vehicles. Maybe in part due to the warning signs when the road stops being paved about the tire slashing geology and thousand dollar up front towing services for when you blow two tires on the same rock. Gotta love dolomite! Yes, that gave me pause the last time I was up there. But my husband took the old Prius to the upper grove with no issues, so sometime I'll probably do it. I was there maybe 3 summers back? Didn't see many people on the trail from the VC, but we were camped nearby and hit the trail very early. Yes it’s more about going slow and not hitting any sharp rocks versus clearance. Dolomite is the geology that prompted the rock climbing “two rope technique” in the Italian Dolomites as that rock breaks with sharp edges. Back when I’d fly in I routinely (shhhh!😎) took economy rental cars up there, I just took my time, and washed off the evidence before I turned it in. lol |
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Post by bluefish on Mar 25, 2024 0:13:03 GMT -8
Since you'll have no need to employ the fine art form of hiding the evidence from getting cheap rentals to trailheads, a few other more off the pavement choices, for me , would be Eureka Sand Dunes or the Saline Valley. A little side trip, speaking of very sharp rocks- Obsidian Dome off of Deadman's Summitt, south of the June Lake Loop.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Mar 25, 2024 6:11:41 GMT -8
Have changed more than one flat tire at the Eureka Sand dunes, but I love the place. Haven’t been into the Saline Valley in years—maybe not since before kids, but it was also a cool place. Less daunting, off that same road IIRC, is the Lee Flats Joshua tree forest.
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Post by bluefish on Mar 25, 2024 7:33:15 GMT -8
Have changed more than one flat tire at the Eureka Sand dunes, but I love the place. Haven’t been into the Saline Valley in years—maybe not since before kids, but it was also a cool place. Less daunting, off that same road IIRC, is the Lee Flats Joshua tree forest One of my favorite things at the "singing dunes" was seeing the kit foxes circle just outside of a campfire light. Every once in awhile, you'd catch a glimpse of eyes and big ears. As I understand it, the old hippy miners have no more claims at the SV, the BLM turned it over to the Park Service. Bringing beers out to them to use the pools was not much of a chore. Guess it was where I learned the efficiency of evaporative cooling by virtue of a clothesline full of beers in wet socks. I was part of a pretty eclectic, talented acoustic string band called the Lone Pine Rangers in the Owens Valley, we did some concerts out in the Saline Valley. Some fine, fine memories. |
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