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Well, between long work hours, warranty issues (Do NOT buy ALLOY products!), and visitors from out of town, Mr. Green has been stuck in the garage since August!
I slammed things back together once I finally got everything that I needed. Sharon suggested a spontaneous run to Eureka Dunes and the idea sounded like the escape that I needed.
So Mr. Green's shake down run was 5.5 hours one way from the house. 137 miles round trip from the Chevron in Big Pine. Just us and Mr. Green.... Yes, I was desperate to get out!
The road from Big Pine to the Eureka Dunes has several changes in terrain, but it is always a pretty lonely road:
Even after getting to a dirt road, it was about 13 miles to the Dunes:
As we were setting up camp, a 12 Jeep group stopped to admire the dunes. They were a group out of Vegas that was headed up Dedeckera Cyn to the Hot Springs to camp:
After we set up, we started hiking into the dunes. The goal was to get to one of the highest dunes (over my right shoulder in this pic):
Sharon got close and I eventually made it to about 700 feet above the valley floor on California's tallest dunes:
Along the way, we captured lots of photos. Here are some of my favorites:
We got back to camp in time to catch a beautiful sunset:
The day had gotten to about 87 degrees. The night dropped to 35 degrees! We were prepared, but it was an uncomfortable transition. The next morning, we packed up and headed towards the Hot Springs.
One of the things that I didn't have time to fix before we left was the badly out of balance front drive shaft. I disconnected the shaft and strapped it up out of the way. When we got to Dedeckera Canyon, I didn't want to take the time to reconnect for 4WD. 2WD didn't work, so I used my TeraLow 2-wheel Low option and locked the rear locker. We went right up all four falls with no trouble:
We stopped by the mysterious and secret Marble Tub to see if it was still there:
After crossing Steel Pass, we made the long trek down to the Hot Springs in Saline Valley:
The Hot Springs had a fair number of (mostly nude) people, but not nearly as many as we found last Thanksgiving. We soaked in the middle springs. The two tubs there are nice and well kept:
On the way out, we passed the Bat Road Sign:
We took Saline Valley road north out of the valley. The valley floor has some great terrain features:
But the climb to the North Pass has its own beauty:
Not far from the paved road, we passed through the ghost town of Marble Canyon:
Soon we were back on the paved road and, as noted before, 137 miles later we were back at the Chevron in Big Pine. 4 hours later we were back home.
Not bad for a solo shake down. Found several problems but nothing that kept us from making the trip. I have most of them fixed now. Looking forward to Hump N Bump!
I slammed things back together once I finally got everything that I needed. Sharon suggested a spontaneous run to Eureka Dunes and the idea sounded like the escape that I needed.
So Mr. Green's shake down run was 5.5 hours one way from the house. 137 miles round trip from the Chevron in Big Pine. Just us and Mr. Green.... Yes, I was desperate to get out!
The road from Big Pine to the Eureka Dunes has several changes in terrain, but it is always a pretty lonely road:
Even after getting to a dirt road, it was about 13 miles to the Dunes:
As we were setting up camp, a 12 Jeep group stopped to admire the dunes. They were a group out of Vegas that was headed up Dedeckera Cyn to the Hot Springs to camp:
After we set up, we started hiking into the dunes. The goal was to get to one of the highest dunes (over my right shoulder in this pic):
Sharon got close and I eventually made it to about 700 feet above the valley floor on California's tallest dunes:
Along the way, we captured lots of photos. Here are some of my favorites:
We got back to camp in time to catch a beautiful sunset:
The day had gotten to about 87 degrees. The night dropped to 35 degrees! We were prepared, but it was an uncomfortable transition. The next morning, we packed up and headed towards the Hot Springs.
One of the things that I didn't have time to fix before we left was the badly out of balance front drive shaft. I disconnected the shaft and strapped it up out of the way. When we got to Dedeckera Canyon, I didn't want to take the time to reconnect for 4WD. 2WD didn't work, so I used my TeraLow 2-wheel Low option and locked the rear locker. We went right up all four falls with no trouble:
We stopped by the mysterious and secret Marble Tub to see if it was still there:
After crossing Steel Pass, we made the long trek down to the Hot Springs in Saline Valley:
The Hot Springs had a fair number of (mostly nude) people, but not nearly as many as we found last Thanksgiving. We soaked in the middle springs. The two tubs there are nice and well kept:
On the way out, we passed the Bat Road Sign:
We took Saline Valley road north out of the valley. The valley floor has some great terrain features:
But the climb to the North Pass has its own beauty:
Not far from the paved road, we passed through the ghost town of Marble Canyon:
Soon we were back on the paved road and, as noted before, 137 miles later we were back at the Chevron in Big Pine. 4 hours later we were back home.
Not bad for a solo shake down. Found several problems but nothing that kept us from making the trip. I have most of them fixed now. Looking forward to Hump N Bump!
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