The 395 and Owens Valley-Eastern Sierra Region

HA! This is great. I was hoping someone would know about those antennas, I couldn't figure it out so I went with the fishing theme instead.

I drove up to the Bristlecones earlier this year and was sad to see the antennas gone there. Neat trees though.

Gotta love TW!

 

Before Covid they were doing it once or twice a year, I believe they’re going to start up again soon. The next project was to excavate the hospital, that might be interesting. I’ll post a notice here but you can also call the visitor center and get information about it as well.

 

photo archive just off 395

 

Love this thread. Outside of bishop a couple years ago with my daughter.

 

Day tripping. Roof top tent doubles as a kid corral.

 

So, this trip isn't entirely in the Owens Valley. If I had to put percentages on it, I'd guess I'd say that approximately ... zero percent (give or take here, I'm just estimating people) is in the valley. However, I figure I'll post a few pics from it since:

(a) it's pretty darn close
(ii) you can see the Sierras from part of it
(c) everyone here is a fan of this area too, even if they've never been
(4) I had help from this set of folks to identify one of the locations

Oh, and you can't forget:
(*) I got up to the summit of Mt. Patterson on my first attempt, and on the last day in 2021 that it was passable. I don't know why it's been so hard for @mk5, hahahaha.

Last Minute Rush, Part 1: In Search of Warm Water

...At this point, I was withing spitting distance - well, almost - of where I expected to find warm water. Hopping back in the Tacoma, I found myself full of nervous energy - wondering if my sleuthing would yield the desired result. I pushed on the thousand feet or so to the spot I'd marked on my map.

There was no hot spring....

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Keep reading the rest here
In Search of Warm Water - Last Minute 1​

 

Just curious/nosey/cryptic, but where you in this area, where the water/spring photo was taken?

 

Been super busy since getting back but figured I should share some pics from our trip at the end of October. We left Lakewood about 6a on a Monday and just barely got out of the concrete jungle before traffic sunk in for the morning. The drive was uneventful but with a storm rolling in I knew we were racing to see whether we'd get in before the storm or not.

Turns out the storm beat us and we hit snow somewhere just south of Tom's Place. I hadn't yet tested my new tires (Geolandar G003) in the snow but assumed that since they are MT's they probably weren't the best in snowy, on-road, conditions. But they seemed to do fine. They hadn't yet setup chain controls (luckily) and conditions were changing quickly as the storm developed so I wasn't sure what to think but overall it was smooth sailing and 45mph on the highway felt plenty safe since the roads were slushy rather than icy.

We arrived at Hot Creek Ranch - where we stay every Oct - and met up with the rest of our group. Spent some time just generally enjoying the snow. We do this trip every Oct and this is the most snow we’ve ever gotten (in the past ~15yrs).








Then the sun came out and gave us some beautiful bluebird skies. I figured rather than unpacking, fishing, or hanging with the group that I'd be better served to just get back into the truck and see about doing some exploring. I knew the snow wouldn't be around too long and I wanted to make some fresh tracks. The wife and I had a short, but successful cruise in the snow. Perfect way to start the trip!







After the snow melted I got down to the real task at hand - fishing! Didn’t have a ton of luck at Hot Creek but managed to catch a 20-22” rainbow on our trip to the Owens. Another great fishing season closing trip in the books.

 

Part 2, northeast of Mt. Patterson:

Into the Mountains - Last Minute 2​

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more pics, story:
Into the Mountains - Last Minute 2​

 

Just saw this ad for Raceline -- do any of the locations in the video look familiar?

 

..based on the ad, i'd trade my Tacoma strait across

 

We hit Carroll's just before our trip up to hike WMP. Came down to Bishop for the tri-county fair. That was a fun weekend.

 

Awesome stuff. Mind sharing how you caught the fish?

 

I was fly fishing the upper Owens at a spot that I'm unfortunately not at liberty to divulge. I typically prefer dry flies as I don't ever seem to have much luck with nymphs and most other wet flies. The exception being Maribous (and some other streamers). My family doesn't tie them to look exactly like this one pictured below, but very similar. Over the years this has become our go-to fly for the Owens. They've been known to catch the attention of larger fish when other flies won't. It's almost a sure thing that someone in the family will land an 18-20"+ trout on one of these each year.

https://www.ginkandgasoline.com/gink-gasoline-fly-patterns/tie-the-white-marabou-streamer/

 

Thanks! Not looking for secret spots here, just methods that work.

Looks like I might have to figure out fly fishing someday.

 

Although I’ve been fun fishing my whole life it’s usually just 1-2 trips a year and 99% of the time it’s Owens/Hot Creek. I’ve come to the realization that I’m not that great of a fisherman. But that’s fine, if I’m being honest it’s much more about the family, the tradition and the memories. Otherwise, fishing is very low on my priority list with my automotive hobbies taking most of my focus.

 

Much of it looks familiar. It opens with Mt's Basin and Tom in the background, Carrols' Market, perhaps one of the artesian pools east of Bishop, Upper Owens River/Hot Springs area east of Mammoth, Mt. Morrison skyline taken from kinda near Mammoth airport. Very scenic area to film!

 

Part 3 of my trip around Mt. Patterson. This was the day I attempted to summited. Wish I'd had @mk5 along, since he's been at it for a while.

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more pics, full story:
Unexpected Success - Last Minute 3​

 

Happy Birthday!

 

Thanks!

For the second year in a row, I'm in DV to celebrate - can't complain about that. Here's the view of Owens Valley - you can just make out the lake - from the top of Telescope Peak. Still not much snow on the Sierras.

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