The 395 and Owens Valley-Eastern Sierra Region

Absolutely beautiful! Is dispersed camping allowed in this area? Looks like somewhere I'd love to hike into and stay a couple nights

 

Is that lake in the dark green zone in the following map?

For East Side fishing, check this interactive, downloadable PDF map. Click a region, click a subregion, and explore species at a water body. Use the "last page" to go back, not the back button on your browser.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...cQFnoECA8QAQ&usg=AOvVaw0_X8iVsXlZHbJfZ1zSH1JA

 

Absolutely. Once your on a hiking trail you can camp wherever you want 99% of the time. There's a few lakes along the PCT that have no camping zones but they are few and far between.

Nailed it. Have you fished it? If you haven't, put it high on the list. Not as high as Royce Lakes but a close second.

I've had that PDF since it came out. I'm having lunch next month with the guy who wrote it. lol

 

Figured as much, but always nice to know for sure. And that doc shared by @kylehorvath is awesome. I always get excited about this stuff but then realize I'm likely gonna end up being too damn busy to make something happen. Sent it off to my cousins though, maybe one of them has some time and motivation to get a little family backpacking trip together to do some fishing. Ugh, hate to say it but it's probably been 15yrs since we've done that

 

I'm adding it to my list. I spent too much time on the other side of the crest in the Park. Any golden over 10" is a stud, nice work!

 

also, that's pretty cool you know him. See if he knows Roland Knapp... not too many guys have surveyed EVERY lake in the Sierra. I know Knapp and his crew surveyed every body of water in Yose in like a season and a half. SOOOO much beautiful country in the Sierra.... I need to get out more

 

Where has this thread been my whole life??!! I literally head up the 395 monthly, if not more. I just got back from a dual sport trip in the area yesterday! We hit up Funnel Lake and Laurel Lakes as well as lots of other trails.




The wife and I were just up there a couple weeks ago with the new 4Runner:






My buddy and I were up there a few weeks before that in the CRV:






And I've been there countless times on my own:

 

Oh and the fishing is AMAZING!



'

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CwlmU7CPH_i/

 

There's some big ass Goldens on this side of the crest. At this point I am 95% sure that the next state record will come out of one of two lakes. Both located within 20 miles of my house. I was supposed to be going to one of them this weekend but the wind forecast is pretty bad. I've got until tomorrow after work to decide if I really want to be a hard ass. When visiting other places I'd fight the cold and wind in a heartbeat. Doing it when your warm bed is within eyesight makes it less worth it. lol

I'll ask about Ron. I'm sure they have to know each other though.

 

With all that time spent up here just move. If your a carpenter, or any other trades, I can get you work in 30 seconds.

 

100% a dream of mine and a very real possibility. I do IT and my wife is still in school for Nursing. Maybe when she graduates and has a couple working years under her belt we'll make the move.

 

Who?

just kidding.

 

Now you tell me....lol

 

A few folks have asked for navigation hints for the Mt Patterson drive... and while I'm not normally a fan of sharing GPS tracks publicly on the internet, I'll make an exception in this case because of how epic this place is:

Yep, I came from the east, from a turnoff about 1 mile past the NV border on the 338 as shown above. That part was quite overgrown, so next time I might try another approach further up the 338. In addition to your observations, and the gate that @Stuck Sucks mentioned... satellite imagery provides conclusive evidence that this south branch is definitely a dead-end.

And yes, even beyond Pinstripe City, much of the route below treeline is too narrow for our trucks to pass without scraping against foliage on both sides from time to time... but I didn't break any mirrors or antennas this trip, which means it's not too narrow.

As a note: I tried to reference modern navigation data (i.e., Google Maps) and historical topo maps (i.e. Caltopo) along the way, but there were some noteworthy errors in all of my haphazardly-selected electronic mapping aids which might lead one to conclude the route is not passable, or that one should follow entirely non-existent roads along the way. This is one of those places where you'll benefit from good pre-planning and intuition for route-finding. But if you lack those capabilities as I do... then aerial imagery is most useful for navigation.

Awesome photos!!! Not sure if I'll make it back up this season, but next time I'm headed your way I'll hit you up. And hopefully also draft a will first, because that hike sounds like an absolute death march. But a really fun one.

Either way, I already owe you a beverage or few of your choice.

Thanks for the tip! I'll put it on my radar. 700 feet sounds more do-able, at least with some smoke breaks.

Amazing shots!


Finally, does anyone know, what kind of bird is this?

 

@mk5
It's not a bird, that is a hummingbird-hawk moth. Mimicry, like how some flies mimic bees, nonvenomous snakes mimic venomous snakes, etc.

Edit - this one is the white-lined sphinx moth (type of hummingbird moth)

 

I know what they are but I really want to know why the hell there's so many of them this year. I'm used to seeing maybe one a week. This year I'm seeing ten a day. lol

 

Perhaps it is all the rain = more floral resources (both in abundance and longevity of bloom) = more food for adults, and, more rain = more time till their host plants senesce = higher survial of larval stages

More rain = more plants for longer times = more moths

 

That's one of my thoughts for sure. The other is the moths natural predators are in a state of decline. So less predators = more moths. It's been 32 years since I've been in biology class but I remember a study done in the late 80's about rabbits and red tail hawks. They run on a seven year cycle. Hawk numbers decline and rabbit numbers go up. After 7 years that cycle reverts and rabbit numbers decline as hawk numbers go up.

The problem here is a have no idea what the natural predators for these moths are so I have no idea if I am seeing more or less of said predator. lol

 

I considered the predator-prey cyclic population dynamics but guessed that is not at play for this species, but still caveated my response with "perhaps" just in case.