2nd official TW Mammoth Lakes Off Road Social Distancing Trip Sep 4th - 7th

Good to hear some more details on what happened there & glad you were able to help out. Saw it going down on Facebook and wasn't able to get up till after work. Definitely good people can fuck up and get in bad spots, but you also have people like the dude in a gladiator who broke his front axle and sat on that rock for two-three days until a dirt biker came by and taught him how to use his hi-lift.

Sure the communication with the forest service helps and cleaning stuff up, but have heard some talk going around about the use/overuse of Coyote and closure in the same sentence so it's a bit worrisome to hear. I'll say those "Most Difficult" signs definitely will trip people up because the one going up to Coyote from Bishop, at Silver Canyon and in the Tungstens are so different than the one there, on Wheeler Ridge and at Sparkplug so they need to add a double black or rollover risk or something there. Know Sparkplug killed someone in an FJ a few years back and it's just a matter of time at Coyote there. That's a well placed rock there to stop rolls...

 

I met the guy on the dirt bike when we where doing the recovery. He's a great dude. Thanks for reminding me I need to give him a call. Hearing him tell the story about the Gladiator was pretty funny.

The FS needs to talk with the Bishop 4x4 club about those signs. I agree that they are not accurate enough. Having Silver as difficult is a joke. I really don't know what they where thinking when they put those up. If the FS closes Coyote I'd be shocked. I could see them closing off the Big Pine entrance though. Then I'd be pissed.

We should meet up sometime. It's always good to meet like minded folks in this town. I'll start a PM later with you and @Hobbs He's another local that's a solid dude.

 

More pics

 

That was me, KJ was ready to tow him up in his rubicon but they were able to get up themselves. Pretty comical

 

want to go deal with this tomorrow?

 

LMAO. Tim, the guy who recovered the Gladiator, just texted me about it 10 minutes ago. I just texted him back. Do you have a winch? I just started my kitchen remodel and need to put time into that.

 

don't have a winch and still on 265's so I'm not fucking with that trail yet. Don't want to become one of them. Happy to ride along, but don't think my truck will make it there

 

Tim's going to ride up on his bike early AM to get eyes on it. Then he'll call me with what way is best for me to come in from. Should be leaving my house by 7am or so. If you want to drive up with me shoot me a PM with your number and I'll get a hold of you. If not Tim and I should have it covered.


@Hobbs What are you doing tomorrow? lol

 

I am in Indy early in the morn. Should be back home mid-morning. I'll text ya' when I'm heading north. You prolly won't get it though...

 

I will. I actually get reception there. Hopefully it will be an easy recovery. I promised the wife I'd pick up some Copper Top on the way home so worse case we can meet there and say hi.

 

Sounds good. Chat at ya' tomorrow.

 

I have done Laurel twice and have not spun my tires. I did the run with a couple of friends with LR4s that followed me last weekend, and they are always surprised at what my truck can do at a slow speed and not a bunch of momentum and spinning tires. No tugs needed -- but I did end up helping out a stuck 4x4 F-150 on the 3-point switchback...

 

That dude didn't even have a locker Desert pre runner tryin to act like a 4x4 haha. He wasnt even trying to back up and get momentum either, was fun to watch at least lol.

 

@ellocodetroit dude, isnt this where you camped Thursday night?

 

No, I stayed at the
Buttermilks. https://freecampsites.net/#!6767&query=sitedetails

 

Man. This looks like a such a fun trip. Wish I could make it out for this sometime. I will have to win the lottery so I could get enough time off to drive there from PA

 

Here are the pictures I got from the trip. I am still working on uploading the video, I had the GoPro 360 mounted on my truck when we did Laurel lakes so that should look cool.

Took me 14.5 hours to get to Mammoth from Idaho. Those sierras always impress as they come into view for the first time.

As soon as I rolled into town I saw a ton of nice Taco's running around. Being in Idaho I forgot how many Tacos's are in SoCal.


We had a MUCH smaller turnout this year. Mostly due to Fires and Covid but everyone seemed to have an excuse this year lol.



Every morning I would make some coffee then go for a walk. Awesome campsite for this. Great views and weather still clear today! ( Friday )

My penthouse tent haha


And of course the Jeep gets stuck on a rock in our campsite haha. Badass Jeep though and after he aired down he crawled right off it.


While we waited for the crew to start showing up we went to play on the rope swing at Gull lake.


The KJ (jeep guy) the crazy Canadian climbed up the tree and showed us all up.


Saturday Morning we all woke up late and headed towards Laurel Lakes. I was thinking it would be better to be between the early bird crowds and afternoon crowds by arriving at the trailhead about 10:30am.

Airing down

Turns out my idea of timing on there trail worked out perfectly as there were a few large groups coming down the trail right before we started it was pretty much clear the whole way up minus some dirt bikes. Kind of rare to not have to pass anyone on this trail so we got lucky for sure.

'


This hairpin turn always gets my butthole puckered up haha especially having a double cab long bed, luckily we had some great spotters and everyone got through with ease this time. Props to the Russian for tackling the trail in his new camper build, I would have been tripping if I was driving thatching being all top heavy.


I was surprised by how many T*** (filtered so I don't get banned by moderators lol ) supporters we saw on the trail considering we were in California lol

The lake is always cold but always feels amazing.


@dumontrider here


Back to camp for booze and food.

RAFFLE!! I figured since so many of you FLAKED on this trip I let the jeep guys join in on the raffle and go figure, one of the jeep guys won the main prize! I will have more prizes to raffle next time we do this trip.


I am not going to spoil it for @realsystem but this guy built himself a very impressive camper by hand! Cant wait for his build video to be finished.

Woke up Sunday morning and realized our luck has run out with the smoke.

Since the smoke got so bad, most of decided to leave early. I had a long ass drive so I headed straight for there highway and started my drive home while the other guys went to Crowley lake to check out the columns. Turns out they got some really cool pictures that looked like they were on Mars lol. This was us all airing up for the drive home.

Some smoke shots from leaving Mammoth.


Its been 2 years since I left Cali so when I noticed gas prices my jaw fell to the ground and I couldn't help but laugh. Its no wonder everyone drives a Prius in Cali haha

I thought I was in the clear heading north away from the fires......WRONG. It actually was much worse once I hit Oregon and Washington. The highway was about the be shut down due to visibility and then after I made it through there was a huge 15 car pile up so I got super lucky.


The I finally crossed back into Idaho where the crazy winds had blown all the smoke clear of us so it was a sight for sore eyes to say the least.


The I stopped for gas and again couldn't help but laugh and then thought "no wonder everyone drives full size trucks up here" haha


And finally I made it home. 1,893 miles of driving, close to 30 hours of highway driving and man am I happy to be home. #IdaHome


Until next time Gents! Thank you all for coming, had a great time and looking. forward to planning the next trip.

 

Yes, it was a great experience, not hard, I would say for me the trail was easy. Stock Tacoma can do it without any issues. The new custom made camper did very well. The electric system works fine. We used 110V AC fridge connected to the Toyota factory inverter when the engine is on. And when it stopped we used the second 1kW inverter powered by AUX battery(LiFePo4) in my solar setup(Renogy). This battery also has DC-DC charger that I tested during this trip. It's charging AUX battery from the alternator.

Some photos:

Set up the camp Friday night after 20-30 minutes of circling in the forest





On the trail







Back in camp for dinner



Next day: the trip to Crawly lake



and Bristlecone pine - the oldest tree in the world.



Note: we have found 4x4 trail from the top of the Bristlecone pine forest to the Silver canyon. It's very steep with some easy creek crossings on the bottom.



On the way back home

 

Did you get any pictures of that steep trail heading towards Silver Canyon?