Trip to the Eastern Sierras

My wife, father in-law, and myself have been talking about going to the eastern side of the sierra nevada mountains for years. We finally made the trip happen. I have to say thank you to my friend Fred that owns kodakap.com and let us use his Coyote Trailer. There was no way three people would fit in a CJ7 with camping gear for three days.

Tuesday morning started off early as we gassed up and left Fresno. A quick stop for breakfast in Oakhurst and into Yosemite we went. We pretty much passed through Yosemite. With it only and hour or so from home we have been a few times. However we did stop to get the token halfdome pictures.

IMG_9300 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

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We rushed over Tioga pass (HWY 120) and ended up at Lee Vining for a late lunch. We stopped at the Mono lake ranger station and talked to them and then went down to the lake to check it out.

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We then headed up 395 to Virgina Creek Settlement where we would camp the next three nights. The staff was polite and the restaurant was good as well. The bathrooms while a bit old were very clean. On a busy weekend I could see waits at the bathrooms/ showers but for our visit it was not a problem. They also have a trout farm onsite that they release trout into the creek onsite. We setup camp and cooked dinner. While Tracy gives me a hard time about my method of cooking dinner,

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Bailey liked it.

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Wednesday morning we loaded up and headed to Bridgeport to gas up. We hit a gravel road out of Bridgeport to start working our way to Bodie. We aired down a bit to try to make leaf springs ride as best they could.

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We made it about half way to Bodie when one of the tires on the jeep let go.

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These tires are 10 years old and while they had a lot of tread they have been well abused on trails from Johnson Valley to the Rubicon and many more. I think the sidewall had been weakened on a previous trip and it finally let go.

We got to Bodie and ate lunch and walked around for a bit over an hour.

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As we were leaving Bodie I spotted these two rigs.

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We left Bodie and headed east to Nevada and another mining place called Aurora. While driving out we found this questionable bridge that half the railroad tracks were loose on and a few were missing.

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We found the old mining ruins of Aurora pretty easy.

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Up the hill above these ruins is the old cemetery of Aurora it is a bit hard to find but we wondered around enough to find it. I didn't take to many pictures but the last person I found buried there died in 2002. I also found this Nevada State Senator with the last name Boring.

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Once we left Aurora we doubled back to Bodie then hit 270 and headed back to camp.

Thursday morning we planned on taking Bailey fishing. The whole trip all she could talk about was wanting to go fishing. We decided to head south to the June Lake Loop to go fishing. Once we started heading south we ran into wind. As we drove the June Lake Loop all the lakes had whitecap waves on them and would have been miserable to try fishing on. We decided to head back north and try Virgina lakes. We got there and it wasn't much better. We ate lunch at the little outpost. As we headed back to 395 we caught a dirt road that would eventually hit 395. We took that back down and headed back to camp.

While breezy in camp it wasn't unbearable we got Bailey's fishing pole out to try the stream at the campground. A few minutes in and Success.

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She helped me clean it, then we fried it up and ate it.

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Friday morning we had to pack up to head home. But we weren't done just yet. We packed camp and headed to Bridgeport. We topped off the gas tanks the headed north on 182 and then turned onto Masonic Rd. We were heading to Masonic. On the way out you drive past Chemung Mine. We stopped there to check it out.

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We then Continued onto Masonic mine.

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We left Masonic and headed back to Bridgeport. We ate lunch there then headed North on 395. We decided to head home over the Senora pass on 108.

I have never seen a sign like this but figured something good was ahead (not my photo but did see this sign)



A CJ7 with three people and a trailer with a 26% grade at 9000 foot elevation means 20 mph 2nd gear is all she had. Coming down was fun. When you see a sign and it says use lower gear and you are already in 2nd it makes you question your sanity. I only have a few windshield pictures as there were not many pull outs could ft in with the trailer. Nor did I want to heat the brakes up anymore coming to a complete stop.

IMG_0336 by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

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We had a great time and can't wait to go back and do more exploring.

Looks like a great trip! Thanks for the write-up!

..Awesome pictures and Great story..

Thanks for Sharing them with us..We definitely need more trail reports..:biggthump

Looks like an awesome adventure Matt. Great pics too

Any chance you'll be able to join us at Truck Haven this year?

Looks like a good time I need to do some trips like that.