Travelogue

Our campsite in Gunsight CanyonLaunching the boat at the Stateline Boat Ramp went off without a hitch, and the motor started up with the first turn of the key - not bad after sitting neglected for 9 months.

It felt great to be cruising in the boat again, especially in such spectacular scenery - 186 miles of colorful rock formations, natural arches and bridges, and so many canyons, bays, and coves that there is 1,960 miles of shoreline to explore.

The lake level was 3610, high enough to allow us to take the Castle Rock Cut (impassable at 3585 feet) out to the main channel, rather than the longer route around Antelope Island.

Camping in Gunsight CanyonWe decided to skip popular Warm Creek Bay and continued on to Gunsight Canyon, just shy of Padre Bay, on the northern side of the channel at Buoy 17. We hoped this smaller canyon,, squeezed between the two larger bays, would have less camping options for houseboats and thus be more secluded.

We were right, and soon we were anchored just a short distance off a sandy beach - or at least it did become sandy after about 15 feet of schlepping our camping gear through a bit of muck.

While Herb set up the tent, I spent a productive hour building a sidewalk across the muck, using slates that I found scattered about the beach. Sometimes it’s nice to have life reduced to the simple tasks of survival.

View from tent in Gunsight CanyonWe spent the afternoon swimming and floating in our very own private paradise. While gazing at the surroundings from my float, I saw just why this canyon got its name. Gunsight Butte, the formation at the entrance to the canyon, had two high points on either end - just like a gunsight.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much opportunity for hiking in this canyon, but even if there was, the 100+ degree heat pretty much kept us in the water until early evening. I was developing a better understanding for why animals in the desert are nocturnal.

That night we slept with the fly off the tent, and just lied there gazing up at the Milky Way. What an incredible experience!

Travelogue

Towing the boatRather than bore anyone reading this blog (and myself writing it) about the pickup of the boat in Lake Mead and trailering it to Lake Powell, which took us 2 days, I am going to start my narrative with our arrival in Page, Arizona, on the shores of beautiful Lake Powell.

Rather than launching the boat in late afternoon on a Sunday (a very busy time for a boat launch) and searching for a canyon to camp in for the night, we had decided ahead of time to stay in a hotel in Page and launch early Monday morning. I somewhat randomly chose the Page Boy motel, a bit of a disappointment but since we are campers, we coped.

Before going to the hotel, we dropped the boat and trailer off at the Wahweap Resort and Marina for the night. Surprisingly the resort lets people do that for free.

Freed from the boat and before checking into our hotel, we decided to scout out the Horseshoe Bend Overlook, one of the area’s most popular and photographed sites. It was early afternoon, not the best time to photograph it, so we figured we would check it out now and then come back at sunset and then again for sunrise tomorrow morning when the lighting would be more dramatic.

The parking lot was a zoo, even though this was the worst time of the day to see it - extremely hot and bad lighting. Well, here we were too joining the mass of humanity along the ¾-mile trail over a sandy ridge to the edge of a cliff overlooking a sharp, dramatic bend in the Colorado River. There were no guardrails and the drop to the river was 1,000 feet, making it a bit intimidating to get close enough to view the entire river rounding the rocky peninsula.

Herb and his boatIf it was this crowded now, what would tonight be like?

We checked into our motel, relaxed a bit, had a pizza at nearby Strombolli’s, and then headed back to the Horseshoe Bend Overlook.

We never did get to the Overlook that evening, for reasons I still have trouble reliving. Let me first give away the ending and say that nothing bad happened - just a very, very bad false alarm.

As we were jockeying for a parking space, I noticed a had a missed call from a Texas phone number - just an annoying sales call I thought. Then my phone rang again - same number. This time I picked it up. The man on the other end identified himself as being part of the International Emergency Response Center, and that they had received an SOS call from my son’s Garmin Inreach Explorer, a satellite communication device which he owns because he is often climbing, mountaineering, skiing, etc. in rather remote places. He said it was strange that they did not receive their GPS coordinates with the SOS, which might mean the device was deep inside a backpack, which might indicate a false alarm. We told him that all we knew is that he was rock climbing somewhere in the Eastern Sierra.

I’m not going to go into the details of how we spent the next three hours before learning that they were fine. Suffice it to say, it was the longest three hours of my life. Jacob (our contact at the IERC), however, was great, and very comforting. He called us about 20 minutes later to let us know that they had received their coordinates. They were located along the ridge of Mt. Conness, a remote mountain outside the eastern boundary of Yosemite. A ground search crew was being dispatched to the area, as it was too dark to send out a helicopter.

Lolo overlooking Horseshoe BendWhile we were on the phone with him, he told us that they had moved 120 feet, and that this movement was a good sign. Over the next couple of hours, Jacob called us periodically to give us their coordinates, which allowed us to see that they were moving at a good pace down the ridge of Mt. Conness.

Herb was extremely comforting and tried to convince me that the most likely explanation was a false alarm - a google search confirmed that the particular device he owned had been responsible for several false SOS’s in the past. Still, we just had to hear his voice.

Finally, at 10:00, we received word that they had met up with the rescuers (over a dozen of them) and they were fine. My son was quite surprised to be greeted by name by a search and rescue crew, as they had no idea that they had sent out an SOS. The rescue team asked to see his satellite communicator, and sure enough, the Power was Off. No signal should have been sent. I’m sure he was relieved that they knew it was not his fault.

One of the responders let him use his satellite phone to call us - there is absolutely no cell phone coverage in that area so it was the only way he could talk to us. I can’t tell you how good it was to hear his voice.

We were emotionally and physically drained. No early wake-up for sunrise at Horseshoe Bend for us. I think we really needed to sleep in.

It definitely put things in perspective. There would be no complaining and sweating the little stuff for us this trip.

Travelogue

Home Sweet Home!

Travelogue

Fannette Island in Lake TahoeRather than taking the shortest route home from the Eastern Sierra through Yosemite, we usually take the more gentler (in terms of mountain passes) route up 395 to Gardnerville, Nevada and then down through South Lake Tahoe.

Since we were in no particular rush to get home, we decided to squeeze another day into our mini-vacation and spend the night in South Lake Tahoe. We called the Camp Richardson campground to see if there was room for us, but they told us that they were not open on weekdays for another week.

There was another campground right across the street from the lake a little further east that we had always been curious about. After a little bit of research, I found out that it is called Campground by the Lake and it is owned and operated by the City of South Lake Tahoe Recreation Services Department. I gave them a call and found out that they were indeed open and that they did have space for us that night.

Upper Eagle FallsThe campground was quite nice and is part of a complex with other city recreational facilities, such as an indoor heated swimming pool, an ice arena, basketball courts, pickleball, etc. The day use cost to use these facilities is $6.

However, today we were doing what we had been doing every day on our trip so far - hiking.

After consulting our trusty Moon California Hiking guide, we headed over to the trailhead for the Upper Eagle Fall trailhead, 8.5 miles up Highway 89. The hike was described as the second most popular hike in the entire Tahoe region, second only to the trail to Vikingsholm, which we had already done.

Eagle LakeIt was mid-week, so we figured it couldn’t be too crowded. Not only was the trailhead parking lot full, but cars were parked all along the highway for about ½ mile in either direction. Finally, after circling for about 10 minutes, we grabbed a spot in the parking lot for the Vikingsholm hike, paid our $10, and hiked back down the road to the start of the hike to Upper Eagle Falls.

The hike was nice, but definitely a bit of a zoo. The trail was what our guide book called a “designer” path with stairs cut out of granite and an elaborate wooden bridge crossing over the top of the falls. After the bridge, the trail got a bit rougher and climbed quite steeply to reach the rocky shores of Eagle Lake. The hike was a little over 2 miles round trip.

Mayhem Cove climbing cragWe had also been given the assignment by our sons to check out a climbing crag called Mayhem Cove that was reached via the Upper Eagle Falls parking lot. They do this to us a lot - “While you’re in the neighborhood, could you just see how “fill in the name” crag looks.

Fulfilling these requests usually involves bushwhacking and scrambling up rocks to reach the base of a cliff that we then study to try to find climbing routes. This one did not disappoint. We are such good parents.

The rock was like nothing we have ever seen - and we have seen a lot of climbing crags. The granite wall, which is composed of large blocks of granite, seemingly just hanging together, has big black streaks running down its otherwise pearly white surface. Water from the previous day’s rain was still seeping through the cracks between the blocks, making it unclimbable for the time being. We took several photos to submit with our report to the boys.

Sunset over Lake TahoeThat evening we packed a cooler with wine and cheese and walked across the street to the promenade that ran along the lake shore. The views were lovely and the group of people learning to paddle board right in front of us were quite entertaining. Apparently, it’s a lot harder than it looks.

Discovering another campground in South Lake Tahoe was a good thing. Both Camp Richardson and the Campground on the Lake had its advantages. Campground on the Lake is a shorter distance to the lake, but Camp Richardson has the Tallac Historic Site right across the street from it to wander around. Not bad having two good choices!

Description

Herb contemplating Mayhem Cove climbing cragI am not even going to attempt to give a full description of what Lake Tahoe has to offer, as we only spent a short time on its southern shore.

However, briefly, Lake Tahoe is one of the highest elevation lakes (6,255 feet high) in the U.S., as well as the second deepest (1,645 feet deep) – Crater Lake is the deepest. It is located along the border between California and Nevada. The four shores of the lake are each quite different. The north is quiet and upscale, the west and east are more rugged and less developed, and the south shore is busy and tacky with neon-lit hotels and casinos. The 72-mile drive around the lake is very scenic.

Lake Tahoe is known for its clear blue and green waters and the panorama of mountains that surround it on all sides. It is a year-round destination with swimming, boating, kayaking, and various other kinds of water sports during the summer; hiking, backpacking, and camping all year round; and tremendous skiing and snowboarding in the winter.

Travelogue

Lolo on the Buckeye Creek TrailContinuing our journey up 395, we decided to grab a campsite at Bridgeport Reservoir Marina and Campground on the Bridgeport Reservoir, a pretty lake with nice views of the Sierra - or as they say, “Killer fishin, killer views.”

Next time, we’ll bring fishing gear, but for now, hiking was the activity of the day - as it had been for every day on this trip so far. The Buckeye Creek Trail sounded interesting, so we drove out to the Buckeye Campground where the trail began.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much “creek” along the Buckeye Creek Trail. I definitely had had visions of meandering alongside a lovely creek for the duration of our hike. Instead after 2.5 miles and still no creek, we bushwhacked down to it to have lunch.

Lolo soaking in Buckeye Hot SpringAfter our hike we decided to take a soak in the Buckeye Hot Springs, so we drove over to the parking area for the springs, just a short distance away at the top of a hill near the Buckeye Campground.

These pools are very different than Keough and Travertine in that they are directly next to a creek, separated from its chilly waters only by man-made rock piles. The source of the spring is on top of the grassy hillside that we were parked atop. The water emerges from the spring at about 140 degrees and flows down, cooling along the way, until it cascades over a cave into the largest pool, forming a nice little waterfall. Additional rock piles separate the hot water area into three separate pools, varying in temperature from 95 to 110 degrees.

Primitive pool at Travertine Hot SpringHerb and I grabbed our towels and scrambled down the short, steep trail to the pools. We weren’t the only ones with this idea, but there was still plenty of room for us in the middle one with the waterfall. It was nice sitting in the warm pool, listening to the babbling creek flow by.

That was until Herb’s watch starting beeping with a weather alert. We didn’t believe it at first, but within minutes the winds picked up and the sky darkened. We quickly dried ourselves off and scurried back up the steep hill to avoid being caught in a storm. Herb was quite impressed with his watch - it must measure a drop in barometric pressure.

Herb at TravertineLater that evening when the weather cleared, we drove over to Travertine, Herb’s favorite hot spring. They really are quite beautiful - fed from water trickling over the edge of a colorful, “travertine”-stained rock formation that rises above them. Rock piles separate the water into three separate pools, with water flowing from one pool to the next, decreasing in temperature as it goes along. The rightmost pool, which has stone sides to sit on, is about 105 degrees; the middle pool also has stone sides and is about 100 degrees; and the leftmost pool has a mushy mud bottom and is about 90 degrees. As usual, these pools were full of people - after all, it was a Friday night after work.

However, these are not the only pools to soak in. The whole area around the springs is very active geothermally, so new springs are continuously erupting forming new pools. Fortunately, Herb’s favorite pool-for-two, with the great mountain views, was still there, but unfortunately, it wasn’t very warm. That’s the challenge with natural hot springs - their status is always changing.
Oh well, the view was still good.

Description

Buckeye Hot Springs, near Bridgeport, CA, are considered by some to be the most beautiful pools in the eastern Sierra. The pools are quite unique in that they sit directly next to chilly Buckeye Creek. The two main sources emerge from the side of a steep grassy hillside at about 140 degrees and flow downward, cooling along the way before cascading over a cave in a mini-waterfall formation into the largest pool. The hot water is captured by man-made rock piles alongside the creek, creating three pools of varying temperature in the 95 to 110 degree range. Since the creek water cycles through the pools, they are cleaner than those at Travertine. The trail down to the creek from the parking lot is quite steep. As with most hot spring pools in the Sierra, this one is clothing optional.

Travertine Hot Springs

There are many natural hot springs in the Sierra, but the Travertine Hot Springs are one of the prettiest and the easiest to get to. They are located just south of the town of Bridgeport along Route 395. To reach the springs, turn onto Jack Sawyer Road, then left again onto a marked, but somewhat rutted, dirt road.

There are several pools at Travertine. Right next to the parking area is a developed pool, which is the hottest of the pools in the area. There were even rugs placed around it to cushion the hard surface.

A short way down the trail are the lower three pools, which are fed from water trickling over the ridge of a colorful rock formation that rises above them. The beautiful tan, cream and rust colors of the rock are the result of a form of limestone, called “travertine” that is deposited by the mineral-laden hot springs. The water flows from one pool to the next decreasing in temperature as it goes along. The first pool is about 105 degrees, while the last, which is the largest and shallowest, is only about 90 degrees.

A little past the main pools there are a few more primitive pools that are much more private. The whole area around the springs is very active geothermally, and new springs are continuously erupting.

There are wonderful views of the Sierra while you bathe in one of its pools, sitting along a rocky ledge or in the mud that lines their bottoms. The mud is slightly sulfuric and soothing to the skin.

The area is designated “clothing optional,” but most people wear bathing suits.

Travelogue

Stroll on Mono Lake south shoreThe kids left in the morning to head back to the city. Since snow in the Sierra was no longer a threat, they took the Tioga Pass Road through Yosemite, the shortest, and also the most scenic, route back to the Bay Area.

Not having jobs to get back to, Herb and I had the luxury of not having to drive home on Memorial Day. Instead we could take our time cruising north on 395 before heading west towards home - retirement is so great!

Herb loves Mono Lake, and never seems to get enough of its otherworldly landscape of “tufa castles” that rim the lake. So, we got a campsite at nearby Mono Vista RV Park, a campground we have stayed at on numerous occasions while exploring up and down Highway 395.

Besides being the oldest lake in North America, Mono Lake is extremely unique, because of the massive amounts of salt and minerals that flow into it from Sierra streams and have no way out except through evaporation—similar to the Great Salt lake in Utah. However, Mono Lake has something the Great Salt Lake doesn’t – “tufa castles,” which built up over thousands of years from the calcium-carbonate deposits accumulating in the lake. Normally they would just be hidden beneath the water, but as lake levels dropped, these extraordinary-looking knobs, spires, and minarets became exposed, some of them rising as high as 30 feet above the surface—and they do look like castles.

Reflecting on tufasThe largest concentration of them can be found along the southern shore of the lake at the South Tufa State Reserve, just ½ mile west of Navy Beach.

We’ve pretty much seen the main tufa areas, both by kayak and by hiking, but Herb still wanted to find the “sand tufas” which he had seen in the movie about Mono Lake played at the Visitor Center. We asked a ranger where we could find them, and he told us to drive towards Navy Beach, hanging a right on a dirt road to a small parking lot. From there we should just walk east along the lakeshore.

We did as told and soon found ourselves in a small parking lot with just one other car. From there we walked along the beach. There were always more tufas in the distance, so we kept forging on, hoping these would be the elusive sand ones. But alas, they were just your everyday tufas, still spectacular, but nothing different from what we had seen on our past visits.

Lots of circlesAt the 2 ½ mile point, we decided to turn around and head back. Rather than walk on the harder sand further from the lake, we decided to walk along a sand spit between the lake and a small stream of water. Herb had me go ahead because he likes to use me in his photos to give some sense of scale.

Or, was that the real reason? Before long my feet began to sink a little, but stupidly I plowed on, only to sink even further. Soon I found myself sunk up to my knees in quicksand. As I started to sink, I put out my left hand to stop myself, but it sunk into the sand as well. Unfortunately, that hand was clutching my cell phone which was now wet and covered with sand.

Herb jumped to my rescue, and by that I mean he started taking pictures of me struggling to extricate myself. Big help! I eventually got myself to firmer ground and tried getting the sand off my phone. Herb made me immediately turn it off to hopefully save it from getting its inner workings water damaged. Since the phone was my only camera, that was the end of my picture taking for the day.

Panum Crater RidgeSurprisingly I wasn’t muddy at all. It wasn’t really mud at all, but just really soft, wet sand. We made it back to the car without any further calamities.

While driving back to the campground, we decided stop and do a hike which we had done on a previous visit - the trail up to and along the rim of Panum Crater, a perfect example of a rhyolitic plug-dome volcano. Panum Crater is pretty small by volcanic standards – 220 feet high and 2,000 feet across. It last erupted in 1325 AD.

The entire hike around the rim is about 2 miles, and the views along the way of Mono Lake and the snow-covered Sierra are really beautiful.

Description

Lolo of the tufasMono Lake is located just off Highway 395 near the town of Lee Vining, California, 13 miles east of Yosemite National Park. Mono Lake is extremely unique. First of all, at over 1 million years of age, it is one of the oldest continuously existing lakes in the continent. Secondly, it is about 2 ½ times as salty as the sea and about 80 times as alkaline. This is because Sierra streams flow into Mono Lake bringing trace amounts of salts and minerals, but the lake has no outlet other than evaporation. As a result, the concentration levels of salts and minerals keeps growing each year. Thirdly, and the main reason Mono Lake is so popular, are the hundreds of spectacular “tufa towers” that rise from the lake. These intriguing calcium-carbonate sculptures were formed beneath the water when carbonates in the water combined with calcium from freshwater springs feeding into the lake. As lake levels dropped, these extraordinary-looking knobs, spires, and minarets became exposed. Most of the towers visible in the lake are from 200 to 900 years old and rise as high as 30 feet above the water.

A good place to start your visit is at the Mono Basin Scenic Area Visitor Center, located just off Highway 395, north of Lee Vining, where you will find exhibits about both the natural and human history of the Mono Basin.

Lovely Mono LakeOne of the best places to view the tufas is at the Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve along the southern shoreline of the lake. The trailhead for the south tufa castles and Navy Beach is at the edge of the parking lot. During the summer, rangers lead walking tours 3 times a day (10am, 1pm, and 6pm), but if your not lucky enough to catch one of these, there are plenty of informative signboards along the trail. A short walk along the mile-long trail brings you to the strange and fanciful tufa castles at Navy Beach. A swim in the buoyant waters of Mono Lake is a memorable experience, as long as you are willing to step through the millions of harmless alkali flies that line the water’s edge. It’s fun to watch what at first looks like black sand part before you.

Surrounded by volcanic hills, Mono Lake is also a geologist's paradise. The two major islands in the lake are actually volcanic domes. The large black island, which the Kuzedika Indians named Negit, meaning “blue-winged goose,” erupted about 1700 years ago. The white island, which the Native Americans named Paoha, meaning “spirits of the mist,” erupted 250 years ago.

Bird watching and photography are other popular activities at Mono Lake.

Travelogue

Day 1 - Arrival

Mule Day ParadeIf it wasn’t for the kids wanting to take advantage of the long Memorial Day Weekend to go to a rock climbing destination, Herb and I would never have chosen that weekend to spend in Bishop.

Memorial Day Weekend in Bishop means Mule Days, and with that means crowds of mule enthusiasts - yes, there are thousands of mule enthusiasts. I guess the best way to describe Mule Days is that it is part mule show, part test of skills, and part Wild West Show. Over its 47 year history, it has grown from attracting a crowd of 200 to becoming an international world class event bringing in more than 30,000 fans. Over the course of a week, more than 700 mules compete in 181 events including calf roping, steer roping, barrel racing, flat racing, carriage driving, team chariot racing, and even dressage.

Needless to say, getting a campsite anywhere near Bishop during this time is quite a challenge. Fortunately however, I had faced this identical problem 3 years ago and discovered that Brown’s Millpond Campground has an overflow area where they could put us. There was no water or electric, but it would just have to do.

The drive from Red Rock Canyon to Bishop was a lovely 3-hour drive up Highway 395, my favorite highway. Also known as the Eastern Sierra Scenic Byway, Highway 395 runs the entire length of the Sierra Nevada Range, from south of Lone Pine to Carson City. The scenery along the way is breathtaking – snow-covered mountains, incredible lakes teeming with fish, ancient bristlecone forests, natural hot springs, and so much more.

Pond on the way to Ruby LakeWe arrived at Brown’s Millpond Campground late in the afternoon and found that we had been upgraded from overflow into an actual campsite - still no water or electricity, just a higher price.

The wind was really picking up, but I decided to go out for a run anyway, just 2 miles out and 2 miles back. The way out was fine, and I felt like I was somewhat effortlessly cruising along. When I turned around to head back, I found out why it had seemed so easy up to this point. The wind, which had been at my back the whole first half of my run, was now in my face and practically stopping me dead in my tracks. It was a little scary. Having no choice, I forged on, head down, body bent into the wind, dodging tumbleweed.

When I finally made it back to the motorhome, hair so windblown I looked like a crazy woman, I found a contented Herb lounging in the back of the motorhome, listening to music and drinking a beer. Trying to keep a straight face, he asked “How was your run?” I just shook my very dishevelled head.

Day 2 - Hike to Ruby Lake and Tommy and Erin Arrive

Hike to Ruby LakeIt was Friday, and the kids wouldn’t be arriving until late tonight after work, so we had a full day to entertain ourselves.

We decided to hike to Ruby Lake, a beautiful alpine lake set in a hanging cirque. To get to the trailhead we drove north on Highway 395 for 18 miles to Tom’s Place, where we made a left onto Rock Creek Road. From there it was 10.5 miles to the end, at the Mosquito Flats parking area and trailhead for the Ruby Lake hike.

Although only 4.5 miles round trip, the trailhead is at 10,200 feet and the lake is another 1,000 feet higher. The distance and elevation gain was not a big deal, but the high elevation would make it more challenging, especially since we had had no time to acclimate.

After parking the car we headed out into the Little Lakes Valley, with lovely views of the snow-covered Sierras all around us. In fact, we would soon be encountering some of that snow up close and personal.

Sierra HerbAfter about ½ mile, we came to a junction and took the trail to the right heading up to Mono Pass. Before long we were crossing small patches of snow. I was glad I listened to Herb and brought along my trekking poles because the snow kept getting deeper and deeper.

Two miles in, we began looking for the spur trail to Ruby Lake. We managed to find it, but it was impassable because of the snow, which we were now postholing through up to our knees. While we were standing around, a bit confused as to how and if we should proceed, two young hikers came along and said they were going to go up and scramble along the rocky ridge to the lake.

We followed behind, a bit slower, and soon came to a view from above of Ruby Lake. Rather than the emerald waters we had been promised in the hiking book, the lake was completely frozen. However, ringed by a granite cirque, it was still quite impressive.

A little more snow than anticipatedWe decided that it made no sense to posthole our way down to it, so we enjoyed a picnic lunch from above, and then made our way back from whence we came.

It would have been nice to have gotten all the way down to the lake, but you just never know what the conditions are going to be in the Sierra, no matter what time of year.

Tommy and Erin arrived about 10:00 that night, after a quick stop to boulder in the Buttermilks, but Andrew and Celeste got a much later start and spent the night in South Lake Tahoe. They would join us in the morning.

Rather than 6 of us trying to squeeze into the Lazy Daze, Tommy and Erin now had their own camper van, so they had left the nest. Andrew and Celeste are getting a camper van as well, but for now, they would stay with us, probably for the last time. Saying it that way makes me feel a little sad - the end of an era. But more room for all of us!! Yeay!

Day 3 - Mule Day Parade, Andrew and Celeste’s Arrival, and Bouldering in the Buttermilks

>

Tommy bouldering in the ButtermilksUsually our time with the boys and their girlfriends on these mini-vacations is spent rock climbing, but this time we were dealing with several injuries. Herb had a bruised or possible fractured rib and Celeste had a very bad high ankle sprain and was wearing a boot. That left Erin and Tommy (one complete pair) and Andrew and Mommy (not exactly Andrew’s ideal set up).

While waiting for Andrew and Celeste’s arrival, we took a ride over to Cardinal Pinnacle to check out a multi-pitch trad climb that Tommy and Erin planned to do the following morning. It was one of Bishop’s must do classic climbs. They didn’t want to be away from all of us the whole day tomorrow, so they wanted to make sure they knew how to find the approach to it and the actual start of the climb itself, so they wouldn’t waste time in the morning.

The scramble up the rocks to the base of the climb was a bit too much for Herb’s sore rib, so we went up about halfway and then sat and waited for Tommy and Erin’s return. They came back beaming and excited about climbing it the following day.

Tiny Andrew atop High Plains DrifterWe still had time before Andrew and Celeste arrived, so we stopped in town to see the end of the Mule Day Parade. We had never seen it before and it was quite a scene - people in cowboy hats and attire as far as the eye could see, lots of American flags, mules pulling carts, prancing Clydesdale horses, cute little cowgirls on ponies, giant pooper scooper trucks to clean the streets, etc. It was a hoot!

Now that we were all feeling in the holiday spirit, we decided to welcome Andrew and Celeste at the campground with a traditional Memorial Day BBQ - complete with hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, and all the fixin’s.

However, since this was a climbing trip after all, immediately upon completion, we headed over to the Buttermilks, a world-famous bouldering destination just 20 minutes from our campground, the last part of which is along a 3 ½ mile bumpy, washboard road. It’s an amazing landscape - hundreds of huge boulders (or more technically, glacial erratics) strewn along a vast hillside with the snow-capped Sierra in the background.

Lolo on her projectEven if you’re not bouldering (as half of our party due to injuries was not), it’s a great place to just hang out, enjoy the scenery, and watch people puzzle out the “problem” of getting to the top of a boulder - and then, even more interestingly, puzzle out how to get back down again.

I’m not a particularly big fan of bouldering, because I don’t like to fall - even three feet. Plus, I get a bit nervous watching the boys and their girlfriends boulder, because unlike “trad” or “sport” climbing, there are no ropes. Rather, crash pads are placed on the ground to soften the climber’s fall. In addition to the pads, other climbers stand at the bottom with arms extended upward to catch or slow the climber down if he falls. The reasoning behind the lack of ropes is that bouldering routes are much shorter than “trad” or “sport” routes. Well, generally that is true, but the Buttermilks are known for their especially tall boulders, some as high as 45 feet.

The injured crew spectatingAndrew and Tommy gave me a boulder “problem” to work on. The word “problem” is used in bouldering because climbers often spend weeks and even months, working out all the moves to complete a particular bouldering route. I think they were pretty proud of me when I completed my boulder problem the first try - I think they gave me a pretty easy one. Even so, I had to drop down about 5 feet from the top, so they very gallantly grabbed my hips and lowered me down like I was in an elevator. What service!

Andrew and Tommy spent some time working on a boulder called High Plains Drifter, a . At 35 feet, it was a little too high for my comfort. They reassured us that the tough part of the climb was at the bottom and it got increasingly easier as it got higher. Still, it did make us quite nervous watching them do it. The photos afterwards made it look even worse.

Andrew, Tommy, and Erin played around on a few more boulders while Herb and Celeste (the injured) and I (still basking in the glory of my completed “project”) spectated. We didn’t mind - the celebratory beers were cold and the sun was just starting to dip behind the snow-capped Sierras. The lighting was incredible!

Afterwards, we drove back into town and had dinner at the Mountain Rambler brewery, a popular hangout for climbers at the end of a day on the rocks.

Day 4 - Lots of climbing - Cathedral Pinnacle (Tommy and Erin), Alabama Hills, and Buttermilks again

Tommy and Erin excited about their next day climb up Cardinal PinnacleIt was a little challenging figuring what to do when 33% of the group is injured, but I think we had a pretty good plan.

As per plan, Tommy and Erin headed out early to climb Cardinal Pinnacle, the classic 3-pitch climb they had scouted out yesterday. Afterwards, they would meet up with us.

The rest of us got in the car and drove down to the Alabama Hills in Lone Pine, where the scenery is beautiful and the approach to the climbs are easy, even for someone in a boot. Although the drive was long (about an hour), the trip along the 395 corridor is always a treat, especially when the Sierra Mountains are topped with snow.

Lolo hits the Alabama HillsEven if you’ve never been to the Alabama Hills, if you’ve ever watched an old Western, you’ve probably seen its beautiful scenery. Because of its dramatic landscape and proximity to Hollywood (3 hours), this area has been the setting for dozens of Hollywood westerns, TV shows, and commercials, right up to the present.

However, finding old movie sets was not what we were here for. Today Andrew and I were climbing buddies (poor Andrew!) and there were hundreds of oddly-shaped boulders and towers just asking to be climbed. And they were so easy to get to.

Several dirt side roads branch off Movie Flat Road and lead right up to the base of many of them. Too often when we climb with the boys, we have to hike and rock scramble for miles to get to the start of a climb. Here I could practically start from the hood of our car.

Andrew victoriousI have to give Andrew a lot of credit allowing me to be his climbing partner for the day. He was so patient, finding climbs within my grade and encouraging me to keep trying. Talk about role reversal.

Poor Celeste was itching to get on the rock. Probably somewhat foolishly, she removed her boot and did one - it was an easy one for her, but still probably not a good idea with a badly sprained ankle.

Towards mid-afternoon, as so often happens, dark clouds began moving in over the mountains,. We immediately thought of Tommy and Erin and hoped that they were not experiencing a storm during their climb. Neither they nor we had cell coverage so we were just going to have to wait to find out.

Rather than have them drive all the way down to the Alabama Hills to meet up with us, only to be greeted by rain, we decided to head north up 395 and try to contact them on the way.

Tommy's new camper vanI confess to being a little worried about them, so I was so glad when they picked up the phone. They were in a coffee shop in Bishop. They had finished the climb just as the rain was starting - in fact, they were the only party that made it to the top that day, as everyone else had to retreat back down to miss the storm. We decided to meet up at the coffee shop.

When we saw them, they were absolutely beaming. They said that the climb, which is a Bishop Classic, had been awesome.

There was still a few more hours of daylight, so rather than go back to the campground to relax like normal people, we went back to the Buttermilks to climb some more.

Good decision! What a fun evening - rocks to climb on, beautiful scenery, great company, much laughter, tasty celebratory beers, lovely sunset over the Sierras! We even got everybody to stand still long enough to memorialize the moment - perhaps the Gaidus 2018 Christmas card!

Boy I’m going to miss these guys when they leave tomorrow.

Description

Andrew on High Plains DrifterBishop is my favorite town in the Eastern Sierra. It is located along Highway 395 between the towns of Mammoth Lakes and Big Pine. It lies at the northern end of the Owens Valley with the Sierra Nevada mountains to the east and the White Mountains to the west.

One of the town’s claims to fame is that it is the "Mule Capital of the World," holding a week-long festival each May called Bishop Mule Days. Part mule show, part test of skills, and part Wild West Show, this annual event has been attracting crowds for over its 47 year history, growing from a crowd of 200 in its early days to becoming an international world class event with more than 30,000 fans. Over the course of a week, more than 700 mules compete in 181 events including calf roping, steer roping, barrel racing, flat racing, carriage driving, team chariot racing, and even dressage.

The reason we go to Bishop is for the excellent rock climbing. The three major climbing areas in Bishop include:

The Owens River Gorge is a steep 10 mile long canyon just north of Bishop that is a very popular destination for rock climbing. With 416 sport-climbing and 52 trad routes it is California’s most concentrated sport climbing area. The climbing is on volcanic tuff and features edges, pockets and cracks. Although there is a full range of difficulty level, the best climbs are in the 5.10 to 5.11 range. The most popular walls are located in the Central Gorge – Warm Up Wall, the Pub, the Social Platform, and the Great Wall of China, which feature tons of 5.8 to 5.11 sport routes. Summers get a bit too hot to climb in the gorge.

Buttermilk Country, one of California’s premier bouldering destinations, is located southwest of Bishop along the western edge of the Owens Valley. These massive glacial erratic boulders sit in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada under an impressive backdrop of high peaks just a mere four miles to the west. There are 243 bouldering routes, many of which top out at over 20 feet.

The Volcanic Tablelands, another popular bouldering destination, lie just north of Bishop in an area where the floor of the Owens Valley rises abruptly, forming a 300 foot-high volcanic plateau. Along the southern tip of the plateau there are numerous canyons and washes containing thousands of boulders. The Happy Boulder area with 418 routes and the Sad Boulder area with 187 routes are the most popular. Because of its 4,500 foot elevation, the Volcanic Tablelands are climbable year round.

Travelogue

Camping in Red Rock CanyonAlthough 2 ½ hours longer, we decided to take the southern route to Bishop to avoid encountering snow along the mountain passes. I5 south to Bakersfield is a bit monotonous to say the least, but a lot less stressful than the alternatives.

Rather than go the whole way, we decided to stop for the evening at Red Rock Canyon State Park, a desert park we have not been too, known for its reddish desert cliffs, buttes, and spectacular rock formations.

The campground is first-come-first-served, and we were far ahead of the Memorial Day crowd - if there ever is one at this remote park - so we had no trouble getting a nice campsite, set against a backdrop of colorful cliffs. The sites are quite large with a lot of space between them, making for a very pleasant experience.

The Red Cliffs of Red Rock CanyonBefore dinner, we took a stroll around the campground loop, enjoying the colorful rock formations along the way.

The next morning, before continuing on to Bishop, we decided to do a few hikes in the park. We drove the short distance down Highway 14 to the Red Cliffs Natural Preserve, a hikers-only section of the state park.

From the parking lot we set off on the Red Cliffs trail, which was really more of an old jeep road than a trail, with great views of the 300-foot high columnar red cliffs the park is known for and the El Paso Mountains in the distance - oh, and some Joshua Trees along the way. There was a lot of scenery packed into our 2.5 mile out and back hike.

Herb peeking through window along Hagan Canyon TrailSince we had our Subaru Forester, which we now always tow behind the Lazy Daze, we thought it would be fun to do a bit of off-roading in the park. We headed out from the Red Cliffs parking lot on a dirt road through Iron Canyon, but were unable to get too far before being stopped by a gate. Much of the Scenic Cliffs area is closed each year from February 1 to July 1 to protect nesting birds of prey.

So we got back on Highway 14, drove north a bit, and took another dirt road with the hopes of getting to an overlook, marked on the map we had gotten at the Visitor Center. However, trails weren’t marked very well, so after driving for what seemed like far too long, we realized we had overshot our goal. Eventually we found our way back to Highway 14 and headed back to the campground to squeeze in one more hike before the noon-time checkout.

Along the Hagan Canyon TrailWe parked at the Hagan Canyon trailhead right outside the entrance to the campground. It was even shorter than the Red Cliffs hike - only 1 mile - but it too packed a lot of awesome scenery into that distance.

Many cowboy westerns were filmed amongst these beautiful sandstone cliffs and interesting rock formations, such as “Zorro Rides Again", "Law and Order" starring Ronald Reagan, "The Ten Commandments", "Jurassic Park", and "Beneath the Planet of the Apes".

Noon was quickly approaching - time to move our motorhome out of the camping site and move on towards Bishop.

Description

Hagan Canyon TrailRed Rock Canyon is a California state park located 120 miles north of Los Angeles, via I5 and Highway 14, where the southernmost tip of the Sierra Nevada converges with the El Paso mountain range.

The park features reddish desert cliffs and spectacular rock formations with dramatic shapes and vivid colors. Miles of hiking trails meandering through the dramatic landscape of the park. There is also a vast network of dirt primitive roads for 4WDing.

There is a first-come, first-served campground in the park with 50 primitive sites. The sites are spacious and tucked up against the base of the dramatic desert cliffs.

Travelogue

Suvarnabhumi Night MarketToday we began the first leg of our long journey home. We flew from Phuket back to Bangkok and took a taxi to the Golden Jade, a hotel in Suvarnabhumi, close to the airport, and I guess you could call it a “suburb” of Bangkok.

The hotel wasn’t great, and the neighborhood around it wasn’t very appealing either, so we had no great expectations for our last day in Thailand. However, we did have to eat, so we looked on Tripadvisor and found that there were several choices just a little over a half mile west on Lat Kabrang Road.

While we couldn’t find the restaurant we were originally searching for (I think it had closed), we did find a very pleasant outdoor night market with upscale stores and restaurants, as well as numerous food vendors selling very affordable and delicious looking food.

Last item on Lolo's bucket listBy this point, I had an extreme craving for two things: non-Thai food (not that it isn’t wonderful, but I did miss home) and wine (no more Chang beer please). That made our choice for dinner quite obvious - Scoozi Pizza, a pretty fancy looking (white tablecloths Italian restaurant that served wine. I was pretty excited. It was relatively empty, because we were really between meals, as it was only 4:00 pm, but the pizza was quite good and the wine (which could probably have been any form of grape by this time) was exquisite.

While eating, we happened to glance out the window at the wine store next door, to which we were close enough to see the prices of bottles on their shelves. I looked for something familiar and spotted a bottle of Kendall Jackson chardonnay with a price tag of 2500 bahts, which is the equivalent to about $80. Now, I am far from a wine snob, despite living in Sonoma Valley, but our house wine is Kendall Jackson chardonnay, and I buy it at Safeway (after discount) for $8.99. No wonder we hadn’t been drinking wine in Thailand. It is exorbitantly expensive!

Herb enjoyinga beer at the Suvarnabhumi Night MarketAfter our early dinner, we strolled around the market and observed it getting more and more crowded as the dinner hour approached - not with tourists, but with people from local neighborhoods, stopping by to eat or pick up dinner to bring home. This was the closest I had gotten to feeling a similarity to home - a suburban community going, coming home from work, and going out for some socialization and a bite to eat. I could picture this being somewhere in a U.S. city.

Making that feeling of home even stronger, the music being played was classic rock from the 80s. Herb and I sat out an outdoor bar, had a drink, and people watched. I left briefly to try something that was still left on my Thailand bucket list - drinking straight from a coconut. I was so excited, but soon found out that warm coconut milk is overrated - at least for me. I should have chosen one of the cold coconut smoothies.

It was a much better airport hotel experience than we had anticipated. Every experience in Thailand up to this point had felt so unique and exotic, but there was a certain familiarity in this market that gave us a jump start on our transition back home.