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Post by High Sierra Fan on Jul 24, 2019 20:04:05 GMT -8
Or east! Mt Washington’s summit is only 6288 feet. Well, yes, but "our" Washington is closer to CA--a little more reasonable as a road trip. “Reasonable” and “road trip” do not belong in the same sentence. Now “epic” and “road trip”? Absolutely. Coast to coast to coast! Or, as I like to call it: August. I’ve a 4364 song playlist and I’m willing to use it! Lol.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Jul 25, 2019 7:44:16 GMT -8
High Sierra Fan, we crossed the country in May, after going the other way in August/September last year. I can’t say that the cross-country trip is at the top of my list. Now, the 7000 mile loop we did one year (way back “BC”) around the West? That was epic.
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Post by plaidman on Jul 25, 2019 8:59:18 GMT -8
One thing to consider if you want to get to places where Priusae won't go is renting a full size SUV off of Hotwire. It's a bit of a crap shoot, but, after having thrashed our Honda Pilot around Death Valley a little too much a few years ago, I decided to rent a 4WD for our next trip there. I was able to get a "full size SUV" on Hotwire for 9 days for $390 and scored a 4 door Jeep Wrangler with Colorado plates from the rental car pool at SFO. That was lucky, but I would try it again. Those Jeeps rent for $200 per DAY from Farabee's in Death Valley and Las Vegas. For day trips, you can explore up in the desert ranges of Nevada and might also try the ranges around Bridgeport. Lots of high, open country around there that an average SUV can handle.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Jul 25, 2019 9:34:25 GMT -8
One thing to consider if you want to get to places where Priusae won't go is renting a full size SUV off of Hotwire. It's a bit of a crap shoot, but, after having thrashed our Honda Pilot around Death Valley a little too much a few years ago, I decided to rent a 4WD for our next trip there. I was able to get a "full size SUV" on Hotwire for 9 days for $390 and scored a 4 door Jeep Wrangler with Colorado plates from the rental car pool at SFO. That was lucky, but I would try it again. Those Jeeps rent for $200 per DAY from Farabee's in Death Valley and Las Vegas. For day trips, you can explore up in the desert ranges of Nevada and might also try the ranges around Bridgeport. Lots of high, open country around there that an average SUV can handle. Just be aware that a regular SUV from a regular car rental is probably not actually permitted off road. Also: double-check the spare. Some friends of our rented one many years ago for just that reason (in just that area). Happily, we were with them when they got a flat on the road to Eureka Dunes—and discovered that the spare was missing (it had clearly been stolen at some point, and most likely before they even got it). No question the local rentals in DV are expensive. We did that a few years ago, just for one very long day, and it was worth it, but wouldn’t want to pay that rate for multiple days. OTOH: renting in DV or Vegas means not driving a gas-guzzler all the way from SF (or farther).
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Post by plaidman on Jul 25, 2019 13:36:49 GMT -8
All true. It's kind of silly to rent a vehicle like a Jeep but prohibit it from going off the pavement. The only available market is poseurs or scofflaws. I was extra careful not to scrape or ding anything up. And, the road up to Hungry Bill's is a road, although it was hard to see the pavement at times. We gave the Wrangler a thorough wash and vacuum before returning it.
I've thought about trying Hotwire in Las Vegas. The odds of scoring another Jeep aren't great, but most of the full size SUVs would do fine. The spare tire situation is scary, though, reminiscent of the German Tourists.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Jul 25, 2019 19:45:46 GMT -8
All true. It's kind of silly to rent a vehicle like a Jeep but prohibit it from going off the pavement. The only available market is poseurs or scofflaws. I was extra careful not to scrape or ding anything up. And, the road up to Hungry Bill's is a road, although it was hard to see the pavement at times. We gave the Wrangler a thorough wash and vacuum before returning it. I've thought about trying Hotwire in Las Vegas. The odds of scoring another Jeep aren't great, but most of the full size SUVs would do fine. The spare tire situation is scary, though, reminiscent of the German Tourists. I was looking at the “rented a full-sized SUV” part of your post when I wrote that. Maybe a jeep would come with the expectation you’d take it off-pavement, if not off road. Our friends were lucky we were with them, though they were prepared and there is a fair amount of traffic in and out of Eureka Dunes, so someone would have helped out eventually. But at least at that time (maybe 13 years ago? Their kid was a baby) we had to drive all the way to Bishop to get a phone signal, and even then it was bad enough we ended up finding a landline to borrow (the signal in town is better now, but I’ll bet you still don’t get it until you are right there). To make it more fun, because they’d gotten an SUV with extra-large tires so it would be more dirt-road ready, there was no replacement to be found in the Owens Valley. They ended up with a tow, a night in Bishop, and another car from the rental company. Meanwhile, we continued on our route with our Prius :D
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Jul 25, 2019 21:28:24 GMT -8
There’s all sorts of local places that specifically offer off highway vehicles for rent: from simple jeeps to more specialized ATVs such as quadrunners. Once in any area of interest they’re easy to turn up, I see them with their offerings parked out front all the time in northern New Hampshire, Vermont, Tennessee, just anywhere there’s a big national forest with unimproved roads to offer. For simple National Forest unpaved roads there’d be a lot of options in Bishop, Mammoth etc. I’m sure. In Durango and Moab for sure the options would be extensive. For example: twistedjeeps.com/reservations/
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Post by hikerchick395 on Jul 27, 2019 19:24:29 GMT -8
My husband was hospitalized with a-fib plus other complications last year and we still went over Tioga Pass and camped at Tuolumne Meadows less than a month later. During our camping trip, we had to make a drive down for a cardiologist appointment. (I did all of the driving...) This year, he was wearing a Ziopatch heart monitor and we drove to 11,000 feet in the White Mountains and he hiked around a bit. We'll see what happened on his heart monitoring next week.
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Post by plaidman on Jul 30, 2019 11:25:38 GMT -8
I'm seeing portable oxygen bottles popping up in more stores these days. The small bottles won't last long for continuous breathing, but having one along might be a comfort and provide enough relief and time to get to a lower elevation if necessary.
I've always wanted to drive up to the top of the road in Great Basin National Park. I imagine it being like the White Mountains, with lakes. It's high, but it's also easy to get down fast. It's just a couple hundred feet higher than Sonora Pass.
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Jul 30, 2019 21:02:48 GMT -8
Aside from tanked O2 there are portable oxygen concentrators for oxygen therapy available. They use the air’s oxygen and just concentrate it somehow so there’s no finite tank supply. www.inogen.com/oxygen-therapy/purchase-options/For high altitude issues it’d be best to consult with your doctor: if they know what you’d like to do they can possibly offer some options to assist.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Jul 31, 2019 8:07:48 GMT -8
I'm seeing portable oxygen bottles popping up in more stores these days. The small bottles won't last long for continuous breathing, but having one along might be a comfort and provide enough relief and time to get to a lower elevation if necessary. I've always wanted to drive up to the top of the road in Great Basin National Park. I imagine it being like the White Mountains, with lakes. It's high, but it's also easy to get down fast. It's just a couple hundred feet higher than Sonora Pass. It’s pretty up there in GBNP, and part of the joy of that spot is the contrast with the desert below. You do have to be able to walk a mile or so to enjoy the lakes—none are visible from the road end. But my memory is that the trail to at least the first lake isn’t very rough or steep, and a relatively easy 3-miler will take you on a loop through the bristlecone forest. You would definitely need to acclimatize before attempting anything like that.
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Post by hikerjer on Aug 1, 2019 10:55:24 GMT -8
Not exactly in your neck of the woods but the highest elevation and largest area of above tree line alpine terrain in the lower 48 states is in the Beartooth Mountains in south central Montana and north western Wyoming. US highway 212 - the Beartooth Highway - Red Lodge, MT to Cooke City, MT - crosses the Beartooth Plateau climbing to 11,000 ft. It is surely one of the most spectacular drives in the country. There are unlimited opportunities for short walks/hikes to lakes and falls just off the road in a true alpine environment. The entire highway is paved and there are numerous Forest Service campgrounds all along it. To top it off, Yellowstone and the Lamar Valley are just a few miles west of Cooke City. Well worth it if can swing it. Google it.
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Aug 1, 2019 11:38:16 GMT -8
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Post by hikerjer on Aug 1, 2019 13:54:21 GMT -8
And Shoshone NF in the Wyoming portion which contains a significant portion of the highway.
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Post by bluefish on Aug 6, 2019 2:07:48 GMT -8
Horseshoe Meadows above Lone Pine is above 10K and decent car camping, but the best I know of is Mosquito Flats up Rock Creek Canyon. The very easy trail up Little Lakes Valley can be done by handicapped people with help. Amazing scenery for little effort. Hospital in Bishop is 25 miles on paved roads.
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