395 Trip May 2019

We set out on a two week trip on route 395 on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mtns in early May.  Our destination was Lone Pine with a planned visit to Death Valley.  This first part is about everything except Lone Pine which I will do in a separate blog due to the number of photos I took.  We towed the Jeep which really made the trip special.

Our first camp was in Lower Twin Lakes CG site #10 near Bridgeport.  We stayed here a couple nights and explored the dirt road past Doc & Al’s RV park out to Buckeye CG.  Gorgeous views of the whole valley.  We also drove out to Lundy Canyon and Lundy Lake which was extremely low, very strange.  But there was an interesting hike to take up to Lake Eone when the snow is gone.

Then we planned to visit Bodie however found the main road was closed.  So we tried two other entry ways from the Mono Lake side.  The second one got us to a point where we could walk in however, the cattle guards crossing the road were too much for Ben and eventually we found a bunch of snow hindering our passage and reason for the park service to close that road too.  We could see Bodie off in the distance but our family was split up so I didn’t want to leave Kate waiting with Ben for that long, so Charlie and I went back.

Temperatures were down to 37 at night.  Next stop was Silver Lake site #32.  A bit cold and rainy/snowy the first couple days but beautiful as before.  We stayed here three nights.  Finally on Saturday (morning was 29 degrees outside) we had a nice day to hike out to Parker lake with Charlie.  Ben stayed home in the RV.  Trail head was about 8 miles from the Silver Lake CG and the hike to the lake was a bit less than four miles round trip.

Sunday we left for Lone Pine and Alabama Hills which will be in the next blog.  However, on our way back we stayed in Lower Twin lakes two nights so that we would be going home and over Donner Pass on Monday and avoid any snow problems.  During that layover we once again went out to Bodie and this time the main road in was open.  Really cold weather, in the low 30’s but it was really interesting walking around the town.  Some photos are below.

Author: Geoff

Quick rundown: Grew up in Lombard, Illinois, went to Arizona State University, worked as a CPA with Arthur Andersen & Co, then Laventhal and Horwath, then Rolling Stones, then Heron International, then Goodby Berlin and Silverstein in San Francisco. Moved to the foothills in 1990 and traded futures and designed websites. Married to Kate Stewart, now living in Colfax, CA. We have six grandchildren. I enjoy camping in our RV, hiking, kayaking, fishing, droning and cross country skiing Also conga drumming, photography and dogs.

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