Sierra Mountain Adventures!

[USMC 0369]

[COLOR="#800000"]I wanted to go! Looks like SO much fun!![/COLOR]

[Mike]

Just got back from a week in the Sierra National Forest! Good Times with good friends. Had some carnage, but everyone was resilient and found a way to still have fun.

I met Ryan (Hookandladder), Cliff (CVD), and Kurt (RAT) at Courtright Reservoir on Friday evening. We were waiting for Scotty (Scottymoto), Kevin (1 Bad FNZ) and his wife Chris, and for Justin (4xFiend) to join us on Saturday.

The plan was to run the Dusy-Ershim Trail and then get a cabin in Lakeshore for a night to clean up. Then camp at West Lake and run Strawberry and Mirror Trails. After that, we were to head to the Mono Hot Springs to soak in the hot pools and fish a bit.

When we got to Courtright Reservoir, it was just a mud puddle and the water was still dropping. You could tell the difference in the water level from Saturday morning and Saturday night. This is a severe drought! We drove the half mile or more to the water's edge from the campground:


We could see Old man Mountain clearly from the lake bed:


After everyone arrived Saturday night, we headed up Chicken Rock on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, the smoke from the French Fire was heavy in the area that morning:


The smoke cleared somewhat as we climbed towards Thompson Lake, but the sky remained overcast:




Unfortunately, right before we got to Thompson Hill, Kevin's Taco had an unusual problem that led to his rear driveshaft breaking. We had to drag him up to level ground with the rear tires locked due to the odd brake issue:


But we did some repairs and made the best of it by camping the night:


With only front wheel drive, Kevin and Chris decided to head back to Courtright. Scotty and Kurt went with them to tug as needed to get them back:


Scotty was going to go back to get a dolly to tow the Taco home and Kurt was planning to come back in from the Kaiser Pass side of the trail to meet us at Ershim Lake.

The rest of the crew headed up Thompson Hill on Monday Morning:




We pushed on to East Lake to camp. Ryan aptly named the condition of the trail from Thompson Hill to East Lake as "Unnecessary Roughness". It was more rock avoidance than rock crawling. Regardless, we had a great stay at East lake. Some fish were caught, bathing and swimming also passed the time.

On Tuesday, we pushed on to Ershim Lake:


Justin snapped a front lower control mount off on the last hill descending into camp. Kurt was already there waiting on us and helped to get Justin's jeep back into business:


I would have to say that the funnest part of the trail is from Ershim to the top of Kaiser Pass. You have Divorce Rock (lovingly called Oh Shit Rock by many):


Beautiful, shaded rock gardens:


Lots of places that the trees want to give your rig some love:


The climb up to Mt. Givens:


And the Gatekeeper to test you before leaving the trail:


But the best part for me was the crazy crew that i got to travel with:


As we were almost to the end of the trail, we heard from Kevin and Chris on the CB. The Taco was repaired and they were waiting to join us for the next part of the adventure. After staying in Lakeshore, we headed out to West Lake on Thursday Morning. We set up camp and then took off up Strawberry Lake trail.

The lake was beautiful and it was where I caught the biggest trout that I hooked on the whole trip:


From there we backtracked and took the Mirror Lake trail. This trail has an infamous 'winch hill' that we wanted to test our rigs on. But first we had to go down it:


The climb back up is better captured with the video that will be forthcoming. It was good fun!

Afterwards, we rested, bathed, and fished at West Lake:


Friday morning, Kurt, Ryan, Kevin and Chris needed to leave for home. Justin, Cliff, Sharon and I all crossed the Kaiser Pass and headed for Mono Hot Springs Campground on the San Joaquin River. We soaked in the cold river and then in the hot pools. Rain rolled in in the afternoon for a couple of hours:


Afterwards, it turned into a beautiful night. Justin had to leave for home on Saturday morning, but Cliff, Sharon and i stayed and hiked up the river to do some fishing. Later, we soaked in several hot pools including Little Eden:


we made new friends at each of the hot pools that we visited. After a nice dinner at the Resort, Cliff did a little more fishing and Sharon and i took some photos in the fading light:


This is a very condensed, "Reader's Digest" version of the trip. I will let the rest of the gang fill in their pics and favorite parts. I will have a video to share before long. And most likely some more pics after I filter through the mass of them that we have.

It was a great trip. I don't want to have to go back to work tomorrow! Ah, alas, gotta pay the bills....