The 395 and Owens Valley-Eastern Sierra Region

Hope you are doing well too!

 

AH is much larger in size and has easier access.

 

Unlike other spots, AH is of interest to rock climbers and because it's so near to the road and socal, it draws more folks into bouldering.

 

While I'll be the first to admit that climbers are a part of the over-use issue in regards to AH's they are far from the majority of campers anymore. Mostly van-life folks and those stupid "free camping" fucking apps. Freecampsites, RV Parky, et all suck major ass. lol

 

But the throngs in a group their to climb are much larger.

 

They can be but there's so many places to climb in the Hills I've never had a problem getting on a climb. I've also spent many a drunk night around a campfire there with friends after a day of climbing. That all ended when the new regs went live. Plus, I got older and like my bed better then a tent. Living 45 minutes away makes it really easy to go home even when I'm offered to stay at a site. lol

 

@stickyTaco Thanks. Best to you too!

 

Looks like I'm rollin to glamis next weekend

i do want to go to owenz but the glamis crew has called out to me

 

If you change your mind and go to Barstow, there is a good BLM campground a few miles from town and another one a bit further south of town. I was there a month ago and only saw 3 other vehicles the night I stayed. Drop in at the Mojave River Valley Museum (or the BLM office down the street) and they can give you directions.

 

This looks like the campground my wife and I stayed at one night when we did Mojave Road. Promptly after falling asleep a train would come by and wake us every 1-2hrs ALL NIGHT LONG.

 

Lol. What? Don't you like trains? Who doesn't like trains? You need to re-evaluate how you are living your life...

All the BLM campgrounds in the Mojave do look nearly the same. Your train experience was probably at Afton Canyon's campground. The photographed one is just a bit north of Barstow in Rainbow Basin.

 

You're right, I couldn't remember off the top of my head but it was near Afton Canyon.

 

Trip Report!

Took another trip up the 395 (surprise surprise). I went to the Alabama Hills this time. I took a friend who has never been camping in his life so I didn't want to drag him anywhere too remote. He's very fit, loves hiking, and is an ER nurse, so I wasn't too worried about him getting hurt.
I haven't been to the hills in a few years and was pretty shocked to find it isn't free for all camping any more and now has designated "sites". Not a bad thing, I could see plants growing back in places I used to camp which is always a good thing. What wasn't a good thing were all the huge 5th wheels/RV's crammed into the smallest places. If they are gonna close all the camping spots they should have a size limit in place too. There were full RV's in the "4x4" access only spots too which was a real bummer. Regardless, after driving around for a bit we managed to find an open site all 3 nights.

The 1st night was very pleasant. If anyone is into photography I finally got to play around with some C mount lenses (for old 16mm and security cameras) I found in my grandpas garage. They give a nice vintage charm to my very modern camera




The next morning we hit up the Cottonwood Pass area. We took a trail called "Trail Pass" to Mulkey Meadows. It was probably around 45°, if not colder, and very windy. The views were still spectacular and I think we did about 9-10 miles. My friend has never been higher than 5000' so the elevation was getting to him but he did great!



Is there an actual tunnel out here or is it the name of another meadow?








C mount lens fun


Mt. Langley at sunset was a highlight


We got back around 8, cooked dinner, and did a little hike to Mobius Arch to catch the stars.


Still working on my astro photography skills


The next day we woke up and it was a bit windy so we went into town for breakfast and met some, uh, interesting? locals. After our delicious breakfast we headed up to the Whitney Portal to do the Lone Pine lake hike which is the furthest you can go without a permit. I find it very interesting how Cottonwood and Whitney are only a few miles apart yet have vastly different scenery.

Cool tree














It was pretty chilly at the lake, it even started snowing on us while we were having lunch. I think we did ~6 beautiful miles and I can't wait to come back!

When we got back down the hill it was so windy we just cooked dinner the best we could and hit the hay at ~9PM. The next morning we got some coffee in town and headed back home. We stopped at Fossil falls and drove through Randsburg. I had work in the afternoon so we didn't spend much time at either location. Overall I think it was a very successful 1st camping trip for my friend. He even said "I haven't been this relaxed in years" while hiking to Lone Pine lake, so I guess I did good? Trip was a 9/10 (1 point docked for the wind) in my book! Can't wait for next month

 

Amazing videos showing road conditions for the region. The washout on 190 is no joke!

https://youtu.be/C_1Y80j8pkM?si=LFqXcJI1QwaI0v2D

https://youtu.be/sQBCJc01WL0?si=7jhSltrfk-13gNaW

 

An incredible write up about a couple hikers venturing the Lonesome Miners Trail (LMT) in the Inyo Mountains.
https://sgphotos.com/photostories/inyos/

 

I watched a webinar today titled "Portrait of the Sun as a Young Star". So why am I posting in the Owens Valley thread you ask? Well, one of the instruments used by the researcher, Ivey Davis, is the Long Wavelength Array which is located in the Owens Valley and looks like this (photo from CalTech):



Which is located near the Owens Valley Radio Observatory. I've seen it before and wondered what it was used for. Pretty cool talk. If you're at all interested, it will be posted on iTelescope's YouTube channel in the next day or so.

 

Neat time lapse of a fire that broke out the day I was leaving DV
https://www.gbuapcd.org/Docs/VideoReview/Archives/Valley South/2023/12/Valley South 12_14_2023.mp4

 

The wind shifts are wild to see

and an old pic:

 

From the CalTrans travel app, on 395 south of Bishop this morning:

Dec 18 2023 7:51AM [3] GRY TOYT TAC VS DEER
Dec 18 2023 7:52AM [5] DEER LEFT THE AREA​

Hit and run?

 

Oh deer, that's bad.