I started this trip on Monday 10/11 at about noon and made it to Lone Pine, Ca. I found a great Forest Service camp up the hill to the west. For those of my Sierra hiking group. it is off the road to Horseshoe Meadow - Tuttle Creek - on the level part before it starts to climb. A great campground and with my "senior pass" it was only $2.50 a night. No hookups but a wonderful view of the road to Onion Valley (the road leading to the trail head for Kearsarge Pass hike. That night I did get the sensation that my camper was not as level as I had set it up to be. In the morning I found out why - a flat tire on the (down hill side) left rear (of course the most difficult to change). So after breakfast I got my morning exercise. I headed to the tire shop, here in town, and found out that the tires I had on my truck were designed of a passenger car / light truck. The road up to the campground was a dirt road but seemed OK - I guess having all of this weight and any sharp rock are not a good match.
So I decided to bit-the-bullet and get 4 new, heavy duty tires - not that I haven`t gotten really good at changing tires but............ I also found out that my old tires were at best nylon 3 ply and the new ones are steel 10 ply - take that you ROCKS. I will now have more confidence if I need to drive on dirt roads in the future.
Being as how it was now about 10:30 and the shop would need my truck until sometime after lunch, I thought a bicycle ride was in order. I have had on my "bucket list" for several years a ride from HWY. 395 up to Horseshoe Meadows (a roughly 6,000` climb). It is a long switchbacking road up the side of the mountains just south of Mt. Whitney in the Sierra Nevada range. We have started our hikes at the trail head and I have wanted to give it a try.
Being that I had to be back to pick up my truck by 5:00 and starting rather late, I made it about 2/3 of the way up in about 2 hours. At that point needing more water and the effort needed to get the rest of the way up, caused my to head back down. I got 15.1 miles/ 30.2 round trip and the trip back only took about 1 hour (going up - 5 mph & going down 25/30 mph).
I opted for a full hookup RV park tonight so I could get cleaned up and BLOG.
Headed for a place just north of Bishop, Ca. - hiking at a trail head up Rock Creek Rd. tomorrow.
I know "how about some pictures" well check them out.
Not a bad back yard and it looks like a recent light dusting of snow on the tops of the mountains
I found out about a different way to get to the Horseshoe Meadow road. Since I was south of Lone Pine, I headed further south (3 miles) to a road up that connected a the base of the climb. It saved me about 12 miles from having to go back to Lone Pine and then up to the turn off to the left from the Onion Valley road.
This one is for you Mary, I found it in the middle of the climb to Horseshoe Meadow - notice the yellow line which is the center marking for the road. I did not have to worry about traffic since only two cars passed me the entire way up. There is one at each of the switchbacks on the road - this was the best - I guess there is something under this cap but I could not budge it.......
This is a view of Lone Pine (the green patch in the distance) from part way up the mountain (looking northeast up the Hwy. 395 valley) & you can make out the road I took up at the left, beyond the trees.
Part of the road up & going back down was fun but tiring on the hands - braking all the way.
A look up to where the road goes from the point where I turned around. It was still a ways and (for an old guy) not a bad ride. I figure about 4,200` climb ending at about 8,000` elevation. That is off the list even though I did not make it to the top - close enough!
Back down and I thought a look at the climb might help (it is a little hard to see). You can make out the switchbacks and the reflection from a car on the climb. I think if you click or double click the picture, it makes it bigger.
That is all for now, Cheers.
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