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Mike’s Cabin – July 29th to 31st 2.010
This is my 5th year in a row, wow!!! Links to previous year reports are attached at the end of this one. People always ask me for more details, so if you are interested, please read them, you will have fun. The Cabin is located at Kennedy Meadows; it is private land inside the National Forest. It was build by Mike O’Connell, his sons and his friends. Andy O’Connell did a documentary about the Cabin, and I took some pictures to share, so you can see how it was build.
On Thursday 07/29, Richard, Charlie (dog) and I left O.C. as expected, like 8:30ish. Traffic was bad as usual, but the car pool lane helps a lot. We stopped at Mojave for an early lunch. When we were ready to continue, I started the engine with no luck, the battery was dead. The terminal was loose, so that is why the alternator was not charging it. Anyhow, a couple of friendly ladies help us to jump cable Buttercup. We allowed the battery to charge few seconds and then start right away. We stopped at a local shop, just to make sure that battery and alternator were working properly. Everything was fine; we filled up and continued our journey. No further stop until trail head.
After a little break, we continued for the dirty and bumpy road. We were playing all kind of music, when the song “Who lets the dogs out” was on, Charlie barks right away, that was a funny moment of the trip. I was driving fast, doing a solo run allows me to speed in some sections and we set a new record, an hour and fifteen minutes from trail head to cabin, normally, is more than two hours. I didn’t stop for pictures at all, but I did some mini clips while driving though, so you will get the idea. When we arrived, Mike, Francis and his friends/kids were there, and they took care of my regular duties, like cutting wood, so we set our tents and fix dinner right away. Then, we chat for a while, close to the fire until everyone went to bed.
On Friday 07/30, we had left over fajitas with scramble eggs as breakfast. The temperature drops at night time, it was between 32°F and 40°F / 0°C and 5°C each morning and those are Summer measures, I can’t imagine Winter ones. Francis and the rest of the group planned a hike; meanwhile, Mike, Richard and I worked fixing the roof and windows. When the roof and tools were so hot that was not fun to work with them, we stopped our assignments and took a nap. The hammock under the pine trees was perfect. Later on the afternoon, the kids had a chance to shoot the .22 rifle with Francis supervision and guide. Some people may think that is dangerous, but I think that a kid should drive a car as soon as reach the pedals. Same with guns; in that way, they learn from their parents, not from someone else. Anyhow, we had a huge fire that night, bigger than Mike would like. The flames were higher than expected when we burnt some paper boxes. Mike was upset with us, even that fire danger was moderate and all around us was greener than ever, we should be more careful with fire. I’m guilty of charge. That is the problem with city boys, we are not fully aware of the dangers, even that we try our beast all times. Older people supervision is required to adults, same as adult supervision is required to kids. No kidding!!!
On Saturday 07/31, the plan was to leave before 9:00am and we did it. We skipped/saved the cooking time for breakfast; instead, we had simple ham and cheese sandwiches to go. In our way out, one of the meadows was extremely wet. When we came in, a branch was left closing the road for us and we avoided the muddy trail and went around, leaving some new treads. Now, leaving as a group, the tiny 31” tires will not be able to follow the 35” tracks, therefore, I drove over the swamped area and the other guys went around. The whole idea was to minimize our impact over the muddy meadow and I believe that it was the right choice. We did several stops in our way out; we drove slowly and enjoyed the view and landscape. We filled up, hit the pavement road until got stuck in L.A. traffic, filled up one more time before arriving at home, late afternoon. The trip expenses were as follows: less than $200 in gasoline, less than $60 for food. We may add another $20 for a car wash. No carnage, no damage so far.
Roberto L. Miranda
Links to previous trips:
2009 - http://www.yopo4x4.com/index.php?mod=post&id=11&eid=244
2008 - http://www.yopo4x4.com/index.php?mod=post&id=11&eid=201
2007 - http://www.yopo4x4.com/index.php?mod=post&id=11&eid=159
2006 - http://www.yopo4x4.com/index.php?mod=post&id=11&eid=100
This is my 5th year in a row, wow!!! Links to previous year reports are attached at the end of this one. People always ask me for more details, so if you are interested, please read them, you will have fun. The Cabin is located at Kennedy Meadows; it is private land inside the National Forest. It was build by Mike O’Connell, his sons and his friends. Andy O’Connell did a documentary about the Cabin, and I took some pictures to share, so you can see how it was build.
On Thursday 07/29, Richard, Charlie (dog) and I left O.C. as expected, like 8:30ish. Traffic was bad as usual, but the car pool lane helps a lot. We stopped at Mojave for an early lunch. When we were ready to continue, I started the engine with no luck, the battery was dead. The terminal was loose, so that is why the alternator was not charging it. Anyhow, a couple of friendly ladies help us to jump cable Buttercup. We allowed the battery to charge few seconds and then start right away. We stopped at a local shop, just to make sure that battery and alternator were working properly. Everything was fine; we filled up and continued our journey. No further stop until trail head.
After a little break, we continued for the dirty and bumpy road. We were playing all kind of music, when the song “Who lets the dogs out” was on, Charlie barks right away, that was a funny moment of the trip. I was driving fast, doing a solo run allows me to speed in some sections and we set a new record, an hour and fifteen minutes from trail head to cabin, normally, is more than two hours. I didn’t stop for pictures at all, but I did some mini clips while driving though, so you will get the idea. When we arrived, Mike, Francis and his friends/kids were there, and they took care of my regular duties, like cutting wood, so we set our tents and fix dinner right away. Then, we chat for a while, close to the fire until everyone went to bed.
On Friday 07/30, we had left over fajitas with scramble eggs as breakfast. The temperature drops at night time, it was between 32°F and 40°F / 0°C and 5°C each morning and those are Summer measures, I can’t imagine Winter ones. Francis and the rest of the group planned a hike; meanwhile, Mike, Richard and I worked fixing the roof and windows. When the roof and tools were so hot that was not fun to work with them, we stopped our assignments and took a nap. The hammock under the pine trees was perfect. Later on the afternoon, the kids had a chance to shoot the .22 rifle with Francis supervision and guide. Some people may think that is dangerous, but I think that a kid should drive a car as soon as reach the pedals. Same with guns; in that way, they learn from their parents, not from someone else. Anyhow, we had a huge fire that night, bigger than Mike would like. The flames were higher than expected when we burnt some paper boxes. Mike was upset with us, even that fire danger was moderate and all around us was greener than ever, we should be more careful with fire. I’m guilty of charge. That is the problem with city boys, we are not fully aware of the dangers, even that we try our beast all times. Older people supervision is required to adults, same as adult supervision is required to kids. No kidding!!!
On Saturday 07/31, the plan was to leave before 9:00am and we did it. We skipped/saved the cooking time for breakfast; instead, we had simple ham and cheese sandwiches to go. In our way out, one of the meadows was extremely wet. When we came in, a branch was left closing the road for us and we avoided the muddy trail and went around, leaving some new treads. Now, leaving as a group, the tiny 31” tires will not be able to follow the 35” tracks, therefore, I drove over the swamped area and the other guys went around. The whole idea was to minimize our impact over the muddy meadow and I believe that it was the right choice. We did several stops in our way out; we drove slowly and enjoyed the view and landscape. We filled up, hit the pavement road until got stuck in L.A. traffic, filled up one more time before arriving at home, late afternoon. The trip expenses were as follows: less than $200 in gasoline, less than $60 for food. We may add another $20 for a car wash. No carnage, no damage so far.
Roberto L. Miranda
Links to previous trips:
2009 - http://www.yopo4x4.com/index.php?mod=post&id=11&eid=244
2008 - http://www.yopo4x4.com/index.php?mod=post&id=11&eid=201
2007 - http://www.yopo4x4.com/index.php?mod=post&id=11&eid=159
2006 - http://www.yopo4x4.com/index.php?mod=post&id=11&eid=100
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